The New Jersey Devils stink. There’s really no better or more eloquent way to say it. They just straight up are a bad team. Is it the coaching? Did Tom Fitzgerald put together a bad roster? Is the core not stepping up? Yes.
This team is unwatchable. For those of us who still turn on Gotham Sports every night for the broadcast, we must either be a glutton for punishment. It’s a harrowing experience. There hasn’t been anything fun from the Devils for weeks.
During their last game against the Washington Capitals, there was at least a little hope. Jesper Bratt scored two goals. Cody Glass helped turn a third-period deficit into a lead. Then, Dougie Hamilton forgot to cover Alexander Ovechkin. The Capitals held the fort in overtime, and they took advantage of Paul Cotter being on the ice at 3v3.
Since Jack Hughes returned, the Devils are 0-3-1. The worst loss came on Tuesday night, when they no-showed their game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. They lost 4-0 to one of the worst teams in the Eastern Conference that is playing without Auston Matthews and William Nylander. This is an absolutely inexcusable loss.
And nothing will change.
It’s been 10 years since Lou Lamoriello left New Jersey for the same Maple Leafs that embarrassed them tonight. Since then, Ray Shero and Tom Fitzgerald have made huge mistakes that turned a rebuild into attempted contention, failure, and a reset on multiple occassions.
The 2025-26 New Jersey Devils are not fun to watch
The Devils thought they were on the right track in 2017-18, but leaning with your whole weight on Taylor Hall was eventually going to make him collapse. They overreacted in 2019 when they traded for P.K. Subban and Nikita Gusev, and that fell apart, as well. Tom Fitzgerald took over in early 2020, and the pandemic didn’t help matters. Jack Hughes developed during this time, but the rest of the team was built in different ways at different times.
Fitzgerald made a few good moves, but he kept changing his philosophy assuming his team would make the playoffs. He went from speed and possession as a priority to playing “like a playoff team.” Then, Sheldon Keefe took over for Travis Green, and that narrative continued to change.
Now, the Devils are plotting in the neutral zone, desperate in the defensive zone, and predictable in the offensive zone. How are they the worst possible thing in all three zones?
What saves this team? Does a firing save things, like it seems to have done in Buffalo? They had the “season-saving” trade on the table, but they dropped the ball. Now, Quinn Hughes has the Minnesota Wild as legitimate contenders.
This is gross hockey, and Devils fans, as over-the-top as they might get, deserve better than the product on the ice. It has to get better, and fast. If we don’t see something from this team on Wednesday night, we need something to change.