Do the New Jersey Devils make the playoffs next season?

[TGWL]

My vote is yes. If you fire the coach, one would think you recognized the team needs help, so the offseason should see a lot of pieces for NJ to push them into a playoff spot.

 

[ecemleafs]

Just miss out again.... I think another year of Luke and Nemec developing their all around game, and then theyll be a regular playoff team and eventual contender.

Also potentially signing a UFA goalie: Saros, Ullmark, Andersen, Lindgren

the metro sucks outside of the top 2. pens will be worse next year. flyers and caps prob take a step back. isles arent good. devils should absolutely be top 3 next year in the division and anything less is a huge disappointment just like this year was.

 

[Aurinko]

While I do think D-core is big reason for slump, there are some key players that were not in when it mattered. Losing Tatar might have been big, losing McLeod is extremely big.

In fact McLeod might be one of the most undervalued players in the league... way above guys like Lehkonen who are already criminally undervalued.

 

[Gardner McKay]

I know it's before the big summer trades and signings, but thought I would get a temperature check on the team.

I think that depends on their goaltending and if Hamilton is back to 100%. If so then yes and can probably make some noise.

 

[Aurinko]

the metro sucks outside of the top 2. pens will be worse next year. flyers and caps prob take a step back. isles arent good. devils should absolutely be top 3 next year in the division and anything less is a huge disappointment just like this year was.

Just because you dont have 3 top teams in the league doesnt mean the division sucks. This year it was the most competive any division has ever been that I remember. Extreme competition also has its drawbacks! Flyers caps and isles SHOULD all take step back, but you never know for certain.

 

[amnesiac]

the metro sucks outside of the top 2. pens will be worse next year. flyers and caps prob take a step back. isles arent good. devils should absolutely be top 3 next year in the division and anything less is a huge disappointment just like this year was.

fine, but then the Isles look much better with Roy now. I wouldnt underestimate what a defensive coach can do.

Again, I think it really depends on coaching and whether L.Hughes and Nemec take a big step forward. And will they go with Allen/Kahkonen all year?

 

[ecemleafs]

Just because you dont have 3 top teams in the league doesnt mean the division sucks. This year it was the most competive any division has ever been that I remember. Extreme competition also has its drawbacks! Flyers caps and isles SHOULD all take step back, but you never know for certain.

the caps finished 4th in our division. they sucked and even sold at the deadline. this division was competitive 3-7 because those teams sucked this year.

 

[Aurinko]

the caps finished 4th in our division. they sucked and even sold at the deadline. this division was competitive 3-7 because those teams sucked this year.

I suggest watching Laviolette interview from today. The Caps were on point and had been destroying teams for 2 months now.

 

[A1LeafNation]

All their goalies who played 10+ games seem to have the similar numbers.

They need to clean up their defence before they will make the playoffs. I think that is more player and coaching specific rather than upgrading goalies (which also wouldnt hurt).

 

[MasterofGrond]

I think they’ll be strong favorites to do so. If Fitz hires a jobber coach and the goaltending is Allen-nobody, that might change, but the pieces are still there

 

[dgibb10]

While I do think D-core is big reason for slump, there are some key players that were not in when it mattered. Losing Tatar might have been big, losing McLeod is extremely big.

In fact McLeod might be one of the most undervalued players in the league... way above guys like Lehkonen who are already criminally undervalued.

The 4th line was legitimately unplayable post Mcleod.

Watching Bastian, Tierney, Nosek, Willman try and play hockey was vomit inducing.

Siegs needs Hamilton.

Marino needs a better partner than Bahl.

And the bottom 6 needs to be fixed.

 

[bert]

Yes I think they will. Too much talent built for the regular season to have success.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I'd pretty optimistic about them if they get even a decent coach. If they hire Travis Green though then they're finishing in the basement below Columbus.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

There are two terrible Eastern playoff teams this year who won’t get much better next year. Detroit, Ottawa, and Buffalo could all be better, but is anyone expecting any of them to be real contenders next year?

If they don’t make it, they need to make major changes to their core.

 

[Machinehead]

Their underlying numbers were still really solid.

I think it's fair to say they're not as good as they were in 2023 but not as bad as they were in 2024.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Yeah, I think they just had a worst-case type of season and will be back to contention pretty soon. They will benefit from the changing of the guard in the East, with multiple teams going into teardown mode while the would-be up and coming competition spins its wheels. The door is wide open for them to walk through.

 

[Bleedred]

Their underlying numbers were still really solid.

I think it's fair to say they're not as good as they were in 2023 but not as bad as they were in 2024.

They got considerably worse after Travis Green took over in every metric, except for ironically……goaltending. That had more to do with acquiring two new guys who never got to play for Ruff. I still think we would have finished with several more points, if not several more wins if Ruff wasn’t fired until the season was over.

Every bad thing in this world is caused by Travis Green. He’s a plague on the universe.

As someone that wanted Ruff gone after this year, I always said we’re gonna be worse if his replacement is Green.

We managed to go 8-12-1 under Green with the best goaltending we had all year. That’s how bad Travis Green is.

I predicted we’d go 7-13-1 under Green. We went 8-12-1. So I guess we really are better than I thought, because we just cleared that by one win.

I’ve been blasting Green all year. He was in charge of the power play, which I think went on to finish 10th or 12th (it was first by a lot and converting on over 40% of opportunities early on lol) but it was I think 27th or 26th in expected goals.

I’m seriously convinced that Travis Green has been a bigger problem than Ruff all year long.

I’m also convinced that Andrew Brunette had more to do with our success last year than Ruff did.

Either way, replacing Brunette with Green is such a downgrade there isn’t a fair enough example I can think of to do it justice.

Travis Green f***ing sucks and needs to not have a job with the team next year.

 

[Regal]

Agree on the Green comments. I think he hurts their ability to make it. But under a better coach I think they probably do. Seems like a season where a lot went wrong. Of course if Hughes can’t stay healthy again that will be a challenge

 

[Oneiro]

Absolutely.

This season was actually very good for the future.

-They didn't give up anything dumb to teams selling a goalie.
-Ruff is gone and they're forced to confront the issues with the system and team defense. The next coach has to be a stronger two-way thinker.
-Fitz saw how much he sacrificed their best asset (speed) and will think twice. You hope.
-A bunch of zombie teams just prolonged their future pain - WAS, NYI, WPG, NSH, PIT, PHI. These will be future trade partners / doormats. CBJ is also going to take a minute to be a threat again. I also don't think much of TB or BOS going forward. CAR is also going to have a new look. A lot of unknowns.
-Nemec, Bahl and Luke played way more minutes than they should have.
-Guys like Mercer, Marino and Siegenthaler are feeling the heat and have to deliver or they're gone.

You just hope Fitz doesn't go too old in his forward signings, but otherwise, I think he played it cool. They ended the season shamefully but they were never gonna win it all with three rookies on D, that goaltending and Ruff behind the bench. Next year is a massive opportunity if they get the summer right.