Are New Jersey Devils A Bad Hockey Team?

The New Jersey Devils were embarrassed again when they lost by five goals to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Now that they are officially under .500, it’s time to ask a hard question: are the Devils bad?

Last season was magical. When everyone gave the New Jersey Devils zero chance to compete, this team made it all the way to the postseason. The backs of Taylor Hall and Keith Kinkaid must be sore from carrying this team as far as it did.

Well, that’s clearly over, and reality has set in this season. After doing absolutely nothing this offseason to upgrade the team’s flaws, it’s no surprise the Devils are struggling. What is surprising is the poor effort we’ve seen from the Devils through 14 games. It would be one thing if the Devils would stay in games and lose by one. It’s a whole different story when they are losing by five on a nightly basis.

Last season, the Devils lost three games all season by four goals. They lost two of those by five goals.

This season is 14 games old, and they’ve already matched those terrible numbers. It’s not just that the Devils are losing games, but they are a shoo-in for the other team. I mean, they got the doors blown off by the Ottawa Senators. Sure, that was a back-to-back game, but when they reacted by getting demolished on Friday night we know that wasn’t an excuse.

So, the question has to be asked, are we rooting for a bad hockey team?

Well, here’s where things are different from last year. For one, the goaltending has been putrid the past few games. It’s not entirely their fault, because the defense has been very bad, but we will get to that in a second.

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Keith Kinkaid was getting that “elite” word thrown around over the first few weeks of the season. Now, some fans are calling for him to be traded while he still has some value left. Ignoring the fact that Eddie Lack, who’s been inconsistent in the AHL, is the backup plan. Cory Schneider has played two games since returning from injury. He was average against a bad Red Wings team and was pulled half way through against the Sens.

The defense has been plain bad lately. Sami Vatanen and Mirco Mueller no longer look like a top line. Heck, Mueller hasn’t been playing good enough to stay in the lineup. Unfortunately, the Devils don’t have much better. Yegor Yakovlev deserves a shot, but that’s something else we will get to at another time. Will Butcher looks out of place at times, and Ben Lovejoy‘s resurgence seems short lived. Damon Severson and Andy Greene are the only serviceable line, but they have their flaws.

The offense has been alright. The top line has been good, obviously, but even their secondary scoring has been a little better than average. Brian Boyle scored a hat trick this week, Travis Zajac scored the only goal against the Maple Leafs, giving him five already this season, and every player on the roster with at least five games played (JQ and Zacha aren’t on the roster, for those asking) has at least a goal.

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It’s hard to call the Devils bad, only because this terrible stretch has been during a massive road trip. These trips either bring out the best, or worst in a team. Last season, the Devils had the exact opposite happen when a Western Canada road trip brought the team together. This one is going down the drain. However, we can’t call the season until they play like this at home. It’s one extremely terrible road trip. If this play goes beyond the road trip, then we officially have a problem.

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