Devils Ups and Downs: Week 8

by Kevin Sellathamby on Nov 29, 2011 10:13 AM EST in Devils Issues, Views & Analysis

I think this week's post should've been titled "Devils Downs" because the team was pretty terrible this week.

Biggest Gains: Johan Hedberg

He did what he had to do in Friday's game: stop pucks. He got his 2nd shutout of the season that night, and bailed out the team and it's sloppy defensive play.

Biggest Losses: Adam Oates

Please, fire this man. Some of the team's problems can be blamed on the lackadaisical 3rd periods and the team sitting on leads, but the power play has been downright atrocious. The team's giving up shorthanded goals left and right and the power play can barely produce. Plus it's not like there's no one available for the team to hire as an assistant. Noted power play expert Guy Carbonneau doesn't have a coaching job. However, Bruce Boudreau was fired yesterday, he could make an excellent replacement for Oates, although seeing as he's still under contract with the Capitals, the Devils will have to ask for permission. If the Devils do land Boudreau, that would be a huge addition to the coaching staff and a massive upgrade over Oates.

If the team wants to be a playoff team, Oates has to go.

Goalies	Trend	Notes
Martin Brodeur		Hey, apparently Martin Brodeur's 39 or something. I could've sworn he was 29. He's making highlight reel saves left and right, but unfortunately the team isn't showing up
Johan Hedberg		See: Biggest Gains
Defense	Trend	Notes
Mark Fayne		Again, not so great on the defensive side of the puck, but his lack of offensive production in November (2 points in last 10 GP) is pretty alarming.
Mark Fraser		Might play if Andy Greene isn't playing tomorrow vs the Avalanche
Andy Greene		Did not practise Monday, although his defensive play has been pretty suspect too.
Adam Larsson		Hasn't been playing excellent defense, but is currently on a 5 game point streak (1 G, 4 A). Needs to be smarter with the puck.
Bryce Salvador		Hasn't been noticeably bad, but could consider cutting down on the penalties
Henrik Tallinder		Hasn't been noticeably bad or noticeably good.
Alexander Urbom		Recalled for the Northwestern road trip. Could potentially see some ice time if DeBoer chooses to bench a defenseman for terrible play (which I hope he does)
Anton Volchenkov		Has provided decent defense for the team this week. Somehow continues to not get significant ice time. His presence was definitely missed last Monday.
Forwards	Trend	Notes
Eric Boulton		Is traveling with the team, could play Wednesday. Boulton is a significant upgrade from Sestito or Janssen because he has some hockey skills
Ryan Carter		Really, I can't blame Carter for his lack of production. Considering he had ice time with Sestito that did hurt his production
David Clarkson		A lot of the same applies to Clarkson as it does to Carter. Those two can't carry a line with a plug on it.
Patrik Elias		For the first time this season Elias has been held off the scoresheet in back to back games.
Adam Henrique		Finally scored a goal after going several games without one. Continues to be doing a decent job of centering the top line.
Cam Janssen		I'll give him props for continuing to get ice time despite bringing nothing positive to the table.
Jacob Josefson		Still out until February, no new updates. The Center depth on the team (Zajac, Elias, Henrique, Carter, even Mills) does suggest he's more likely to move to the wing.
Ilya Kovalchuk		He's showing emotion, and called out the refs for being complete and utter trash. It does make up somewhat for a terrible turnover which ended up costing the Devils a game.
Brad Mills		Was scratched Saturday and might have been because he's dealing with bumps and bruises.
Zach Parise		He got jobbed out of a goal.
Rod Pelley		Scratched in the last 3 games.
Tim Sestito		I've seen dead batteries provide more energy than Sestito.
Petr Sykora		Scored the game winner on Friday. Continues to provide cheap offense.
Mattias Tedenby		Looks awesome at times, then looks Meh at times. Plus he's getting demoted to the 4th line in favour of a plug, that's not great.
Travis Zajac		Skating but will not join the team on the road trip.
Dainius Zubrus		Scored a goal on Wednesday which was one of the team's four regulation goals this week. Tied for 2nd on the team with 7 goals

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Comments

Hah! The opening line about Adam Oates made me laugh at work. (As an aside, I also thought one of your tweets from the other day was hilarious…something along the lines of “Pierre McGuire #blamekovy”)

Boudreau as a PP coach is interesting, but it’s ironic to consider he might actually be the solution for getting the most out of a struggling Russian superstar.

I mostly agree with the rankings, but I’m not sure if I would have been as hard on Tedenby and Carter. Seeing some brief chemistry between Teddy and Kovy last Saturday was both nice and interesting. Hopefully this Kovy at RW nonsense will end soon so we can experiment with this combo more without relegating Teddy to the fourth line.

Deadspin -- In Lou We Trust

by NJallDay on Nov 29, 2011 11:13 AM EST via mobile reply actions

Tedenby has zero (0!) goals, 3 assists and is a minus 6. I thought he was to easy on Tedenby. Considering he is a first round pick, he has been one of our most disapointing players so far.

I know he has shown some speed and skill at times but if it doesn’t translate into goals for or preventing goals against then who cares?

by Bobby V on Nov 29, 2011 12:36 PM EST up reply actions

My opinion on what I’ve seen so far from Tedenby is that the numbers don’t represent his effort or actions. #1) I think he was responsible for jump starting Clarkson’s season this year. A few of Clarkson’s first goals came only because he was in the right place at the right time following an excellent feed/play by Tedenby. #2) I think the reason Teddy hasn’t capitalized on all his scoring chances is because of a) not having any linemates who are setting him up, and b) him not being big enough to do everything. Many times he’s wiggled his way around opponents and has been near the net but unable to finish because the last guy back muscles him off the puck. He hasn’t been given the opportunity to play with quality linemates who will detract attention from him. I think that’s been a major mistake. If Teddy is put alongside another skilled player that the D need to be wary of, there’s no way his elusiveness is going to allow opponents the opportunity to sufficiently cover both him and his linemates.

