Sam Woo: RAISING HELL: Devils Look To Start Another Streak

Guess we gotta wait until Ruff speaks to the media at ~5 to find out what's going on with the goalies.

Also, seems like Palat could be back tonight. People noticed on the Devils roster/website that he's no longer listed as being on injured reserve. Following up on this, Tyce Thompson has been assigned to Utica.

Guess we gotta wait until Ruff speaks to the media at ~5 to find out what's going on with the goalies.

Also, seems like Palat could be back tonight. People noticed on the Devils roster/website that he's no longer listed as being on injured reserve. Following up on this, Tyce Thompson has been assigned to Utica.
- vlongo4419

Palat confirmed back.

Akira Schmid has officially been recalled, with Blackwood being held out for precautionary reasons after taking a shot off the hand in morning skate yesterday.

Lindy also says Bastian is getting closer to a return. Skating on his own, but not with the team yet.

Palat confirmed back.

Akira Schmid has officially been recalled, with Blackwood being held out for precautionary reasons after taking a shot off the hand in morning skate yesterday.

Lindy also says Bastian is getting closer to a return. Skating on his own, but not with the team yet.
- vlongo4419

Good news with palat should help stable the line up some and hopefully get going

I wonder who will start with vitek playing yesterday

The BMW line would help with the depth

Good news with palat should help stable the line up some and hopefully get going

I wonder who will start with vitek playing yesterday

The BMW line would help with the depth
- dmarsden2988

Schmid gets the start

Zetterlund is the scratch with Palat coming back.

Expected lines to start:

Palat-Nico-Bratt
Haula-Jack-Tatar
Wood-McLeod-Holtz
Sharangovich-Bo-Mercer

Siegs-Dougie
Graves-Sevo
Bahl-Smith

Schmid

Zetterlund is the scratch with Palat coming back.

Expected lines to start:

Palat-Nico-Bratt
Haula-Jack-Tatar
Wood-McLeod-Holtz
Sharangovich-Bo-Mercer

Siegs-Dougie
Graves-Sevo
Bahl-Smith

Schmid
- vlongo4419

Holtz needs to find a groove or perhaps get out of the lineup. idk. Trade for Meier. Nice to have Palat back, but he's not the 30g scorer we're missing. That top 6, and really the whole lineup, looks infinitely better with Meier and his shot, size, ability and in the prime of his career.

Holtz needs to find a groove or perhaps get out of the lineup. idk. Trade for Meier. Nice to have Palat back, but he's not the 30g scorer we're missing. That top 6, and really the whole lineup, looks infinitely better with Meier and his shot, size, ability and in the prime of his career.
- MartysBetter88

Well yeah, this team still only has 2 legit top 6 wingers. Bratt and Palat. Tatar, while he has been good this year, is a middle 6 winger better off on a 3rd line. Haula is very clearly a 3rd liner who we keep forcing into the top 6 for some reason, and he should be at center in that bottom 6 role. Sharangovich and Mercer are middle 6 players when they're at their best. Holtz *should* be pushing to being a top 6 winger but he is literally never getting a chance to show he can play in that spot, and he's never going to succeed with McLeod as his center. Zetterlund is a fun player, but again he's another guy that should be in a bottom 6 role.

Adding an actual top line winger like Meier into any lineup makes it look better lol. Unfortunately I don't think Fitz will actually make a huge addition mid-season. I think we'll need to wait until the offseason for any kind of move like that to possibly happen.

The hell was that 3rd goal? Like our team had a stroke in the defensive end.

Holtz needs to find a groove or perhaps get out of the lineup. idk. Trade for Meier. Nice to have Palat back, but he's not the 30g scorer we're missing. That top 6, and really the whole lineup, looks infinitely better with Meier and his shot, size, ability and in the prime of his career.
- MartysBetter88

Holtz would have a better chance on the second line. He’s going to poop on that line.

Damnit haula

Haula on the ice in the empty net situation. Lol, just a laughable coaching decision from Ruff. Meanwhile, Holtz has arguably the best shot on the team is kept on the bench. Smart.

Outshoot a team 39-19, actually score 3 goals, and still lose. Unacceptable. God dammit I wish Fitz would actually get a sniper. Getting goalie'd night in and night out is getting obnoxiously frustrating.

Damnit haula
- MartysBetter88

He’ll likely be traded away by the deadline along with bratt

Well at least they play the rangers on the road next game, devil's always play better away

He’ll likely be traded away by the deadline along with bratt
- shvingter88

In the meantime get him off of Jack's line.

