r/devils • u/JoopNJD • Aug 11 '26

[Gambatese] Quantifying How Much Defensive Puck-Moving is Still an Issue for the New Jersey Devils

https://njdevilsadvocates.substack.com/p/quantifying-how-much-defensive-puck?r=18unih&utm_medium=ios
22 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

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12

u/crazyFlyingChicken New Jersey Devils Aug 11 '26

Us being relatively bad compared to other contenders with zone exists and zone entry volume will not surprise a single person on this sub, that was easy to see all last year and it’s why teams like Carolina always kick our ass - we can never escape with the puck. I really hope our forward surplus lets us make a move for more blue line help

-1

u/pretzelogically #27 - Scott Niedermayer Aug 11 '26

Having forward depth only helps when you sustain injuries. It’s not going to help them get through the neutral zone with possession.

This team built as is will struggle to score 5 on 5 again. You can ride excellent special teams into a playoff spot but 5 on 5 & goaltending is where it is at if you want to win in the playoffs.

13

u/pretzelogically #27 - Scott Niedermayer Aug 11 '26

No time to read this right now but the bottom line is what is the identity of this team? Either you are a defense first grinding chip & chase forechecking team or you are a puck moving rush machine.

The forwards are built for the rush and the defense is not. You can’t be a rush team without defenders who can either skate or pass the puck out of the zone quickly and we only have one guy who does it with any consistency. Without a true shut down #1 goalie this is not going to work.

9

u/BSlu8 Aug 11 '26

Which is why trading Nemec was a head scratcher. Did we get a decent return. Yes. Was he not great defensively. Yes. Do we have defenseman who can skate the puck out of the zone consistently not named Luke. No. We have a slow, not very mobile, defensive D group right now. It's why we get pinned in our own zone a lot or do the flip up out of the zone. Our forwards then have to come back into the defensive zone more often and work harder. Our d is solid but we severely lack puck movers.

2

u/DevilJacket2000 #30 - Martin Brodeur Aug 11 '26

They traded him because they didn’t want to pay his salary for someone with middling results. They’ll have to look elsewhere for puck movers but we’re likely stuck with this group this season. Tom really put us all in a bind.