The New Jersey Devils played their first few games without Taylor Hall and Marcus Johansson very well. Then, things went off the rails in a big way.
Have you ever seen the movie “Justice League”? It’s the story of the greatest DC Comic legends coming together to fight one massive foe. You have Ben Affleck playing Batman, a new look for Aquaman, Wonder Woman coming off a huge seller, and an interesting choice for the Flash. It seemed like they had some good decisions going in, but then you watch the movie. You realize that it’s going to take more than half the movie to see Superman. That’s not the only problem, because the movie is bad, but Superman would have made this movie a lot better.
That’s the New Jersey Devils. This is not a good team with Taylor Hall, but this is a draft-lottery winning team without him.
Things started off okay when Hall first got hurt. Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri tried to make up for his scoring. The Devils won the first three games after the Christmas break, when Hall was surprisingly taken out of the lineup. We haven’t seen him since.
In the past three games, not including Tuesday night’s atrocity (don’t worry, we’ll get to that), the Devils were desperate for someone who could make their own shot. The Devils had two shots halfway through the Vegas game, and ended up losing 3-2. They seriously needed a scorer at the end of the Dallas game, which they also lost by one game. Against Arizona, they were lucky to come out with a shootout win, because they could not get shots against Darcy Kuemper.
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Then, there’s the awful game against the Buffalo Sabres, where this all comes to a head. This isn’t to say that the Devils would have won with Hall on the ice, but at least there would have been a player the Sabres feared. They are pinching almost every single time in the offensive zone, they don’t mind getting aggressive, because they aren’t worried about the puck going the other way.
Hall is this team’s best player. It’s not even close. The magic that allowed the Devils to excel with Hall out of the lineup is gone. It’s no longer a rallying cry because it’s been too long since he’s been gone. Now, they are a team that came back to Earth in a huge way.
Who knows when Hall is coming back. He’s now missed seven games in a row. The Devils are running out of steam without him. They are just about out of time to turn this season around. Hall coming back won’t make the defense play better or the goalie to be magically good, but it will change the mindset of the opponent.
At least with Hall on the ice, this team is usually watchable. The past three games, the Devils have been downright boring at best and extremely frustrating at worst. They can’t get offense. Even when they hold the zone, they aren’t getting sustained shots on net. One mistake turns into five every time. They miss having a game changer. They need Hall sooner rather than later, unless they truly want to go for Jack Hughes.