The New Jersey Devils made a huge change when they moved Chris Terreri away from the bench and replaced him with Roland Melanson. This change could help Cory Schneider bounce back.
The New Jersey Devils announced a change in goalie coach on Saturday with Chris Terreri taking a different job with the team and replacing him with Roland Melanson.
This is a great move for the Devils in the long run. Obviously, Terreri is near and dear to Devils’ fans hearts. He spent 12 years with the organization and is the only other notable goalie outside of Cory Schneider and Martin Brodeur. He’s been coaching with the Devils for a total of 16 seasons between the NHL and the Albany River Rats. He was the only hold over for the coaching staff when John Hynes took over two years ago.
Losing Terreri is tough, but after last season it’s the right move. Melanson coached Schneider for his first three seasons in the NHL, helping him become the goalie he is today.
Schneider was not a good goalie this past season. After putting up Vezina worthy numbers in 2015-16, his numbers were closer to the bottom of the league last season. His goals against average went from a glorious 2.15 to an abysmal 2.82. His save percentage wasn’t much better, dropping from .924 to .908. Schneider went from the player who kept them in games to the player losing it for them.
Melanson is a former NHL goalie, playing 291 games back in the 80s. He’s technically a former Devil, playing one game in 1990. He even spent two season with their minor league affiliate in Utica.
Melanson most famous work was with the New York Islanders team when he was the part of back-to-back-to-back Stanley Cup Champions. He has the pedigree to make a goalie better.
Schneider’s familiarity definitely played a huge role in this move. The Devils goalie completely lost his confidence last season, and nothing was helping him get it back. Say what you want about the defense playing in front of him, there were a lot of goals that Schneider needed to stop. He went through a stretch where any shot from the point made fans cringe. That isn’t the Schneider were used to having in net.
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If Rollie can come in and fix Schneider’s issues, that could completely change the future and present of the Devils organization. Schneider is a great goalie coming off an awful season. Not much of last year made sense in net. There were times people were calling for Keith Kinkaid to replace Schneider as the starter. That’s not taking anything away from Kinkaid, but he doesn’t have the pure talent that Schneider possesses.
This move could go as far as making Devils contenders. While that’s a lofty claim, putting together a much better offense that has a ton of speed with the Cory Schneider of two years ago makes this Devils team a scary opponent night in and night out.
This move may not make a lot of noise off the ice, but on the ice this could be the biggest move of the offseason. Another lofty claim after drafting Nico Hischier, signing Brian Boyle and trading for Marcus Johansson, but fixing Schneider can completely change this Devils team.
It’s sad to see the end of Terreri’s tenure with the Devils. He was a great part of this team, and it’s great the team didn’t throw him out on the street. The truth is, the Devils needed something to change to make sure last season didn’t happen again.