Confirmed with Link: Hynes gets multi-year extension

[Goptor]

I think people here forget how painful DeBoer was as head coach and he's still considered above average. Imagine how everyone would react with a Yeo, Sacco, or Tocchet.

If Quenneville wants to come to NJ, sure. Fire Hynes within the hour. Nobody else available is better though.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

I think people here forget how painful DeBoer was as head coach and he's still considered above average. Imagine how everyone would react with a Yeo, Sacco, or Tocchet.

If Quenneville wants to come to NJ, sure. Fire Hynes within the hour. Nobody else available is better though.

at this point it seems next season will be the tipping point IMO. If theyre terrible, idk if Hynes sticks. If theyre a playoff team, Hynes could be a very long term coach for us as thats the way professional sports are going now - young coaches to follow along with the young core of their team.

 

[Wingman77]

LL lucked into Marty and Scott Stevens.. its just what it is ..

Saying Lou lucked into Stevens is like saying Shero lucked in to Hall.

They were both shrewd, calculated, excellent moves.

He's also the gm who drafted Marty in the first round. So, where exactly is this luck you speak of?

Luck is plucking a player like Bratt out of the 6th round or winning the Nico lottery.

Just to reiterate this, Lou could have had Curtis Joseph, Brind'Amour + 2 draft picks and called it a day, but he fought tooth and nail just for Stevens by himself.

 

[Nubmer6]

Here... Fixed.

 

[billingtons ghost]

It's not insulting - Lou was the franchise for over 2 decades and he did things his own way and that became the narrative around Lou. Look around the league - how many teams have this supposed 'identity' you're talking about? Do Washington and Pittsburgh have identities? No, they have a bunch of really good players.

All of the good teams have identities, and you've hit upon the 'why'. The organization needs to step in and supply leadership and direction and then acquire good players who buy into that direction until the good players in question represent the organization's ideal and force the other players to toe the line.

What you've seen in Washington is Ovechkin buying into Trotz's plan. What you saw in Pittsburgh was an identity that the organization wanted the team to have - and then Sidney Crosby not only buying into it wholesale but leading the charge, and Shero supplying the pieces that fit.

It is pretty obvious that you can't have success without both an overarching philosophy and the players to implement it.

Right now, I think we have the 'fast, attacking, supportive' mantra - and it was a gem last season when we had the right players in place and playing to their abilities. The coaching staff bought into playing players like Wood, Coleman, Gibbons, Bratt and went out and got Grabner so that we could skate with about anyone and Hall was superhuman.

The problem is that we are currently a few pieces away from being able to play our philosophy confidently every night. Those pieces are in net and on defense and Shero hasn't found the right combo yet.

I'm on board. It's a process. We can kill Shero for not getting us there faster on defense, and we can kill Hynes for panicking and not getting things to progress with any sort of momentum. Seems like each game is a clean slate and we could be run out of the building or win.

I'm not going to pine away for Lou - and his personnel decisions are always in question now - but the philosophy at least seems to be something you can count on from him, and something that seems to breed improvement in his teams.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Here... Fixed.

LOL that's funny.

 

[billingtons ghost]

Lou drove the franchise into the ground. Oldest team in the league, best prospect at the time was Boucher, no top line talent in the pipeline. Yes he did get some picks with trades like the Jagr trade but it was Shero who had to pull Palms and Hall out of a hat and lucked out with getting Nico. Without Nico this franchise would be years behind where they are now. So no Lou did not leave this team in a good spot.

And lol at the poster above talking about Lou and the Isles. Lou went to the Maple Leafs when they were trending up, Lou went to the Isles where there was a foundation. Shero came here with no foundation on a downward trend.

No, they weren't in a good spot after 20 years of drafting 25 or above. If you are looking for forward prospects, there weren't any blue chippers - but bear in mind:
Coleman
Wood
Severson
Greene
Zajac
Zacha
Quenneville
Blackwood
Schneider
Santini
Kinkaid
Hall came from Larsson <snicker>
Vats came from Henrique

All of the above are still contributing or made major contributions last year, or are in a position to contribute in the future.

