With the 2014 NHL trade deadline having passed on March 5th, all of the speculation on who would be moving where has come to a concise end. While most of the hockey world was concerned with what kind of return the inevitable trade of Islanders forward Thomas Vanek would bring or the surprise move by Vancouver to trade starting goaltender Roberto Luongo less than one season after apparently putting their faith in him by trading Cory Schneider to New Jersey, Many Devils fans were worried that by the end of the day, they would have confirmation that they had seen the last of legendary goaltender Martin Brodeur in New Jersey. For the benefit of everyone involved, in my opinion, and also not entirely surprising, Brodeur was not moved and still retains the chance to have remained a Devil for his entire Hall of Fame career. More intriguing to my mind was the seemingly unconsidered possibility of the Devils trading Jaromir Jagr.
While it certainly would have signaled the end of an era had the Devils decided to do what Vancouver did not in the Summer and move the older franchise Goalie to make room for the younger Schneider, the reality is that the torch is already in the process of being passed, and while Brodeur gets more playing time than most goalies in his situation would likely get, trading him would not have made much of an impact on the current team. Jagr, however, would have been quite a bit more meaningful to this team. While Jagr speaks often about playing for quite some time more, the reality is that he is forty-two years old and likely has only a season or two left in him. If the winger wants to add another Stanley Cup win to his Hall of Fame career, he will have to do it soon. This makes the fact that he not only never asked for a trade, but seemingly discouraged one by implying that he would fail to report to some teams interesting. While players always say to the media that they believe in their team and want to compete, these men are not idiots. Many of them know that they are not on a team that can make the playoffs and compete for a league championship. The fact that Jagr did not feel the need to rectify this situation by asking for a trade to a team higher in the standings implies that he truly feels that the Devils, who currently sit just outside playoff position, have a chance of being a force in late April and May.
From the team's perspective, keeping Jagr and fellow impending free agents comes as less than a surprise considering General Manager Lou Lamoriello has never thrown in the towel on a season in his nearly two decades of managing the team. Jagr is the Devils' leading scorer and has only bolstered the team's strong leadership group. In short, Jagr is a key cog in the hope that the team can be a contender with coach Pete DeBoer's system if they can sneak into the playoffs. After all, The team was hardly considered a a favorite when they came within two games of winning the Cup as a sixth seed in the Eastern Conference in 2012, and while the current squad certainly lacks the top end talent that it had then, many would say it has even more of the depth that made it so deadly at the time.
While the returns brought in by other pending free agents at this year's deadline imply that the devils would not have gotten as much as they would have hoped for from trading players such as Jagr, Brodeur, and defensemen Mark Fayne and Marek Zidlicky, the decision to keep them does mean that the necessary retooling of the farm system, which lacks any semblance of impact forwards to replace the losses of Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise over the past two offseasons, will have all the fewer resources to work with moving forward. If the team makes it far into the playoffs, The decision not to sell will be hailed as a brilliant show of faith in the team. But if the team falls short of the playoffs or fizzles in the first round, it will be yet another in a line of criticisms of Lamoriello's failure to abandon some of the old guard in order to build for the future in recent years. Whatever the outcome, Jagr, Brodeur, and the others remain in the fold for now. For Devils fans, it can only be hoped that these players can contribute to something truly special.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Friday, December 6, 2013
New Jersey should fire Pete DeBoer
It has probably taken me longer to come to this decision than most Devils fans. I still believe that he is one of the best coaches a team could have in a seven game playoff round. However, the evidence against him being the right fit for the Devils franchise moving forward has finally reached the critical level in my estimation. New Jersey is clearly a team in transition to a new, younger core of players, and there is reason to be hopeful about this transition with young defensemen such as Adam Larsson, Eric Gelinas, Jon Merrill, Damon Severson, Steve Santini, and Reece Scarlett in the system. DeBoer, however, is not the coach the Devils need to lead this transition.
