We\u2019re a quarter of the way through the season, so it\u2019s time for everybody\u2019s favorite game\u2026..Moore-On or Moron.<\/p>\n
I am a person who prides myself on having good takes and great opinions. Some of them are just spot on, A+ takes that more and more people should be saying. Others might be on the right track, but they need more time in the oven before they\u2019re ready. Regardless, I like to throw out Devils takes in this article and then grade them. Are they the ramblings of an actual moron? Or am I on to something, hence, Moore-On. There\u2019s only one way to find out.<\/p>\n
Before diving in, I wanted to wish all of our readers, commenters, and contributors a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Yes, even the ones I argue with in the comments section all the time. You know who you are, but it\u2019s all in good fun and I have nothing but love for people who take the time to comment. I may even throw some Thanksgiving dinner takes in at the end if I\u2019m feeling my oats.<\/p>\n
The Devils Can\u2019t Rest on their Laurels Being in a Playoff Spot on American Thanksgiving<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a longtime NHL fan, you\u2019re probably familiar with the trend of NHL teams being in a playoff spot come American Thanksgiving and their likelihood of maintaining that spot.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a perfect science by any means. The Edmonton Oilers have been out of a playoff spot the last two seasons on American Thanksgiving only to wind up representing the Western Conference in the Stanley Cup Final. The St. Louis Blues famously went from worst to first and won the Stanley Cup in 2019. But when upwards of 80% of the teams holding a playoff berth on Thanksgiving wind up making it, it\u2019s a talking point for a reason. It\u2019s part of the reason why I preach that banking points early in the season is so important. It\u2019s gets harder to make up points as the season goes along, even if you\u2019re \u201conly four points\u201d out of a playoff spot.<\/p>\n
I think a lot of people are looking at this year as potentially being different, and I can understand that with the level of parity we see across the league. We\u2019re in the middle of a season where nobody is tanking, nobody wants to admit they\u2019re rebuilding, and teams are trying to be good. There hasn\u2019t been much of a separation in the standings like there has been in year\u2019s past, thanks in part to the loser point, but also thanks in part to the aforementioned teams trying to be competitive.<\/p>\n
The Devils are in a playoff spot at the moment, but they\u2019re only four points clear of the cutoff. Compare that to three years ago or last year when the Devils were 9 points clear of the cutoff and I get the trepidation from fans that their spot is far from secure.<\/p>\n
Frankly, those people are right. They may be in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving, but nothing is assured. And while it is hard to make up points in this league, its still a league where everyone goes on a run at some point and everyone has bad weeks at some point. The Devils had a bad week last week on the tail end of their road trip, and another bad week or two opens them up to getting overtaken for their position.<\/p>\n
In two of the last three seasons, the Devils banked so many points in the first half of the season where their playoff spot was secure and all they really needed to do was go NHL .500 the rest of the way. They built a cushion where every regular season game didn\u2019t feel like a must win.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not there this year. And that could actually be a good thing.<\/p>\n
The Devils can\u2019t just sit back and go on cruise control. They have to scratch and claw to get every point they can. They can\u2019t take opponents lightly. They can\u2019t take nights off. They have to play hard.<\/p>\n
Now, they need to play better than what we\u2019ve seen of late. I don\u2019t think anyone is disputing that. The Tampa and Philadelphia games last week were two of their worst performances of the season. They beat Detroit, but Detroit controlled the pace for large stretches of that contest.<\/p>\n
The good news for the Devils is that the schedule does ease up a little bit here. They have a lot of home games coming up and they\u2019re unbeaten in regulation on home ice. And as much as they\u2019ve been ravaged by injuries, they\u2019re eventually going to start getting guys back. They got Cody Glass back the other night. Brett Pesce will be back at some point. So will Jack Hughes and Johnathan Kovacevic.<\/p>\n
Nothing is set in stone though, which is why the Devils need to get back to how they were playing during the eight-game winning streak. It starts with being better defensively, being more structured, and making better decisions with the puck.<\/p>\n
The Department of Player Safety Once Again Has No Idea What They\u2019re Doing<\/p>\n
