Half a goal a game isn't that big of a difference?
- rmdevil313

No it's not considering you can't score half a goal. I thought a devil fan would know the cants about scoring

No it's not considering you can't score half a goal. I thought a devil fan would know the cants about scoring
- RobFlyers#1

If the devils can't score then its even more important...

If the devils can't score then its even more important...
- rmdevil313

My point exactly. That's a lot to expect any goalie to live up to. Which is why I'm saying it's not Brodeur's fault they missed the playoffs.

My point exactly. That's a lot to expect any goalie to live up to. Which is why I'm saying it's not Brodeur's fault they missed the playoffs.
- RobFlyers#1

Except Corey had a GAA < 2. Which is exactly what we needed.

Except Corey had a GAA < 2. Which is exactly what we needed.
- rmdevil313

Fine blame Brodeur then... Will Schneider get the blame this year when you miss the playoffs again or will you look for someone else.

Edit... Since Mike likes to use arbitrary stats Brodeur had a better winning percentage.

Fine blame Brodeur then... Will Schneider get the blame this year when you miss the playoffs again or will you look for someone else.
- RobFlyers#1

Well it depends on how the team performs. And you are taking things way out of context. Did the lack of offense effect the teams chances? Yes, but there was nothing the team could do about it. Many teams have made the playoffs with a terrible offense as long as they have elite goaltending. We had the elite goaltending but he was splitting time with his backup.

Well it depends on how the team performs. And you are taking things way out of context. Did the lack of offense effect the teams chances? Yes, but there was nothing the team could do about it. Many teams have made the playoffs with a terrible offense as long as they have elite goaltending. We had the elite goaltending but he was splitting time with his backup.
- rmdevil313

Yes they have but that's not as common as them missing the playoffs. There's a chance they are worse offensively this year. What if Jagr finally shows his age or gets injured. He's 42 and is your best player. Come on do you honestly think the devils truly addressed the need with Cammalleri and Havlat.

Yes they have but that's not as common as them missing the playoffs. There's a chance they are worse offensively this year. What if Jagr finally shows his age or gets injured. He's 42 and is your best player. Come on do you honestly think the devils truly addressed the need with Cammalleri and Havlat.
- RobFlyers#1

Well we were 5 points out while our elite starter sat half the games. Give him 20 more starts and he could have easily found 5 points for the team.

And where did I mention anything about next season?

Well we were 5 points out while our elite starter sat half the games. Give him 20 more starts and he could have easily found 5 points for the team.

And where did I mention anything about next season?
- rmdevil313

You didn't. I'm still thinking about Michael Stuart and my original comment after reading the blog where he put the devils in the playoffs. I know do know what your saying but there's no guarantee with that if he played more thinking. Brodeur won 19 games out of the 39 games he started so there's 14 losses and 6 OT losses which Schneider may not have faired any better. Your playing "what if's".

As I stated before you could argue Brodeur had a better winning % in less games so maybe if he played more they could have got those points but that's what ifs

Yes they have but that's not as common as them missing the playoffs. There's a chance they are worse offensively this year. What if Jagr finally shows his age or gets injured. He's 42 and is your best player. Come on do you honestly think the devils truly addressed the need with Cammalleri and Havlat.
- RobFlyers#1

The devils a funny sometimes I look at there roster and was like there look terrible! But yet they find away to prove me wrong. Cory Schneider is a good goalie he can lead them to the playoffs no problem.

You didn't. I'm still thinking about Michael Stuart and my original comment after reading the blog where he put the devils in the playoffs. I know do know what your saying but there's no guarantee with that if he played more thinking. Brodeur won 19 games out of the 39 games he started so there's 14 losses and 6 OT losses which Schneider may not have faired any better. Your playing "what if's".

As I stated before you could argue Brodeur had a better winning % in less games so maybe if he played more they could have got those points but that's what ifs
- RobFlyers#1

Yeah, its what ifs, everything is what-ifs except what actually happened (which if you watched the games, you would see Schneider being the much better goalie). And you're right, there is no guarantee that playing Schneider more would have gotten us into the playoffs, but it would have put us in a much better situation. There's a reason teams play their best players. There's a reason Giroux gets 20 minutes a night and not the same amount as everybody else.

You can argue that the sky is orange but that doesn't mean either argument makes sense.

