What’s Next For The New Jersey Devils?
In May 2023, the New Jersey Devils were eliminated in the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. It was their first time in four seasons that they reached the playoffs. Even though they didn’t make it far, the franchise wasn’t disappointed with the outcome because of the young team they had. Additionally, they knew this was the start of a long tenure of making playoff runs. Fast forward to March 2024, the Devils sit eight points back of a playoff spot and it seems more than likely that this will be too steep of a hill to climb to get back into the playoffs. Many people are asking what exactly went wrong.
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For starters, the team's goaltending has been significantly poor. This was a huge issue in the playoffs last year when the two goalies Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid combined for a 3.42 GAA and a .888 SV%. Management didn’t make any improvements over the summer during free agency by deciding to stick with the struggling duo for this season, which has been much worse. The team has now had to have three goalies rotate for games to see if someone can pull away with the starting job. As expected, it has been the complete opposite and costing the team crucial games.
As much as you can blame the goaltending, it starts with team defense and that has been another issue for the Devils this season. Star Defenseman Dougie Hamilton has been out much of the season, and the lack of defensive depth has forced the Devils to play inexperienced defenseman who are not near the NHL caliber level of play. The team's main success last season came from the offense. It's hard to lose games when the team is scoring 4+ goals a game, but the offense has taken a step back. A lot of this was because of the injury Jack Hughes had gone under. This exposed that the team is incapable of battling adversity and unlike other successful teams being able to win games shorthanded.
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The management's hands are tied. On Monday Mar. 4, the team fired head coach Lindy Ruff. Although, it's hard to blame coaching when the team isn’t built to be a playoff team. The management needs to address much bigger issues, which would include adding a goaltender and defenseman at this year's trade deadline. This is if they want to even give themselves a shot at sneaking into the playoffs.
