Ruff Running Out Of Rope As Devils Continue Another Slide To Oblivion With Shootout Loss To Lowly Ottawa
Tis the season…for NHL organizations to reevaluate their head coaching situations.
The dismissals of Travis Green (Vancouver) and Alain Vigneault (Philadelphia) on Monday brought the league total to three (not including the Joel Quenneville “resignation” in Florida that was precipitated by the disclosure of his involvement in the Black Hawks sexual assault scandal a decade earlier) for a 2021-22 season that is just slightly past the first quarter pole.
With the way things are going in New Jersey, you have to wonder how much rope Lindy Ruff has left to hold onto his coaching job. The Devils lost their fourth consecutive game, 3-2, in a shootout to visiting Ottawa on Monday night to extend their slump to 2-6-3 in their last 11 games.
Another season is teetering on the brink. The Devils, who have but one playoff appearance since their run to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, do not have much more margin for error before all that’s left is playing out the string. If they can’t turn things around in winnable games this week versus teams like the Flyers and Islanders, the call for Ruff’s head will grow louder at Prudential Center.
You’d think that after back-to-back thrashings on the road last week in Minnesota and Winnipeg, the Devils should have been primed to get back on track against one of the worst teams in the league, despite the Senators coming into the contest riding a two-game winning streak. Unfortunately, like 19 of the Devils’ shots that were blocked on Monday, Ruff’s messages must not be getting through, because it was a fairly even-played game. New Jersey held a healthy possession advantage thanks to several long shifts in the Ottawa zone, but it didn’t result in a material edge in expected goals, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
Both of Ottawa’s tallies came in the second period after a Devils player lost possession of the puck in his own zone, continuing a season-long issue. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton and wing Pavel Zacha each had opportunities to secure the biscuit in a two-on-one battle prior to the first Ottawa goal and later Devils wing Jesper Bratt made an egregious pass into the middle of the ice that enabled the Senators to quickly capitalize on the turnover. This prompted another Ruff rant after the game where he bemoaned his team’s “puck management,” a fancy way of saying that you shouldn’t give the puck away in dangerous situations.
And therein lies the problem: This team isn’t getting any better under this coaching regime. They’re only three points ahead of last season’s pace, which included the fallout from having five games postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak that created even more havoc in an already condensed and challenging division-only schedule. Remember, the Devils haven’t even gotten to the hard part of this season’s slate, with just two games played to date against the top four juggernaut teams in the Metropolitan Division.
Make no mistake, this team has far superior talent to last season’s squad. Hamilton is a legitimate top pair defenseman, something this club hasn’t had since the days of the Great Scott’s, Stevens and Niedermayer. The goaltending situation is better with Jonathan Bernier as MacKenzie Blackwood’s 1-B and the team can now roll four lines without requiring a healthy complement of AHL-level players.
Individually, many of the young players are regressing. Yegor Sharangovich has netted three goals this season after a breakout 16-goal 2020-21 campaign. Janne Kuokkanen, Sharangovich’s frequent linemate flanking center Jack Hughes last season, has gone from a half-point per game average to registering just five points in his first 22 games. Michael McLeod may have developed into a dominant faceoff man (60.6%, third-best in the league among those with who have taken at least 100 draws, per NHL.com), but it's hard to give a goal-less player significant ice time every night.
No young Devil has seen as much slippage in his game as defenseman Ty Smith, who finished seventh in the voting for the 2021 Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year (Sharangovich was 10th). Smith was an analytics expert’s darling last season, producing five-on-five possession metrics over or close to 50% on a horrendous team. This season, the Devils are bleeding scoring chances when he’s on the ice, no matter with whom he is partnered.
After showing potential with the man advantage last season, Smith finally recorded his first power play point of the season on Friday in Winnipeg with an assist on Damon Severson’s goal. In fact, that also marked the first Devils’ goal this season in the 22 minutes of Smith’s PP ice time. Of course, the Devils entire power play scheme should be scrapped—their 13.1% conversion rate has only surpassed lowly Arizona.
Still, such a sophomore scoring slump from Smith, the Devils’ 2018 first-round draft pick (17th overall), can be tolerated; his defensive gaffes, however, are concerning. Due to his smaller frame, he has to play it smart. Unfortunately, too many of his decisions have been dumbfounding. Ruff can excuse Smith’s decline to missing training camp with an injury all he wants—the fans aren’t fooled. Smith is not playing with the confidence he had last season.
Ruff, the seventh-winningest coach in NHL history (and third in regulation losses), was brought here before last season mainly to cultivate all the Devils’ young talent. Instead, it’s the same old, same old—the same mistakes and same lack of accountability we’ve seen under previous administrations.
The bleeding has to stop—and soon. Though Ruff has no playoff mandate—he hasn’t even coached a postseason game since 2016—the Devils need more than a babysitter who just rolls out the pucks every practice and morning skate, throwing out the same talking points every day. The organization—and the fans—are demanding evident progress.
If the team isn’t going in that direction, then it’s time to let Ruff off on the side of the road.