Big changes are inevitable for the New Jersey Devils
The roster isn't good enough, and the coaching isn't helping.
If the New Jersey Devils were going to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, they simply had to win Tuesday night.
It was as much of a must-win as a game can be in early February.
They were at home and facing a divisional opponent that was three points ahead of them in the standings.
With a win, they would have sat seven points behind the New York Islanders and had a game in hand. A sizable gap to close, but somewhat manageable.
They also would have passed the Florida Panthers, equaled the Philadelphia Flyers, and sat just one point back of both the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Instead, they fell flat on their face, getting blanked by Elvis Merzlikins.
One would be hard pressed to draw up a more disappointing, underwhelming, and outright pathetic performance than the one the Devils put forth.
The Devils generated four high-danger chances at 5v5, according to NaturalStatTrick. Four. F-o-u-r.
One in the 1st period, two in the 2nd, and one in the 3rd.
Season on the line, at home, shooting on a goaltender who started the night with an .884 save percentage. And that’s all they mustered in nearly 50 minutes of 5v5 hockey.
There was no juice, no life, no pace, no ice-tilt, no nothing. It never felt like they were going to break through.
When the Devils got a good shot off and hit a post I honestly thought to myself ‘wow, they actually almost scored there!’, which is deeply alarming.
Sure, there was no Jack Hughes. The Devils still had Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, Arseny Gritsyuk, Simon Nemec, and company. The team should not be that lifeless on offense. They just shouldn’t.
And that’s the case every single night. It doesn’t matter if the Devils are facing a bad team. It doesn’t matter if the opposition is missing key players. It doesn’t matter if a backup goaltender is in net.
Scoring even a couple of goals is like pulling teeth. Probably because it is. The Devils have put up one or zero in 15 of their 56 games, which is nearly 27%.
They can’t score – and it has been this way for well over a calendar year. Big changes should be made accordingly.
Tom Fitzgerald built the team that, with only two injuries up front, has Sheldon Keefe using Paul Cotter – a winger who has zero points over his last 21 games – as the team’s 3rd line center because he feels it’s his best path to victory.
Tom Fitzgerald built the team that, with only two injuries up front, is icing a 4th line of Maxim Tsyplakov, Luke Glendening, and Juho Lammikko; a trio that has combined for one goal through 104 games played this season.
Tom Fitzgerald built the team that started the year with the priciest blueline in the NHL, yet ranks 30th in WAR.
It’s very clear the roster is littered with flaws and not good enough to contend.
By the same token, Keefe has coached the team about as poorly as Fitzgerald has managed it.
It’s his job to get the most out of the players he has. He’s certainly not doing that.
Go up and down the roster and almost every single guy on the team is performing below the norm or expectations.
Which regulars have played to their capabilities? Cody Glass, Connor Brown, and Arseny Gritsyuk? It’s a short list, to be sure.
I can tell you which ones haven’t: Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton (until recently), Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and pretty much every other notable.
But, hey, at least Keefe has gotten his guys in the right frame of mind.
I don’t want to be all doom and gloom. I still have high hopes for a lot of players on this roster moving forward. And the Devils will have a high 1st round pick in a few months to add to the core.
Right now, though, things feel as bad as they have in a long time.
The Devils don’t have a GM in place who can properly build around their best players – whatever you think of the core, it’s better than a 26th-seeded group – and they don’t have a coach in place who can get the most out of the pieces the team does have.
Making significant changes isn’t optional anymore. It’s necessary.
Why does everyone else out there see this, but the ownership doesn't? I'll tell you why. This franchise is nothing more then an asset in their portfolio and as long as the valuation goes up (which it did), there's nothing to see here. If Fitzgerald and Keefe weren't fired on the bus ride home from UBS after the 9-0 game, I feel it's never going to happen. Which is disappointing because EVERY team that makes a leadership change at the appropriate time gets some sort of bump. I say appropriate time because Devils got no bump when firing Lindy Ruff because it was WAY too late.
Sure we can change all of the players - but these are a lot of the same guys who excelled under Lindy. Maybe the grass isn’t always greener. Seems like a coaching shakeup might be the only thing that they can do to turn this around. If they ain’t playing the right way then we need a new way to play. DeBoer is just sitting waiting for a call. This team should not allow them to trade an unprotected fist.