New Jersey Devils: Five Likely Reasons Behind Ray Shero’s Firing

Lackluster Player Development

Save the 2015 NHL Entry draft, New Jersey’s selections from 2016 onward were entirely on Ray Shero. Although Lou Lamoriello probably dictated the previous year’s selections, Shero’s regime was ultimately responsible for their development. Aside from a few obvious exceptions, New Jersey has failed to develop any blue chip prospects that became worthwhile NHL players for years, something that didn’t quite change under Shero.

With the exception of 2017 first-overall pick Nico Hischier (Jack Hughes will likely pan out similarly), only two players drafted by the New Jersey Devils since 2015 have played more than a full season’s worth of NHL games—Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt. Zacha, who was selected sixth overall in the 2015 NHL entry draft, has just 32 goals and 94 points in 242 NHL games. Although he occasionally shows flashes of being a resourceful defensive forward, the bottom-six player he’s molding into is a far cry from the up-tempo power forward he was projected to become.

This, along with the lineage of 1st rounders taken after Zacha that went on to become impactful players—Ivan Provorov, Zach Werenski, Timo Meir, Mikko Rantanen, Jake DeBrusk, Mathew Barzal, Kyle Connor, Thomas Chabot, Brock Boeser, Anthony Beauvillier—makes Zacha’s selection all the more woeful and is a testament to the organization’s flawed ability to properly develop and utilize young players.

While Mackenzie Blackwood has shown flashes of becoming a capable NHL starter and hopes are still high on 2018 first-round pick Ty Smith, the pickings on genuine NHL talent developed during the Ray Shero era (aside from their two first overall picks) are slim.

Despite their recent play, the Binghamton Devils are poised to miss the playoffs and finish no higher than fifth place in their division for the third straight season. Their roster currently features a whopping 12 players drafted since 2015, many of whom were once highly touted like Michael McLeod (2016, 12th overall), Nathan Bastian (2016, 41st overall), Joey Anderson (2016, 73rd overall) and Fabian Zetterlund (2017, 63rd overall), just to mention a few.

All of these players are on their second or third AHL seasons and aren’t posting numbers anywhere close to being worthy of a call-up.

The fact that not even two or three out of this group has yet to make or stick to the New Jersey Devils roster says a lot about their ability to properly furbish up-and-coming talent, which is something that must be fixed if the organization wants to stop being one of the league’s perpetual basement dwellers.