The New Jersey Devils have started the season as bad as they possibly could. With the least amount of wins in the entire league, how late can they continue this without losing the season entirely?
The New Jersey Devils go into week seven on the 2019-20 season with just 12 points. They are currently behind the Ottawa Senators in points, and only ahead of the Detroit Red Wings in the Eastern Conference standings. To say things have been bad this season would be a massive understatement.
Nothing has gone right for the Devils, and the season is slipping away. It’s fair to say the season isn’t gone, but losing out on this many points this early in the season is not a good look. We’re getting close to the middle of November, and the moves GM Ray Shero made this offseason haven’t worked.
Still, there are 67 games left in this season. That’s a whole lot of season to go. However, they are literally 17 points out of the lead in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils are nine points away from the Pittsburgh Penguins for third in the division, and they are eight points out of a playoff spot. Every team besides Detroit is ahead of them, and they’re losing ground almost nightly.
Obviously, today is not the day to give up on the season. It’s still November. The Devils could go on a five-game winning streak and everything would look immensely better. However, there is a day where it becomes too late to overcome the difference.
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The Devils left roughly seven points on the table between their blown leads and overall bonehead maneuvers. What’s scary is there have been multiple occasions where the wheels fell completely off and the team got destroyed. That’s what happened in their last two games against the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. The game against the Oilers was a story we’ve heard before. A strong first period did not hold over, and they eventually allowed the opponent to dominate in the second half. The Flames just destroyed the Devils in possession in the second period.
Basically, the Devils have a problem that isn’t getting fixed. How long do they have to fix it?
Well, a lot of people keep bringing up the St. Louis Blues as a comparison. However, they did two things that we likely won’t see happen from the Devils this season to spark a change; they fired the coach and they got a new, inspired goalie.
Still, last year was a weird year. On January 3rd, the last moment the Blues were in last place last season, they were still just 11 points out of the playoffs. On November 8th, the Devils are eight points out of a playoff spot. We can’t imagine if they keep playing like this that gap will widen. This is not the season to attempt a comeback in January.
Right now, it’s hard to predict an exact date when the Devils would have lost the season, but it feels like December 15th would be a point of no return here. That’s 32 games into the season. The Devils would have 50 games to make up whatever deficit they are in. If they continue to play at their current pace, they could be as many as 12-15 points out of a playoff spot. If it’s the latter, then the Devils would need to play near perfect hockey for the rest of the season. With their current roster, they can’t seem to do anything perfect.
So, the Devils have one more month to figure this out. And then, they have to play as well as they can possibly play. There’s still time, but it’s running out.