Another terrible start against the Arizona Coyotes has fans losing faith in New Jersey Devils head coach John Hynes. He is now coaching for his job after such a serious collapse.
Before the game on February 18th, the New Jersey Devils were a mere four points out of a playoff spot. The Trade Deadline was a few weeks away, and the team was trying to decide whether they were buyers or sellers.
Fast forward less than a month later. A ten game losing streak puts the team in the basement in the Eastern Conference. What’s worse is the team only has the fourth best odds to win a number one pick in this year’s draft.
The Devils have been notoriously bad at the beginning and end of periods. That seems to be on the head coach John Hynes. The team just isn’t coming out of the gate fast.
After Ray Shero made multiple moves that made fans excited for this season, including a trade for Taylor Hall, re-signing Kyle Palmieri and picking up P.A. Parenteau on waivers from the New York Islanders.
Some of the players have actually been worse than season. Cory Schneider went from one of the best goaltenders in the league, to a guy who actually gets pulled against the team with the second worst record in the NHL. That isn’t entirely on the coach, the lack of defense hurts, but Schneider overcame these issues last year.
Besides player development, Hynes made serious game-to-game mistakes. He hasn’t used his timeouts in the best situations. His line changes don’t seem to work.
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Hynes was one of the best kept secrets last seasons. He actually made the top ten in Jack Adams Award voting last season. Someone even voted him to win the award. That was part of the excitement coming into this season.
If the Devils continue its record low run going into the end of the season, Hynes is a goner.
The only thing saving Hynes at this point is that he was hand picked by Shero. He came from the Pittsburgh Penguins minor league team. Shero obviously has an affinity for Hynes. How far does that get Hynes?
The Devils have 14 games left. If they are able to make something happen (a win or two would be nice), then Hynes has a chance to save his job. If not, there is no chance he should stick around next season.