The former New Jersey Devils head coach is making his first return to Newark since being fired by the Devils earlier this season.
The New Jersey Devils are coming off a big win in Ottawa. They went into the break on a down note but came out of it flying. They outplayed the Senators on the road but they still needed a comeback and a shootout to defeat them. It was an all-around fun game to watch for fans of New Jersey. Now, they finally get to come back and play a game on home ice.
An old friend comes to town with his new team. Former Devils head coach John Hynes is back in Newark as the head coach of the Nashville Predators. He is going to be hungry to beat the team that fired him after a horrid start to a season loaded with struggles. It wasn’t a fair ending for John Hynes in the end, and things really haven’t really gotten much better since he left. With that said, a change desperately needed to be made.
The organization looks a little bit different since his departure. The best player on the team for most of his years there is now a member of the Arizona Coyotes. The general manager that fired him in Ray Shero is also gone so it is clearly a major overhaul since he left. The Predators are obviously going to be fired up for their new coach due to the circumstances so the Devils need to come ready to play.
Nashville is struggling based on their expectations as well. They are still well within striking distance of a playoff berth but they really need to start stringing together some wins. There is little doubt that this is a motivated group due to their current situation. They have a lot of talent there that really needs to get going.
One player that is certainly not struggling this season is Roman Josi. He is having a Norris Trophy caliber season for Nashville despite their struggles as a team. He is going to make an impact every single night but the Devils have to try to contain him. It is going to take a good effort from every player on the team to neutralize a very deep team up and down the lineup.
In the last game, we saw Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes impact the game in different ways. These are the two players that the Devils need to see carry the torch going forward. They did it against a struggling Ottawa Senators team but doing it against a defense that the Nashville Predators present would be impressive. Don’t let their place in the standings veer you away from understanding how good they can be. Nobody would want to play the Predators in the first round of the playoffs if they make it.