Couple Random Thoughts

[Nasty_Magician]

Love this quote by Deboer:

“I guess in John’s world you can come into our building and start your tough guys, but we can’t do the same in here,” DeBoer said. “He’s either got short-term memory loss or he’s a hypocrite. So it’s one of the other.”

The 10 minute misconduct on Salvador was a joke:

“At that point, I wasn’t really thinking about it and I think the ref saw that there was a guy that was bleeding and they were a little slow going in there,” Salvador said. “I wasn’t throwing anything. I just went in there and grabbed. I think that’s why it was just a 10 and instead of a third man in."

I'm glad Moose is getting the nod tonight.

 

[MCDevils]

I'm a big believer in the philosophy of don't judge a team by their best winning streak, or their worst losing streak.

 

[nj_cup]

Hmmmm then what do you judge them by?

Marty quote even better. Saying he doesnt like that type of fighting and we should just play hockey. maybe he should shut the fuck up and not let two cheesy goals.

I'm also glad moose gets the nod. Guy has been clutch all year he deserves more playing time.

 

[MCDevils]

Hmmmm then what do you judge them by?

Marty quote even better. Saying he doesnt like that type of fighting and we should just play hockey. maybe he should shut the fuck up and not let two cheesy goals.

I'm also glad moose gets the nod. Guy has been clutch all year he deserves more playing time.

Long term trends obviously. The mid-point. Not say the sky is falling after one loss, or proclaim us stanley cup champions after a 5 game winning streak.

 

[nj_cup]

I have yet to see this team come to play against a legit nhl team who is either starting their top Goalie or Rt at full strength.

 

[kellmit]

Cup how come you can use injuries to show how shitty the Devs are against top teams when we have been without Zajac for most of the year and Tallinder for what like 8 weeks

 

[nj_cup]

Zajac being a big hole at the start the year has been replaced by henrquie. And tallendar sure hurts but I dont think our short comings are on defense but on the offensive side. Since zajac replacement has far exceeded our wildest dreams you really can't just add zajac becsuse you will be taking someone else out

 

[kellmit]

not trying to bash Henrique or anything but he is NOT Zajac and Tallinder is a huge loss, just because we have been good at hiding these injuries is no reason to discount thier absence... and fuck ya as soon as Zajac is good to go he gets back in... Boulton does nothing

 

[MCDevils]

not trying to bash Henrique or anything but he is NOT Zajac and Tallinder is a huge loss, just because we have been good at hiding these injuries is no reason to discount thier absence... and fuck ya as soon as Zajac is good to go he gets back in... Boulton does nothing

Henrique just hasn't had the consistency we expect with Travis. At the beginning of the year, Henrique was basically just as good as Zajac had ever been, now he's not playing at that level unfortunately.

He had

5G, 14PTS NOV
5G, 13PTS DEC
5G, 18PTS Jan, Feb, Mar --> Kovy has 18G, 43PTS in that stretch. Parise has 15G, 32PTS. So when those two were having their best stretches of the season, Henrique hasn't really been contributing on the score sheet.

Now, I don't think anyone would say that he's necessarily been playing badly, I believe he's been pretty good, BUT, if you're playing with those two players, you need to be putting up totals like he did earlier in the season.

That's a HUGE falloff.

 

[MCDevils]

Also, regarding Travis not really hurting us. That's crap. Adding Travis has a cascading effect, where everyone else gets to move one slot down the depth chart, which means they're playing against weaker players, and therefore has a positive impact on everybody. Does anyone think that Elias gets no benefit from Parise and Kovy being on the same line?

 

[DevilishWon]

Also, regarding Travis not really hurting us. That's crap. Adding Travis has a cascading effect, where everyone else gets to move one slot down the depth chart, which means they're playing against weaker players, and therefore has a positive impact on everybody. Does anyone think that Elias gets no benefit from Parise and Kovy being on the same line?

Careful....you're talkin sense there swede

 

[nj_cup]

well lets just think about this. average zajac and his consistency and you get him at 49pts average for his career right? henrquie is at 46 for this season. so have the devils honestly really missed zajac? points wise NO they havent.

that "cascading" effect works both ways. when you put zajac in he will be getting mins that someone currently is getting. put travis on the second line move zubrus down to the 3rd line. then who are you moving down from the 3rd line to the 4th line?

the only way that i believe you really feel an absence from zajac is if henrquie doesnt step in and fill his point gap. or your replacing zajac with a player that is getting his regular mins. there is only so much of the pie to go around. and since everyone really didnt miss a beat with him out its tough spot to put him in coming back. i believe

 

[MCDevils]

Zajac had two 60+ point years before last seasons disaster. Where even the great Kovalchuk barely scratched 60 points. Henrique's been on a 10G, 36PTS, pace for the past three months.

