Todd Cordell: On Cory Schneider and Goal Support

Todd Cordell: On Cory Schneider and Goal Support
- Todd.Cordell

I think Zajac setting up cammi and not zubrus will change the teams 5v5 goals dramatically

I think Zajac setting up cammi and not zubrus will change the teams 5v5 goals dramatically
- shvingter88

I agree. Jagr helps, too.

Todd Cordell: On Cory Schneider and Goal Support
- Todd.Cordell

LA Kings Justin Williams: “Just Win” and “Puck Luck Is For Cop-Outs”
(http://frozenroyalty.net/...uck-luck-is-for-cop-outs/)

Just my opinion, but I think it is a mistake to rely too heavily on the top 6 as it's set up. Like it or not, Cammalleri is due to miss about 15-20 games, atleast that's what the numbers say over the last five years. Jagr is going to be a year older.

If you read between the lines it looks like Henrique-Elias-Havlat is going to be the second line. With Henrique's consistency issues, (he caught fire in the last quarter of the season or so, before that he was a bit lackluster) and Havlat's injury woe's who knows what you're gong to get?

Clowe-Ruutu-Zubrus appears to be the third line. I'll leave it to everyone else to come up with their own questions about that trio...

Now, to be fair, I think almost everything would have to go wrong for them to match the poor output of last season. That being said, I'm not sure that they're significantly better upfront.

The one thing that works in their favor is that the re-tooling of the blueline should add to higher quality breakouts and puck movement than Fayne, Volchenkv, and Salvador were able to provide. That will certainly help improve offensive flow and puck control.

LA Kings Justin Williams: “Just Win” and “Puck Luck Is For Cop-Outs”
(http://frozenroyalty.net/...uck-luck-is-for-cop-outs/)

Just my opinion, but I think it is a mistake to rely too heavily on the top 6 as it's set up. Like it or not, Cammalleri is due to miss about 15-20 games, atleast that's what the numbers say over the last five years. Jagr is going to be a year older.

If you read between the lines it looks like Henrique-Elias-Havlat is going to be the second line. With Henrique's consistency issues, (he caught fire in the last quarter of the season or so, before that he was a bit lackluster) and Havlat's injury woe's who knows what you're gong to get?

Clowe-Ruutu-Zubrus appears to be the third line. I'll leave it to everyone else to come up with their own questions about that trio...

Now, to be fair, I think almost everything would have to go wrong for them to match the poor output of last season. That being said, I'm not sure that they're significantly better upfront.

The one thing that works in their favor is that the re-tooling of the blueline should add to higher quality breakouts and puck movement than Fayne, Volchenkv, and Salvador were able to provide. That will certainly help improve offensive flow and puck control.
- njdevils350

I absolutely hate the phrase "puck luck"

I think it might also help that most of our competition for a wild card spot got worse (Leafs, Senators, Capitals, etc.). It might be that the Devils are the only team in the division that got significantly better. I don't see why we can't make it.

LA Kings Justin Williams: “Just Win” and “Puck Luck Is For Cop-Outs”
(http://frozenroyalty.net/...uck-luck-is-for-cop-outs/)

Just my opinion, but I think it is a mistake to rely too heavily on the top 6 as it's set up. Like it or not, Cammalleri is due to miss about 15-20 games, atleast that's what the numbers say over the last five years. Jagr is going to be a year older.

If you read between the lines it looks like Henrique-Elias-Havlat is going to be the second line. With Henrique's consistency issues, (he caught fire in the last quarter of the season or so, before that he was a bit lackluster) and Havlat's injury woe's who knows what you're gong to get?

Clowe-Ruutu-Zubrus appears to be the third line. I'll leave it to everyone else to come up with their own questions about that trio...

Now, to be fair, I think almost everything would have to go wrong for them to match the poor output of last season. That being said, I'm not sure that they're significantly better upfront.

The one thing that works in their favor is that the re-tooling of the blueline should add to higher quality breakouts and puck movement than Fayne, Volchenkv, and Salvador were able to provide. That will certainly help improve offensive flow and puck control.
- njdevils350

I will never understand why henrique takes so much heat he could very well be the best player on the entire team next year depending on how Elias does. The guy never untill we got desperate anyways never saw consistant linemates or he was either center or wing what is it you expect from the kid? Hr scored 25 goals played in every situation was one of our best pkers and is good on the pp but almost every kisses zajacs ass who is now fully developed and had the same line mates every single night and still couldn't produce worth a poop even watching he has a higher hockey I.q he creates offense for others unfortunately he had no one to pot he set ups he is likely going to be as close to what Elias was once he is 28-29.

