New Jersey Devils Players You Can’t Win a Championship With
By Corey Spina
The past couple of games have put a lot of things into perspective for the New Jersey Devils. No.1 would be that they’re not making the playoffs this season, which Taylor Hall stated isn’t happening this season. However, their recent stretch, especially their 3-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche has helped bring forward some of the culprits who the Devils can’t have on their team anymore if they want to make a serious playoff run in the future.
First and foremost is Devante Smith-Pelly, who Devils GM Ray Shero acquired last year at the deadline in exchange for Stefan Matteau. He’s been a disaster this season only scoring four goals and most of the time plus-minus is an irrelevant stat, but when it’s past -20 we have a problem.
Hynes Didn’t Hold Back
Devils head coach John Hynes, without saying Smith-Pelly specifically, but heavily alluded to the winning goal with 1:27 remaining ripped him up in his post game presser. Basically, Hynes described remaining where Smith-Pelly was stick checking and because of that completely lost his man in Francois Beauchemin who scored the game-winner.
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When a coach rips a player like that it can mean one of two things No.1 being a healthy scratch in the next game, which in my opinion isn’t the right call. My opinion is the No.2 two choice being to send him straight down to Albany and leave him there for what’s left of the season.
It’s harsh for sure, but Smith-Pelly has had plenty of chances this year to show what he’s all about and not only has he not played well consistently, but he’s just become a hindrance to what the Devils are trying to accomplish.
It all goes around my point to where if the Devils want to rebuild the right way so they can compete for a championship in 2-4 years then they need to be harsh and get rid of the players that aren’t going to be on the team when they get there.
Other Roster Flaws
A couple of other players the Devils need to look very hard at in the last month of the season are Beau Bennett, who set up a great no-look feed to Stefan Noesen for the game-tying goal. Others include Noesen, Jacob Josefson, Joseph Blandisi, Dalton Prout, and Nick Lappin.
I’m not saying the Devils should cut any of them tomorrow except for Smith-Pelly. I think his tenure with the team is long past over, but guys like Blandisi and Lappin will certainly get the extra time to see if they can be consistent NHL players or not.
Next: This Is Rock Bottom For New Jersey Devils
Everyone else though is ripe to be let go by the team, and the good thing is that Shero has already traded more than half of what was holding the Devils back, like Kalinin, Quincey, Parenteau, etc.
Everything looks bleak now, and they should when your team’s in the middle of a nine-game losing streak, but I can see the Devils beginning to Identify which players are going to stay here for the long-term and which ones need to hit the road. It may take a lot of tough losses along the way, but this could be the Devils most important time in their rebuilding stage and they need to get it right.