The Devils At The Break: Where Fans Need One More Than The Team
Fans know a season’s over when they stop analyzing the league standings to review playoff permutations and are instead frequently checking the NHL Tankathon site for NHL Draft lottery odds.
The Devils, who own the league’s fourth-worst points percentage after dropping their sixth consecutive game and ninth in ten games, all in regulation, on Tuesday night with a 7-1 thumping at the hands of visiting Toronto, limped into the All-Star break with no reason to hurry back out onto the ice at its conclusion next week. At 15-25-5, New Jersey is well on its way to missing the postseason for the ninth time in the last ten seasons.
They are poorly coached, can’t score, can’t defend, and their goalies are sieves. As Zach Galifianakis’ character in the underrated comedy film “The Campaign” might say, “It’s a mess!”
The Devils games themselves are a comedy—of errors, with Tuesday’s affair the quintessential laugher. The gaffes in the last four periods of the home-and-home versus the Maple Leafs, which saw New Jersey surrender an unsightly 11 goals, were too numerous to list, but suffice it to say that by the end of the first period on Tuesday, it sure looked like the team had given up. Top-pair defenseman Damon Severson, who once made a cursory remark about how this club has quit in the past, is emitting similar vibes through his lackadaisical play, though he is far from the club’s only culprit.
This is what happens when a losing mentality permeates a franchise. It hasn’t mattered how much talent the team has acquired through all the top draft picks they have accumulated in the last half-dozen years. If winning is never prioritized, player development will always fall short of expectations.
As I’ve noted in prior columns, there have been forces beyond the team’s control, such as injuries and COVID-19 protocols, that have made life difficult this season, but an organization with the right culture finds ways to stay competitive through adversity. The Devils are down their top two goaltenders in Mackenzie Blackwood (heel) and Jonathan Bernier (hip)—so what have they done? General manager Tom Fitzgerald brought in Jon Gillies, who had all of 13 NHL games of experience, and promoted Akira Schmid, a 2018 fifth-round pick, from AHL Utica. You get what you pay for.
Well, not the fans, including the approximately 11,600 (70% of Prudential Center capacity) who attended a matchup with a marquee opponent on Tuesday night. For years, they have been paying NHL prices to watch an inferior product. You could hear a smattering of boos throughout Tuesday’s contest, but mostly what came across on the MSG Network broadcast was the silence of apathy.
Many of the team’s most loyal devotees have resorted to just shrugging off another wasted season in this neverending rebuild. It’s a shame, because it wasn’t that long ago where the team and its fans shared a sense of pride in the New Jersey name. Most are old enough to recall the three Stanley Cups in nine seasons amid a run of 24 seasons with 21 playoff appearances. A disappointing season was when the Devils got knocked out in the first round.
Then the Josh Harris/David Blitzer group purchased the franchise in 2013. They brought their Tanking to Success model from their other toy—the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers—and told Devils fans to get used to losing for a while but be patient.
Sorry, but like many items in grocery stores during this pandemic, we’ve run out, so forgive us if our break extends well past the NHL’s All-Star weekend.