News Article: Devils fire GM Ray Shero

[Spoiled Bratt]

I'm not even sure what the argument is anymore?

Are people claiming that Ray actually did do a good job and the firing was unjustified?

It just seems hard to follow what the main point is?

But regardless the owners disagreed at the end of the day that is all that really matters.

You know shit hit the fan when even Jim is confused about what to complain!

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I'm not even sure what the argument is anymore?

Are people claiming that Ray actually did do a good job and the firing was unjustified?

It just seems hard to follow what the main point is?

But regardless the owners disagreed at the end of the day that is all that really matters.

I think people are just scared the new guy is going to be an idiot. Shero had a plan that a lot of people were comfortable / happy with. A lot of people are defending his record also based on how little the team had when he took over.

 

[Lou is God]

I'm not even sure what the argument is anymore?

Are people claiming that Ray actually did do a good job and the firing was unjustified?

It just seems hard to follow what the main point is?

But regardless the owners disagreed at the end of the day that is all that really matters.

I've defended Shero in the past, but I've also slowly been souring on the job he has been doing especially with our defense and have wondered if he doesn't realize how critical our shortcomings are on the blue line, but this past draft he finally took to drafting big and mobile defensemen, and that was encouraging.

Bottom line for me is this - Shero deserved more rope, but his neglect on the blueline hasten his fall, it even might have led Hall to decide not to stick around knowing that this unit was going to be troublesome unless a full fix was committed.

 

[Triumph]

Why not? It doesn’t necessarily have to be completely linear, and there’s other metrics and results in addition to wins/losses that can be looked at. I completely disagree with that assertion.

Because it's a moving target. Some guys are getting better on account of their relative youth, some guys are getting worse on account of their relative age, and some players are more important than others because of how hockey is. So sure, I agree, Bratt, Wood, Severson, Zacha - these are 4 players who are young who have not really improved this season and their continued mediocrity is a demerit for Shero/his coaching staff. But when your goaltending is getting worse and the previous regime left you no goalie prospects and a goaltender generally takes 5 years from drafting to reach the NHL, it can be challenging and/or expensive to acquire a goaltending solution - this is where the blind 'well, he's not winning' tendency misses the mark.

 

[ChicksDigTheTrap]

It’s not a tweet it was a whole section in Lebruns article talking about Palmieri. He doesn’t make stuff up

I was not criticizing you. It was everyone that was jumping to the conclusion that Shero wanted to trade everyone, etc. based on a tweet by a guy that seemed to not understand that you cannot buy out players during the season.

My bad if you thought I was saying you were doing that. LeBrun is not a random poster on Twitter.

 

[Call Me Al]

the trade deadline is a hugely impactful time for any franchise but especially ones on the outside looking in with a couple of pending free agents. if the owners don't have confidence in the gm before he's about to make a series of moves then it makes perfect sense to remove him before then, and it feels like a lot of people are overthinking that point

 

[Tretyak 20]

Where in the holy hell did I say I'm not expecting playoffs for three seasons? Especially after I just said I was willing to give him one more year after this one or I want him to gone, wouldn't logic dictate I would be looking for a playoff team NEXT year??

Because trades have consequences. If he moves Vats, Palms, Zacha, Wood and whoever else for picks at the deadline, this team isn't making the playoffs for a LONG TIME.

Giving Ray one more TDL - not even another whole year - could potentially have set the organization back three years. That's the only logic I can find for why ownership decides they have to fire Shero NOW. Otherwise you have to believe they made the move with no logic in mind.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Fix that and watch how fast our other problems go away, fix it and watch how much better of a goalie Blackwood becomes, we won our cups and formed our dynasty around the strength of that six-man unit and to me Shero's biggest mistake was the neglect of that unit.

The forwards are there, here and down on the farm, its this unit that has been our downfall the past few years.

- signed Will Butcher
- tried to sign Kevin Shattenkirk
- traded for Mirco Mueller
- traded for Sami Vatanen
- drafted Ty Smith in the 1st round
- traded for PK Subban
- drafted defense heavy during the 2019 draft
- acquired Kevin Bahl as one of the centerpieces of the Hall trade

did he really "neglect" it?