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the injury epidemic<\/a> that has spread across the NHL this season.<\/p>\n I tried to offer a few potential solutions at the end of that article, with one of them being simply having the officials call the actual infractions on the ice as they happen. A novel concept, I know, but I still suggested that. I also suggested that if the Department of Player Safety was actually all that interested in the safety of the players, they would put their foot down and make an example of somebody with all of the tomfoolery we see in some of these games before a player gets seriously hurt.<\/p>\n Watching the game against the Detroit Red Wings<\/a> on Monday, I was reminded yet again that the league really doesn\u2019t care about the wellbeing of their players.<\/p>\n J.T. Compher set the tone for what was to come with his dangerous boarding penalty on Nico Hischier. It\u2019s the type of hit that really has no place in today\u2019s game, and Hischier was fortunate to escape with no serious injury. The officials actually did call a boarding minor penalty there, so I do give them some credit there.<\/p>\n I also didn\u2019t have an issue with the officiating crew letting Stefan Noesen go after Compher in response after he exited the penalty box (and nearly scored). It was the type of hit that required a response, and I would\u2019ve had a bigger issue with the Devils had they allowed a hit like that on their captain to go unanswered. I did think Noesen getting an extra two minutes out of a scrap where Compher dropped his mitts first was a little excessive, but if that\u2019s the price to pay for sticking up for your captain, so be it.<\/p>\n The problem is that the referees ultimately let things get out of control by continuing to swallow their whistles, only calling Dougie Hamilton for a pair of minor infractions from that point on. It\u2019s actually wild that for as physical a game as this was, Detroit didn\u2019t get called for any penalties until after the game was over. By continuing to allow the boys to police the games themselves and not being the adult in the room, they let things get out of hand with every post-whistle shoving match over the next couple periods. Players would go 15 feet out of their way to finish checks (something James van Riemsdyk did in the second period as he chased after Simon Nemec). When he wasn\u2019t busy embellishing taking Evgeni Dadonov\u2019s butt to the face<\/a> and acting like he got hit by the Rikishi stink-face<\/a>, noted crybaby Dylan Larkin was shoving Nico Hischier after scoring a goal.<\/p>\n Which led to Ben Chiarot attempting to spear Simon Nemec twice in a scrum, connecting once.<\/p>\n Which led to Jonas Siegenthaler getting a measure of retribution by knocking Lucas Raymond to the ice with a blindside hit several minutes later.<\/p>\n Which led to the postgame scrum and a whole lot of pushing and shoving when fake tough guy Dylan Larkin and the rest of the Temu Florida Panthers wouldn\u2019t take their loss like a man and get off the ice.<\/p>\n Of course, the Department of Player Safety could have stepped in after the fact and at least made a cursory effort to pretend to do their jobs. After all, you\u2019re definitely not allowed to spear someone in hockey. It\u2019s supposed to be an automatic major penalty and game misconduct. The DoPS could\u2019ve sent the message that this won\u2019t be tolerated and try to regain some semblance of control by giving Chiarot a game when the officials failed to catch it on the ice during an actual game.<\/p>\n Instead, they slapped a repeat offender in Chiarot on the wrist.<\/p>\n Clearly, Chiarot hasn\u2019t learned from his previous transgressions, as fining a guy $5K when he has made over $33M in his career isn\u2019t an actual deterrent. But that\u2019s what we\u2019ve come to expect from the DoPeS at the DoPS. When you let a former goon in George Parros run the department and they\u2019re too afraid or incompetent to hand down some discipline with actual substance, boys will continue to be boys and the inmates will continue to run the asylum policing themselves. It\u2019s probably not going to change until the next Todd Bertuzzi-Steve Moore incident happens<\/a> and everyone is horrified at the resulting injury, resulting in a PR nightmare for the league and all sorts of unwanted attention.<\/p>\n I want to be clear that I get this sounds like I\u2019m coming across as being whiny about the physicality in the sport. I don\u2019t have an issue with physicality. I don\u2019t have an issue with checking, or finishing checks, or a well-timed hit to separate a player from the puck.<\/p>\n However, I do have an issue with physicality that I deem unnecessary, and it seems like there was a lot of that in this game. Between Compher\u2019s hit (that wasn\u2019t fined) and all of the extracurricular nonsense, its a minor miracle that Hischier and Nemec didn\u2019t get hurt, and I am going to be sensitive to that when it seems like the Devils are losing somebody to injury every game.<\/p>\n The NHL Officials Have it out for Sheldon Keefe, and by Extension, the Devils<\/p>\n Kruton made an interesting comment in the postgame thread the other night <\/a>and I wanted to highlight it here.<\/p>\n \u201cDevils are second-to-last in penalties drawn this season and boy was it apparent tonight! I don\u2019t know what the hell is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on either buddy, but I thought it was worth looking into and maybe you\u2019re on to something.