Devils in Trouble After Road Trip
Everyone knows the New Jersey Devils started off 4-0-0. They looked like they were going to establish themselves as one of the premier teams in the National Hockey League. Then things started to go sour once they hit the road for the first time. A loss to the Philadelphia Flyers wasn’t that big of a deal, and then they returned home to play the Florida Panthers and won the game. All was well heading into a seven game road trip.
The road trip began in the worst possible way, an 8-3 slaughter handed by the Tampa Bay Lightning. It wasn’t apparent at the time of the game, as it dates all the way back to October 30th, but it was a sign of things to come.
The Devils would go 1-6 on the road trip. Losses to Tampa Bay, Detroit, New York Islanders, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg have seemed to derail the beginning of the season. Most of the games saw the Devils were thoroughly outplayed and outmatched. The Devils should have been expected to beat the Detroit Red Wings and Ottawa Senators based on where those teams are at in their franchise. Now we wonder if the Devils are in the same position.
The Devils however, did get ONE win on the road trip, a 5-1 domination over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The team with the center depth of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin is a Stanley Cup contender year in and year out. Them letting a slumping Devils team handle them on the back of a Brian Boyle hat trick is very surprising. Out of all the teams the Devils had a chance to play this road trip, the Penguins are the team they dominate.
So what is the reason behind all for the struggles? That seems to be a mystery. The players and coaches don’t have an answer when asked about it. There are some things that seem apparent when just watching the games.
The defense is not good enough. Some of the pieces are there, they are just slotted in the wrong spots because of the teams lack of depth at the position. Andy Greene is no longer a number two defenseman. That role would probably be best served by Sami Vatanen, but he has the role of the teams number one. Will Butcher has shown signs of being a really good offensive defenseman and he is likely here to stay. Damon Severson and Marco Mueller are good young defenseman that the organization needs more growth from. Ty Smith is on the way, and the Devils believe that he will be an impact player once he finally gets his shot.
The offense needs help outside of four players. We all know the capabilities of Hart Trophy winner, Taylor Hall. Kyle Palmieri is a very good player with a great shot. Nico Hischier is an outstanding two way center iceman who will only get better as the years go on. He left the final game of the road trip with an injury, and we still are waiting for an update. Travis Zajac has admitted that he can contribute more offensively, and he has done that so far this season. Look for Travis to keep it up.
The rest of the team needs more. Marcus Johansson has been a disappointment, and Pavel Zacha isn’t even with the big club anymore, as he was assigned to the Binghamton Devils to work on his offensive game.
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Jesper Bratt has one assist in two games since returning from injury, so he gets the benefit of the doubt for now. We will see how things go moving forward.
Last year, Zajac centering a line between Stefan Noesen and Blake Coleman was a very good shutdown line that also contributed offensively. It would be nice to see this line reunited and play like it did last year. The Devils also would like their fourth line to produce sometimes. You can’t ask for much more from Brian Boyle, it’d be nice for the balanced attack to return to form.
Goaltending has been mediocre so far. Keith Kinkaid has started off very good, and then sort of fell off once the team hit the road. Cory Schneider has returned from injury and played a few games, but hasn’t looked like his old self as of yet. The team in front of them leaves a lot to be desired, so it cannot be all pinned on them, but they are for sure going to need to play better moving forward, if the team is going to get out of this funk.
The Devils return home to the Prudential Center on Tuesday, November 13th when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins again, for their first home game in a few weeks. Look for the Devils to play the matchup game against Crosby and Malkin, and look to end some of the woes and get back on track.