In the wake of New Jersey’s California road trip, the team and fans are switching gears and preparing for the team’s second retro night of the season. Tomorrow, the Devils will take on the Minnesota Wild, and hope to improve the organization’s dismal record of playing in their original Christmas tree jerseys (2-5-0 since the tradition began). The team’s play in their last three games should have really put things in perspective for the fans on what to expect through the duration of the 2015-2016 season. It should have made the fans realize how delicately important some players on New Jersey’s roster have truly become to the team’s vitality of success this year, and moving forward.

California road trip- a grim reminder…While the Devils started strong with impressive defeats over the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, they saved their most theatrical performance of the trip for last. As we all know, the Devils imploded and succumbed to their worst defeat of the season in the form if a 7-1 defeat at the hands of the Anaheim Ducks. Anaheim’s line of Andrew Cogliano, Ryan Kessler, and Jakub Silfverberg combined for five goals (including a Silfverberg hat trick), and ten points. The disastrous loss should have been a bold reminder the Devils are a REBUILDING team, and clearly lack the necessary assets to make any sort of playoff run moving forward, let alone get far in the postseason if they somehow make it. As of writing this, the Devils have 12 games left and are six points out of the playoffs. Every team above them in the division (except Carolina) have a combined seven games in hand over New Jersey. Still not convinced? The six goals New Jersey scored in their last three matchups were exceeded by Anaheim’s output in one game. Although the Devils went an admirable 2-1-0 in their West Coast road trip, they still managed to get outscored 8-6. Monday night was also the fourth time in the last 13 games a team has scored six or more goals against New Jersey.

Josefson is the most important piece to the Devils power play…When the Devils power play suffered a stifling drought from late-December throughout January, it coincided with the lengthy sidelining of center Jacob Josefson. He missed 11 games, over which the Devils scored just twice on 29 power play attempts. Josefson is presently out of the lineup with a hand injury, and his absence has been very apparent. With 14 power play opportunities in the five games since Josefson was downed, the Devils haven’t converted on any of them. That brings the total to 35 power plays the Devils have had in 16 games without Josefson, over which they’ve scored just twice. The power play operates at a 5.7% efficiency rate, which is a fraction of their overall season performance of 20.5%. it’s also worth noting that while he only has three goals and 13 points in 2015-2016, two goals and 10 of his points came on the power play.

Jury still out on Kinkaid…I know the Keith Kinkaid bandwagon has thinned out considerably over the season. His assumed responsibilities in the wake of Cory Schneider’s sidelining have put him in a very defining point of the season, where the goaltending spotlight will divert its uninterrupted attention onto the 26-year old net minder. He’s 7-7-1 on the year, and has gone 2-2-0 in his last four consecutive starts. Kinkaid gave up 12 goals on 54 shots in his last two losses, during which the Devils were outscored 13-2. Ironically, Kinkaid faced 53 shots in his two victories, and even earned his second shutout of the season. There’s a lot of disparity in Kinkaid’s stats this season that really should put his future outlook in the same position it was after his rookie year. He’s 3-2-0 in his last five starts, earning two shutouts out of his three wins. His last two losses, however were when Kinkaid gave up the aforementioned onslaught of 12 combined goals. It reflects a larger issue of evidenced inconsistency in Kinkaid’s performance this season. He has a 1.57 GAA and .948 SV% in his seven wins. His loss numbers are far worse, posting a 3.85 GAA and a .890 SV%. The numbers go on, but ultimately paint a very blurry picture on how reliable of a backup Kinkaid could be. Keep in mind he’s a sophomore goaltender, who hasn’t even made 40 career starts yet. He’s sure to grow at the same rate it takes the Devils to improve, which could turn into a waiting game we need to see if Coach Hynes and general manager Ray Shero are willing to play.