The complete player is Joey Martin....very high hockey IQ to excel on his own and makes his line mates better. Everywhere on the ice helping out on his shifts. Win or lose, he plays with determination, dedication, passion....has he ever had a bad shift? This should be the gold standard for all Devils players.
Justin Crandall
- Thread starter jenks33
- Start date
Thread starter
#42
Even a player like Jake Morissette. I’m not saying Jake was the same class as Joey but you could stick him on any line and he made it work. If he wasn’t producing many points his work rate and defensive game was outstanding. No sulking and no excuses about who he was paired with, he just got on with it.
Thread starter
#44
Apologies that was badly worded by me. The no excuses bit was aimed more at fans that are blaming Reid for Crandall underachieving last season. I think it’s very harsh to just blame Reid and it’s making excuses for Crandall. They both failed to deliver.
I’ll disagree with you about the sulking part though. I think Phinktastique also pointed out that Crandall’s body language was often quite negative last season, understandable maybe but it isn’t helpful, particularly for the younger players. I thought his defensive game was poor when you compared it to what players like Bentivoglio and Morissette brought to the table defensively. That was just my point of view though, I appreciate people might have seen things differently.
I’ll disagree with you about the sulking part though. I think Phinktastique also pointed out that Crandall’s body language was often quite negative last season, understandable maybe but it isn’t helpful, particularly for the younger players. I thought his defensive game was poor when you compared it to what players like Bentivoglio and Morissette brought to the table defensively. That was just my point of view though, I appreciate people might have seen things differently.
Last edited:
If..... ;-)
I don't personally feel, and I know many others here concur, that there's little reason to believe that the under performers will suddenly come good. I'm sure that Pete Russell will want a group of players that he had confidence can execute his tactics.
Just saying "we'll be ok" is just what happened in the season just finished when deficiencies were plain to see. Clearly we weren't fine.
I don't personally feel, and I know many others here concur, that there's little reason to believe that the under performers will suddenly come good. I'm sure that Pete Russell will want a group of players that he had confidence can execute his tactics.
Just saying "we'll be ok" is just what happened in the season just finished when deficiencies were plain to see. Clearly we weren't fine.
Last edited:
Thread starter
#49
Agreed. I’m surprised how many people have said “if” Crandall is on the right line he could flourish. You could say that about so many players. In my opinion he wasn’t so outstanding in his first season that we can just ignore last season. Yes he was good in that first season but not so good that I’m happy to forget about last season. He wasn’t just inconsistent last season, he was bang average all season, 70+ games. Time to move on and try and get back to where we were pre covid. Reid, Crandall, Brittain, Penny should be replaced.
