5 Decisions That Led To Failed New Jersey Devils Season
The New Jersey Devils season is essentially over after a Saturday night loss to the Ottawa Senators. Now, it's time to evaluate where Tom Fitzgerald failed in his decision making that led to a lost season in the middle of a contention window.
A loss to the lowly Ottawa Senators on Saturday ended all hope for the New Jersey Devils and their playoff hopes. It is officially time to look forward at how they can best bounce back next season. There is no reason that this season shouldn't be an outlier. There is too much talent on this roster to lose any more seasons to mismanagement and singular issues.
This season was lost on mistakes. It was lost on the mistakes of goalies who were much worse than they were last season. It was lost on the mistakes of a defensive core that took six steps back from last season. The mistakes of a coaching staff that lost the magic of last season. However, the only connection to all of these mistakes is Tom Fitzgerald.
To be clear, we're still logical in thinking Tom Fitzgerald is the right person to lead this team to the next level, but we can also acknowledge this was his worst season at the top of the Devils front office. There were points in the seasn where the Devils still had a shot to make it back in the playoff race, but that dream is over. Now, one more time, let's look back and rank the decisions that cost the Devls their season.
5. Waiting to Fire Lindy Ruff
One might say that keeping Lindy Ruff over Andrew Brunette would be at the top of the list, but for now, we'll focus on Tom Fitzgerald's decision to let Lindy Ruff stay as head coach through some very choppy waters. The Devils have been mostly a disappointment from the beginning. It seemed like Fitzgerald hoped to get Ruff a better goalie to invigorate the team, but it never happened, and it cost Ruff his job.
However, Ruff did not have a good season and did not deserve a better fate. He was making mistakes in his usage of Timo Meier, Alexander Holtz, and even Jack Hughes at times. The power play went from the best in the league to the worst with no signs of adjustments after the Dougie Hamilton injury. There was no push for motivation and the losses to bad teams is the main reason why the Devils are in the place they are in today.
The Devils were always bad under Ruff against bad teams. Twelve of their 30 losses last season came at the hands of teams that missed the playoffs entirely. This season, the Devils have losses to the likes of the Sharks, Ducks (x2), Coyotes (x2), Blue Jackets, Blues, Canadiens, Flames, Capitals (x2), and now the Senators.
The Devils should dominate these games, and they should get up for these games. The fact they've given up the first goal of the season 50 times in 71 games is a massive problem. The team is not ready to start games. That's on the coach. The team turtled in hard times. That's more on the coach to get them out of this. The fact the coach showed he couldn't overcome these things but it took until February to make a move was a mistake.
4. Replacing Sharangovich, Boqvist, and Wood with Nosek, Tierney, and “Foote”
The Devils depth has been awful this season. The Devils lost a lot of young players with NHL experience. Some players, like Yegor Sharangovich, were traded for upgrades in other places in the lineup (Sharangovich was trade for Tyler Toffoli). Others were let go in free agency, sometimes by denying a qualifying offer (the case for Jesper Boqvist) and other times letting them go in unrestricted free agency (the case for Miles Wood, among others).
The Devils thought they could replace the outgoing young players (Sharangovich 25, Boqvist 25, Wood 28) with even younger players and a few cagey veterans. Unfortunately, that exploded in their face. Tomas Nosek and Nolan Foote were both injured before the season started. Nosek has been ineffective all year, possibly due to the injury, and Foote still hasn't played in the NHL.
The Devils have been forced to regularly play Chris Tierney, Kurtis MacDermid, and Max Willman. Meanwhile, Sharangovich has 28 goals this season. Boqvist has earned a position in the Bruins lineup, and Wood has been a very good contributor for the Colorado Avalanche, especially on the penalty kill.
We don't believe the Devils departed young guns would have had the same role on this team, meaning their positions would likely be worse today. However, when the upgrades are clearly worse, it's a major issue. Adding in the Devils lost Mike McLeod when he was arrested for his role in an alleged sexual assault, and they were not prepared for the losses that impacted this team's depth.
3. Re-signing McLeod
Alright, we just mentioned it, but we have to go in depth. This decision has had a major impact on the team. There is no doubt that this team looks completely different now than it did before Michael McLeod was arrested. His absence impacts more than just what he was doing on the ice.
He was having his best season, scoring a career high 10 goals before his arrest. He was also one of the best faceoff men in the NHL. His impact on this team is hard to replace. Yet, there was always a chance that the Devils were going to have to do it.
Hindsight is always 20-20. Looking at it today, and everyone would say the Devils should have replaced McLeod last offseason if there was evidence he was involved in the heinous accusations tied to the 2018 Hockey Canada team. However, it’s just hard to blame Fitzgerald for the situation.
Most teams treat their players as innocent until proven guilty. That’s how it worked for Patrick Kane, Evander Kane, and others who were accused of crimes but never officially charged. Yet, this was too important a position for the Devils to trust to a player who may (and ended up being) in a desperate position. Fitzgerald already made the bold move, denying McLeod’s qualifying offer and letting him go to free agency. However, he followed that up with a one-year deal. Now, the Devils are stuck in a position to replace him long term.
2. Starting with Brendan Smith over Simon Nemec
Let’s start with this; Brendan Smith did not have a good season. The Devils put too much on him, expecting him to be a full-time starter from day one. It seems like forever ago, but to start the season, the Devils felt like it was in their best interest to start the season with Smith playing on his off hand. They had other options, especially when it came to playing with Luke Hughes for his first full-time assignment in the NHL.
We understand wanting Smith in the lineup for his play on the penalty kill or his leadership in the locker room, but playing Smith over Simon Nemec, a rookie who has shown in his time replacing Dougie Hamilton that he’s ready for the show, was a colossal mistake.
Obviously, most were hoping Smith would act as the Devils seventh defenseman this season. The expectation was that John Marino, Hamilton, and Colin Miller would be on the right side. Miller didn’t get in the lineup and was eventually hurt. Santeri Hatakka looked good in preseason, and he probably should have been given a shot.
Either way, the Devils went with Smith when Nemec could have given the Devils those important shifts to start the season. It was an overthought by management. It was prioritizing traditional development over putting together the best roster, and it cost them crucial points in the beginning of the season.
1. The Goalie
Obviously, the biggest issue this season was never addressing the goaltending situation. It would have been ideal to acquire Connor Hellebuyck before the season, but in reality, the Winnipeg Jets probably didn’t want to trade their franchise netminder. They gave him the big contract. So, even if you assume that it wasn’t a sure thing, the Devils still could have done something in the offseason.
Instead, the Devils went with Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid to start the year. We all saw what happened. We were all there. It didn’t work, and that was clear basically from the start of the season.
The real issue was never addressing it until they got Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen at the NHL Trade Deadline. The Devils needed help there for months, and it was left to its own devices, and now the season is over. If the Devils had a goalie in November or December, they are a playoff team. It’s that simple.
It took a lot for this season to finish this badly, but the Devils need to learn from this and move on. Fitzgerald is not losing his job, and frankly he shouldn’t. He took some risks with roster construction and he was wrong. He took a risk trusting Ruff over someone like Andrew Brunette and he was wrong. He should be given the grace to learn from this mistake and build a better team because of it.
feed