The devils a funny sometimes I look at there roster and was like there look terrible! But yet they find away to prove me wrong. Cory Schneider is a good goalie he can lead them to the playoffs no problem.
- todd1a

The offense has improved, although its still not good. Goaltending has improved just because Corey will get 60 games guaranteed. Defense is a question mark with no replacement for Fayne. Merrill and Larsson have the potential but neither have shown the ability to handle tough minutes at this point in their careers. Overall still a borderline playoff team, but probably improved.

The offense has improved, although its still not good. Goaltending has improved just because Corey will get 60 games guaranteed. Defense is a question mark with no replacement for Fayne. Merrill and Larsson have the potential but neither have shown the ability to handle tough minutes at this point in their careers. Overall still a borderline playoff team, but probably improved.
- rmdevil313

I think they hope adam larrsson takes the next step which I think he will no doubt.

I think they hope adam larrsson takes the next step which I think he will no doubt.
- todd1a

Yeah, I think they're hoping for either him or merrill to, although they'll be thrown right into the fire. Fayne's obviously no pronger but he played the toughest minutes on the defense and did a good job with them. It'll be big shoes to fill for either young defensman.

Funny...Devils are a good possession team and miss the playoffs and the Avs are a terrible possession team and finish 2nd in the West. Maybe possession stats are irrelevant as fck.
- rangerdanger94

or maybe more things factor into it than just the possession numbers, and fans of analytics have even the littlest brain capacity it takes to look at them

not sure who spoofed as rileyb77 in the blog, but that was pretty funny
also, can't help but laugh at xxnyixx

Okay Michael this one is dead. Who can you piss off next, the ranger comparisons are getting old just like their team. Let's see the Leafs fans are always easy to piss off maybe a blog of why Stammer will never go to the Leafs or maybe why Lord Stanley's Cup won't get won by a Canadian team for another 20 years. I'm sure this will get the blood flowing in the dead of summer. Lol some analytic added in and you'll have them going crazy again. What can you say people see what they want to see ignorant of the statistics that's why you have them going crazy.

Okay Michael this one is dead. Who can you piss off next, the ranger comparisons are getting old just like their team. Let's see the Leafs fans are always easy to piss off maybe a blog of why Stammer will never go to the Leafs or maybe why Lord Stanley's Cup won't get won by a Canadian team for another 20 years. I'm sure this will get the blood flowing in the dead of summer. Lol some analytic added in and you'll have them going crazy again. What can you say people see what they want to see ignorant of the statistics that's why you have them going crazy.
- tpd11

This

2014-2015 Lightning
What if....

Killorn-2.55 Stamkos-7.5 Connolly-.851
Palat-3.334 Filppula-5 Callahan-5.8
Brown-.95 Johnson-3.334 Kucherov-.9
Morrow-1.55 Boyle-2 Panik-.735
Paquette-.65
35.145

Hedman-4 Garrison-4.6
Carle-5.5 Stralman-4.5
Brewer-3.875 Gudas-.993
Barberio-.874 Sustr-.874
25.216

Bishop-2.3
Nabokov-1.55
3.85

Other
Buyout 1.167
LTIR 3.607
Retained 1.6
6.367

70.578
Without Drouin, we are under the cap with a full roster! I don't believe we will go into next season without him, but this makes a us cap compliant.

2014-2015 Lightning
What if....

Killorn-2.55 Stamkos-7.5 Connolly-.851
Palat-3.334 Filppula-5 Callahan-5.8
Brown-.95 Johnson-3.334 Kucherov-.9
Morrow-1.55 Boyle-2 Panik-.735
Paquette-.65
35.145

Hedman-4 Garrison-4.6
Carle-5.5 Stralman-4.5
Brewer-3.875 Gudas-.993
Barberio-.874 Sustr-.874
25.216

Bishop-2.3
Nabokov-1.55
3.85

Other
Buyout 1.167
LTIR 3.607
Retained 1.6
6.367

70.578
Without Drouin, we are under the cap with a full roster! I don't believe we will go into next season without him, but this makes a us cap compliant.
- Artyukhin76

Arty if I am not mistaken Drouin's cap hit is only $894,167 with the rest being performance bonuses up to 2.3MM which would roll over to next season as carry over bonuses. So even with him on the roster and LTIR Ohlund that leaves us about $1.7MM under the cap.

