Personally I think the Devils more or less did what the Avs did in 2013-14. New(ish) coach and team roar to life in what was expected to be a rebuilding year, snag a surprise playoff spot, and the team throws away the long-term plan when there were strong indications that year was an anomaly. They've got holes everywhere, but the goaltending situation is an utter disaster.
Going forward, they've got a legit top-two center tandem that should be among the best in the league, and it's likely they end up with yet another franchise cornerstone thanks to the lottery (you KNOW they're gonna get 1st overall even without Hall's mojo). But they got some work to do on the back end.
Lost in all the Hall/Subban/Schneider talk is the fact that Damon Severson's game has completely fallen off a cliff.
Also, this is not me being smug because I wasn't crazy about the Burakovsky or Nichushkin acquisitions at the time either, but it sure doesn't look like Gusev is having the impact people hoped/expected he would.
Yep, this all seems bang-on to me.
Honestly, Shero doesn't get enough flack here. I think he had to learn a lesson through all this: not every top pick is Crosby or Malkin. His drafting leaves a lot to be desired, just like his absolutely terrible drafting record in Pittsburgh.
Shero reminds me a ton of his mentor Poile. Both get lauded for their fantastic trades (Poile: Forsberg, Subban; Shero: Neal, Hall, Subban 2.0) which are really little more than taking advantage of dumbass GMs. Shero can't draft, is desperate to "win" every trade and thinks winning the lottery means you can ball out in trades every season or so and build a team that way. When he actually has to do solid, fundamental team-building, he's atrocious (mostly because you have to draft outside of the top 5 and develop serviceable NHLers to do that, and that's apparently not worth his time). His Plan B is always to pick off someone he drafted in Pittsburgh on waivers, or sign them in free agency.
He's virtually untouched by criticism because tradez! But he's pulling the same shit he did in Pittsburgh, even with the coaching situation. He basically fell on his sword for Bylsma and he'll probably stick with Hynes until the bitter end.