Be sure to join the Discord channel to talk hockey, and everything else, with me and fellow subscribers. Today’s post was written by C.J. TURTORO. You can find him on Twitter @CJTDevil. Before we get too bogged down into statistical minutia and philosophies of rebuilding, let’s just make state the thesis of this piece in concise and salient terms.
I don’t disagree that his value is probably higher than it has ever been in the market. But he fits the age group of our rebuild and he does have chemistry with Bratt & Nico. I think he is the best third wheel for these guys. I’m tired of trading for picks that may not even turn out as well as Zacha. At the start of the season I understood a lot of what CJ and Todd were saying about Zacha. He just didn’t have that compete level every night to be consistent and he was bringing his line mates down. But the guy is performing now and has been performing on the score sheet and rather than tipping your hat to him you guys are saying it’s luck. As a hockey player I know we make our own luck out there. I love reading the blogs on here, love the insight I get on my devils. But you guys really like to pick on Zacha here. Everything bad he does gets highlighted and any good he does is considered luck. It’s getting old guys. Zacha is a devil we drafted him, he is one of our kids. Let’s start showing some respect. He’s earned it this year.
This is what happens when bloggers look at spreadsheets and don't watch the games. He's getting more minutes for a reason. He got the "A" last game for a reason. He's scoring on his shots more for a reason - he's shooting lasers, he's not having shots hit him in the foot and going in or ricocheting off opposing players and going in. He's hitting and winning board battles this year that he didn't in previous years. He's getting to scoring positions that he didn't get to in year's past. And he's with players that now let him be the primary shooter.
What if I told you he may have gotten the A to boost his trade stock?
Also, who are you to accuse CJ of not watching the games? What if I told you looking at spreadsheets and watching the games is very much possible, and gives better insight on what is happening than just watching the games like you probably do. Why do you read this blog if you are going to complain about analysis of underlying metrics? That's literally what Todd has been writing about for years.
They also write about how great Bratt is and then numerous coaches have benched him. There is a clear disconnect between what the Devils think of players and what bloggers think.
Bratt is great. Coaches bench him I think when they see him get hesitant and scared. He is a great player, but when he takes a big hit or Marchand throws him to the ground. His game changes. The physicality gets to his head. Love the kid to death, has raw talent. Everyone on here sees me praise the kid.I truly believe he will be a top winger in this league. He just needs to learn how to play when the game gets more physical. I notice that when hitting picks up, Bratt plays less.
I think Zacha has improved as a shooter and deserves credit for having done so. But his shots are going in at a ratio comparable to Stamkos, Pastrnak, etc. so it's either "Pavel Zacha is one of the best shooters alive" or "Pavel Zacha has benefitted from lucky bounces this season" ... I find the latter more plausible given his personal history.
i appreciate the take, though i am on the keep zacha team. On the personal level, i like him. On the team level, i like the apparent relationship with pillars Nico and Jesper. Unless we can package him, maybe with our NYI 1st rounder, and some other forward for a young d-man (like 22) with top-2 upside-- i cannot get onboard.
As I mention in the piece, Nico and Jesper perform better without Zacha than with him. If it's a lockerroom thing, fine. But he doesn't help them on the ice.
Yea, by relationship I mean real life relationship. Nothing to do with on ice effects. The intangibles of having a team that is growing together. I put stock in that.
Yeah, I mean, Nico's the captain so if Fitz/Ruff sit down with him and Nico says "I need Pav to stay on this team" then Pav stays on the team, right? Nico needs to be put in a comfortable situation. But in terms of on-ice results, Zacha's a prime sell-high candidate.
I guarantee if you look at bratts points this year. Zacha is part of 75-80% of his production. Bratt was not performing with Hughes on the scoresheet. He performed with Zacha this year.
They played together 2 games LOL. They had one good game where they combined for a goal against Buffalo and that was the best line early season? In fact I looked back at that great game they had and the goal they combined for was johnsson from Bratt and Smith. Show me a goal the three of them show up on all season? I can show you a few with Nico, zacha & Bratt. Hughes doesn’t like to pass to bratt. I don’t know what devils you are watching brother.
"Literally anyone would play well alongside Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. That trio first got substantial minutes last season. In those two years, Nico and Jesper have performed better both in terms of goals and expected goals WITHOUT Zacha on their wing-- they’re a minus-2 with him and a plus-5 without him."
I know you have been critical of Zacha, like ... forever, but wow, dude. Trade Zacha. Trade Pavel Zacha. I can get behind this if we are talking about young difference makers or even entering-their-prime players with 3+ years of term, but anything less than that, and no chance.
