New Jersey Devils: John Moore Needs To Be Held Responsible
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils came off an awful performance against the San Jose Sharks. While almost nobody was able to get anything going, it seemed like defenseman John Moore was the worst of the bunch.
My goodness, was that a bad performance by the New Jersey Devils defense on Tuesday night. The team left both Cory Schneider and Keith Kinkaid out to dry on every single goal. It’s hard to point out one specific player, but John Moore was just not good during the game and it isn’t the first time.
Many Devils fans thought Moore would be a trade deadline casualty for this team, especially after Nick Holden was able to command a third-round pick and a prospect. It seemed like the Devils would send Moore to a playoff contender desperate for blue-line help. Instead, they decided to keep him in the fold.
Moore was on the ice for three out of the six Sharks goals. One wasn’t really his fault, as he took the second man on a 2-on-1. Another came on the penalty kill, which was not good last night. The issue is the first goal he was on the ice for. Moore was absolutely torched by Jannik Hansen. Does that name not sound familiar? That’s because he scored his first goal on the season on that play.
Moore seemed out of position a lot all night long. It seemed like he didn’t have good communication with his defensive partner, and it ended up asking his goalie to do the impossible.
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He’s been playing with Damon Severson, which seems like a bad pairing, but there’s not much else John Hynes can do. Right now, Will Butcher is playing well with Ben Lovejoy and Andy Greene and Sami Vatanen are a legit top pairing. Severson makes mistakes that Moore can’t fix. Moore makes mistakes that Severson isn’t built to make up for. It seems like something that needs to change.
Instead, it may be time for head coach John Hynes to give Mirco Mueller a shot. He hasn’t been great after getting traded from the Sharks in the offseason, but how much worse can it get? Give him a shot to make a difference in this lineup, and give Moore time to think about his role.
Hynes has been preaching accountability all season long. It’s the reason he sat Pavel Zacha for a month. It’s time for Hynes to try giving Moore a night or two off and see what other defensive options are out there.