Josh Biringer: Thoughts on Brunette and Nashville / Free Agency: RFAs - Timo Meier

Another great article

I know the PP% looks good and all but many times the powerplay did look lost and couldn't set up, but the PK was impressive, hopefully we can build on the PP and Luke Hughes will help but he will probably be on 2nd unit to keep Hamilton on the 1st and our 2nd unit seemed invisible

Will be interesting to see who the new assistant will be and who takes over brunettes role

Meier is a big and important piece, hopefully get him on a good contract and a training camp and full season will bring even more

Nice writeup...resigning Meire at $8.5 is the way to go in my opinion.

Give meier what he wants. Even at the expense of bratt.

Give meier what he wants. Even at the expense of bratt.

I agree 100%. We have no one else that brings what Meier brings. If it comes to we can only keep one, Meier is the correct choice.

Brunette didn't run the PK, only the PP. Probably explains why only one made significant adjustments in the playoffs and the other one didn't. The PP was Recchi levels of bad at the most important time of the season and he failed to do anything about it(the same exact thing happened in Florida, who literally had by far the best offense in the league last season). The PP doesnt always need to score, but it cant be a flat out detriment like it was. Hope he does well in Nahville but its not a huge loss. Brylin should be the guy who takes over his over but we'll see if they go for another outside hire.

Timo is simple, and the same as Bratt. Just get it (frank)ing done. Its not a one or the other situation, both can easily be kept. 8x8.5M or 8x8.75M should get it done here.

Meier and Bratts agents seeing Caufield get a huge 8x7.85M extension... Both guys def should be getting over 8 now on an 8 year extension lol.

The PP was Recchi levels of bad at the most important time of the season and he failed to do anything about it.
- vlongo4419

Idk what we can do about the PP. there’s only so many different ways to pass a puck looking for the one timer. The problem imo is mental. So many of our players think “pass-first” and they almost never shoot when they should. Changing coaches or the system for a PP doesn’t seem like it will ever help as long as our guys keep defaulting to pass first and refusing to shoot.

Idk what we can do about the PP. there’s only so many different ways to pass a puck looking for the one timer. The problem imo is mental. So many of our players think “pass-first” and they almost never shoot when they should. Changing coaches or the system for a PP doesn’t seem like it will ever help as long as our guys keep defaulting to pass first and refusing to shoot.
- jtylerm

Definitely hurts to not have a true one-timer threat. Which is what we'd all thought Holtz would atleast be at a minimum by now. But outside of that, our PP is just incredibly stagnant. Whether its 5-on-4, or even times with a 5-on-3, we just stand still and try to pass up top and through the middle. We barely have any movement and player swapping, and we rarely use any kind of down low plays to stretch the PK out. Its was very predictable. Todd said it best after his post about Brunette leaving, with the quality of players on this roster and on the PP specifically, there's really no excuse for it to be outside of the top 5, let alone top 10 in the league.

Its definitely not all on the coach, and the players deserve some blame, but i cant put it all on being a mental problem in this particular instance when the same thing happened with Brunette's previous team the season prior, in which he also ran the PP for that team as well.

Definitely hurts to not have a true one-timer threat. Which is what we'd all thought Holtz would atleast be at a minimum by now. But outside of that, our PP is just incredibly stagnant. Whether its 5-on-4, or even times with a 5-on-3, we just stand still and try to pass up top and through the middle. We barely have any movement and player swapping, and we rarely use any kind of down low plays to stretch the PK out. Its was very predictable. Todd said it best after his post about Brunette leaving, with the quality of players on this roster and on the PP specifically, there's really no excuse for it to be outside of the top 5, let alone top 10 in the league.

Its definitely not all on the coach, and the players deserve some blame, but i cant put it all on being a mental problem in this particular instance when the same thing happened with Brunette's previous team the season prior, in which he also ran the PP for that team as well.
- vlongo4419

A lot of people kept calling Jack a bust too until this year. It’s way too early to write Holtz off. He has never been given a real chance in the NHL. One of the reasons I hate Ruff.

Our PP has been dogpoop for years, loooong before Brunette came. He didn’t help, but he didn’t hurt either. Most of our guys are deer in headlights if they touch the puck on the PP.

A lot of people kept calling Jack a bust too until this year. It’s way too early to write Holtz off. He has never been given a real chance in the NHL. One of the reasons I hate Ruff.