The guy has chemistry with the younger players, which is everybody not named Suban at this point. I also like that he can take draws and play in any situation. Trade Pavel Zacha. You are either a genius or destined to work for James Dolan.
I understand his value is at the highest it’s been (not saying too much). But a couple things to consider.
Your getting rid of a middle 6 guy that can play in all situations wing or center. This past year we were without Nico for pretty much the whole season. We get rid of him and we lose Jack or Nico to injury were looking at another season like this one. McLeod and Boqvist (if he’s a center) are promising but unlikely able to step up.
The return would obviously have to make sense. We need D and scoring obviously. Maybe if they could make a trade for a player like Timo Meier someone who fits the age group.
Just because the post says "should trade" does not mean they will. You're not going to move Zacha just for the sake of moving him - if people call and ask, you take the call and see what they are offering. If you like the offer, you take it, if not, you move on and see if you can get better value or you stick with the player and see what you can do to help their development (you can certainly make a case that Zacha is who he is at this point).
I like this idea. While great to see the point production from Zacha, I think this team could really benefit from what could come back our way in a Zacha trade. Young centers are tough to come by unless you draft them.
Maybe I'm missing something but the thing with Zacha is it's not exactly obvious (to me) what he's doing to be such an anchor on his line mates. Like, take one of the other polarizing figure on the team, Severson. It's extremely obvious if you actually watch the games that Severson does so many things well. For every brain fart he has, he makes a dozen plays that no other defender on the team is making consistently that lead to quick zone exits/entries. With Zacha, I don't see what it is. So I get people who don't look at the underlying numbers and think, you're crazy for wanting to trade him. But I think they could land a key blueliner for him in the right trade. That would be huge in speeding up this rebuild.
This blog needs less posts from CJ Turd. Way too many backward looking analysis to be useful. Just like stocks, past performance is no indication of future performance. See Johnsson as a perfect example.
I could see CJ being a stock analyst back in the day and looking at NFLX when it rented movies by mail and just missing the paradigm shift on online rentals. Same with Zacha and the shift of playing him on the wing and with actual good players.
let's not name call because you disagree with his take.
The Devils give up chances at a higher rate with Zacha on the ice than every single regular on the team and he's been out-scored by 500. Maybe there's something to the criticism of his play
I don’t disagree that his value is probably higher than it has ever been in the market. But he fits the age group of our rebuild and he does have chemistry with Bratt & Nico. I think he is the best third wheel for these guys. I’m tired of trading for picks that may not even turn out as well as Zacha. At the start of the season I understood a lot of what CJ and Todd were saying about Zacha. He just didn’t have that compete level every night to be consistent and he was bringing his line mates down. But the guy is performing now and has been performing on the score sheet and rather than tipping your hat to him you guys are saying it’s luck. As a hockey player I know we make our own luck out there. I love reading the blogs on here, love the insight I get on my devils. But you guys really like to pick on Zacha here. Everything bad he does gets highlighted and any good he does is considered luck. It’s getting old guys. Zacha is a devil we drafted him, he is one of our kids. Let’s start showing some respect. He’s earned it this year.
This is what happens when bloggers look at spreadsheets and don't watch the games. He's getting more minutes for a reason. He got the "A" last game for a reason. He's scoring on his shots more for a reason - he's shooting lasers, he's not having shots hit him in the foot and going in or ricocheting off opposing players and going in. He's hitting and winning board battles this year that he didn't in previous years. He's getting to scoring positions that he didn't get to in year's past. And he's with players that now let him be the primary shooter.
What if I told you he may have gotten the A to boost his trade stock?
Also, who are you to accuse CJ of not watching the games? What if I told you looking at spreadsheets and watching the games is very much possible, and gives better insight on what is happening than just watching the games like you probably do. Why do you read this blog if you are going to complain about analysis of underlying metrics? That's literally what Todd has been writing about for years.
They also write about how great Bratt is and then numerous coaches have benched him. There is a clear disconnect between what the Devils think of players and what bloggers think.
Bratt is great. Coaches bench him I think when they see him get hesitant and scared. He is a great player, but when he takes a big hit or Marchand throws him to the ground. His game changes. The physicality gets to his head. Love the kid to death, has raw talent. Everyone on here sees me praise the kid.I truly believe he will be a top winger in this league. He just needs to learn how to play when the game gets more physical. I notice that when hitting picks up, Bratt plays less.