DeBoer has made it rather clear that he is not a great coach when it comes to dealing with younger players. Notably, a complete botching of the development of Dmirty Kulikov during Pete's previous coaching stint in Florida, who revealed that some players were terrified to make mistakes. This has carried over into DeBoer's time in New Jersey, where he has consistently benched young players over one mistake, while allowing veterans to make many mistakes and face no consequences. Young forwards Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby - who both looked quite promising in their rookie years before DeBoer came along - have now both been healthy scratches and both have completely lost their scoring confidence and regressed under DeBoer. For a team that is desperately in need of young offensive skill, the Devils cannot afford to have more promising forward prospects bust because of a harsh coach.
DeBoer's treatment of young players seems to extend from a devotion to his veterans. A particular recent example is the use of enforcer Cam Janssen, who has played fourteen straight games since being called up from Albany. DeBoer has been quoted recently as saying he wants more scoring from his bottom six, but then scratches players like Tedenby and Damien brunner in favor of Janssen and Tim Sestito. Janssen and Sestito are fine as call-ups and can be a spark plug for a few games, as evidenced by Janssen's outburst of two goals in his first three games this season, but their effectiveness only goes so far, as evidenced by Janssen's subsequent eleven game pointless streak since. Janssen is once again in the lineup tonight over Tedenby and Brunner. If ever there was a game in which Janssen could be scratched in favor of more offensive firepower, it is against the Detroit Red Wings, who have only four fighting majors this year and almost no sense of rivalry with the Devils. This is a textbook game in which a coach would sit their enforcers to give young goal scorers a chance, but instead Janssen is in, denying Brunner a chance to face his old team and Tedenby a chance to earn more ice time.
If the Devils stand any hope of capitalizing on their current young players, they need to move to a Coach better at teaching and encouraging them. DeBoer is a good coach, but he is not a good coach for this team.
DeBoer has made it rather clear that he is not a great coach when it comes to dealing with younger players. Notably, a complete botching of the development of Dmirty Kulikov during Pete's previous coaching stint in Florida, who revealed that some players were terrified to make mistakes. This has carried over into DeBoer's time in New Jersey, where he has consistently benched young players over one mistake, while allowing veterans to make many mistakes and face no consequences. Young forwards Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby - who both looked quite promising in their rookie years before DeBoer came along - have now both been healthy scratches and both have completely lost their scoring confidence and regressed under DeBoer. For a team that is desperately in need of young offensive skill, the Devils cannot afford to have more promising forward prospects bust because of a harsh coach.
DeBoer's treatment of young players seems to extend from a devotion to his veterans. A particular recent example is the use of enforcer Cam Janssen, who has played fourteen straight games since being called up from Albany. DeBoer has been quoted recently as saying he wants more scoring from his bottom six, but then scratches players like Tedenby and Damien brunner in favor of Janssen and Tim Sestito. Janssen and Sestito are fine as call-ups and can be a spark plug for a few games, as evidenced by Janssen's outburst of two goals in his first three games this season, but their effectiveness only goes so far, as evidenced by Janssen's subsequent eleven game pointless streak since. Janssen is once again in the lineup tonight over Tedenby and Brunner. If ever there was a game in which Janssen could be scratched in favor of more offensive firepower, it is against the Detroit Red Wings, who have only four fighting majors this year and almost no sense of rivalry with the Devils. This is a textbook game in which a coach would sit their enforcers to give young goal scorers a chance, but instead Janssen is in, denying Brunner a chance to face his old team and Tedenby a chance to earn more ice time.
If the Devils stand any hope of capitalizing on their current young players, they need to move to a Coach better at teaching and encouraging them. DeBoer is a good coach, but he is not a good coach for this team.
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Contact Sports are a Dying Breed
With the recent class action lawsuit brought against the NHL, now seems like a crossroads for the future of the sport. As more and more damning evidence comes out about the dangers of concussions sustained while playing contact sports, it seems ever more likely that the future of contact sports is finite. While they are not changes fans, players, nor executives involved with the sport want to make, the necessity of it seems rapidly approaching.
