Todd Cordell: On a leaky defensive effort, Johansson's heavy lifting, and a top-9 change

Thanks for the blog Todd. That was a very ugly one last night. Tampa's second goal has to be stopped by KK. What a momentum killer!

Also, it's time Zacha spent a night in the press box.

What an absolute mess of a game. Giving up 36 (high quality) shots in 2 periods is a complete meltdown. Really felt bad for KK - he wasnt at his best and the Devils didn't help him at all.

The double minor + penalties in the 2nd clearly did us in, especially because 2 of our best PK guys were in the box. Not sure why Hynes didn't a call a TO sooner to help ground the troops when things stated to really get out of hand.


Couple of things:

1. I think it is time to start giving Zacha 3rd line minutes. I never thought I'd say this, but Zajac deserves to play on the 2nd line over him. Zacha IMO needs to go the press box for a bit or drop to 4th line.

2. Our 2nd PP unit is a joke

3. Butcher looked awful (as did the rest of the d-corps)

4. Wining only 25-30% of faceoffs each game is going to cost you against good teams and good PP Units

5. Curious to see how Hynes shakes things up. If he is as "firey" as he showed during the documentary, I would expect him to rattle a few cages. AKA - expect to see Stafford in next game

Hall- Nico - Palms
Mojo- Zacha - Anderson
Coleman - Zajac - Wood
Boyle - Rooney - Noesen


Dea is not a 2nd line player. he looked OK first few games but has disappeared.
Leave Coleman -Zajac -Wood - thats our second best line ......when Bratt comes back he shifts into R2 .. but lets try Anderson there or Mcleod , SENEY even Laoin . . some fire needed.

We seem to be replacing second line rw with 4th line players. they dont play that way.. how about we replace 2nd line RW with a first of second line Rw from Bing .

We all knew a game like that was coming and I expect the devils to answer back with a strong game against Detroit. As for Zacha I think it’s becoming clearer that he isn’t going to turn into a top 6 player as we hoped and this is a serious set back For our rebuild IMO because there is no real help on the way hopefully Shero can work some magic because as of right now I see the devils being a Bubble team for years to come.

Stone? Nylander?

That was not enjoyable to watch. Gotta shake it off and move on to the next one.

That was not enjoyable to watch. Gotta shake it off and move on to the next one.
- FAZOOL

first 5 minutes were

As for Zacha I think it’s becoming clearer that he isn’t going to turn into a top 6 player as we hoped and this is a serious set back For our rebuild IMO because there is no real help on the way-Devils314

There is help on the way JESPER BONQVIST

Hall- Nico - Palms
Wood- Zajac - Mojo
Henry - Seney - Lappin
Boyle - Coleman - Noesen

Yes you are reading right, I put someone from the echl in there, that's how bad things look right now.

Todd Cordell: On a leaky defensive effort, Johansson's heavy lifting, and a top-9 change
- Todd.Cordell

I'm not sold on moving Wood to the second line, only because I think Zajac desperately needs his speed on his wing, but I don't mind giving it a try.

The D is where I'm really getting annoyed. I'd gladly take Gryba over Lovejoy, and I'm becoming more and more worried about Greene. He got burned by speed and overpowered by strength on two goals last night. He can't possibly fit the mold for what Hynes is looking for on the backend.

Last thing I took away from last night: the Devils can still get bullied by any team that plays physical. It totally throws them off their game. Big concern.

New lines at practice:
Mojo-Zajac-Wood
Coleman-Zacha-Dea

Bunch of (frank)ing losers

Bunch of (frank)ing losers
- shvingter88

DOOMED, right?

DOOMED, right?
- Crushers68

Of course

Hall- Nico - Palms
Mojo- Zacha - Anderson
Coleman - Zajac - Wood
Boyle - Rooney - Noesen


Dea is not a 2nd line player. he looked OK first few games but has disappeared.
Leave Coleman -Zajac -Wood - thats our second best line ......when Bratt comes back he shifts into R2 .. but lets try Anderson there or Mcleod , SENEY even Laoin . . some fire needed.

We seem to be replacing second line rw with 4th line players. they dont play that way.. how about we replace 2nd line RW with a first of second line Rw from Bing .
- thechezman

Dea is fine, but has no business being on the 2nd line. I’m not so ready to assume Bratt will really fix anything but we’ll see. The real problem is Zacha isnt a 2C. Outside of speed Zajac has been better; And clearly Travis isn’t an ideal option.

This team has all the same problems as last year which isn’t surprising since we didn’t address any of them of the offseason.