New Jersey Devils: Underwhelming 2019-20 Team Keeps Getting Worse
By Jon Bonczyk
The New Jersey Devils have been very, very underwhelming this season thus far. They are a couple loses away from officially making this season a complete catastrophe. We have lost the ability to hype the season up before it has even started. Based off the roster before the season and the current roster we still should be playing much better than the performances we are watching.
Let’s face the facts, the roster is incomplete because of the lack of defensive talent that we have. Some of the forwards are playing way below their potential and that has been the case for many weeks now. As fans we can scream “fire Hynes” all we want, but in reality nothing will be done until it is completely obvious. (Full disclosure, this was written before the Sabres game, so that might be the obvious.) A coaching change should have been made in November, to at least salvage some type of momentum before the New Year. Now, the future has all the looks of going downhill again, after one good season of hope.
May we take a moment to think about how we felt after the 4-1 series loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2017-18′ Playoffs. The optimism going forward was sky high, all the players obviously upset but were very excited to get things going last season. Then, Ray Shero added absolutely nobody to keep the cap room, and injury woes took over. Now, here we are in the 2019 season, losing our minds because we did not re-sign Taylor Hall to a long-term deal. Our additions are underwhelming again and our season is heading down the tubes as we are frontrunners for the number-one overall pick again.
The consistent thing we have done in the Ray Shero and John Hynes era of the New Jersey Devils is continuously under develop young players from the draft. Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes are excluded because they are number-one overall picks and that is very hard to screw up. You can argue Ty Smith is a good pick and should be on this team, but apparently he is not better than Matt Tennyson or Mirco Mueller so that is that. We found a very skilled player in Jesper Bratt, who was drafted in the 6th Round in 2016 and is still growing as a player. That is the one shocking pick that has been a very good one to date. Benching him is not what should be done to “help” his development.
Those four draft picks have been the only gems the New Jersey Devils found in seven years of rebuilding this roster. The management team has to shelter the blame for this downfall because the playoff team in 2018-19 looks more like an accident than the beginning of the future. The more games played with absolutely dreadful play, convinces you that this roster needs to be torn apart. Something is not right because playing horrendous hockey and playing down to a level that has never been seen is unacceptable.
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You wish it was only one thing that needed to be changed about this team, but there is just a cluster of negativity and distractions surrounding this team. You have to shelter the blame on Ray Shero for thinking this team was good to begin with. It was no surprise that this defense was not good enough last year, and then you add a $9 Million a year offensive defenseman thinking it will be an upgrade. It all sounds good until it looks like this. It is one ugly situation that is only going to get worse before it gets any better with P.K. Subban.
The games are getting harder and harder to watch. Saturday afternoon against the New York Rangers was absolutely brutal. You would have to expect changes to be made at the end of the season, whether the coaching staff or even management. It is absolutely horrendous the way things have gone the past two seasons, and fans are restless. This New Jersey Devils franchise was used to winning for so long that this streak of losing seasons is really starting to take a toll on the fanbase. Wishful thinking would be that the New Jersey Devils would bring someone in from the glory days to turn things in the right direction. As of right now, close your eyes and say a prayer because that might be the only thing that helps this team in the near future.