Marc Staal is and always will be better than Anton Stralman.

Another example of taking possession stats as the end all be all
- sbroads24

I actually agree with this.

The advanced stats are nice, and certainly paint a good picture of the kind of players that all three D-men named are (Stralman, Mac D and Staal) but I feel as though they are a bit misleading.

From watching the play on the ice it wasn't Stralman, but the other two, that really stirred the drink. That said, Anton seems to be a fantastic complimentary player to a top-end guy... hence why I'd love to see him with Hedman.

The Rangers aren't going to disappear next season- while I think they overachieved a bit in the playoffs, they are still a pretty good team. Their prospect pool is a bit thin, but they have some stellar young guys already with the big club- and Sather has never been shy about making changes through trade or FA (next season).

In the end, the Bolts and NYR are two VERY different clubs in terms of team building. Stralman is not better than Staal (nor does he have to be) and this whole Callahan V. Clarkson thing hurts my head... I don't even know where to begin with that one.

Also, Stammer is staying in Tampa. The Leafs are in a transition period, which may see a playoff or two in the near future, but aren't really as attractive cup-wise as T-Bay is at this point... though things can change in a hurry. Hockey's fun that way!

Arty if I am not mistaken Drouin's cap hit is only $894,167 with the rest being performance bonuses up to 2.3MM which would roll over to next season as carry over bonuses. So even with him on the roster and LTIR Ohlund that leaves us about $1.7MM under the cap.
- stammerman

You are mistaken, capgeek.com doesn't include the bonus. 3.194 is his cap number via nhlnumbers.com

For all of the Devils talk for and against, I have to add one more point that I haven't seen yet.

How many games did the Devils go to shootout last season?

Of those games how many times did they win in a shootout?

Consequently, how many points did the Devils miss the playoffs by?

Well for those math impaired they went 0 for 12 in the shootout and missed the playoffs by 5 points. So all they had to do was go .500 in the shootout and they would have made the playoffs last season

http://www.thehockeynews....hootout-team-of-all-time/

Given the shootout woes even somewhat improving (poop they can't get worse) and a full season of Schneider vs Brodeur (which I can't believe people are arguing for a MODERN-DAY Brodeur but I digress), it certainly isn't outlandish that the Devils do in fact make the playoffs this season

And one more point regarding Brodeur/Schneider. Brodeur is the greatest goaltender of all-time, but that is a career based argument. When comparing the 2 of them today, the fact is there is no comparison.

Rawcharge is truly the biggest collection of wannabe hockey retards that I have EVER seen!!!

You are mistaken, capgeek.com doesn't include the bonus. 3.194 is his cap number via nhlnumbers.com
- Artyukhin76

I think the Bolts will use something called the bonus cushion which is basically what I was saying. When the bonus cushion is in affect, teams can exceed the salary cap in performance bonuses by up to 7.5 percent of the salary cap's upper limit. Should performance bonuses actually earned at season's end push them past the salary cap's upper limit, the excess bonuses earned will be carried over as a penalty to the team's cap payroll the following season.


A Club shall be permitted to have an Averaged Club Salary in excess of the Upper Limit resulting from Performance Bonuses solely to the extent that such excess results from the inclusion in Averaged Club Salary of: (i) Exhibit 5 Individual "A" Performance Bonuses and "B" Performance Bonuses paid by the Club that may be earned by Players in the Entry Level System and (ii) Performance Bonuses that may be earned by Players pursuant to Section 50.2(b)(i)(C) above, provided that under no circumstances may a Club's Averaged Club Salary so exceed the Upper Limit by an amount greater than the result of seven-and-one-half (7.5) percent multiplied by the Upper Limit (the "Performance Bonus Cushion")

So again I could be wrong but this allows them to pay out performance bonuses up to 69*7.5% = 5.175MM and exceed the upper limit cap due to performance bonuses. So through the year whatever Drouin will earn in bonuses and if at the end of the year it pushes them past the upper limit then those overages over the cap go against the next years cap hit. Like the 231K Palat and Johnson that show on this years cap.

Anyone else want to chime in? I think I am understanding it right.

Here is an article talking about the Bruin's dilemma with bonus overage http://www.thescore.com/nhl/news/522309