Tuesday, May 26th was a good day to be a hockey fan. In reality, it is good to be a sports fan in general. The NHL announced that it has canceled the remaining regular season and will jump right into the playoffs with a round-robin style tournament. Those teams will face off against the top four seeds in their respective conference and the Stanley Cup will be awarded. The draft lottery is a whole pandora’s box in itself, but once again good day to be a hockey fan. But with this, it means that the New Jersey Devils season is officially over. The Devils finished the season strong and still had thirteen games left to be played.
Now do not get this the wrong way. The 2019-20 New Jersey Devils are not a playoff team. The 2019-20 Montreal Canadiens are not a playoff team either. However, the league’s new format for the play-in tournament to get into the playoffs technically make the Canadiens a playoff team. The Canadiens played two more games than the Devils and have only three more points. It is left up to the imagination what the standings would be if the Devils had won those two games they had in hand. That is neither here nor there and we will never know what could have been. It is a crazy world we live in now and instead of not making the playoffs and having a sour taste in Devils fans mouths’, we should rejoice that hockey is back.
With all of that being said, it is also a blessing in disguise for the Devils and their fans. The team has not had many positive outings in the playoffs in about seventeen years. You read that right. It has been seventeen years since the New Jersey Devils were named Stanley Cup Champions. It is known that they were close in 2012 and we’ll get to that later. In their recent playoff trips, the Devils have seen a lot of heartbreak and frustration. The aftermath consisting of coaches leaving fans feeling impatient, and Lou Lamoriello grasping at straws.
You can’t get your heart broken if you don’t make the playoffs. Insert man tapping his head meme here. But what were the absolute most heartbreaking playoff series losses in New Jersey Devils history? One of the series that will be listed was agreed upon by some writers here at Pucks and Pitchforks has been attributed to holes being punched into walls. If you read this and end up wanting to punch the wall, don’t. Hit a pillow instead. Because walls hurt. Trust us.