5 Things That Must Happen For New Jersey Devils To Win Stanley Cup

5. Lindy Ruff’s System Works Perfectly

Not many people were thrilled with the hire of Lindy Ruff this offseason. Many were hoping to get Gerald Gallant, Peter Laviolette, or someone more ambitious. Instead, they took an assistant coach for the New York Rangers who was in charge of a weak defense. Well, Laviolette took a big paycheck to go to Washington, and Gallant still doesn’t have a job. Ruff is a coach with a ton of experience, and his offensive system could be a lot of fun.

Ruff has the experience to immediately get the trust of the locker room. He has 736 wins with the Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres. The fact that he was willing to take an assistant coaching job shows he’s willing to change his style with the times. It’s been three years since he was a head coach in the NHL, so hopefully, he learned how to get the most out of offenses and defenses.

The Devils only have roughly two weeks to put in an entirely new system and zero preseason games to test it out. It needs to work immediately. That’s just how things are in this strange world.

The good news is every other team is dealing with the same thing. Coaching is so important in the NHL, and the Devils know that more than most. John Hynes’ message was lost last season, and it was likely the main reason the Devils season fell apart in the spectacular fashion that it did.

Ruff will bring stability to the Devils. His system will be fun for them on the ice. He will allow them to build chemistry. It should lead to more scoring. As long as everyone buys in, it could lead to a special season.

Again, this is a lot of ask. One thing on this list is likely to happen. Two things could even happen in most alternate universes. However, the Devils need all five to even be Stanley Cup contenders.