So, purely Shero?:
Palmieri
Bratt
Boyle
Butcher
Mojo
Mueller
Noesen
Stafford
Yak
Lovejoy

and 'lucking' into Hishier as you say.

Palms was a steal. Bratt was a find. Boyle has played a good role but disappears and is slow, Butcher was a good signing but we're unsure he'll ever skate well enough to get off the bottom pair.

The rest are all relatively dreck as of this writing- although the farm is slightly more promising. Ty Smith, however, was luck falling in our laps as well.

 

[Triumph]

Sorry to say but there's a lot of nonsense in this post. Pining for the old days? Well yeah, some aspects of it, the ones that still hold value in today's game. I'm not asking for the team to play the style of hockey from that time period nor am I looking for a GM who operates precisely like Lou did. A franchise can evolve/modernize while still retaining some core aspects of their history and philosophy (off ice) and structure and commitment (on the ice).

Shero did a great job acquiring Hall & Palmieri, no doubt about it. Why are you even bringing that up when it's not part of criticism? It's like I have to like everything about the GM just because he has done some good things. That's great, but there's also some not so great things going on IMO.

You don't have to like everything about the GM. I think a lot of people have seen the team 'backslide' this season not realizing what a miracle it is that the Devils made the playoffs at all last season. This could've easily been 5 years in the dumps - an extended run of bottom finishes without even a sniff at the playoffs.

Your assertion that other teams don't have unique identities is absurd. Boston and Philly are two teams I think of that have retained an inherent identity across their existence. Washington does have an identity, so I'm not sure what you are talking about there. There's not many teams that have that - but that's precisely my point. It's something special that you should hold on to, and I think it does contribute to the fan experience and team success. Pitts is a good example of a team that doesn't have that. Their "identity" is to suck for years on end then luck into a generational talent. That's garbage, you think that's what we should be emulating? In that case maybe that's why you can't understand my concerns with our current regime.

I have no interest in being the New Jersey Penguins. Sue me.

Yeah, this is drivel. Pittsburgh hasn't been a bad team for 13 years - they've made the playoffs every season since 2005-06. Their 'identity' now has nothing to do with them being bad for 5 years in the early 00s decade any more than the Devils' identity in the late 90s had anything to do with them being terrible in the mid 80s; there are no players left from that time, and there are no coaches left from that time. Moreover, I've no idea what Philadelphia's identity is now - they're bad, they've overhauled their organization in season and I assume there's a lot more moves coming. They're far from the physical teams of even the 90s. Boston I'll grant, but that's because they've had 2 HOFers for over a decade who play incredible defensive hockey. When Chara hangs them up, I'm not sure that 'identity' is still there.

 

[Cult of Hynes]

4 hours after seeing this, and I'm still pissed off at it. Another bad move by Shero.

 

[StvBroDan]

4 hours after seeing this, and I'm still pissed off at it. Another bad move by Shero.

I just was able to see this and WHAT A f***ING JOKE. WTF has he done better than anyone else could Shero. ANYONE!!!

 

[Emperoreddy]

Hoping for a new assistant staff this offseason then.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Also I feel like this confirms a suspicion I was having that Ray believes this years issues are on him for not bringing in a significant roster upgrade, on the talent he has still being super young and developing, and our goalies sucking ass.

All the above being reasons to give Hynes the benefit of the doubt.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Completely and thoroughly unsurprising.

 

[Blender]

So Shero obviously doesn't think it's the head coach, so I need to be seeing some other type of move here some time soon. Either assistant coaches, players, etc.

 

[MartyOwns]

So Shero obviously doesn't think it's the head coach, so I need to be seeing some other type of move here some time soon. Either assistant coaches, players, etc.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

So Shero obviously doesn't think it's the head coach, so I need to be seeing some other type of move here some time soon. Either assistant coaches, players, etc.

maybe theres a chance of something being done after the road trip?

 

[jkrdevil]

The problem is that we are currently a few pieces away from being able to play our philosophy confidently every night. Those pieces are in net and on defense and Shero hasn't found the right combo yet.

