Credentialed media member and Devils writer (Pucks & Pitchforks), Trey Matthews, brings you all the latest news, stories, and analysis on Brick City's own New Jersey Devils in this Locked On Podcast Network series. Keep up to date with the 3x Stanley Cup winners, who have also proudly won 9 division titles, and 5 conference championships! Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. #NJDevils
This organization constantly uses injuries as an excuse. Anybody that says the sentence that injuries are not an excuse, but we had a lot of them is fooling themselves. This organization needs to get to a place where we do not talk about injuries at all, we need to have a next man up mentality, and we need everybody to grow a set of balls.
Honestly, this season will end up being a blessing. We werent winning the cup last year, so getting a top 10 pick and all the team's weaknesses exposed is going to help in the long run
Inconsistent? How about bad? The goalies were hit and miss while the rookie D-Men were just plain bad. It takes 3 years to make a good NHL D-Man. Luke Hughes and Nemec were nowhere near ok on most nights. Hopefully, and I do expect a lot of improvement on the Blue line now that Fitzgerald has got a solid goalie and veteran 3 and 4, D-men at least to work in front of Markstrom. We will be better this coming season and may even find our way back into the playoffs. Staying healthy will help a lot and Jack needs to put on 10 lbs of muscle to avoid being pushed aroued like last year. He could take notes from Lucas Raymond of Detroit and beef up a little. They're both about the same height. Come on Jack get it done!
Agreed, but tough to put on wieght when your rehabbing a surgically repaired shoulder. I hope he is put in better positions under Keefe and lets hope he can stay healthy and stop this trend of his, getting injured and missing good periods of time.
I agree with lots of points! Lazar is great. Bratt is a shark out there. Ultimately, im the most psyched to see what Keefe can do with this group. I think this especially goes for Palat. I see his price tag for the playoffs but you got to get there to make it worth it. I want to see if keefe can get something unlocked with Palat for the regular season
Great Job! I agree with Kristy, the biggest move is Keefe. Getting this group into a a different scheme is, to me, the biggest need. There has been so much change, so its going to take a bit to see how the chemistry is. I just hope FItz lets Keefe cook. My only concern is the team is starting the season in Europe, so that has to have an effect on how the preseason goes, maybe more compressed meaning they may have to work out some of these kinks early in the regular season. LGD, I am excited for a new start.
Knowledgeable pretty great smile, Trey keep up the good work!!! Kristy always brings up the temperature.. love her passion always smiling and very bubbly, live watching her on sny.. nee to bring her on more.. not many grls can rock a hat, but she owns that sh!+.. in love❤
Im hoping that the Hughes bro's will fall into line under Keefe. I think Ruff lost that team by doing what he did. As stated, these guys have been in the league for a while and need to start showing a way more mature product than they have under Ruff.
Lindy was never the problem last year. Watch how he does back in Buffalo this coming year. Injuries, uneperienced and rookie D-Men that weren't NHL ready was the issue. Fitzergerald took way too long to get a goalie and the D-men were just awful! YOU just don't get drafted and jump into a number one defensive pairing in your first NHL season, it just doesn't happen! It takes years to develope these players.
@@karlheinzvonkroemann2217 I agree with you about the teenagers on the blueline and crap goaltending. Crap goaltending has been an issue for years, with either it being bad or not being able to stay healthy. Ruff's "system" is garbage and yes we can watch buffalo, win some games and fall short. Ruff refuses to adjust or change anything other than tossing his lines in a blender. Its the same everywhere he went, ending the same way it did in NJ, getting fired.
Sadly boston market is almost totally out of business and theyre not even trying to get back. Ive heard their corporate offices dont even answer the phones anymore. One of my favorite food spots ever. Sucks that theyre gone.
Not recommended to trade him. Askarov is very aggressive and can be a head case in net behavior with that trait is like Hextall. Please watch Czechia 🇨🇿 vs Askarov (Russia playing in Ostrava WJC). Askarov was erratic in that game. Yegorov has a really solid foundation already has the C and T pushes. Rebound control and Angles will be improved. If you want to trade for Askarov I would look at Poulter
The ONLY reason he's no longer a Hab is because the team has one of the best groups of young defensemen in the NHL, along with a number of top-quality prospects playing in the AHL. Just watch: Kovacevic will start the season the third pairing and will stay there for the entire year...including the playoffs the Devils missed out on last season.
Next season, Tyler Brennan will follow in the footsteps of Martin Brodeur, lead all rookie goalies in wins (45), shutouts (7), goals-against average (1.82), save percentage (.936), and minutes played (4,328), and win Vezina Tropny and Calder Trophy honors as well as his 1st Stanley Cup with the Devils.
Habs fan here: He's actually really good. Very responsible defensively (one of the only guy that finished the season in the +) and a great work ethic. He's not often mentionned because he's a pretty reserved guy but low key he does pretty much everything right. You guys will like him.
