New Jersey Devils: When Do We Start Pointing The Finger At Ray Shero?

The New Jersey Devils are a bad hockey team. They are the same team that’s finished at or near the bottom of the Eastern Conference in each of the last several seasons, with one Taylor Hall MVP season as the only outlier. The Devils are not any better than they were last year despite an active summer by general manager Ray Shero.

So, when do we start placing some of the blame on the general manager himself?

Here we are, 29 games into the 2019-20 season and the Devils are 9-15-5 with a minus-35 goal differential. They show no signs of marked improvement since firing John Hynes and replacing him with interim coach Alain Nasreddine. Since the coaching change, the Devils are 0-2-1 and have been outscored 11-8. Shero made it a point to improve his team, and in many ways they are worse.

The mastermind behind the Devils rebuild has gone virtually blame-free. The additions he made were expected to improve a flawed roster on paper. Unfortunately, none of his tinkering translates beyond that piece of paper. The more things change with Ray and this team, the more they stay the same for Ray and this team.

The additions of P.K. Subban and Nikita Gusev have been underwhelming, with the Subban deal looking like a total disaster. The former Norris winner has five points (2g 3a) this season and is a miserable minus-15. His frantic panicking style of play leads to a plethora of disastrous turnovers. Gusev was benched by Hynes for poor play away from the puck and has no goals in the last 10 games. Although Gusev is not terrible, the reigning KHL MVP is not the savior we hoped he would be. Not to mention a lack of goal production from the aforementioned Hall. The former league MVP has goals in back-to-back games to boost his season total to just six.

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The Devils are going nowhere and now they face the reality of dealing away their biggest star in Hall. Shero’s biggest victory is now a deal he cannot screw up. The Devils’ GM was lauded for fleecing Edmonton in the historic “one-for-one” trade that sent Adam Larsson to the Oilers for the prized winger. Now, he must maximize the return for Hall and help his team and the fans find something to feel good about.

Unfortunately, any and all confidence in Shero is waning and reality is this – nothing he receives in return will be good enough. It won’t erase the disappointment of this season. It won’t make this team better immediately and it won’t eliminate the frustration of another last-place finish in the Eastern Conference. And it certainly won’t stop all the fingers from being pointed in Shero’s direction.

Something needs to change and it won’t until a change is made at the top, starting with the removal of Shero himself.

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