The NHL is, in my opinion, better suited to deal with the concussion issue than a sport such as football. The NFL has an almost hopeless future, as there is little the sport can do to prevent the repeated blows to the head suffered by linemen, running backs, and defensive players. As pressure mounts and public high schools are forced to abandon the sport due to liability concerns - something I personally could see happening within the next ten years - many young players will be priced out of expensive private options. This combined with concerned parents that prevent their children from playing the sport will ultimately constrict the NFL's stream of athletes and result in a dying sport. Hockey, however, can avoid this fate, and with just a few simple rule changes.
Change 1: More stringent fighting rules
The current penalty for fighting is a five-minute major that doesn't even put the offender's team down one man because of the coincidental nature of the penalties. Other leagues and international play have more strict penalties for fighting, and as a result have less of it. Throughout all professional and amateur hockey leagues, it should become the policy that a player that engages in a fight should be ejected from the game and face further suspension after that. This rule is in line with the policies of most other professional sports, and while yes fighting is an exciting part of the game, more stringent penalties would reduce the needless fighting after clean hits, while not being so strict that it would prevent the occasional fights that are actually called for.
Change 2: Eliminate open-ice hits
There are few things in hockey as exciting as a jarring hit in the middle of the ice. However there are also few things as dangerous for both players involved. The NHL has already suspended twenty different players this season, with many of those being for players that initiated open-ice hits. These hits are punishing and dangerous and are one of the least effective methods of defending. While body checking in front of the net and along the boards are integral parts of the game and cannot be legislated out, checks in the open ice should be an automatic penalty. Hockey Canada has already taken steps to encourage safer checking practices and other methods of defense, such as stick checking. Other amateur leagues have also taken steps, for instance, Devils prospect Steve Santini was suspended for a hit in college that many believe wouldn't have even been a penalty in the NHL. The removal of open-ice checking would not only make the game safer, but it would also open up more space for creativity. Like banning fighting, it isn't a change most fans want to make, but it is a change that must be made to preserve the game
Change 3: More consistent officiating and discipline
This isn't really a rule change, but there is already much complaining among hockey fans on the varying length of suspensions and non-suspensions on similar plays as it is. If the NHL is to become more strict on physicality, they will have to come up with a less arbitrary and subjective system for determining punishment.
Again, I don't want fighting and hitting to be taken out of the game, but it may just be a necessity if the league is to continue.
The NHL is, in my opinion, better suited to deal with the concussion issue than a sport such as football. The NFL has an almost hopeless future, as there is little the sport can do to prevent the repeated blows to the head suffered by linemen, running backs, and defensive players. As pressure mounts and public high schools are forced to abandon the sport due to liability concerns - something I personally could see happening within the next ten years - many young players will be priced out of expensive private options. This combined with concerned parents that prevent their children from playing the sport will ultimately constrict the NFL's stream of athletes and result in a dying sport. Hockey, however, can avoid this fate, and with just a few simple rule changes.
Change 1: More stringent fighting rules
The current penalty for fighting is a five-minute major that doesn't even put the offender's team down one man because of the coincidental nature of the penalties. Other leagues and international play have more strict penalties for fighting, and as a result have less of it. Throughout all professional and amateur hockey leagues, it should become the policy that a player that engages in a fight should be ejected from the game and face further suspension after that. This rule is in line with the policies of most other professional sports, and while yes fighting is an exciting part of the game, more stringent penalties would reduce the needless fighting after clean hits, while not being so strict that it would prevent the occasional fights that are actually called for.