Kinda like hearing filmon talk, smart and likable kid, i hope he makes it. Love how he pronounces scheme as "shkeme", lol. Is that how some people say it? Am i wrong in pronouncing it as "skeme"? Hah..
Holtz had every opportunity to showcase his talent last season, with all the injuries, and he didn’t. The entire league took notice of this. And to make it worse, he didn’t get on team Sweden. His stock must have drastically gone down. In hindsight we should have sent him to the Sharks and kept Zetterlund.
I think Holtz will be playing in Sweden in a few years. He was removed from the Swedish World Championship team. There is something that coaches are noticing from him or his play that they aren’t liking. I guess we’ll see how he does with the Knights.
Was under the tutelage of what was considered 2 "players" coaches, and he couldn't do what was asked. It's not what Holtz does when he scores a goal it's what he's not doing when the puck is not on his stick. I hope he improves and can make it in Vegas, but this team just doesn't have the time at this juncture to accommodate a project like that. This is exactly why I wanted nothing to do with Cole Eiserman in the draft.
Yea once fitz kinda publically bashed him in that presser a while back, i thought he must be a problem. Whether its locker room, or being not very coachable, or just something we dont see on tv. At the same time i feel these coaches should take a page from belichick and "dont tell me what he cant do, tell me what he can do". And work to maximize what he does do well, which is shooting. But thats a different sport. Holtz gotta get in where he fits in and do the work thats asked of him if he wants to be an nhl player.
I don’t understand the negativity that some have to these off season moves. In a matter of weeks Fitzy hired a solid new coach in Sheldon Keefe, got a legit starting goaltender, added size / depth / experience on the blue line, and brought in a more physical bottom six forward in Cotter. I know everyone was all starry eyed for a top six forward with names like Tkachuk, Stamkos and Marchessault floating around, but I think fans need to think of things this way. Last season the Devils were injury plagued, had league worst goaltending, and rookies anchoring the blue line. Despite all that, they were still in the wild card race until the last 15 or so games. So if Fitzy hadn’t made any changes this summer, but that same squad was just healthy for the full 24-25 season, that would probably be enough to squeak into the post season. Now factor in all the above mentioned upgrades along with a healthy squad, and there’s a lot to be looking forward to for Devils fans in my opinion.
Well said. Stamkos was unobtainable in free agency for that price and Marchessault preferred a friendship with Stamkos and presumably lower taxes in Nashville over NJ; Fitzgerald couldn't do anything about his decision when his agents then stopped answering the phone. Tkachuk is still an option, but I dare say it can't be done without trading Palat because of the salary cap (He has NMC, which can stop the trade immediately) and it will cost too much. We also can't trade Mercer because he, Meier and Bratt are the only Devils RW capable of playing top 6 and of those mentioned, one must play LW. Also in this scenario NJ needs to clear up 3M cap space. If Fitzgerald had acquired Tkachuk or Marchessault I would have been thrilled, but I think he solved problems that needed to be solved first.
I think cotter was a good move despite whats posted about it on social media. We have our 2 nhl goalies, then daws/schmid (who both needed new deals) and poulter (who had the best year in utica of any of our goalies. So schmid or daws had to go and it wasn't going to be daws. For holtz, regardless where he got drafted, it was clear he wasn't going to work out here (whoevers fault that was, management, scouting or player). Holtz was going to be in bottom 6 but doesnt play a bottom 6 game. So a one for one of holtz for a guy like cotter is a fair swap, imo. Now schmid, we were probably going to let him go anyway, so a 3rd back is fair
Yup, I'll miss him on my Habs. Nothing spectacular via points or D, but reliable D. Should help Jacob, Jake, & the overall team. Habs gotta play their kids; & a couple veterans left on D 4 now.
Glad the Devils are Building their team from the Goalie to the Defense , goals allowed need to be reduced sharply. However they will still need two more tough forwards to be serious Stanley Cup contenders.
Trey, I worry when I see episodes like this. Don’t you watch every team as the host of a national syndicated hockey cast? He is VERY good defensively and has been since college. Opens his hips well and blasts into hits both forward and backward skating. Defenders need to stop opponents not be modified wingers who score but DONT STOP ANYTHING. He will be a very nice fit for the devils. LGD
The missing link or that extra grit that I think Fitz should consider is adding a another capable forward that has toughness and scoring in Brady Tkachuk!!!!! He could be our new Claude Lemieux :) Go get em Fitz.
I like Kovacevic too, just without injuries it’s going to be difficult for him to play unless he beats out Jonas which would force one of the right handed defenders to the left side. Not sure how he fits in.
I like the snippets. I agree, I think Holtz couldve had a longer leash. Especially when the playoff chances took a dive. Still, im excited to have Tatar back. He reminds me of some of the guys that helped us get into our playoff runs back in the day. Mckay, pandolfo, rolston, etc
