The 2019-20 season started off terribly for the New Jersey Devils. After an 0-4-2 start, Assistant General Manager Tom Fitzgerald moved behind the bench to help diagnose the Devils issues. Now over a month later, this New Jersey Devils team still has the 2nd worst goal differential in the NHL at -25, the 4th worst 5v5 score and venue adjust Corsi For %, and they were just embarrassed on home ice by their Hudson River rivals, the dreaded New York Rangers.
While they aren’t 100% out of playoff contention, MoneyPuck.com currently has them at a 17% chance to make the playoffs this year. That’s absolutely terrible. In fact, it’s so bad that the Devils have a worse chance to make the playoffs than the Ottawa Senators and Los Angeles Kings. The only team with worse odds are the Detroit Red Wings. That’s a major letdown for a team that acquired P.K. Subban and Nikita Gusev, drafted Jack Hughes, and signed Wayne Simmonds over the offseason.
We all saw the St. Louis Blues go from last place last year after firing their coach on November 19th to eventual Stanley Cup Champions, but unfortunately for the Devils that’s an insanely rare occurrence.