Maybe the owners and management see this as a gap year for the Devils. The players set out on their own pursuits after having worked so hard the previous year to not only make the playoffs, but also win the first-round Battle of the Hudson River.
Perhaps that’s why there hasn’t been any significant improvement in the roster of one of the league’s most disappointing teams, which has remained below the cut line almost all year.
Goaltending issues that have been allowed to fester have consumed much of the team’s morale, and it’s kind of surprising that Martin Brodeur, as vice president of hockey operations, has been partially presiding over this turmoil in the crease. It is.
The Devils are last in save percentage at 32nd and 30th overall at 5-on-5. This goes a long way toward explaining the plight of a team that ranks fifth in the Wild Card race, but the Lightning, Avalanche, and Hurricanes all have save percentages that rank in the bottom five of the NHL, plus kneecaps. I’ve never been hit by one, so I can’t fully explain it.
Yes, Jack Hughes missed two of the 16 games in total, Nico Isier missed 11 games and Dougie Hamilton finished the season with 20 games. Michael McLeod, who gained increasingly prominent roles as the season progressed, ended his run in London facing two charges related to sexual assault.
But that’s not a sufficient explanation for why the Devils lost home games to non-playoff teams in Anaheim, San Jose, Calgary, Washington (twice), Montreal, Columbus, and Arizona (shootouts). The team has won less than half of its games at the Rock (11 wins, 12 losses, 2 draws). That speaks to a lack of preparation.
However, there is no such move yet to apply to staff and uniformed personnel. That is, unless you want to count general manager Tom Fitzgerald’s contract extension. His loyalty to head coach Lindy Ruff remains mysteriously steadfast.
And as the March 8 deadline approaches, do you remember who was being eyed as a prize for the 2023 trade season?
That was Timo Meier, a versatile, goal-scoring winger who was traded from San Jose to New Jersey at age 26 in a package that included two first-rounders. Meyer, a pending restricted free agent, signed an eight-year, $70.4 million ($8.8 million AAV) extension with New Jersey after a dismal performance late in the season and in the playoffs.
But this year? Meyer, who missed 13 games due to various illnesses, has 19 points in 36 games (9-10) while posting an impressive minus-25 mark. Plus-minus may not be all the rage these days, but when it’s in a windchill factor like the Green Bay Ice Bowl, it gets noticed.
Meyer has scored 16 goals and 35 goals in 501:54 at 5-on-5 for a goals-against percentage of 31.37, despite allowing just three goals against the Devils at full strength. According to NaturalStatTrick, he has the third-worst rating in the league among players who have played at least 500 minutes, behind Chicago’s Lucas Reichel (23.26 percent) and San Jose’s Filip Zadina (28.30 percent). His expected goal percentage is an abysmal 26.4 percent, as he bounces from wing to wing and line to line.
Switzer’s numbers seem almost impossible for a player of his level. They represent a lost year. It’s a gap year for Meyer. Gap years are everywhere.
This isn’t quite on par with the Penguins winning a game in the midst of Mario Lemieux’s shameless tank in 1984, but the team’s win over the Jets on Thursday, two nights after defeating the Panthers, The Philadelphia class must have felt a little flinched.
That’s because a bubble team that records wins over two teams in the league’s top eight within a 48-hour period might send a message up and down the hierarchy that it should be bought by the deadline, even if the club isn’t in league play. This is because even if one were to enter the field, it is not a path worth pursuing. Maintained 3rd place in the Metro over the weekend.
The Flyers have been the East’s most impressive team under head coach John Tortorella in the East’s sprawling, mushy, mid-major teams, but they’ve drawn a line here and are likely heading into a few home playoff games, and There’s no need to sacrifice your future for temporary gratification. Hold on to your assets instead of moving them by the deadline.
Perhaps things would have been different if Carter Hart had not been arrested for sexual assault. But he is and he is not. Now is not the time for the Flyers, who have regained credibility as a franchise under president Keith Jones. There is no quick fix to turn this team into a legitimate championship threat. Must be sold by the deadline.
But these kinds of wins make the concept harder to sell, and most certainly harder to sell indoors.
Watching the Rangers play an opponent with Parise and Drouin in the lineup last Monday night at the Garden, even if it was Zach and Jonathan from the Avalanche and not JP and Jude from the Islanders. It was kind of creepy too, wasn’t it, old timer?
Perhaps that’s why Kaapo Kakko starts to remind me of Bill Fairbairn.
I know I’m supposed to be impressed with Ryan Johansen, but I have to confess that while watching the center play throughout his 13-year career, I’ve rarely been impressed. . It’s probably me.
Sam Montembeau, on the other hand, is so pretty and you know, every time I see him in Montreal’s net, he’s a great player, so I wonder if I’m missing the grand scheme of things that the 27-year-old has in mind. He is protected by the Habs as one-third of their three-man goalie rotation for the season.
Finally, the NHL added the Blackhawks’ punishment for organizational misconduct applied to the Kyle Beach sexual assault scandal by awarding Chicago the 2025 Winter Classic to be held at Wrigley Field. Have you ever heard of it?
The move follows a 2023 lottery win that gave the team the No. 1 overall draft pick, Connor Bedard, and should close the book on the disciplinary part of the program.
And I thought the league wasn’t taking this seriously.