Our PP has been dogpoop for years, loooong before Brunette came. He didn’t help, but he didn’t hurt either. Most of our guys are deer in headlights if they touch the puck on the PP.
- jtylerm

Haters and people who only box score watch for points were calling Jack a bust lol. All the underlying numbers got better every year and the stardom was quite easy to predict happening, and was actually expected based off last season. Its not the same for Holtz, but I'm not writing him off yet either. There's no denying his skating is an issue. I would've had him stapled to Jack's wing this season and just let it play out for a good sample size. This bottom 6/4th line garbage cant happen anymore. Thats not his game. But this year needs to be the year. He either needs to he given a real shot at playing in the top 6 and on the PP, or he needs to be traded(which I don't think Fitz wants to do).

I don't think it's really fair to compare previous years for the PP outside of maybe last season. You can argue last year was the first year of the core of this team being elite. Jack, Bratt, and Nico all took that big step, but Dougie had a down year for sure. Now add in Timo and Mercer. Luke full time next season. There's no excuse for a power play with that talent to not succeed. We all know Recchi was a disaster with coaching the PP, and the team dealt with a ton of injuries last year so that didn't help. But this year? Everyone healthy for the most part, and it was fine in the regular season. But fine isn't good enough. In the playoffs? Total disaster. Dougie was hurt, certainly doesn't help, but there was zero adjustments from Bruno when things werent working. That's on the coach. They just ran head first into a wall over and over throughout the playoffs hoping something would just magically fix itself.

Josh Biringer: Thoughts on Brunette and Nashville / Free Agency: RFAs - Timo Meier
- Josh Biringer

Meier would should be 8 mil but will probably get 9

A lot of people kept calling Jack a bust too until this year. It’s way too early to write Holtz off. He has never been given a real chance in the NHL. One of the reasons I hate Ruff.

Our PP has been dogpoop for years, loooong before Brunette came. He didn’t help, but he didn’t hurt either. Most of our guys are deer in headlights if they touch the puck on the PP.
- jtylerm

I feel like those people weren’t watching him, plus the injuries didn’t help.

Our powerplay has sucked since Kovalchuk left.

But outside of that, our PP is just incredibly stagnant. Whether its 5-on-4, or even times with a 5-on-3, we just stand still and try to pass up top and through the middle. We barely have any movement and player swapping, and we rarely use any kind of down low plays to stretch the PK out. Its was very predictable.
- vlongo4419

This is exactly the problem. On a team with so many great great skaters, motion is key. Adding Luke will only make NJ faster and better. Motion causes mismatches and blown coverage, not to mention tiring out the opponents PK.

This is exactly the problem. On a team with so many great great skaters, motion is key. Adding Luke will only make NJ faster and better. Motion causes mismatches and blown coverage, not to mention tiring out the opponents PK.
- gmarz16

100%

First, Jack Hughes is a bust!

Second, I don't know how much credit Brunette deserves or doesn't deserve for the past year. But regardless, it would seem smart for Fitzy to find another guy as qualified as Brunette. So I don't feel like this is a devastating loss, but I also want someone who can come in and improve things (obviously).

For that matter, IDK how much credit Lindy deserves or doesn't deserve for the turn around this year either. And that's not to knock him; I'm just saying it's hard to evaluate coaching.

This is exactly the problem. On a team with so many great great skaters, motion is key. Adding Luke will only make NJ faster and better. Motion causes mismatches and blown coverage, not to mention tiring out the opponents PK.
- gmarz16

It’s all irrelevant if everyone is too scared to shoot and keeps on passing the puck over and over like they’ve been doing for years now.

It’s all irrelevant if everyone is too scared to shoot and keeps on passing the puck over and over like they’ve been doing for years now.
- jtylerm

Its not irrelevant considering thats not the issue. The Devils as a team on a /60 basis were 12th in shot attempts/60 and 10th in shots/60 on the PP this season. Individually, in shots /60 on the PP this season, Timo ranked 11th, Jack ranked 15th, Nico 69th, Dougie 114th, and Bratt 176th, out of 273 players who have played atleast 100 minutes on the PP. Bratt 100% needs to shoot more, but he needs to do that more both on the PP and during ES. Overall, our players actually shoot a good amount. This issue, which was stated previously, is that theres no movement in the power play and its way too predictable. Goalies are able to get set more easily, and its easier for defenders to get into lanes and block shots/passes.

Our powerplay will instantly be better if we stop allowing all those shorties

Our powerplay has sucked since Kovalchuk left.
- Pomegrant

We should bring him back

Our powerplay will instantly be better if we stop allowing all those shorties
- Crushers68

Great point

Am I just reading into this or does the NHL Stanley Cup game callers are in love with Vegas. They just gush about the Golden Nights.

Am I just reading into this or does the NHL Stanley Cup game callers are in love with Vegas. They just gush about the Golden Nights.
- Jazzmaster30

They're winning 7-2...

They're winning 7-2...
- Pomegrant

Yeah.....I get it. These announcers are one sided.

Whatever.