Change 2: Eliminate open-ice hits
There are few things in hockey as exciting as a jarring hit in the middle of the ice. However there are also few things as dangerous for both players involved. The NHL has already suspended twenty different players this season, with many of those being for players that initiated open-ice hits. These hits are punishing and dangerous and are one of the least effective methods of defending. While body checking in front of the net and along the boards are integral parts of the game and cannot be legislated out, checks in the open ice should be an automatic penalty. Hockey Canada has already taken steps to encourage safer checking practices and other methods of defense, such as stick checking. Other amateur leagues have also taken steps, for instance, Devils prospect Steve Santini was suspended for a hit in college that many believe wouldn't have even been a penalty in the NHL. The removal of open-ice checking would not only make the game safer, but it would also open up more space for creativity. Like banning fighting, it isn't a change most fans want to make, but it is a change that must be made to preserve the game
Change 3: More consistent officiating and discipline
This isn't really a rule change, but there is already much complaining among hockey fans on the varying length of suspensions and non-suspensions on similar plays as it is. If the NHL is to become more strict on physicality, they will have to come up with a less arbitrary and subjective system for determining punishment.
Again, I don't want fighting and hitting to be taken out of the game, but it may just be a necessity if the league is to continue.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Crucial West Coast Trip for the Devils
The Devils will begin a potentially crucial three game road trip against the California teams tonight. New Jersey is coming off a strong team victory against Pittsburgh on Saturday, but despite a recent surge in play remains with a losing record at 7-8-5. The 5 overtime losses, all of them in the shootout, combined with a surprisingly weak start for the Metropolitan division as a whole has kept the Devils in competitive standing through the first fourth of the season, however they need to start stringing together 3+ game winning streaks if they wish to stay in the mix. Escaping California with a 3-0 or even 2-1 record would be a good start, however the Devils will have their work cut out for them. The first match against the Anaheim Ducks draws a team that has yet to be defeated at home this season. After that, the Devils will face the LA Kings in Los Angeles for the first time since losing game 6 of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals. The Kings have already defeated the Devils this season and only trail the Ducks by 1 point in the standings for the Pacific division lead. Finally, New Jersey will be taking on the San Jose Sharks, who have only lost in regulation 3 times this season, before returning to host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Kings 2 - Devils 0
The score aside, at first glance this game appeared to be a good one for the devils. Cory Schneider played an excellent game in goal only to see the team in front of him provide no goal support once again. Stephen Gionta, Ryan Carter, and Cam Janssen played minutes on par with what fourth line players should. The Devils had a solid effort against a good team and simply came up unlucky.
At least that is the way this game could have been viewed circa March 2012. In the context of November 2013, this game simply represents a continuing trend for the franchise. Cory Schneider played excellent, yet his stat line for the season still finds him 6th in the league in GAA with 1.98 yet only with one win. Carter and Gionta's minutes were limited, yet they both got several shifts in the waning minutes of a game the Devils were losing by one goal when neither had shown much in the way of offensive chances to that point in the game. The Devils played nearly as mistake free of a game as you'll find in the NHL, yet came up short. The game was a textbook example of the two greatest problems facing the Devils franchise today: a woefully inept group offensively and a coach that does not seem to fit in with where the franchise is headed.
The Devils have been shutout five times already in nineteen games this season. They are twenty-seventh overall in goals for per game with an average of exactly two per game. There is no way to view the team other than bad offensively. This fact isn't helped by the way coach Pete DeBoer has employed his players since the playoffs in 2012. DeBoer has made it a habit to turn to his "favorite" players, such as Gionta and defenseman Peter Harrold, over others in crucial moments of the game. While most coaches would keep their top two lines on the ice in the final minutes of a game in which they are trailing, DeBoer turns to Gionta and Carter for inexplicable reasons. And while most coaches would scale back the minutes of a defenseman that was struggling as much as Harrold was last night, particularly after he took a hard check from the Kings' Jordan Nolan late in the second period which left him on the ice for several moments, yet Harrold still logged the third most minutes among Devils defensemen. Not to mention the fact that forwards Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby were scratched from the game after Gionta came back from injury despite both young forwards having played several strong games. Sitting the younger players while giving veterans much more leeway has been a hallmark of DeBoer's time in New Jersey.