In the meantime get him off of Jack's line.
- FAZOOL

Sadly I think severson will be traded as well

Well at least they play the rangers on the road next game, devil's always play better away
- dmarsden2988

You may want to recheck that cause if you plan on going you may be the only person at the Garden

Well at least they play the rangers on the road next game, devil's always play better away
- dmarsden2988

I see what you did there

You may want to recheck that cause if you plan on going you may be the only person at the Garden
- devils2929

Prudential center turns into ranger home games

More blue than red

Prudential center turns into ranger home games

More blue than red
- dmarsden2988

Ahhhh i see what he did there. Funny guy

Sadly I think severson will be traded as well
- shvingter88

I think they thought Haula would be the Knuble to Jacks Jumbo Joe.

But Haula just sucks ass.

Like it should be bottom 6 for him. Swap him with Holtz.

Also it'll force Jack to learn to win faceoffs.

If winning faceoffs mattered maybe we would win a (frank)ing game but instead we have Haula glued to Hughes and we get to enjoy watching this guy never score a goal instead.

If winning faceoffs mattered maybe we would win a (frank)ing game but instead we have Haula glued to Hughes and we get to enjoy watching this guy never score a goal instead.
- Pomegrant

Seriously. Its so frustrating he's being shoved into that spot nonstop. He's so much better suited for the 3C role and it would help so much with our depth issue. Is it really so hard to run a variation of something like:

Palat-Jack-Holtz
Tatar-Nico-Bratt
Sharangovich-Haula-Mercer
Wood-McLeod-Zetterlund/Bastian when he's back

If Holtz doesn't cut it there then send him back to Utica, put one of Sharangovich/Mercer in his spot, and call up a Graeme Clarke and give him a shot to play in that 3rd line role.

It's really not that difficult to match the lines correctly. And I personally would not have McLeod and Wood in the lineup, but no chance Ruff does that so we're stuck with them for now.

Very long post here, but Scott Wheeler's thoughts on some of our prospects from the WJs:

Simon Nemec (D, New Jersey Devils): Captain. Short little passes and evasions. Steered the game effortlessly. So subtle. Big in big moments (minus his penalties in the quarterfinal), incredibly efficient the rest. Made some really difficult passes through seams.

Luke Hughes (D, New Jersey Devils): Hughes is past this level. Skates so well that he’s almost never in trouble out there. Transports with such ease and confidence. Gets his shots through.

Topias Vilen (D, New Jersey Devils): There were questions coming into the tournament as to which Finnish blueliner would or could fill the shoes of Topi Niemela and Kasper Puutio, who were both tremendous for them in the summer tournament but aged out. Then, Vilen averaged 26:01 in the tournament. His strengths are defensively (defending the rush, breaking up plays, boxing out) but he tried to activate when he could, too. I have concerns about his upside, but he’s a solid defenseman at this level.

Corey Pronman has Luke as one of his standouts from the tournament:

Luke Hughes, LHD, United States (New Jersey): Hughes was one of my two all-star votes for defensemen at the tournament, but I did that with reservations given that he had a good but not amazing semifinal against Canada, and even though he had a great tournament, those big moments matter. You ride the wave with Hughes. For most of the tournament, he was an elite transition player whose skating and skill took over shifts. He plays a risky style, the mistakes look glaringly bad with him and at times his defensive play was lackadaisical. In sum, I think it was still a very positive tournament with a lot of good from Hughes that looked like a potential impact NHL defenseman, including shutting down Bedard more than any other defender seemed able to in the tournament, but it’s also hard to look past the zero points in a big game.

It's difficult to watch because you see games in which Sharangovich and Boqvist have life in them but they get less ice time than Wood/McLeod who consistently don't do anything. These guys are fourth liners at most and you can't just keep wishing they are more productive than they are because they play physically. You can't check goals into the net no matter how hard you try.

It goes hand-in-hand with Lindy's point about how Zetterlund either needs to produce or be hard to play against. We're looking at a coach who thinks that being "big" on the ice matters for something. It's the same with needing a "faceoff man" on the ice always. I don't care less whether we win or lose the faceoff because I can't find any evidence that it actually causes you to score more/less goals.

Even on powerplays, you can just watch Hughes gain the zone himself with ease so why do we care so much about winning faceoffs where we are putting ourselves at a disadvantage for scoring the rest of the shift. Haula can't score, plain and simple. Get somebody else up there and give them a chance.