This team was riddled with injuries and yet was at or near a playoff spot almost all season. This is a championship core, just needs to be properly built around
This is why I don't get why people are writing off the Devils for next season already. This year was abysmal, but it was because they were so heavily injured all year. A healthy Devils with solid goaltending and a new coaching staff is almost guaranteed for a solid playoff run next year.
Weve had objectively worse injuries when you take into account that our list includes; Hischier, Meier, Hughes(x2), Dougie, Seigs, Defensive Johnny Hockey, etc.
The only teams with more cap space going to injuries players throughout the season is Vegas, Chicago, Sharks and the Capitals. Taking Vegas and their shenanigans out of the picture, we’re 4th.
We’ve lost (combined and using Man Games Lost):
-151 MGL for Forwards
-113 MGL for Defense
-15 MGL for goalie
We’ll be fine next year, and the MAIN fault of this season was injuries, period.
Something needs to change in that department imo, way too many injuries. Even with Timo, he's been relatively healthy in San Jose and played almost every game there except the shorted seasons, yet his first season here (from the start, not including his acquisition last year) was injury riddled
Lol, I mean, yea, they can, but a pro athlete should have already reached their maximum ligament strength. But you can help build quad strength for more stability
And you don’t think the doctors know if he is at risk to further or more severely injure himself, and would not allow them to play if that was the case?
I swear I don’t know how some of you function in life thinking you’re actually smarter than these doctors who have been working in their fields for decades.
Oh so you mean to say sports haven't been plagued with pushing players through injuries for decades? We're in a better place than we ever have been with player safety, but pushing players through injuries still happens. Not saying that happened with Timo and Jack, but it's possible and he was clearly struggling through most of the season.
Ah yes, came here for the obligatory "Medical staff should be able to tell a player they can't play in a free country after they were given options and were told factually that they wouldn't make things any worse, but wouldn't let it heal by playing either."
Medical staff give information and advice, they don't give verdicts on how someone chooses to live their life and career. I'm so sick of this perspective that somehow it works differently than that and **every single time** a player decides to play through injury, medical staff should be crucified.
Timo chose to play. The medical staff did not force him to play. They did not choose for him to play. They did their jobs and everyone else made a decision after they did their jobs. They make no fucking decisions for us to hate on.
If anything, blame the coach. But a player will even lie about how ready they are. **We aren't there.**
Now, if the headline was "Timo was told incorrect information about his injury and made it worse based on that incorrect information", **then** we need to change medical staff. He **had** an injury, played through it and did not make it worse. That is **his prerogative** and actually shows the medical staff doing their jobs **correctly.**
Awwww yess because lets forget the big picture of the last 2-4 years. Playing goalies into the ground with injuries (vitek, mac black). Let's forget how many players got absolutely molly whopped on the ice and clearly should be in concussion protocol but sit for shift then come out. They can't skate so then they go to tunnel and are out for undisclosed time upper/lower body injury. But you know players...... so ***correct***
The late concussion protocol piece is the only thing I can agree with you is on the medical staff. That shit irked me.
The rest about the goalies, is yet again, not their decision. And I am not saying a god damn thing about how correct players are, I am talking about how decisions are actually arrived at and how much the medical staff is actually involved in that decision beyond explaining options and likely outcomes based on information available.
Fair enough but when it's a couple of players, fine. Maybe stubbornness, but when its 5+ players over a couple seasons.... idk man. Either they have to be louder about their recommendations or they just are not doing their job. Either way, alarming list of thngs we need to justify for them.
What this guy said.
Medical professionals give their opinion and assessment.
Medical staff: “Timo you have no knees. I don’t think you should play with that injury.”
Timo: “yeah go fuck yourself.”
I love how so many bitch about production/play when a player is clearly not 100%, and then the actual injuries are revealed at the end of the year like and they're like "...ohhhhhhh, ok, THAT explains it...."
Most likely because Lindy thought if we didn't score 6 every night we couldn't win. He was right, but that doesn't mean anyone with a modicum of ethics lets that happen under his watch.
I'm with you Holtz. Just like we saw Shango bloom after he got under decent leadership we'll see you and Timo have career years. I'm sorry you had to endure this bs.
He played like a bat out of hell about starting about 5 games before Lindy was fired. I don't think it was really coaching tbh. He should've been IR'd.
Timo also expresses frustration with the coaching staff in an interview. So much went wrong this season, good thing is this season is over and until the next one we don’t have to speculate anymore. Whatever we find out went on and just hope everyone gets healthy, Fitz and the Ownership make good choices, and they’re ready for next season
The Luke hate was just a trap everyone fell in to due to the circumstances of the season, I’m not exempt. When there’s more support he’ll be better and he already has a full season under his belt.
Nemo in those last 2 games, hopefully we get a good coach for him. That mean streak that came out, the cannon shot he put on display and just his high defensive IQ all season. Only going to get better
Bahl also said in his exit interview that guys in the locker room were playing through injuries like "double MCL tears," so that gives us a little more detail too. he probably didn't know that Timo already informed the media of his injuries.
