5 New Jersey Devils Who May Not Be On Team Next Season
By Nick Villano
No. 5: John Moore
Devils defenseman John Moore is going into free agency in some sort of limbo. It’s hard to really understand how the Devils feel about him. While there were times he made major mistakes on the ice, it seemed like head coach John Hynes never wanted to punish him. While players like Steve Santini, Damon Severson and Ben Lovejoy were forced to sit after a bad game, Moore played 81 games in the regular season.
Still, there’s no way the Devils don’t try to upgrade that position this offseason. The Devils defense did no favors for goalies Keith Kinkaid and Cory Schneider. Just look at the team’s playoff series. Kinkaid ran out of magic, and allowed five goals per game. Schneider was the best version of himself we’ve seen since 2017, but the defense was not nearly good enough in front of him.
Moore is part of that problem. He makes multiple mistakes on the ice per game, and he doesn’t have the speed or skill to make up for them. While players like Will Butcher and Sami Vatanen may make mistakes, at least they have the speed to get back and help on a possible 2-on-1.
Moore did say on move in day he wants to stay with the Devils. His family likes it here and wants to be back in red and black. It just doesn’t seem like it will work out. If the Devils want to upgrade on the back end, they can’t re-sign below average players on the roster.