I would love for Todd to pull all the stats on Enrique compared to the rest of the team and i would bet he is one of the most valuable players on the entire team and I don't think he is miles apart defensively then zajac and is 5 years younger and still improving

I would love for Todd to pull all the stats on Enrique compared to the rest of the team and i would bet he is one of the most valuable players on the entire team and I don't think he is miles apart defensively then zajac and is 5 years younger and still improving
- blizzzard

I'd wager Elias is the most productive with any linemate.

I'd wager Elias is the most productive with any linemate.
- MartysBetter88

Elias is an NHL veteran and a former all star that doesn't mean no one will ever be as good as him. And henrique might not but he is still growing I don't think Elias was tear I g up the league at 23-24 that's just how the devils devlope he is right on track if you ask me he will be ask good defensively as zajac and is already better offensively. Not that Elias has shown the signs Marty has and he is younger but it took you guys forever to get of martys Richard and I guess we will go through same with Elias as he declines and he didn't life the league on fire either with his any linemates he played with. All I am saying is you guys seem to have nicrr things to say about Brunner then henrique. Blown away and quite honestly don't know what half of you guys are watching when I read comments about Brunner

I will never understand why henrique takes so much heat he could very well be the best player on the entire team next year depending on how Elias does. The guy never untill we got desperate anyways never saw consistant linemates or he was either center or wing what is it you expect from the kid? Hr scored 25 goals played in every situation was one of our best pkers and is good on the pp but almost every kisses zajacs ass who is now fully developed and had the same line mates every single night and still couldn't produce worth a poop even watching he has a higher hockey I.q he creates offense for others unfortunately he had no one to pot he set ups he is likely going to be as close to what Elias was once he is 28-29.
- blizzzard

I don't think I was overly critical of him at all. He's a great two way player. I just think it's unfair at this point to count on him as a
consistent 25 goal scorer. Fact is it took a huge effort for him to get there last year. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's back around 18 this year. And I wouldn't hold it against him either.

But, if he cant get in the mid 20's, and Havlat cant, and Clowe can't....

Then where does the team end up? That's my point.

I don't think I was overly critical of him at all. He's a great two way player. I just think it's unfair at this point to count on him as a
consistent 25 goal scorer. Fact is it took a huge effort for him to get there last year. I wouldn't be surprised at all if he's back around 18 this year. And I wouldn't hold it against him either.

But, if he cant get in the mid 20's, and Havlat cant, and Clowe can't....

Then where does the team end up? That's my point.
- njdevils350

He is a young player who should of seen more consistent linemantes the fact that he is one of the best players on the team was the reason. Pete moved him around so much to get other guys going he is relied upon heavily by the devils in all situations if Pete wasn't baby sitting Ryder and Brunner all season henrique likely would of hot 30 goals to say he struggled to reach it is a bit of a stretch. He should be playing with the best players on the team not the Ryder's closed and Brunner's that's what you aren't taking into account even when he isn't producing he is creating chances for himself and others there is nothing about his game that suggest he won't keep getting better for the next 2-3 years.

I would love for Todd to pull all the stats on Enrique compared to the rest of the team and i would bet he is one of the most valuable players on the entire team and I don't think he is miles apart defensively then zajac and is 5 years younger and still improving
- blizzzard

iglesias?

He is a young player who should of seen more consistent linemantes the fact that he is one of the best players on the team was the reason. Pete moved him around so much to get other guys going he is relied upon heavily by the devils in all situations if Pete wasn't baby sitting Ryder and Brunner all season henrique likely would of hot 30 goals to say he struggled to reach it is a bit of a stretch. He should be playing with the best players on the team not the Ryder's closed and Brunner's that's what you aren't taking into account even when he isn't producing he is creating chances for himself and others there is nothing about his game that suggest he won't keep getting better for the next 2-3 years.
- blizzzard

Henrique had 14 goals in his first 59 games. He had 11 goals the year before (22) and 16 in his rookie season.

He needed 11 goals in his final 18 games to get to 25. So, yes he had to get hot. I don't think that's a stretch at all.

Regardless of his linemates, the numbers say it's more accurate to place him around 20-23 rather than 27-30.

Trust me, I hope he progresses to the levels that you expect. But, for now I think there are some awfully high expectations being placed on too many players.

