Polarizing Decisions that need to be made

Team: 2023-24 New Jersey Devils

Initial Creation Date: Feb. 23, 2024

Published: Feb. 23, 2024

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

1) Fire Ruff. Regardless that it's right before the deadline, you cannot tell me this team doesn't need a new voice. And this is not reactionary to last night's game. But this has been coming. It doesn't matter who the voice is, you just need someone else so that the team recognizes this play is unacceptable. We all know Lindy was never going to be the guy to bring us a cup when he was hired, but he did his job in developing the young guys. Now we need to move on and find the next coach to bring us to that cup level.

2) Either Scratch Luke or send him to Utica for a week. No more protection that Jack's your brother. He's a great defensive prospect, great skater. But he is absolutely no where near an NHL defender at this point. So weak in his own zone and very little compete when he doesn't have the puck. A message needs to be sent to the team that your performance matters more than your status. It's also so frustrating that he just assumes he won't be hit and he is constantly being put on his ass.

3) Call up Hatakka. He was great when he was with us and we sent him down because Smith was coming back from injury? Hatakka is the type of player this team needs. Reliable and makes the low risk play more often then not. Luke and Nemec are great, yes dont get me wrong, but they are so so raw. Hatakka was stable for us and actually played great.

Debate Topic: I think last year's team was more of a outlier that this year. We won 16 games in a row last year, which is a large reason why we made playoffs. Look at how many games we took to OT and won in OT last year. The numbers are staggering. And there were already REAL signs of goaltending issues after the all-star break last year that weren't really addressed. Vitek's numbers post all-star break were horrendous. The only reasons we really stood afloat were because of that 16 game heater early in the year & the fact that our D core was way more sound defensively, Severson and Graves actually played with some grit and did a great job clearing the zone and blocking shots to help Vitek out.

Just look at blocked shots a game this year vs last year. Some of our Dmen avoid contact. Devils fans know that it's not all on the goaltending. Daws has been decently solid for us (especially before Wash and NYR). Giving up 48 shots to PHI is unacceptable. Last year, we used to completely outshoot teams every single night. This year, it's not so much.

And to give up the 1st goal 40/56 games this year...that is a major major red flag.

Changes need to be made, not just for the sake of this season, but for next season as well. Because this year is not a fluke, there are definitive signs and those signs need to be addressed or else we'll be in the same spot battling for wildcards each year instead of competing for the division, like this roster is capable of.

(Lastly, a scary what-if I'm afraid to answer in a few years....) - What if the Devils took Askarov at #7 in 2020 instead of Holtz...