Giants v Devils - Playoff Final! - Sunday 16th April @ 1700

[Chris]

Can you honestly say you haven’t left most games feeling short-changed by the effort levels of some of the team?

Most games have been lifeless this season.

Newer fans don’t have previous Devils teams to compare to so will accept this mediocrity as being the norm, but big changes are needed.

I would really like the club to be proactive to start the off season and have an interview with Kelman and King (et al) setting out what the intention for going forward is. It’s not going to happen though.

As much as I haven't seen a game for years now, i've been wondering if we should try and run some of the 'The Inferno talks to...' articles again.

I'd like to say we'd be happy to try and arrange something, Steve King has always been happy to talk to us (albeit it's years since I got my arse in gear to sort something out), but Kelman is the one that stopped us talking to current players, has never replied to anything and from in-person Q&As clearly doesn't like the forum.

Maybe once the player movements start happening we'll be able to speak to players again...

 

[Rempel16]

As much as I haven't seen a game for years now, i've been wondering if we should try and run some of the 'The Inferno talks to...' articles again.

I'd like to say we'd be happy to try and arrange something, Steve King has always been happy to talk to us (albeit it's years since I got my arse in gear to sort something out), but Kelman is the one that stopped us talking to current players, has never replied to anything and from in-person Q&As clearly doesn't like the forum.

Maybe once the player movements start happening we'll be able to speak to players again...

Would be awesome if the link could be re-established. Those articles were always really insightful.

 

[RedDevil17]

Get out of our club
Get out of our club
BRODIE DUPONT
Get out of our club!

 

[Ejercito Rojas]

No complaints about the result, Belfast have been by far the best two teams this season!!!

 

[E.D.S.]

Belfast, head and shoulders above everyone this year. Brave effort by the boys but ultimately we aren't good enough.

 

[E.D.S.]

Got to mention Ben Davies. He was superb all weekend and all season. What a shift he puts in. Just outstanding.

 

[Earnie]

RedDevil 17 above - what a rude way of expressing his feelings. Sad.

 

[RedDevil17]

RedDevil 17 above - what a rude way of expressing his feelings. Sad.

Chill out, it was meant in chant form.

 

[Armchair Coach]

Belfast are deserving winners of the Grand Slam this year - they have raised the bar significantly and if Devils want to be successful next season, they have to do what successful people (Belfast) do.

Everyone will have their opinions as to where the fault(s) lie, and who knows they could be right. From personal experience Coaching Ice Hockey isn't easy - you can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time and I can see that absence of any apparent passion from the Coaching Team doesn't sit well with a lot of Devils Fans.

For what it is worth - a coach isn't there to be the players favourite, a coach is there to get and deliver results - the buck stops with the coach and it is most definitely a results business. Personally, I'm am not convinced the return on investment from two bench coaches salaries this season will have been sufficient to try running with the same strategy next season. It was a gamble last season and imho it hasn't paid off.

I'm hoping there will be some early off season news from the owners to help fans get on board early with progress towards the new season. We have higher Season Ticket numbers than ever before, the Devils simply have to deliver better performances for fans to keep faith - particularly when you consider the Devils ST price is one of the most expensive across the league and there is currently the Cost of Living Crisis, The Ongoing Energy Crisis etc. If fans don't perceive their ST remains good value for money, then the back office hard work of the past few years will have been wasted.

 

[Kevin roog]

You say about the coach not having to be players favourite, but we were told a lot of these players wouldn’t sign without DuPont

 

[moggy#9]

You say about the coach not having to be players favourite, but we were told a lot of these players wouldn’t sign without DuPont

If that's the case, then those players are part of the problem. I can understand why done of them would like a culture of zero accountability and the atmosphere of a holiday camp.

 

[lloyd_jeff]

Coaching is no different to any other management role in any organisation. You build people up, from those with vast knowledge & experience down to inexperienced, you do whatever it takes to get the best from each different personality & skill set. That role, in this case the coach isn’t learnt from a class, it’s a vocation and it’s a natural skill, not everyone can do it well. It’s also a role that needs a good support system from upper management. When the owners came, they spoke of money not being a factor, of success being the only goal and doing whatever it takes to achieve that success. Well here we are, first coach who could’ve taken us to a new level got binned because Todd didn’t get on with his style and 2nd yr two inexperienced guys with zero coaching skills, completely inept. Now we are leaseholders with responsibility for not only the success on the ice, they’re now responsable for success off it too. Now we will see how much of those words are words because going forward can’t happen with such poor decisions.