Henrique had 14 goals in his first 59 games. He had 11 goals the year before (22) and 16 in his rookie season.

He needed 11 goals in his final 18 games to get to 25. So, yes he had to get hot. I don't think that's a stretch at all.

Regardless of his linemates, the numbers say it's more accurate to place him around 20-23 rather than 27-30.

Trust me, I hope he progresses to the levels that you expect. But, for now I think there are some awfully high expectations being placed on too many players.
- njdevils350

I wonder why because he finally got playing with the guys he should be do you see ror playing with the third and fourth liners ? I just think you are taking certain things into account and completely ignoring the other things that should be taken into consideration. We could of had two good lines while clowe was healthy but instead we insisted on the scoring by committy thing that wasn't working like a lot of things last season that the coaching staff took to long to make changes the top line of zajac jagr and zubrus even though zubs didn't produce was semi effective had we just rolled with Elias henrique Elias and clowe as the second those two lines would of produced more then what we actually tried which was praying Ryder and Brunner could hit 25 g they both should of been on the third line. Ones things got tight the coaching staff smartened up. Does Elias make players around him better for sure but so does henrique I just can't see his production dipping at all maybe he scores less then twenty five this year biy his points total will be higher this year then last and it would be all Elias babying him like everyone seems to think good players usually play better when played with better plays not the other way around

Players get better by playing with and against better players playing bernier and Ryder wont make you better. Grigorenko developed nicely playing with kaleta and Scott

iglesias?
- shvingter88

My phone must love that guy since its always changing it to that I'm a lazy bastard to so you know not to expect Much from my spelling and punctuation aha common I've been here long enough and to be honest I'm lucky there is more wrong with what I write cause my phone fixes some of the mistakes but I'm to hard yo keep up with I guess

iglesias?
- shvingter88

Palazzo.

Players get better by playing with and against better players playing bernier and Ryder wont make you better. Grigorenko developed nicely playing with kaleta and Scott
- blizzzard

Bottom line, in terms of what I expect from him offensively, until I see more, I'm going to go off of the first 2 and 3/4 seasons rather than the last 1/4. He spent a lot of time playing with Parise and Kovalchuk in his rookie year. It's not like he's never had linemates. (Yes, I know the counter-point would be that he's a rookie...)


That's my opinion. Feel free to file it away and throw it back in my face when the time comes.

And I wouldn't be concerned about it all if not for the fact that there's at least 5 other players that are having huge expectations placed on them.

Henrique is inconsistent. That's a fair assessment. But, he's young & he never was a "sniper". Ever. As far as expectations/potential, he's a poor man's Parise in the 20-25G range in a few years time as a cap. Top 6 FW who plays the PK as a floor.

He may be one of these guys that hits 30G one or two times in his career but i never saw him as someone to rely on for scoring past 20G per year. That's not his game. Not hating on him, he's one of my favorites, but he's far from infallible.

And I've never seen anyone that high on Brunner. Not after seeing him play last season. He only plays on half the ice.

As far as expectations on other players, if you're realistic, there's no reason to be high on Havlat or Clowe given their lack of durability. No reason not to think Jagr, Elias, or any of the other aging players may experience a decline in play & production.

Some people are sold on this being a playoff team for sure because they feel the team has honestly improved that much.

I fail to see it as a lock. Cammalleri will need to hit 30G to be worth it. He'll need to play 82 games on a new team with a new system to do that. He'll need to play 82 games...that's a lofty expectation too.

Outside of ditching Slowchenkov, throwing a rookie in his place may not yield an observable improvement in production. It may in other areas. To expect that to be enough to put them in the playoffs is a bit much.

The summation of the changes leaves the door open for the playoffs if you're an optimist.

But even the optimist must admit a lot of things will need to go perfectly for NJ to make the playoffs.

Cory must play lights out again & not have a down year. Havlat, Cammalleri, and Clowe must all stay healthy for significant stretches. That's 1/2 of your top6 according to some line projections with injury issues that's being counted on to play consistently & for a long period of time (for those respective players). Actually it's 4/6 if you consider Patty's recent run of durability issues. You're counting on the young defense to limit mistakes compared to last year & increase production from the blueline. You may get one of those, but it's a lot to ask for both.

I wouldn't be surprised if they missed the playoffs considering all those factors.

I would be pleasantly surprised if they did make the playoffs.