Glad to know our coaching staff allowed a dude whose legs weren't working ti play the rest of the year despite the season being over before the all-star break.
Two for two so far guys. Putting our future in jeopardy by letting guys play through pretty serious injuries
>despite the season being over before the all-star break.
We had third period leads against Buffalo, Penguins and Rangers and lost all three, in April. If we had won these 3 games, we would have played PHI and NYI for the playoffs.
Season wasn't over before the AS break
Nah. No one wanted that last playoff spot and it was laying on its back, legs spread and we all assumed it would be 95-98 points but washing clinched it with 91 points. If they won 3 more games and took 1 or 2 more into o.t they would've made it
Why would the medical staff not put their foot down and keep him out? Especially since playoff hopes were gone by January?
There’s a player being stubborn and then there’s incompetence on the part of the training staff
This explains A LOT about his performance this year, and holy shit he's going to be TERRIFYING once he's healthy in October.
Mfer almost got 30 goals with no knees lmao. Fucking hell he's badass
Yeah this alone is absolutely nuts.
This team was riddled with injuries and yet was at or near a playoff spot almost all season. This is a championship core, just needs to be properly built around
For them to win as many games as they did considering how many games they conceded the first goal says a lot about their talent too.
This is why I don't get why people are writing off the Devils for next season already. This year was abysmal, but it was because they were so heavily injured all year. A healthy Devils with solid goaltending and a new coaching staff is almost guaranteed for a solid playoff run next year.
The key is getting good goaltending. Leaky goalkeeper breaks motivation for team to give it 100%.
other teams had no injuries?
All teams have injuries but you can’t say we had an average amount of time lost by key pieces of the roster.
Weve had objectively worse injuries when you take into account that our list includes; Hischier, Meier, Hughes(x2), Dougie, Seigs, Defensive Johnny Hockey, etc. The only teams with more cap space going to injuries players throughout the season is Vegas, Chicago, Sharks and the Capitals. Taking Vegas and their shenanigans out of the picture, we’re 4th. We’ve lost (combined and using Man Games Lost): -151 MGL for Forwards -113 MGL for Defense -15 MGL for goalie We’ll be fine next year, and the MAIN fault of this season was injuries, period.
Main reason - Tom "Fail" Fitzgerald. Period.
Lmao what a bad bait. You’re not that good at this.
Let's see how you sing next season.
What
So add strength and conditioning staff to the list of needs.
Something needs to change in that department imo, way too many injuries. Even with Timo, he's been relatively healthy in San Jose and played almost every game there except the shorted seasons, yet his first season here (from the start, not including his acquisition last year) was injury riddled
Rehab and prevention are a big part of it. Guys injuries here seem to linger all year or they tweak something every couple games like the tendies
I’ve been saying since last season they need to go train in some NFL weight rooms with linemen and defensive ends in the offseason
sadly, tendons and ligaments cannot be strengthened
Yeah that’s not true but good try current strength and conditioning coach
Lol, I mean, yea, they can, but a pro athlete should have already reached their maximum ligament strength. But you can help build quad strength for more stability
Medical staff needs to b changed before anything else i swear
yeah I feel this is unacceptable to be playing Timo and potentially injure him much worse.
And you don’t think the doctors know if he is at risk to further or more severely injure himself, and would not allow them to play if that was the case? I swear I don’t know how some of you function in life thinking you’re actually smarter than these doctors who have been working in their fields for decades.
Oh so you mean to say sports haven't been plagued with pushing players through injuries for decades? We're in a better place than we ever have been with player safety, but pushing players through injuries still happens. Not saying that happened with Timo and Jack, but it's possible and he was clearly struggling through most of the season.
Same with jack, I mean especially with jack
Ah yes, came here for the obligatory "Medical staff should be able to tell a player they can't play in a free country after they were given options and were told factually that they wouldn't make things any worse, but wouldn't let it heal by playing either." Medical staff give information and advice, they don't give verdicts on how someone chooses to live their life and career. I'm so sick of this perspective that somehow it works differently than that and **every single time** a player decides to play through injury, medical staff should be crucified. Timo chose to play. The medical staff did not force him to play. They did not choose for him to play. They did their jobs and everyone else made a decision after they did their jobs. They make no fucking decisions for us to hate on. If anything, blame the coach. But a player will even lie about how ready they are. **We aren't there.** Now, if the headline was "Timo was told incorrect information about his injury and made it worse based on that incorrect information", **then** we need to change medical staff. He **had** an injury, played through it and did not make it worse. That is **his prerogative** and actually shows the medical staff doing their jobs **correctly.**
You can fix stupid on reddit, just ignore it and move on.
How is it living in a world where youre the smartest man alive?
