Results Aside, Ruff Can’t Be Happy With Devils Start To Season
It was only a year ago that the Devils dropped a pair of 5-2 decisions to lottery-bound clubs to open the season. During the latter loss at home to Detroit, fans voiced their displeasure at what appeared to be the start of yet another disappointing campaign with chants of “Fire Lindy!”, believing that a head coaching change was needed from Lindy Ruff.
Those that follow the NHL know what happened thereafter—a stunning 21-2-1 spurt, a franchise-record regular season point total, the apology chants to Ruff, and the Devils’ first playoff series victory since 2012, over the rival Rangers no less.
So on one should be too alarmed over what transpired in New Jersey’s first two games of the 2023-24 season against teams that no one expects to contend. That the Devils came out of it with a victory and a shootout loss to Detroit and Arizona, respectively, shouldn’t fool anyone, either.
It certainly didn’t fool Ruff. He is fully aware that his team has to play a whole lot better, especially at the start of games, for it to accomplish its lofty goals for the season. Jack Hughes’ brilliance (two goals and three assists) won’t be enough.
The Devils were outskated for good chunks of both contests, Hey, that’s supposed to be their game. After finishing second in NaturalStatTrick’s expected goals for percentage metric at five-on-five last season, they were a 50/50 club to start this year. Their power play has been good (27%), but it hasn’t been enough to overcome a dreadful 26th-ranked penalty kill.
Though the sample size for any of these stats are miniscule, Ruff isn’t the type of coach who sits around waiting for things to get better. He’ll often change combinations within games in search of sparks. Last season, those maneuvers proved so prescient that I wondered if he was replaced by one of those “Westworld” hosts.
You could tell from the anguish in his postgame body language that Ruff isn’t very happy with his top line of Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, and Dawson Mercer. Though they haven’t been scored against at five-on-five, they aren’t generating anything either, getting badly outchanced per NST’s various markers. Would Ruff trust Alexander Holtz, who played with Hischier and Meier through most of the preseason, enough to move him back up from the third line? The 21-year old former No. 7 overall pick has also been kept off the scoresheet in the first two contests, but his play away from the puck, which had been lacking in previous call-ups from the minors, has been commendable so far.
On defense, the Devils have been generally sloppy, leading to extended time in their own end. The top pair of Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler has been the most guilty of puck management gaffes, to the point where each simple D-to-D pass behind the Devils’ net was frightful.
Most fans expected growing pains from the Devils replacing veterans Damon Severson and Ryan Graves with youngsters Kevin Bahl and Luke Hughes, but other than a few Hughes misplays, they haven’t really been the problem. I could see Ruff swapping out Brendan Smith, a player he adores who has performed well on the penalty kill, for seventh defenseman Colin Miller for Monday’s home contest versus Floria. Of course, waiting in the wings, or should I say in Utica, is 2022 No. 2 overall pick Simon Nemec, a right-handed shot who could potentially help with the Devils’ issues in moving pucks forward.
The one area which has overachieved is the one most predicted would cause the most apprehension—the goaltending. Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid kept New Jersey in each game while the skaters in front of them worked out the kinks from transitioning from preseason to regular season speed. The results: Both are in the top ten in the league in goals saved above average this season, per NST.
Fortunately for New Jersey, the early-season slate isn’t all that rough, with a few breaks sprinkled in, though the Devils will be facing a couple of heavier teams next week in the Panthers and at the Islanders. Still, as the first two games showed, the competition doesn’t matter—every NHL game comes with a small margin for error.
Ordinarily, you take three points in two games every time. Except the Devils don’t desire to be ordinary, They have worked hard through endless rebuilds to shoot for a higher standard. That’s a good thing. It also means that Ruff must look beyond the outcomes and tweak his lineup where appropriate before those outcomes are reversed.