"Star" players

[youngbob]

Plenty of speculation at the moment about our performance, so I took a look at some stats from Elite Prospects

Layne Ulmer

2015-16 - 40 games for 28 goals and 60 points
2016-17 - 10 for 2 and 7

Guillaume Doucet

2015-16 - 64 for 35 and 55
2016-17 - 10 for 0 and 2

Sean Bentivoglio

2015-16 - 39 for 19 and 64
2016-17 - 10 for 1 and 8

David Brine

2015-16 - 37 for 4 and 21
2016-17 - 10 for 0 and 2

Joey Haddad
2015-16 - 62 for 16 and 43
2016-17 - 10 for 2 and 6

Something, and I don't claim to know what, is keeping them all from the performances they've shown in the past

Maybe it's the "don't worry your jobs safe" type comments, maybe it's taking Franny off the bench, maybe Lordo is recruiting individuals, not a team, maybe something's wrong in the dressing room

Whatever it is we're not seeing the on-ice performance that we were led to believe we'd have this year, and "win everything" now seems like a pipe-dream

 

[kettdevil1]

Interesting...... as someone who sees far more away games then home games the difference between playing at the IAW and on the road is stark. Away from home this season the Devils have played some of the best hockey I have ever seen. The passing is fluent, the finishing crisp and we are finishing our hits. On our away performances we would walk the league.

Watching them at home for the first time for ages we looked lacking in confidence, the passing was poor and defensively suspect. I can't put my finger on it but something is missing at home.

The one player I would defend to the hilt on your list is Douce, he is doing everything but get goals (He hit the pipes AGAIN yesterday) and you get the feeling that when he gets one there will be an avalanche.

 

[jenks33]

Plenty of speculation at the moment about our performance, so I took a look at some stats from Elite Prospects

Layne Ulmer

2015-16 - 40 games for 28 goals and 60 points
2016-17 - 10 for 2 and 7

Guillaume Doucet

2015-16 - 64 for 35 and 55
2016-17 - 10 for 0 and 2

Sean Bentivoglio

2015-16 - 39 for 19 and 64
2016-17 - 10 for 1 and 8

David Brine

2015-16 - 37 for 4 and 21
2016-17 - 10 for 0 and 2

Joey Haddad
2015-16 - 62 for 16 and 43
2016-17 - 10 for 2 and 6

Something, and I don't claim to know what, is keeping them all from the performances they've shown in the past

Maybe it's the "don't worry your jobs safe" type comments, maybe it's taking Franny off the bench, maybe Lordo is recruiting individuals, not a team, maybe something's wrong in the dressing room

Whatever it is we're not seeing the on-ice performance that we were led to believe we'd have this year, and "win everything" now seems like a pipe-dream

The biggest concern are the top three. Doucet, Ulmer and Bentivoglio are here to put up numbers and are failing at the moment. 3 goals in 10 games between the three of them is terrible. Ulmer and Benti have got the excuse of being new to the league and taking a bit of time to settle. Huge pressure on doucet tho. Can't fault his effort but 0+2 in 10 is a shocking start. Lordo is clearly proud of never gassing a player but it doesn't seem far away at the moment

 

[ASHIPP]

With exception of Patrick Asselin ( think everyone would agree he's something special), Scott Hotham, Mark Louis and David Brine, think it's fair to say that the productivity and good play on this team is coming from a small core of players the Devils have had for the last few seasons. I include Matthew Myers in that core even though he was not here last year.

 

[terry hunt]

Perhaps we need to shorten our intro for a start it may be getting boring and we need to move on as a club.
Its the present that counts now and all the hype about the past may be too much expectation for our team.

 

[Gazza272]

Perhaps we need to shorten our intro for a start it may be getting boring and we need to move on as a club.
Its the present that counts now and all the hype about the past may be too much expectation for our team.

Winning the league should not be too much expectation for us as a club or a team. It should be the aim and expectation we strive for every single season.

We have no more excuses, we don't play out of a plastic tent and we don't have dodgy owners. We should be putting more pressure on ourselves to win the big ones than less.

 

[Ben123]

David Brine is yet to score and not racking up the assists, he is playing 4th line for us so that would be the reason!

 

[ASHIPP]

David Brine has not been brought in to score goals and assists. Both Todd and Lordo have confirmed this in interviews and articles. He is a classic shut down defensive forward who excels at faceoffs and the pk. Add to that his phenomenal work rate and vast experience, he performs his role on the team brilliantly.