I think Zacha has improved as a shooter and deserves credit for having done so. But his shots are going in at a ratio comparable to Stamkos, Pastrnak, etc. so it's either "Pavel Zacha is one of the best shooters alive" or "Pavel Zacha has benefitted from lucky bounces this season" ... I find the latter more plausible given his personal history.
i appreciate the take, though i am on the keep zacha team. On the personal level, i like him. On the team level, i like the apparent relationship with pillars Nico and Jesper. Unless we can package him, maybe with our NYI 1st rounder, and some other forward for a young d-man (like 22) with top-2 upside-- i cannot get onboard.
As I mention in the piece, Nico and Jesper perform better without Zacha than with him. If it's a lockerroom thing, fine. But he doesn't help them on the ice.
Yea, by relationship I mean real life relationship. Nothing to do with on ice effects. The intangibles of having a team that is growing together. I put stock in that.
Yeah, I mean, Nico's the captain so if Fitz/Ruff sit down with him and Nico says "I need Pav to stay on this team" then Pav stays on the team, right? Nico needs to be put in a comfortable situation. But in terms of on-ice results, Zacha's a prime sell-high candidate.
I won't lose sleep either way. Whatever makes this team better is my vote. A vote which means nothing :)
I guarantee if you look at bratts points this year. Zacha is part of 75-80% of his production. Bratt was not performing with Hughes on the scoresheet. He performed with Zacha this year.
The trio of Johnsonn-Hughes-Bratt was the Devils best line early in the season before Covid became a thing.
They played together 2 games LOL. They had one good game where they combined for a goal against Buffalo and that was the best line early season? In fact I looked back at that great game they had and the goal they combined for was johnsson from Bratt and Smith. Show me a goal the three of them show up on all season? I can show you a few with Nico, zacha & Bratt. Hughes doesn’t like to pass to bratt. I don’t know what devils you are watching brother.
"Literally anyone would play well alongside Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. That trio first got substantial minutes last season. In those two years, Nico and Jesper have performed better both in terms of goals and expected goals WITHOUT Zacha on their wing-- they’re a minus-2 with him and a plus-5 without him."
I know you have been critical of Zacha, like ... forever, but wow, dude. Trade Zacha. Trade Pavel Zacha. I can get behind this if we are talking about young difference makers or even entering-their-prime players with 3+ years of term, but anything less than that, and no chance.
The guy has chemistry with the younger players, which is everybody not named Suban at this point. I also like that he can take draws and play in any situation. Trade Pavel Zacha. You are either a genius or destined to work for James Dolan.
I understand his value is at the highest it’s been (not saying too much). But a couple things to consider.
Your getting rid of a middle 6 guy that can play in all situations wing or center. This past year we were without Nico for pretty much the whole season. We get rid of him and we lose Jack or Nico to injury were looking at another season like this one. McLeod and Boqvist (if he’s a center) are promising but unlikely able to step up.
The return would obviously have to make sense. We need D and scoring obviously. Maybe if they could make a trade for a player like Timo Meier someone who fits the age group.
Just because the post says "should trade" does not mean they will. You're not going to move Zacha just for the sake of moving him - if people call and ask, you take the call and see what they are offering. If you like the offer, you take it, if not, you move on and see if you can get better value or you stick with the player and see what you can do to help their development (you can certainly make a case that Zacha is who he is at this point).
I like this idea. While great to see the point production from Zacha, I think this team could really benefit from what could come back our way in a Zacha trade. Young centers are tough to come by unless you draft them.
Maybe I'm missing something but the thing with Zacha is it's not exactly obvious (to me) what he's doing to be such an anchor on his line mates. Like, take one of the other polarizing figure on the team, Severson. It's extremely obvious if you actually watch the games that Severson does so many things well. For every brain fart he has, he makes a dozen plays that no other defender on the team is making consistently that lead to quick zone exits/entries. With Zacha, I don't see what it is. So I get people who don't look at the underlying numbers and think, you're crazy for wanting to trade him. But I think they could land a key blueliner for him in the right trade. That would be huge in speeding up this rebuild.
This blog needs less posts from CJ Turd. Way too many backward looking analysis to be useful. Just like stocks, past performance is no indication of future performance. See Johnsson as a perfect example.
I could see CJ being a stock analyst back in the day and looking at NFLX when it rented movies by mail and just missing the paradigm shift on online rentals. Same with Zacha and the shift of playing him on the wing and with actual good players.
let's not name call because you disagree with his take.
The Devils give up chances at a higher rate with Zacha on the ice than every single regular on the team and he's been out-scored by 500. Maybe there's something to the criticism of his play
Lol ... turd.
Owned
and that is *this* year. Even ignoring the past entirely, his year isn't nearly as impressive as his point totals suggest