New Jersey Devils: 5 Things To Look Forward To In 2020

The New Jersey Devils had a really rough 2019, but some of the things that happened this year will lead to happiness next year.

We are days away from the turn of the decade, and the New Jersey Devils are looking to turn the page on the first full decade in its history without a Stanley Cup win. It was by all accounts a horrible decade, and 2019 might be worst of all.

With all the hype surrounding this season, it went awfully right from the first game. The Devils blew a four-goal lead after Cory Schneider was injured. They lost the first six games of the season, and all the hype that came with the P.K. Subban, Nikita Gusev and Wayne Simmonds acquisitions was gone. Jack Hughes had a rough start, the Devils goaltending situation was getting worse and the defense was as bad as its ever been.

The only way to go from here is up. Even with the bad luck that caused the Devils to lose the most recent game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, there’s no doubt the Devils are playing much better. This gives us hope for 2020 that it will be a much happier year for Devils fans.

There’s going to be a lot to look forward to, from seeing players develop to hearing about a new coach. There are a lot of decisions to be made. These decisions will provide us with a lot of excitement going forward.

Here are five things we are looking forward to once the New Year begins.

Search For A New Coach

Alain Nasreddine has been fine as an interim coach following the firing of John Hynes, but he’s not long for this job. This is going to be the most important decision of the entire year. It will be even more important than the 1st-round draft pick they will eventually make or the free agents they may acquire. This will decide how those pieces are going to play, and it determines wins and losses more than one player ever does.

The Devils new coach needs to be someone in for the long haul. Ray Shero isn’t going to get another shot at this, so if he makes a mistake on the coach twice, then he likely won’t get a third.

This can be very exciting for fans. We have hope of who could be the coach for next year. Do we have a shot at Jon Cooper if things don’t work out in Tampa? Is there a possibility that Ray is looking for his old friend Dan Bylsma? Is there a wild card from college or overseas that could lead this team into the future?

The anticipation is usually just as good, if not better than the actual decision. We learned that with the Taylor Hall trade. However, with some things it just turns out where you just want it to be over. With the coach, we think it’s going to be mostly exciting.