What happened to the New Jersey Devils?

[Getzmonster]

Obviously, Gibbons was the heart and soul of the team. The Ducks will happily send him back... no need to thank us.

 

[General Disarray]

Last year was a fluke. Kinkaid is not a #1 goalie.

 

[Steal Your Faceoff]

There is a lot going wrong but I think the defensive meltdowns more than anything else is whats been taking them out of games this season.I can't recall another season when they have had so many opponents left wide open for easy goals and players just splitting the d with ease to get great scoring chances. 60 minutes of solid defense has been pretty much nonexistent. Somethimes they look flat from the opening faceoff and others they start out decent enough but can't sustain it and the other team siezes momentum and just runs away with it. No, neither goaltender has been playing well but with the defensive deficincies they've been having the goalies would have to stand on their heads every night to keep them in games. Maybe since nobody expected anything last season it was easier to fly under the radar and now that they are feeling the pressure of losing so much it's hurting their morale and they can't build any confidence.

 

[Riseonfire]

The defensive personnel / defensive coaching is garbage.

 

[Judas Tavares]

Lou and Conte drove this franchise into the ground, and we're still attempting to recover from their poor management. He absolutely deserves blame for this mess.

Presently, goaltending has been atrocious. We're relying on a backup and AHL guy (sorry, Cory. Prove me wrong) to win games.

Defense is real bad. Offense outside of the first line is non-existent.

I do agree that Lou and Conte's stamp is still on this team in terms of recovery time. Not enough impact drafting in the last decade +. If Zacha and McLeod don't figure it out, that sets things back more. They are on their way, but still a work in progress.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Even if it's a similar roster to last year the league isn't static and you can't look at it in a vacuum. Too many teams have improved relative to NJ. I still like their overall direction and think they will be a good team in the future, and whoever they add at this year's draft will be a big part of that.

 

[AfroThunder396]

A lot of these games they're tied/winning in the 3rd period and then lose in regulation. It really is coming down to individual breakdowns and sequences that's costing them.

 

[SeidoN]

View attachment 161799

They overachieved last year; that’s all.

Shero is very far down the list of complaints.

 

[Pens x]

Shero is very far down the list of complaints.

Give it another year and then maybe you’ll wake up. Shero is a fraud. We wasted 5 years of him trying to draft puck moving defensemen, and almost all of them failed to develop into NHL players. He was loyal to a fault to players and coaches.

The Hall trade was amazing, but Shero doesn’t have the intelligence to totally fix New Jersey. You guys are wasting every season he’s the GM. You don’t have Crosby and Malkin to win you the cup despite Shero like Pittsburgh had.

 

[Devilsfan118]

Shero has been there for 3.5 years now; at some point he needs to be criticized as well.

I don't disagree at all. Shero has been far from perfect so far, but he's worked to improve the team by making some drastic changes. He's trying.

But you cannot replace 15 years of poor drafting and personnel management in 3.5 years.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

They overachieved last season, this is what rhey always were

 

[Kaapo Cabana]

They still were atleast a .500 yeam after the hot start and made the playoffs...smh

*NHL .500

truth is they were 19th in points percentage after Christmas.

The only playoff team in the bottom half of the league during that time.

They snuck in the playoffs on the back of their red hot start.

 

[Pens x]

I don't disagree at all. Shero has been far from perfect so far, but he's worked to improve the team by making some drastic changes. He's trying.

But you cannot replace 15 years of poor drafting and personnel management in 3.5 years.

I agree - but just be prepared for disappointment with that dummy as Gm.

 

[I Hate Tie DOMI]

4 (or is it 5 now?) blown 2-0 leads in the first 25 games doesn't help matters to go along with poor defense and goaltending. Win those games like they should have and their record is much different.

 

[Hi ImHFNYR]

I was watching them against tampa bay the other day. They flat out gave up. No pride, no heart, it was a pathetic peformance. If that is emblematic of their season then they desperately need to get new blood

 

[Mike Lowry]

I'm shocked they are losing, after all, they have Taylor Hall, whom according to a bunch of people who have never played the game, is one of the games elites and. Opps, nerd crowd is wrong again

 

[haak84]

0-0-5 in overtime. Something like 0-4-5 when tied with 10 minutes to go in the 3rd.

PDO is garbage.

Kinkaid hasn't been as bad as people are making it out to be. He's bailed the team out plenty of times and has cost the Devils maybe a couple of times over the season. Team play has been far more putrid than goaltending on most nights. Schneider on the other hand, looks finished for all but 30 minutes in each start.

Devils have also had by far the toughest schedule in the league so far.

 

[Spirit of McMullen]

Lou and Conte drove this franchise into the ground, and we're still attempting to recover from their poor management. He absolutely deserves blame for this mess.

