The New Jersey Devils season went literally about as bad as it possibly could. However, there are ways that the team could take this bad taste out of our mouths.
You know the story. We’ve told it about a hundred times already since October. The New Jersey Devils went into this season with more hype than we’ve seen in years. Nikita Gusev was the final piece to what looked like a perfect offseason puzzle. Then, it was like someone was writing a hockey horror story. In game one, they went from dominating to losing their starting goalie to giving up a lead not seen blown in years.
Since then, the Devils have been one of the worst hockey teams in the league. Only the Detroit Red Wings have fewer points in the standings. There was a chance the Devils season might not live up to expectations, but this is ridiculous. Cory Schneider is back on the scrap heap for the second time in one season. The head coach is gone. The GM is gone. Taylor Hall is gone. Sami Vatanen, Kyle Palmieri, Blake Coleman, Wayne Simmonds and Travis Zajac have all been mentioned in trade rumors, and who knows they can all be gone soon.
We need a pick me up. This season cannot continue to be as bad as it was to start. It’s literally impossible.
So, what could happen this season that would change the way we look at this season? It’s already one of the worst, if not the worst in Devils history. Only way to go is up, right? There are some things that could lessen the blow that is the rest of this useless season. We have to face facts, there’s no way the Devils are going to make the playoffs. If they won every single game for the rest of the season, they’d have 109 points. Basically, they can sweep 34 games in a row, and they might not win the President’s Trophy.
There are things we could see this season that would change our perspective, even if it doesn’t eliminate what happened to start the year.