 

[CalamityX11]

Henrique is also a rookie... just saying

When Zajac comes back, he'll strengthen(in theory) the 2nd unit whether its at C or W.... and we'll have a domino effect throughout the lineups.

Also as a random thought, it's not on the scoresheet but JJ has been playing very well and creating some scoring opportunities for himself and others.... needs to continue & be more aggressive/assertive with or without the puck.

Outside of Kovy and maybe Sykora, we don't have much hard shooters dont we? I think i said that earlier in the season or during preseason but definitely not many hard shooters on the team.

 

[MCDevils]

Henrique is also a rookie... just saying

When Zajac comes back, he'll strengthen(in theory) the 2nd unit whether its at C or W.... and we'll have a domino effect throughout the lineups.

Also as a random thought, it's not on the scoresheet but JJ has been playing very well and creating some scoring opportunities for himself and others.... needs to continue & be more aggressive/assertive with or without the puck.

Outside of Kovy and maybe Sykora, we don't have much hard shooters dont we? I think i said that earlier in the season or during preseason but definitely not many hard shooters on the team.

I get that he's a rookie and so far he's looked great, BUT we're talking about his impact RIGHT NOW, not potential.

Just saw a cool stat about Henrique: 0 Penalties taken against opposing players this season. He has a 5min Major for fighting Iginla, and a 2min Delay of Game puck over glass. That's it. crazy.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I get that he's a rookie and so far he's looked great, BUT we're talking about his impact RIGHT NOW, not potential.

Just saw a cool stat about Henrique: 0 Penalties taken against opposing players this season. He has a 5min Major for fighting Iginla, and a 2min Delay of Game puck over glass. That's it. crazy.

JJ could take notes, he's had a few bad penalties lately.

 

[MCDevils]

JJ could take notes, he's had a few bad penalties lately.

Believe it or not, JJ has taken only 3 penalties, and drawn 5 so far this season.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Rarely do I come away from a win mad, but last night was not a good game for us. Chicago did not play well and we should have buried them. 1st looked good and then we looked flat out bad.

The PK and Marty were outstanding.

Zajac has returned to form pretty quickly which is good for the playoff run.

Zids still seems a little too reckless to me at times.

Harrold didn't look completely out of place.

With A-Train out, and Salvador in the box, we had 2 forwards out during the 5 on 3, that just goes to show you how thin we are on D. This is a major concern to me for the playoffs.

I'm glad Sykora was on the 4th line and PP. He logged his least amount of ice time this season. Our top 2 lines played pretty terrible hockey (Kovy and Elias in particular). I think a couple days off from practice could go a long way at this point. I've said it before but the team just looks shot, no drive, no energy.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Good move. Per TG: "The Devils were scheduled to have an 11;30 a.m. practice, but have called that off"

Also from TG, this is a scary stat "The Devils are 3-4-1 in their last eight games and scored only two goals total in the three victories". Our offense has to get going. Poni was crashing the net when he first came here, he's stopped doing that. We struggle to get the cycle going and we're getting cute with our passing.

 

[nj_cup]

i agree about that "win" last night. the team didnt even look interested past the 1st period. i'm starting to even question "captain clutch" how many easy tap in side shots is he going to miss? when was the last time he scored a big goal?

i dont really buy into the team is tired thing though. they are professionals they get paid millions of dollars to make sure their bodies can handle the grind of 82 games. if you think giving them rest for the playoffs is going to help then what happens come round 3 of the playoffs when they need that rest again? cant give any games off.

i dont know what is wrong with this team...i mean you can see whats wrong but i dont know why they are playing like this. going into overtime 4on3 powerplay and they cant get the puck into the zone on the first 2 tries? then they do set it up and they are just playing pass along the outside of the 3 man killers!

i think the team is just missing that leader to step up between games and have a commanding voice in that locker room. that falls onto parise. dober has to start holding people responsible and calling people out if need be. he needs to be showing some emotion after the games.