New Jersey Devils: This Season’s 10 Truly Bizarre Moments
Last week, the NHL introduced its return to play plan that included a 24-team play in playoff format to award the Stanley Cup. The announcement officially ended the seasons of the seven worst teams in the league, including our very own New Jersey Devils.
The unprecedented and hopefully short-lived “tweak” to the playoff format put an exclamation point on what will go down as one of the craziest hockey seasons in the leagues’ long and storied history. For the Jersey faithful, it was a fitting end to perhaps the more bizarre Devils season in franchise history.
With New Jersey’s season officially over, let’s take a moment to reflect on some of its highlights and recall some really weird events that took place throughout its abbreviated entirety. Truth be told, this has been one crazy freaking ride for Devils fans.
On that note, here’s a list of the 10 most bizarre moments from this past Devils season.
10. The P.K. Subban Press Conference:
In July of 2019, the Devils welcomed the newly-acquired defenseman in truly bizarre fashion. From the outlandish Ric Flair robe to the smoke-lined drum line, this was a press conference like no other in franchise history. The bombastic nature of the event was only the first of many miscues by the club moving forward.
9. Blake Coleman’s one-handed goal:
The first 39-plus minutes of the Devils opening night contest against the Winnipeg Jets couldn’t have gone any better. The Devils jumped out to a commanding 4-0 lead highlighted by a ridiculous goal from Blake Coleman. Coleman took a long-distance flip pass from P.K. Subban and flicked the puck with one hand past Winnipeg goalie Laurent Brossoit as he was falling. It was immediately dubbed “goal of the year” because of its sheer ridiculousness. Little did we know it would be the high point of the entire season.
8. Speaking of opening night…
The Devils jumped all over the Winnipeg Jets grabbing an early and conceivably commanding 4-0 lead on opening night at the Prudential Center. It wasn’t until the waning seconds of the second period that we caught our first real glimpse of things to come.
The Jets scored late in the second followed by three more in the third period and eventually won 5-4 in the shootout. Making matters worse, starting goalie Cory Schneider, who looked like he regained his form during the preseason, left with an injury.
The opening night meltdown sent a raucous crowd home stunned and woozy from what they had just witnessed. The loss also spoiled the debuts of Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev, and Subban. It would also mark the first of many blown leads throughout the year.
7. And speaking of Schneider:
Cory Schneider played so well at the end of the 2018-19 season and into this preseason that many believed the old Cory was back. If the Devils had any hope of making the playoffs they would need to rely heavily upon good goaltending. Cool thought. However, early into the opener, Schneider hurt himself while making a sprawling move. The injury unofficially ended Schneider and his teammates’ season. By November, the Devils’ had gone completely off the rails and plenty of fingers were pointing squarely at number 35.
Additionally, it was clear that New Jersey’s future between the pipes centered around the development of Mackenzie Blackwood and not the 34-year-old netminder. Schneider was put on waivers for an AHL demotion. Schneider cleared waivers and was immediately sent down to Binghamton for playing time. New Jersey’s $6-million man was nothing more than an Upstate New York farmhand. He and his team rebounded before the pause, but the long term damage was already done.
6. The Louis Domingue era:
In an attempt to look proactive, then-GM Ray Shero made a bold move and acquired Domingue from the Tampa Bay Lightning for goaltending help – if that’s what you want to call it. Domingue was coming off of an outstanding year with Tampa in which he won 21 of his 26 starts with a stellar 2.88 goals against. It was a nice idea by Shero, but the Devils are not the Lightning.
Domingue played in 16 games for New Jersey earning a 3-8-2 record with a beefy 3.79 goals against and equally unimpressive .882 save percentage. Domingue’s short tenure will mostly be remembered for allowing five goals in a 7-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, including a bizarre one that he popped over his head and into the net with his blocker. Oh, and his pads… I liked his pads. The Domingue era ended almost as quickly as it began when he was shipped to Vancouver at the trade deadline.
5. A toothless Mackenzie Blackwood:
One of the few real bright spots of this past season was the play of Mackenzie Blackwood. The kid is a flat-out gamer and legit stud goalie in the making. After wowing us with highlight-reel save after highlight-reel save, Blackwood proved he was tough as nails too.
The 23-year-old netminder took a Ryan Pulock slapper to his facemask. The impact of the shot knocked several of his teeth out. Yet, he stayed in and finished the game, making 37 stops in a 4-3 OT loss to the Islanders. A few days later he would find himself in dental surgery for several hours to repair the damage caused by the shot. It was the most bizarre thing most of us have seen happen to a goalie since the Clint Malarchuk incident – Probably.