But, i don't expect them to, i still view the team as being in a transition period. The offense is not significantly improved in my opinion when you have that many pieces of glass in your top 6.

NJ still needs younger, faster top 6 FWs to compete. Having an old injury prone lineup isn't a recipe for success.

Lou has work to do, and this season isn't "the" season. If you think the moves made this team a Cup contender you're delusional.

NJ is a middle to middle-rear of the pack team in the East.
Just be thankful they're not in the West.

Henrique is inconsistent. That's a fair assessment. But, he's young & he never was a "sniper". Ever. As far as expectations/potential, he's a poor man's Parise in the 20-25G range in a few years time as a cap. Top 6 FW who plays the PK as a floor.

He may be one of these guys that hits 30G one or two times in his career but i never saw him as someone to rely on for scoring past 20G per year. That's not his game. Not hating on him, he's one of my favorites, but he's far from infallible.

And I've never seen anyone that high on Brunner. Not after seeing him play last season. He only plays on half the ice.

As far as expectations on other players, if you're realistic, there's no reason to be high on Havlat or Clowe given their lack of durability. No reason not to think Jagr, Elias, or any of the other aging players may experience a decline in play & production.

Some people are sold on this being a playoff team for sure because they feel the team has honestly improved that much.

I fail to see it as a lock. Cammalleri will need to hit 30G to be worth it. He'll need to play 82 games on a new team with a new system to do that. He'll need to play 82 games...that's a lofty expectation too.

Outside of ditching Slowchenkov, throwing a rookie in his place may not yield an observable improvement in production. It may in other areas. To expect that to be enough to put them in the playoffs is a bit much.

The summation of the changes leaves the door open for the playoffs if you're an optimist.

But even the optimist must admit a lot of things will need to go perfectly for NJ to make the playoffs.

Cory must play lights out again & not have a down year. Havlat, Cammalleri, and Clowe must all stay healthy for significant stretches. That's 1/2 of your top6 according to some line projections with injury issues that's being counted on to play consistently & for a long period of time (for those respective players). Actually it's 4/6 if you consider Patty's recent run of durability issues. You're counting on the young defense to limit mistakes compared to last year & increase production from the blueline. You may get one of those, but it's a lot to ask for both.

I wouldn't be surprised if they missed the playoffs considering all those factors.

I would be pleasantly surprised if they did make the playoffs.

But, i don't expect them to, i still view the team as being in a transition period. The offense is not significantly improved in my opinion when you have that many pieces of glass in your top 6.

NJ still needs younger, faster top 6 FWs to compete. Having an old injury prone lineup isn't a recipe for success.

Lou has work to do, and this season isn't "the" season. If you think the moves made this team a Cup contender you're delusional.

NJ is a middle to middle-rear of the pack team in the East.
Just be thankful they're not in the West.
- FLdevilsFAN

I started reading this page from the bottom up. As i skimmed up to the top, my eyes caught, "Lou has work to do" and I thought it would be you. Sure enough. Now I'll read the rest and put it in proper context : p

I started reading this page from the bottom up. As i skimmed up to the top, my eyes caught, "Lou has work to do" and I thought it would be you. Sure enough. Now I'll read the rest and put it in proper context : p
- MartysBetter88

but after reading the anticipated rays of sunshine, I agree with most of it. But I think we need to give Cammalleri a bit more value. He was 7th in the league for 5v5 scoring. We were a very good possession team (which IS important), we have a great goalie for the full season.. not half, we have an average defense like last year, added Havlat which will either make us better or NOT make us worse. We'll most likely be dumping Ryder which WILL make us better. We have more depth, mostly because we added a top line player to push the rest down the lineup.

SO, I think we'll be contending for a wildcard spot, but instead of being 5 points out I think we make it, due to the SO luck not repeating, and the team being somewhat improved. We're not the same or worse than last year, only better.. so we should technically be at least 5 points better.

Henrique is inconsistent. That's a fair assessment. But, he's young & he never was a "sniper". Ever. As far as expectations/potential, he's a poor man's Parise in the 20-25G range in a few years time as a cap. Top 6 FW who plays the PK as a floor.

He may be one of these guys that hits 30G one or two times in his career but i never saw him as someone to rely on for scoring past 20G per year. That's not his game. Not hating on him, he's one of my favorites, but he's far from infallible.

And I've never seen anyone that high on Brunner. Not after seeing him play last season. He only plays on half the ice.