Deadspin -- In Lou We Trust

by NJallDay on Nov 29, 2011 3:31 PM EST up reply actions

I agree completely. If they can tolerate Larsson’s mistakes, which they should because he has to learn, they should at least give Teddy more PP time where he can skate with skilled players and maybe inject some speed and creativity into one of the slowest, most predictable PPs in the league. I would also try putting him on the ice for the last 30 seconds or so of a PK, tell him to go down and harass the opposition after a clear, maybe get a turnover and a shortie.

If their plans are to keep him stuck on the 3rd and 4th lines, where he is mostly useless, they should send him to Albany with specific instructions to the coaches there about what he needs to work on. (This did wonders for Henrique.) What they’re doing now is beyond stupid. it’s like they want him to fail.

by Felon on Nov 29, 2011 4:14 PM EST up reply actions

Trash

When you playing time is trash and your linemates are trash….you look like well trash. I have never in my life seen someone so small hold the puck in the offensive zone as well as this kid does. He has great hands and great speed…and also makes decent passes. Put him on a line with a decent center (Henrique or Elias) and double shift Kovs on the left wing…see what you think about him then.

by dandello9 on Nov 29, 2011 5:34 PM EST up reply actions

yes

Like it! Kovy has gotta go back to Left wing, he drifts over there any way. he seems lost on the right. Teddy is not a 4th liner & if he plays with better players he will score!

by ANDY IN VA on Nov 29, 2011 9:27 PM EST up reply actions

I think Teddy is one of the only guys we have that can skate with Kovy (when Kovy’s healthy). It may be a defensive nightmare, but it would put Kovy back on LW. Might be worth a shot when Zajac is back.

by HouseRich on Nov 29, 2011 12:54 PM EST up reply actions

When Zajac gets back, hopefully soon, it will make things better for sure.

I’d keep the Elias line together.

Zajac and Parise together.

Henrique and Kovy together.

Then maybe we could have three lines that could score.

by Bobby V on Nov 29, 2011 2:28 PM EST up reply actions

I like the idea of a Kovy Henrique Teddy line.

We could call it The Defensive Liability, but it would be fun to watch.

I’m not going to lie to you. It felt good and I’m going to do whatever is in my power possible to stay there as long as I can. - Petr Sykora on playing on a line with Elias and Parise.

by Murdoc on Nov 29, 2011 2:49 PM EST up reply actions

Agreed,

I wouldn’t mind seeing that line despite how bad it would be defensively.

What you fail to understand in your joyless myopia is that baseball is the key to life-- the Rosetta Stone, if you will. If you just understood baseball better all your other questions your, your... the, uh... the aliens, the conspiracies they would all, in their way be answered by the baseball gods.

by winchester5 on Nov 29, 2011 4:47 PM EST up reply actions

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not discrediting Henrique but I think he is a bad center for Kovy. Henrique is not a typical center, he’s like a hole, when he carries the puck in the offensive zone, either he rushes the net or shoots or dumps it around the boards (that’s great, that’s aggressive but that’s not the question here). I remember many times that Kovy has been briefly but clearly opened in the slot while Henrique was hanging on the puck. Adam was around the net, head down and has never considered those opportunities, simply because he never saw them.

Henrique is a good player but I think that playing with him, Kovy will be frustrated in 3 weeks, I think he already started to be during the last game (body language when Henrique didn’t see him open).

Personally, I can’t wait to see Josefson back there because He’s got everything to be the fit for Kovy. A long shot, I know.

"It's magic, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win"

by Elektrostal_Kid on Nov 29, 2011 7:00 PM EST up reply actions

yeah Kovy is not a 100% yet.

by ANDY IN VA on Nov 29, 2011 9:28 PM EST up reply actions

How is 2pts in 10 games for Fayne “alarming”? That more or less matches his pace from last year (.26ppg). Does Fayne strike you as a defenseman who should put more than .3ppg?

by nickG on Nov 29, 2011 1:47 PM EST reply actions

Some can argue Fayne has been our best D-man all year… I don’t have a problem with him.

And Kovalchuk speeds away, great moves, busting through, DID YOU SEE THAT?

by KovyisLove on Nov 29, 2011 3:19 PM EST reply actions

Parise is an even? He has 1 goal in 11 games. He is supposed to be our best offensive player. If having him trending as even is what we should expect out of him for the rest of the season, then forget talking about the playoffs. We should be discussing the upcoming draft and our need for a quality winger.

Putting Fayne as a minus is also strange, considering he has the same amount of goals as Parise over the last 11 games. Fayne has also been playing very well defensively. Quite the surprise, as most of us had him pegged as a fringe player, or possibly the 7th defensemen on this team at the start of the season.

by DiffuseTheBob on Nov 29, 2011 3:22 PM EST reply actions

ha! If I remember correctly we were already discussing about the same players (Parise and Fayne) for the same reasons last week.

"It's magic, it's tragic, it's a loss, it's a win"

by Elektrostal_Kid on Nov 29, 2011 7:14 PM EST up reply actions

If they stunk last week, and they still stinks this week, that makes them even. It’s a week-by-week rating, not a comparison to what is expected of them.

Go Devils
Go Jets

by FrankG929 on Nov 29, 2011 9:27 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah I don’t understand the Fayne comment either. He’s been playing 22 all purpose minutes per game the last few weeks and has looked quite good in doing so.

Sestito is unfathomably bad.

by dkball7 on Nov 29, 2011 8:27 PM EST reply actions