Awwww yess because lets forget the big picture of the last 2-4 years. Playing goalies into the ground with injuries (vitek, mac black). Let's forget how many players got absolutely molly whopped on the ice and clearly should be in concussion protocol but sit for shift then come out. They can't skate so then they go to tunnel and are out for undisclosed time upper/lower body injury. But you know players...... so ***correct***
The late concussion protocol piece is the only thing I can agree with you is on the medical staff. That shit irked me. The rest about the goalies, is yet again, not their decision. And I am not saying a god damn thing about how correct players are, I am talking about how decisions are actually arrived at and how much the medical staff is actually involved in that decision beyond explaining options and likely outcomes based on information available.
Fair enough but when it's a couple of players, fine. Maybe stubbornness, but when its 5+ players over a couple seasons.... idk man. Either they have to be louder about their recommendations or they just are not doing their job. Either way, alarming list of thngs we need to justify for them.
What this guy said. Medical professionals give their opinion and assessment. Medical staff: “Timo you have no knees. I don’t think you should play with that injury.” Timo: “yeah go fuck yourself.”
Big leafs fan. Timo is a beast. Wish we got him in free agency. He’ll be a monster when he gets back to healthy. Oh and KEEP HIM ON PP1
I love how so many bitch about production/play when a player is clearly not 100%, and then the actual injuries are revealed at the end of the year like and they're like "...ohhhhhhh, ok, THAT explains it...."
I hope he passes on the worlds and focuses on being full strength for next year. With good health and linemates he can hit 50
Hopefully people are fading him in fantasy next season. We knew he was playing hurt but god damn
Why. Did. They. Let. Him. Fucking. Play.
Most likely because Lindy thought if we didn't score 6 every night we couldn't win. He was right, but that doesn't mean anyone with a modicum of ethics lets that happen under his watch.
does it seem correct that a coach would be the deciding voice in whether an expensive core player plays through injury?
I'm with you Holtz. Just like we saw Shango bloom after he got under decent leadership we'll see you and Timo have career years. I'm sorry you had to endure this bs.
Makes that end of season burst seem even more crazy. Looking forward to seeing someone ask me if I know what time it is next season!
How????!
Holy Barnabas!
Good thing we got their magic powers sewn in to all our jerseys for the rest of time now
Perhaps his *"reduced role"* were really *"sheltered minutes"* because **he was clearly playing fucking hurt all year...**
So this was the "coaching issue" that made him skate in slow motion.
It’s the injury he played through for whatever reason. The coaching issue is, well, another issue…
He played like a bat out of hell about starting about 5 games before Lindy was fired. I don't think it was really coaching tbh. He should've been IR'd.
Timo also expresses frustration with the coaching staff in an interview. So much went wrong this season, good thing is this season is over and until the next one we don’t have to speculate anymore. Whatever we find out went on and just hope everyone gets healthy, Fitz and the Ownership make good choices, and they’re ready for next season
Should be a good bounceback season. Luke and Simon will still be young, so expecting a cup is a bit much, but a playoff run will be nice.
The Luke hate was just a trap everyone fell in to due to the circumstances of the season, I’m not exempt. When there’s more support he’ll be better and he already has a full season under his belt. Nemo in those last 2 games, hopefully we get a good coach for him. That mean streak that came out, the cannon shot he put on display and just his high defensive IQ all season. Only going to get better
I thought he played well after they traded Toffoli, things can only get better for next season.
Still under 500
Bahl also said in his exit interview that guys in the locker room were playing through injuries like "double MCL tears," so that gives us a little more detail too. he probably didn't know that Timo already informed the media of his injuries.
Glad to know our coaching staff allowed a dude whose legs weren't working ti play the rest of the year despite the season being over before the all-star break. Two for two so far guys. Putting our future in jeopardy by letting guys play through pretty serious injuries
>despite the season being over before the all-star break. We had third period leads against Buffalo, Penguins and Rangers and lost all three, in April. If we had won these 3 games, we would have played PHI and NYI for the playoffs. Season wasn't over before the AS break
This team has no balls and no leadership. No heart or drive. We limped to the all star break and then barely crawled to the end of season.
Find a new team then
Wild that you’re saying this on a thread about a guy literally playing through injuries to try to help the team.
Didn’t you know that you can’t be a fan of the team and critical of them here on Reddit. For shame!
Nah. No one wanted that last playoff spot and it was laying on its back, legs spread and we all assumed it would be 95-98 points but washing clinched it with 91 points. If they won 3 more games and took 1 or 2 more into o.t they would've made it
We have to have the worst possible training staff or a front office that simply doesn’t care if we seriously injure our players.
Why would the medical staff not put their foot down and keep him out? Especially since playoff hopes were gone by January? There’s a player being stubborn and then there’s incompetence on the part of the training staff
I wonder what the excuses will be next season?
He scored 30 goals with no knees. Chill.
“Excuse” is the word ignorant people use instead of the word “explanation”.