If the team doesn’t have the pieces to fit a certain philosophy then they shouldn’t be playing that philosophy. A coaches job to create and adjust the system to the personnel to get the most out of them. Not implement a system and wait until you have the players to fit (which you may never get).

If he is too rigid to not be able to implement different systems as called on than he shouldn’t be a a coach at this level.

And someone else mentioned the teams backside and how it was really a miracle the team made the playoffs last year. That is precisely reason why this is a bad move. There is been no underlying improvement over the last 4 years. Trust the process but there has to be a point when you realize the process isn’t working.

 

[Emperoreddy]

maybe theres a chance of something being done after the road trip?

Be an odd time for that.

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

Be an odd time for that.

Not necessarily. At least in terms of assistant coaching, moving a guy like Nasderrine after the trip is about the halfway point of the season. Dont think thats too unreasonable, just unlikely

The real question is how often do teams fire assistant coaches and not the entire assistant staff?

 

[jkrdevil]

Not necessarily. At least in terms of assistant coaching, moving a guy like Nasderrine after the trip is about the halfway point of the season. Dont think thats too unreasonable, just unlikely

The real question is how often do teams fire assistant coaches and not the entire assistant staff?

It happens, especially if you make an in season move. But firing assistants is a dumb move.

 

[tr83]

Not necessarily. At least in terms of assistant coaching, moving a guy like Nasderrine after the trip is about the halfway point of the season. Dont think thats too unreasonable, just unlikely

The real question is how often do teams fire assistant coaches and not the entire assistant staff?

Very rare

 

[MadDevil]

If they get rid of Nas or Kowalsky, it'll probably be in the offseason. Firing them now doesn't make much sense unless you've got their replacements waiting in the wings. Short of convincing Stevens to come back I don't know who you'd replace Nas with. Who is in charge of the defense in Bingo? Isn't it about as much of a mess as the big club's is?

 

[Hischier and Hughes]

If they get rid of Nas or Kowalsky, it'll probably be in the offseason. Firing them now doesn't make much sense unless you've got their replacements waiting in the wings. Short of convincing Stevens to come back I don't know who you'd replace Nas with. Who is in charge of the defense in Bingo? Isn't it about as much of a mess as the big club's is?

Stevens defensive coach, Elias offensive coach?!

 

[Triumph]

If the team doesn’t have the pieces to fit a certain philosophy then they shouldn’t be playing that philosophy. A coaches job to create and adjust the system to the personnel to get the most out of them. Not implement a system and wait until you have the players to fit (which you may never get).

If he is too rigid to not be able to implement different systems as called on than he shouldn’t be a a coach at this level.

This is a ridiculous criticism of Hynes because he's already done this multiple times as Devils coach. The Devils in 2015-16 played a bland, conservative system but when they acquired Taylor Hall they tried to speed things up at the beginning of 2016-17. It worked initially until it didn't and finally Hynes went back to the 2015-16 conservatism after losing 10 straight. Then he took the training wheels off again and the team made the playoffs in 2017-18.

I don't agree that the Devils don't have the pieces to play what Hynes wants. They've gotten brutal backup goaltending (and below-average starting goaltending). They're currently missing their top player who carries the puck a ridiculous amount. Their problem is that the players aren't good enough, period. They don't have a top pairing D. They haven't gotten a lot out of the 2nd line. Hall hasn't been an MVP-level player.

And someone else mentioned the teams backside and how it was really a miracle the team made the playoffs last year. That is precisely reason why this is a bad move. There is been no underlying improvement over the last 4 years. Trust the process but there has to be a point when you realize the process isn’t working.

There's a lot of underlying improvement over the last 4 years that is masked by goaltending incompetence and 3 on 3 failures. If the Devils had one of the best starting goalies in the league they'd be in a playoff spot right now, overtime record be damned - and back in 2015-16 when they ended up finishing 12th worst, they had great goaltending and overtime luck. They've been a near-even territorial team, near even in xG and above 50% in high danger chances.

 

[MadDevil]

Stevens defensive coach, Elias offensive coach?!

Only if they do a segment where Patty interviews Zacha and the players have to figure out which one is which.