Overall DeBoer has made it clear both in New Jersey as well as his previous Head Coaching position in Florida that he does not handle young players well and relies on his favorite veteran players far too often. For a team that is transitioning from an older core group of players to a new group of youth, this raises Questions about his future with New Jersey. There aren't many coaches better than DeBoer in a seven game playoff series, but for the foreseeable future, he may not be the best fit for a Devils franchise that desperately needs to get younger and grow as a team.
I'm personally not ready to fire DeBoer, but something needs to change in order to get him to get more on board with the youth movement, because it is undeniably coming.
The Devils will be back in action tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. DeBoer has already said that the same lineup will be taking the ice tonight as last night, but it remains to be seen if he'll change his use of those players based on last night. Perhaps he will use young defensemen Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas a bit more. It certainly would help them to develop to get a bit more responsibility, and it might even help the Devils score for a change.
At least that is the way this game could have been viewed circa March 2012. In the context of November 2013, this game simply represents a continuing trend for the franchise. Cory Schneider played excellent, yet his stat line for the season still finds him 6th in the league in GAA with 1.98 yet only with one win. Carter and Gionta's minutes were limited, yet they both got several shifts in the waning minutes of a game the Devils were losing by one goal when neither had shown much in the way of offensive chances to that point in the game. The Devils played nearly as mistake free of a game as you'll find in the NHL, yet came up short. The game was a textbook example of the two greatest problems facing the Devils franchise today: a woefully inept group offensively and a coach that does not seem to fit in with where the franchise is headed.
The Devils have been shutout five times already in nineteen games this season. They are twenty-seventh overall in goals for per game with an average of exactly two per game. There is no way to view the team other than bad offensively. This fact isn't helped by the way coach Pete DeBoer has employed his players since the playoffs in 2012. DeBoer has made it a habit to turn to his "favorite" players, such as Gionta and defenseman Peter Harrold, over others in crucial moments of the game. While most coaches would keep their top two lines on the ice in the final minutes of a game in which they are trailing, DeBoer turns to Gionta and Carter for inexplicable reasons. And while most coaches would scale back the minutes of a defenseman that was struggling as much as Harrold was last night, particularly after he took a hard check from the Kings' Jordan Nolan late in the second period which left him on the ice for several moments, yet Harrold still logged the third most minutes among Devils defensemen. Not to mention the fact that forwards Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby were scratched from the game after Gionta came back from injury despite both young forwards having played several strong games. Sitting the younger players while giving veterans much more leeway has been a hallmark of DeBoer's time in New Jersey.
Overall DeBoer has made it clear both in New Jersey as well as his previous Head Coaching position in Florida that he does not handle young players well and relies on his favorite veteran players far too often. For a team that is transitioning from an older core group of players to a new group of youth, this raises Questions about his future with New Jersey. There aren't many coaches better than DeBoer in a seven game playoff series, but for the foreseeable future, he may not be the best fit for a Devils franchise that desperately needs to get younger and grow as a team.
I'm personally not ready to fire DeBoer, but something needs to change in order to get him to get more on board with the youth movement, because it is undeniably coming.
The Devils will be back in action tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. DeBoer has already said that the same lineup will be taking the ice tonight as last night, but it remains to be seen if he'll change his use of those players based on last night. Perhaps he will use young defensemen Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas a bit more. It certainly would help them to develop to get a bit more responsibility, and it might even help the Devils score for a change.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Greetings Traveler!
Welcome to my blog! This is going to be a place for me to share all my thoughts and feelings about the NHL, with an obvious emphasis on my favorite team, the New Jersey Devils. I'm not a hockey expert or analyst, but I've been watching this game since I can remember and I'd like to think I know what I'm talking about. I'll try to update every other day or so when possible, so away we go!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)