<\/p>\n According to Moneypuck, the Devils are indeed second-to-last in penalties drawn at 5v5. They\u2019re 31st in PIM\/60 at 6.37, with only the Penguins getting a more unfavorable whistle. The Devils aren\u2019t getting punished more than other teams though, as they\u2019re in the Top 10 in terms of fewest penalty minutes taken per 60 at 7.79. This wasn\u2019t the case last year in Year 1 under Sheldon Keefe, as they were 14th in PIM drawn\/60 at .799 and 14th in PIM taken\/60 at 8.37. It should also be noted that for most of Keefe\u2019s tenure as Maple Leafs coach, Toronto ranked somewhere between average and below average when it came to drawing penalties.<\/p>\n On the surface, it doesn\u2019t make a ton of sense that a team that skates as well as the Devils aren\u2019t getting more calls than they are. You would think that they\u2019d draw more of the clutching and grabbing, holding and hooking types of penalties as guys like Jack Hughes, Luke Hughes, and Jesper Bratt make a move on a guy and a defender gets beat. It seems like the only calls the Devils are getting are the ones that are blatantly obvious\u2026..tripping calls, high sticking (although the refs missed one of those last night as well), and what I would deem procedural penalties like puck over the glass or too many men.<\/p>\n Sheldon Keefe certainly has a reputation for working the officials. It seems like every time the MSG cameras pan to the Devils bench, Keefe is giving one of the linesmen an earful. He\u2019s been (wrongly) ejected from games before<\/a>. Wes McCauley, who is one of the NHL\u2019s longest tenured officials and likely has a lot of influence behind the scenes being as he\u2019s the son of former NHL Director Of Officiating John McCauley, has a noted conflict of interest<\/a> when it comes to Keefe. Yet, for whatever reason, the league hasn\u2019t seen fit to remove McCauley from games Keefe is coaching in.<\/p>\n I think there\u2019s a natural inclination in any fanbase to think that the officials are out to screw them and their team. We tend to view things through rose-colored glasses and come up with narratives to ultimately suit our own agenda. I also think hockey is a fast game, referees miss a lot of calls, and their tendency to call games even stevens so neither team has an advantage has more of an impact on games than if they just called a bunch of penalties on one team. If its a penalty, its a penalty. Call it.<\/p>\n That said, I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any sort of league-wide conspiracy to screw over Sheldon Keefe, and by extension, the Devils. At least, not yet.<\/p>\n Verdict: Moron (although I reserve judgment to change my mind if new information presents itself)<\/p>\n Simon Nemec Should Be Off Limits in Trade Discussions<\/p>\n There\u2019s been a lot of bumps in the road getting to this point, but after 109 NHL games, it looks like Simon Nemec is on his way to being the potential top-pairing right-handed defenseman that the Devils envisioned when they made him the #2 overall pick in 2023. He hasn\u2019t even turned 22 years old yet, and he\u2019s just beginning to scratch the surface of what he can be.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not giving up that type of player easily.<\/p>\n I\u2019m certainly not doing it now with the Devils other right-handed defensemen in Brett Pesce and Johnathan Kovacevic on LTIR. But under the very hypothetical situation that the Devils ever get all of their players healthy at one time\u2026..take a minute to pause and laugh at that idea that THAT will ever happen\u2026..I\u2019m not taking Nemec out of the lineup. And I\u2019m certainly not shopping him in a trade for your run of the mill second line scoring winger.<\/p>\n Never say never, of course. If the Edmonton Oilers were dumb enough to offer Connor McDavid for Simon Nemec, I\u2019m doing that trade. But they\u2019re not doing that, and I\u2019m not trading Simon Nemec for, I dunno, Jordan Kyrou or Ryan O\u2019Reilly or Nazem Kadri or Elias Pettersson or whoever is on the NHL Trade Boards nowadays<\/a>.<\/p>\n Once the Canucks Read the Writing on the Wall, The Devils Should Be All Over Quinn Hughes<\/p>\n Elliotte Friedman reported late Monday night<\/a> that the Vancouver Canucks have let it be known that they\u2019re willing to listen to offers on \u201cveteran players\u201d. It should be noted though that that does not include Quinn Hughes at this time.<\/p>\n Of course, with half the players on the Canucks having bloated contracts and various no-move and\/or no-trade clauses, what does that even mean? Are they trading Conor Garland or Thatcher Demko before their contract extensions (and no-move clauses) kick in? What do you think you\u2019re getting for rentals such as Evander Kane or Teddy Blueger? What do you actually have that other teams want? There\u2019s not really a whole lot on that Canucks roster that interests me.<\/p>\n With one obvious exception of course in Quinn Hughes.<\/p>\n The Vancouver Canucks are heading nowhere fast. They\u2019re near the bottom of the NHL standings, they have an average at best prospect pool<\/a>, and their best player and captain is a year and a half away from walking out the door for nothing. They are heading towards an inevitable rebuild. One where they really don\u2019t have a whole lot of say in the matter when, not if, Quinn Hughes decides he\u2019s not going to sign there long-term. The Canucks are going to have to take their medicine whether they want to or not.<\/p>\n The Canucks should trade Quinn Hughes sooner rather than later, and when they do, the Devils need to be all over it.<\/p>\n