As for the comments about the game intro, I'm flumuxed. It encapsulates a proud history that should not be forgotten. It serves as a reminder for long term fans, historical interest for new fans and should serve as inspiration for our team every time they play at home. If the pressure of at least trying to aspire to those past achievements is too much of a factor in their game, then they shouldn't be here. They are professionals.

 

[solelace84]

Perhaps we need to shorten our intro for a start it may be getting boring and we need to move on as a club.
Its the present that counts now and all the hype about the past may be too much expectation for our team.

Uhm, no.

The intro evokes emotion from the crowd, it get's the crowd really going and it inspires a personal connection between supporter and team. I believe it's the most effective intro in the league at doing that! We truly have a great game night experience compared to our league counterparts!

If you've been to away games, you will surely know what I mean!

 

[Wannabe2]

Perhaps we need to shorten our intro for a start it may be getting boring and we need to move on as a club.
Its the present that counts now and all the hype about the past may be too much expectation for our team.

Totally agree, it's a great intro, but a little long, and I would like to see it change every 6/8 weeks. Of course it's easy to be a armchair critic.

 

[SteveKing]

I never want to take too much issue with someone but this original thread is a bit much. Three of the five players mentioned are at or around a point per game after a relatively small sample size, one of them was specifically brought in to be a fourth line, defensive specialist and the fifth is a returning player that has just scored for the second consecutive game. You do realize that we have five of the top 20 scorers in the league right now, right? I would hate to see your posts for any of the other nine teams that don't have that many!

I don't quite understand the attitude of several on this forum that our team and its players are performing so poorly that titles are now a "pipe dream" after so few games...even though we seem to be winning the majority of the time. I totally get the frustrations that a season brings. I feel it myself. But it's a very competitive league. Almost every team increased their budget and recruiting efforts. We will have periods of poor performances both individually and as a team. I still like our chances.

 

[Wannabe2]

Winning 5-1 tonight, can't fault it, come on you Beauties you are the Mutts Nutts, let's go Devils.

 

[KaneDevils]

I never want to take too much issue with someone but this original thread is a bit much. Three of the five players mentioned are at or around a point per game after a relatively small sample size, one of them was specifically brought in to be a fourth line, defensive specialist and the fifth is a returning player that has just scored for the second consecutive game. You do realize that we have five of the top 20 scorers in the league right now, right? I would hate to see your posts for any of the other nine teams that don't have that many!

I don't quite understand the attitude of several on this forum that our team and its players are performing so poorly that titles are now a "pipe dream" after so few games...even though we seem to be winning the majority of the time. I totally get the frustrations that a season brings. I feel it myself. But it's a very competitive league. Almost every team increased their budget and recruiting efforts. We will have periods of poor performances both individually and as a team. I still like our chances.

I agree with your sentiment Steve, and most of your post. However, doucet, at time of post, was 2 points from 10 games. No goals. For a player of his calibre, for whatever reason, that isn't good enough. But, There's always a but, it was predicted that once he scored a goal he'd start to fly, and now that prediction is looking odds on. Droughts occur in sport and there's not always a reason, but talent shines through in the end.

 

[Jonesy83]

Doucet with his second goal, two games in a row, hopefully his flood gate is now open, I feel sorry for the other teams in the league if he now goes on a goal scoring run like we know he can.

 

[Jonesy83]

And on that note Doucet scores his second of the game and third for the season.

 

[SteveKing]

I agree with your sentiment Steve, and most of your post. However, doucet, at time of post, was 2 points from 10 games. No goals. For a player of his calibre, for whatever reason, that isn't good enough. But, There's always a but, it was predicted that once he scored a goal he'd start to fly, and now that prediction is looking odds on. Droughts occur in sport and there's not always a reason, but talent shines through in the end.

I don't disagree with you, KD. If you ask me...heck...even if you ask Douce, his production hasn't been nearly good enough. I guess my point wasn't that all of those guys were contributing exactly as we all dreamed, its that this is sports and not a video game. Stick with them for more than 10 games and see what happens. I just didn't get how our title hopes are now a pipe dream.