How long will you keep blaming "Lou and Conte"? It's in the initial post and several have pointed out already that this is Shero's 4th season with the Devils.

And when Hall won the Hart last season and the team made the playoffs, there was not one mention of "Lou & Conte" from Devils fans. So I guess "Lou & Conte" were no longer a problem last April? But now they are again?

They were conveniently long forgotten throughout the spring, summer and this past fall, especially when the team started the season at 4-0, but now are a problem again apparently.

Success & Playoffs is Shero
4-0 Start to this season is Shero
Failure thereafter this Season is Lou & Conte

Make up your minds already

 

[Kevin27NYI]

Hall is not playing like an MVP, the goaltending has been sub par, and their third and fourth lines have not been scoring much.

It also doesn't help that they've lost a bunch in overtime. They won a lot of overtime games last year.

Wasn't John Moore a big help last year for that? I remember reading somewhere he was a great 3 on 3 player

 

[NoName]

A very young team overachieved last year and is coming back down to earth this year. Not particularly surprising.

 

[NoName]

They squeaked in last year, so it isn’t like they were a juggernaut to begin with. This kind of thing just happens sometimes to younger teams.

Yeah, Toronto, Winnipeg and (apparently) Colorado are young teams that have managed to come out of their rebuilds in recent years as seemingly perennial playoff teams but in a lot of other cases it isn’t just a straight trajectory up to the top from a rebuild; often times there is a “two-steps forward onr step back” situation (eg. Edmonton, Philadelphia and now New Jersey).

 

[Devilsfan118]

How long will you keep blaming "Lou and Conte"? It's in the initial post and several have pointed out already that this is Shero's 4th season with the Devils.

Bruh.

Go look at our drafting history since 2008 and tell me who should be faulted for the lousy results?

As I've said previously in this very thread, you cannot make up for 10+ years of piss poor drafting in 3.5 years.

And when Hall won the Hart last season and the team made the playoffs, there was not one mention of "Lou & Conte" from Devils fans. So I guess "Lou & Conte" were no longer a problem last April? But now they are again?

Hall carried this team into the playoffs last year. Shero acquired Hall. You do the math.

They were conveniently long forgotten throughout the spring, summer and this past fall, especially when the team started the season at 4-0, but now are a problem again apparently.

Success & Playoffs is Shero
4-0 Start to this season is Shero
Failure thereafter this Season is Lou & Conte

Make up your minds already

I was, and still am, very critical of Shero's complete inaction this past offseason. No one ever said Shero is without fault, especially me.

This will apparently be hard to grasp for you, but it's entirely possible that multiple parties are at fault here. It's not black or white.

 

[Spirit of McMullen]

Bruh.

Go look at our drafting history since 2008 and tell me who should be faulted for the lousy results?

As I've said previously in this very thread, you cannot make up for 10+ years of piss poor drafting in 3.5 years.



Hall carried this team into the playoffs last year. Shero acquired Hall. You do the math.



I was, and still am, very critical of Shero's complete inaction this past offseason. No one ever said Shero is without fault, especially me.

This will apparently be hard to grasp for you, but it's entirely possible that multiple parties are at fault here. It's not black or white.

Nonsense. 4 seasons is more than enough time to implement some type of system & vision, draft and make trades etc, which Shero has done.

Vegas did it in over the course of one summer, without superstars, but with acquiring the right talent from the expansion draft with the right GM and head coach.

The very GM you are bashing had a Cup winning team and system in place by his 4th season with just 3 high draft picks, 2 of them that he didn't even earn himself: inheriting a #2 overall when he was first hired, a #5 in 1989 and the infamous #3 pick from the Leafs (Kurvers for what turned out to be Niedermayer)

Shero has had a #6 and a #1 so far by the way.

At some point it's time to let go of Lou and the past. Even Pens fans are telling you they are happy to be rid of Shero. That should tell you something. Also, you should compare Shero's draft record with his 8 seasons with the Pens side by side with that of Lou during the same time period. It's not any better to be fair.

The Devils have put together an awesome top line. Above average actually. That was all Shero and to his credit. And you already had Henrique, who would have been perfect for the 2nd line, not to mention Zacha is not working out as your 2nd line Center.

Shero traded Henrique away and ruined any chances of having two decent lines.

 

[Spirit of McMullen]

The very GM you are bashing had a Cup winning team and system in place by his 4th season

Edit: meaning had the vision and system implemented and in place, with most of the pieces in place, Brodeur drafted, Niedermayer drafted at the end of the season and Scott Stevens awarded at the end of the season as well.

 

[Spirit of McMullen]

And they made the playoffs in 3 of his first 4 seasons as GM, after the team missed the playoffs in its first 5 seasons in NJ