As far as expectations on other players, if you're realistic, there's no reason to be high on Havlat or Clowe given their lack of durability. No reason not to think Jagr, Elias, or any of the other aging players may experience a decline in play & production.

Some people are sold on this being a playoff team for sure because they feel the team has honestly improved that much.

I fail to see it as a lock. Cammalleri will need to hit 30G to be worth it. He'll need to play 82 games on a new team with a new system to do that. He'll need to play 82 games...that's a lofty expectation too.

Outside of ditching Slowchenkov, throwing a rookie in his place may not yield an observable improvement in production. It may in other areas. To expect that to be enough to put them in the playoffs is a bit much.

The summation of the changes leaves the door open for the playoffs if you're an optimist.

But even the optimist must admit a lot of things will need to go perfectly for NJ to make the playoffs.

Cory must play lights out again & not have a down year. Havlat, Cammalleri, and Clowe must all stay healthy for significant stretches. That's 1/2 of your top6 according to some line projections with injury issues that's being counted on to play consistently & for a long period of time (for those respective players). Actually it's 4/6 if you consider Patty's recent run of durability issues. You're counting on the young defense to limit mistakes compared to last year & increase production from the blueline. You may get one of those, but it's a lot to ask for both.

I wouldn't be surprised if they missed the playoffs considering all those factors.

I would be pleasantly surprised if they did make the playoffs.

But, i don't expect them to, i still view the team as being in a transition period. The offense is not significantly improved in my opinion when you have that many pieces of glass in your top 6.

NJ still needs younger, faster top 6 FWs to compete. Having an old injury prone lineup isn't a recipe for success.

Lou has work to do, and this season isn't "the" season. If you think the moves made this team a Cup contender you're delusional.

NJ is a middle to middle-rear of the pack team in the East.
Just be thankful they're not in the West.
- FLdevilsFAN

Unless you think the rest of the teams in the East improved, (I don't think anyone other than Tampa and the Islanders did), you've got to give the Devils a realistic chance at the playoffs.

Schneider was more than a half a goal a game better than Brodeur last year. The fact that he will start 15-20 games more at minimum than last year is an immediate
improvement.

We got Cam without giving up any assets other than cap space. He's not a superstar, but he is certainly a major improvement over Ruutu, Clowe, Zubrus, etc playing on the top line left wing. Even if you want to be ultra conservative and say he scores 20 goals that is an improvement.

Henrique gets knocked a bit because he gets cold at time, but he has shown that he can perform when he has good players around him. With Elias and Havlat (when/if healthy) he should look more like the Henrique we saw towards the end of the year.

Third line will be some combo of Clowe, Zubrus, Ruutu, Ryder, Brunner. Not bad for a third line.

The defense might be inexperienced, but is certainly more mobile and has more offensive capability this year vs. last. And let's face it Sal isn't going to stay healthy and play more than 45 games. Harrold at this point is probably a better option at 6th D man than Sal and we can hope Severson is ready for some NHL playing time.

No one is going to confuse our top 6 for Chicago, but this team missed the playoffs by five points. I'm pretty certain just starting Corey for a full season is worth 5 points alone.

you talked about how the devils struggled 5 on 5 and that the powerplay was pretty much their whole offense

i think even that is a little deceiving as the PP looked out of sorts and a mess and couldnt get much going but then would have a few runs on the PP that produced which on paper it looks good because the % goes up, but i wouldnt say it was really feared, and it seemed in games you would have 1 good PP and the rest it seemed like we could hardly get it in the zone

hopefully with cammi and havlat along with gelinas the PP is more consistent

but we def have to improve 5 v 5 goals

thoughts on the powerplay lines?

cammi-zajac-jagr
elias-zid

clowe-henrique-havlat
greene-gelinas

if they go 2 D on both units switch clowe with elias

you talked about how the devils struggled 5 on 5 and that the powerplay was pretty much their whole offense

i think even that is a little deceiving as the PP looked out of sorts and a mess and couldnt get much going but then would have a few runs on the PP that produced which on paper it looks good because the % goes up, but i wouldnt say it was really feared, and it seemed in games you would have 1 good PP and the rest it seemed like we could hardly get it in the zone

hopefully with cammi and havlat along with gelinas the PP is more consistent

but we def have to improve 5 v 5 goals

thoughts on the powerplay lines?

cammi-zajac-jagr
elias-zid

clowe-henrique-havlat
greene-gelinas

if they go 2 D on both units switch clowe with elias
- dmarsden2988

Larsssssson