 

[august04]

I don't disagree with you, KD. If you ask me...heck...even if you ask Douce, his production hasn't been nearly good enough. I guess my point wasn't that all of those guys were contributing exactly as we all dreamed, its that this is sports and not a video game. Stick with them for more than 10 games and see what happens. I just didn't get how our title hopes are now a pipe dream.

In fairness, there's not been many posts stating that our title hopes are in tatters - although we face a crucial game on Sunday against Coventry to keep our Challenge Cup hopes alive. There's been plenty of criticism about our home form, which has been justified for me, particularly after last Saturday. I don't think it's too much to expect the same level of effort, commitment and performance in front of your own crowd, as the team have put in on the road of late. I'm sorry you had to see the Sheffield home game but in a way, it could be the best thing that happened to this team and the jolt they needed to turn things around at home. I hope so anyway, starting on Saturday. Can't fault the away results, they've been incredible.

 

[SteveKing]

In fairness, there's not been many posts stating that our title hopes are in tatters - although we face a crucial game on Sunday against Coventry to keep our Challenge Cup hopes alive. There's been plenty of criticism about our home form, which has been justified for me, particularly after last Saturday. I don't think it's too much to expect the same level of effort, commitment and performance in front of your own crowd, as the team have put in on the road of late. I'm sorry you had to see the Sheffield home game but in a way, it could be the best thing that happened to this team and the jolt they needed to turn things around at home. I hope so anyway, starting on Saturday. Can't fault the away results, they've been incredible.

My own sense of our home form has been that it hasn't been from a lack of effort or commitment. I believe it is far more from a desire to do too much in front of the home fans. If you look at the majority of goals that have been scored on us at home, they've been from very poor turnovers where players are trying to put passes through players, circling to go backwards and generally taking too many risks. Our games on the road, we've excelled by keeping things simple. Our talent level will prevail when we keep it simple.

I completely agree that Saturday could end up being a turning point in the season. Those mistakes and that style of play was talked about at length. Too small a sample size but the next two games have been encouraging. Now we see if it really has sunk in and they play the same way at home.

 

[august04]

We've definitely been over complicating things at home, trying to be too clever for our own good at times. Andrew Lord won't get any complaints playing the traditional Devils way. We've always been a blue collar team, no nonsense defence, get the puck in deep and forecheck hard. We started to move away from that last season and it cost us. That can still be done on a bigger ice surface (one of my pet hates is people telling me we can't play that way anymore, which I just don't buy), so I really hope we do keep things simple at home from now on.

 

[Devil_Abroad]

I never want to take too much issue with someone but this original thread is a bit much. Three of the five players mentioned are at or around a point per game after a relatively small sample size, one of them was specifically brought in to be a fourth line, defensive specialist and the fifth is a returning player that has just scored for the second consecutive game. You do realize that we have five of the top 20 scorers in the league right now, right? I would hate to see your posts for any of the other nine teams that don't have that many!

I don't quite understand the attitude of several on this forum that our team and its players are performing so poorly that titles are now a "pipe dream" after so few games...even though we seem to be winning the majority of the time. I totally get the frustrations that a season brings. I feel it myself. But it's a very competitive league. Almost every team increased their budget and recruiting efforts. We will have periods of poor performances both individually and as a team. I still like our chances.

Steve, it's a roller coaster on here.

We lose and it's the end of the world. Gas everyone.

We win and someone must have given them the rollicking they deserved.

I have to admit that at times I'm frustrated reading the comments on here. However, I then realise that everyone is a fan, and everyone is desperate to see the team do well. I count you in too even though you're one of the owners.

Granted, some comments like this one just go way too far and like you I then just feel I have to jump in - as I have done elsewhere tonight (not been on here for a while as I've been on tour in Nova Scotia)

So for me I think comparing stats from one league to another is not a good starting point to have a go at new players; we all said Italian league is an unknown quantity.

Also, stats isn't everything. This is a team game - and as I heard tonight Culligan say in his interview a couple of weeks ago you try and do the job you've been asked to do.

From what I've seen (been to a few away and home games) the quality and depth of the roster this year is amazing; it leads to the Devils dominating periods of a game like they used to do in the early and mid 90s.

I do get frustrated at times when having done the tough corner donkey work they then spend an eternity trying for the pretty plays rather than crowd the net and shoot. I love the pretty plays mind, just wish they would shoot more often and get the 'dirty' goals too lol

Anyway, I've gone on long enough.

In short, agree, this post was poor.

And I don't want to leave Canada - again!



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