4. Another meltdown at home:
The Devils opening night loss was bad, but at least they earned a point. (I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy.) That said… since the opening night meltdown, the Devils had dropped four more in which they were embarrassed a few times and shut out twice. Then came the Monday matinee at home versus the Florida Panthers. The visitors struck first 16 seconds into the game, but the Devils fought back scoring the next four goals to grab a sizable three-goal lead. Surely, they would not blow this one too, would they? You can bet your bottom dollar they would!
The Panthers scored two late goals in the second followed by another in the opening minute of the third to tie the game. All told they would rattle off five consecutive goals en route to a 6-4 victory and another gut-wrenching loss. It was New Jersey’s sixth consecutive loss to open the season, leaving them buried in the league basement and mired in a deficit they would never overcome.
3. Damon Severson’s overtime winning goal – for the other team:
Coming off a 7-1 victory in Chicago, the Devils headed home to face the Toronto Maple Leafs feeling pretty good about themselves. They battled Toronto hard throughout the game, even finding themselves heading into the third period with a 4-3 lead. But, as per the usual, the opposing team would eventually even things up sending the game to overtime. That’s when things got interesting.
Maple Leaf forward William Nylander stripped the puck from Jack Hughes and moved in on Blackwood before losing control of it. A backchecking Severson attempted to clear the puck behind his net and instead inadvertently flipped it past his goaltender. Nylander was given credit for the goal. Severson had never scored an overtime goal before this and I’m pretty confident that in his wildest dreams he never envisioned it being one as memorable as this.
2. Taylor Hall:
Should he stay or should he go? With the supposed blockbuster summer the Devils had, it was only a matter of time before they would lock up their former MVP long term. After all, the club’s offseason facelift was set in motion as an attempt to appease Mr. Hall and entice him to stick around for a while. It appeared to have worked when early season rumblings had the Devils and Hall on the verge of an extension. The rumblings were so loud that Bob Mackenzie went on record as saying that he believed a deal would be done by the end of October.
But, in a season of the truly bizarre the saga of Taylor Hall was among the most strange. Yes, the Devils were losing a lot of games, but it was not as if Hall was a man on a mission carrying around a bunch of dead weight. No, it was quite the opposite. The 28-year-old has two goals in his first 19 games and a grand total of six in 36 games with New Jersey. Towards the end of his tenure in Newark, the one-time 30 goal scorer appeared aloof and uncomfortable.
The New Jersey faithful began to turn on Hall following comments he made about those same fans booing the Devils for their poor play. The whole situation began to bubble over in early November when Hall appeared to mock jeering fans by putting his glove to his ear after scoring a goal against Philadelphia – another NJ loss I might add.
It became evident that Halls’ days in New Jersey were numbered. By mid-December, the Alberta native would find himself a healthy scratch for several games as the trade rumors heated up and on December 16th it all boiled over. Hall was dealt with the Arizona Coyotes for a slew of picks and prospects thus ending Hall’s time with the Devils. It was not the ending we envisioned in July – a truly stunning turn of events for sure.
1. The Pause:
There’s no doubt this has been one of the weirdest seasons in franchise history. It had a little bit of everything and of course, it’s only fitting that a global pandemic would cut it short with 13 games left. Just as the team started to play better. Just when Blackwood was making a case for himself in the Calder Trophy conversation and just when Schneider was regaining his form. The pause happened.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, the Devils were awful enough to not be included in a 24 team return-to-play format. And just to rub salt in our seeping wounds, New Jersey’s shot at three 1st-round picks is in real jeopardy. When they inevitably lose two of those aforementioned picks (the positivity is clearly gone), it will tie a pretty black bow of this truly bizarre 2019-20 season.
But wait….there’s more. You didn’t think I could stop at just 10 bizarre moments, did you? There are plenty of honorable mentions.
Next. Devils Unsung Heroes: Valeri Zelepukin. dark
What about the way-too-late firing of John Hynes? Or the shocking cancelation of the Ray Shero era after he was an early GM of the year candidate? How about the truly stunning trade of Blake Coleman? Or the trade of captain Andy Greene to Lou Lamoriello’s New York Islanders? Oh, and let’s not forget about the whole let’s trade Wayne Simmonds to Buffalo for a shot at the playoffs? The Sabres of one of the seven teams not playing again. Or what about hard-lick Jack Hughes hitting two posts despite having a yawning cage? It’s been a weird and wild ride, but one we won’t soon forget.