 

[BostonBart22]

You say about the coach not having to be players favourite, but we were told a lot of these players wouldn’t sign without DuPont

And some have already said they won't be back if our current coaches stay. So clearly lost the locker room at some point of the season pre xmas I guess

 

[august04 2.0]

You say about the coach not having to be players favourite, but we were told a lot of these players wouldn’t sign without DuPont

That was just lazy recruitment from Kelman, hearing similar rumours now too.
That should not be the criteria when deciding to re-sign players. If they don’t like who is appointed as head coach, then they go somewhere else. We need players prepared to skate through brick walls for this club, not half arsed nobodies who think they’re running it.

 

[Swarley]

If Dupont is to return next season my question to the owners and Todd would be the following.

Are paying fans really expected to wait another 53 games into the season for the coach to figure out that his one power play idea doesn't work?

Out of all the things that went wrong this season the two things that frustrated me the most was seeing the same one boring power play tactic that never worked, and no big body screening the goalie.

I can't see Dupont surviving another season here personally because the fans this season started to boo him, another season of Dupont and it doesn't matter how much Todd tells fans it's a family sport it's hockey not ballet fans will use their voice and they've done it before.

 

[Swarley]

We need players prepared to skate through brick walls for this club.

We had that, he was benched for 7 games because the coach didn't want to bench his best mate who produced literally nothing all season long and only showed up partially during the last 2 games of the season.

 

[Armchair Coach]

The last season the Devils were “really” successful, they dressed four lines, they played four lines. Other teams didn’t have an answer for wave after wave of speedy skilful quick accurate passing combined with player movement drawing opposing defence away from where they wanted to defend - that’s largely how the power play was so successful.

This season the Devils PP has had statues around the periphery of the O zone, and nobody screening the opposition goalie. That makes defending our PP really easy. Opposition penalty kill defence keep any shots to distance or from low scoring lanes - other teams have done their homework. We still think passing the puck around the outside will somehow miraculously create a gilt edged opportunity

It also doesn’t help that when we do get the PP opportunities it is invariably our top two lines that have won the PP opportunity but because the bench gets shortened so frequently, they have little left in the tank to take advantage of any grade A opportunities that come on the PP

 

[BostonBart22]

The last season the Devils were “really” successful, they dressed four lines, they played four lines. Other teams didn’t have an answer for wave after wave of speedy skilful quick accurate passing combined with player movement drawing opposing defence away from where they wanted to defend - that’s largely how the power play was so successful.

This season the Devils PP has had statues around the periphery of the O zone, and nobody screening the opposition goalie. That makes defending our PP really easy. Opposition penalty kill defence keep any shots to distance or from low scoring lanes - other teams have done their homework. We still think passing the puck around the outside will somehow miraculously create a gilt edged opportunity

It also doesn’t help that when we do get the PP opportunities it is invariably our top two lines that have won the PP opportunity but because the bench gets shortened so frequently, they have little left in the tank to take advantage of any grade A opportunities that come on the PP

And look how successful we were when fournier created havoc in front of net, was he replaced ? No, batch should've took his position as done a lot previous seasons, can't beat a bit of bulk up front.

 

[Kevin roog]

That was just lazy recruitment from Kelman, hearing similar rumours now too.
That should not be the criteria when deciding to re-sign players. If they don’t like who is appointed as head coach, then they go somewhere else. We need players prepared to skate through brick walls for this club, not half arsed nobodies who think they’re running it.

I’m sure the Todd interview saying as much was on the devils YouTube channel at the start of the season

 

[Armchair Coach]

And look how successful we were when fournier created havoc in front of net, was he replaced ? No, batch should've took his position as done a lot previous seasons, can't beat a bit of bulk up front.

If the goalie is allowed to see shots from the outside, the puck will appear like the size of a beach ball to any average goalie. I agree S Fournier was a great screen and was very difficult to shift. In previous seasons the Devils had Matthew Myers, who was phenomenal at screening opposing goalies and won the Devils a number of Powerplay opportunities when opposing defenders sought to shift him from in front of their goalies. Something we could have done with this past season. Evidently when it came for the reorganisation of the team before this past season, a place to keep Matthew on the roster was not made available - hindsight is wonderful isn’t it?

Not privy to the justifications behind playing both Louis and Batch on the same line - wasn’t convinced when I first saw it being used, and given the number of line changes elsewhere in the team, Im at a loss to know what was so right about the defensive pairings that didn’t ask the question whether it could be worth changing line ups once or twice.

If all your “heavies” are on one line, the opponents aren't going to be that concerned if (a) they rarely get played or (b) are held back on some metaphorical leash. How many times did we see blatant liberties being taken with our skilful players and people then asking why didn’t anyone step up.