New Jersey Devils Fans: Time To Panic Is Not Now

The New Jersey Devils had a horrible, terrible, very bad weekend where they lost to both the Columbus Blue Jackets and New York Rangers. While the results clearly weren’t ideal, this is not the time to panic.

Well thank goodness that’s over. That’s the overwhelming feeling after the New Jersey Devils dropped two games against their division rivals. On Friday night, the Devils blew an early two goal lead in what ended up being a lackluster effort in the battle for first place with the Blue Jackets. Then, the next night, another effort with much to be desired against their cross-Hudson rivals in the New York Rangers.

There was much to be worried about in the two losses. Marcus Johansson was injured, making the bottom nine forwards looking much weaker. Keith Kinkaid can’t be trusted when Cory Schneider needs a night off. Secondary scoring was hard to find. The Devils were getting backchecked and forechecked, which just shouldn’t happen with a team with this much speed. I could go on, but it would derail the article.

Clearly, Devils fans are panicking. In the three days since the last loss we’ve seen the opinions that the Devils lost the Adam Henrique-Sami Vatanen trade (a lot of those opinions), Travis Zajac is worthless and should be cut (we might have said that one), John Hynes should/will be fired, Andy Greene doesn’t deserve captain, and that this team should just tank for the rest of the season. These were all opinions I personally saw between Twitter and Facebook.

Here I am now to tell everyone to please calm down. This isn’t the time to panic about the New Jersey Devils season. It’s December 12th, and the team is 16-9-4. They currently sit in the first Wild Card spot, and if they find a way to beat the Los Angeles Kings tonight, they could jump to second place in the Metropolitan Division. Just like that, two bad losses can disappear.

Beyond that, the Devils are currently playing without Kyle Palmieri. Palmieri’s importance was never more obvious than right now. His presence allows the entire offense to run like a smoothly tuned engine. Imagine adding Palmieri to the second line with Pavel Zacha and Marcus Johansson. This would put the third line as Zajac with any combination of Drew Stafford, Miles Wood, Brian Gibbons and Blake Coleman. Then, a fourth line of Brian Boyle and the remaining forward from the third line. That looks so much better. You even have Stefan Noesen to add as he plays hot and cold.

The Devils don’t need to make major changes until Palmieri’s return. Sure, the defense still needs work, but much of that is just Hynes figuring out where each player fits. I personally like the lines he has tonight.

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Palmieri will be back relatively soon. Johansson shouldn’t miss more than tonight’s game. If Cory Schneider can carry the team, and the top line scores some clutch goals, then this team can face any deficit. Whether it’s in the standings or during a game, don’t ever give up on this Devils team. There’s still some work to do, but the time to panic is not here. Even if tonight is another loss.