Happy December 23rd! Or if you’re a fan of the one of the greatest TV sitcoms of all time, “Seinfeld” you know that today is Festivus. The “Festivus” episode is one of the best in the series. It’s not as great as “The Face Painter (we love Dave Puddy here at Devils Army Network, for obvious reasons), but it’s definitely top five.
So let’s continue Frank Costanza’s time honored sitcom tradition with a little airing of the grievances, New Jersey Devils’ style. Get your Festivus pole ready (it requires no decoration, we find tinsel distracting). We got a lot of problems with you people!
The Coaching Staff
Let’s get the most obvious one out of the way first with head coach Lindy Ruff and company. With the additions of Dougie Hamilton, Adam Graves, and Tomas Tatar this should have been the best Devils team in years. At the very least they should have been an improvement from last year.
Instead they stuck with the status quo of being an underperforming team whose ceiling appears to be hovering around hockey-.500 on a good day. Assistant coach Mark Reechi continues running an abysmal power play, which has looked better in past games but without results. Yet, general manager Tom Fitzgerald keeps Ruff and Reechi on the staff even as the struggles continue. Maybe they have some blackmail on Fitzgerald he doesn’t want getting out, who knows.
Fans who still spend money on this team have gotten fed up. Chants of ‘Fire Reechi’ at the Prudential Center have become commonplace and deafening. At least we have something bringing us together this holiday season. It’d be even better if we were all coming together to watch some winning hockey,
Jonathan Bernier’s Hip
Our backup goalie is on the shelf like an elf once again. This time his hip is acting up, there’s no time table for his return, and even Ruff is concerned. His absence has led to the call ups of Akira Schmid from the Utica Comets (AHL) and recently acquired via trade Jon Gilles. Both have struggled.
Goaltending was supposed to be a strength for this team. As signing Bernier was supposed to complete a strong and reliable tandem of he and MacKenzie Blackwood. Two stints on the injured list for Bernier have proven this not to be the case. Santa Claus if your listening, please bring Bernier a new hip.
Comcast Dropping MSG
If you’ve been paying attention, that cable company that owns half of Philadelphia dropped MSG Networks. Users in New Jersey have been left without Devils’ hockey all season. Granted, it might be a blessing in disguise, because it has sparred them from watching the losing.
As December 25th approaches there is no end in sight. Both sides continue to rumble and tumble. As an Optimum customer I have no dog in this, but it is a more entertaining fight than anything Jake Paul has done this year.
This Jerk Named Omicron
One of the things that we were most looking forward to this week was the Devils versus Montreal Canadiens matchup the day before Christmas Eve. Nothing says “Christmas Magic” like watching two losing teams go at it before heading home to open presents and wait for Santa. I was going to take the Polar Express known as New Jersey Transit to Newark for a little pre-holiday hockey.
I wasn’t going to wear a jersey, I had my finest Christmas sweater picked up for the occasion (it has Tony Soprano on it). I was going to listen to Arlette sing one of my favorite Christmas carols (the Star Spangled banner). Win or lose, we were going to eat, drink, and be merry at Redd’s Ale House afterwards. The next day would have been a recovery day full of the Feast of the Seven Fishes and watching Elf on repeat while the NHL commenced its holiday break.
That’s what was supposed to happen, until a little thing named Omicron got involved. As a preventative measure the NHL has paused all cross-border travel. That forced the postponement of Thursday’s game. Instead of watching Devils’ hockey, guess we’ll just have to spend our night baking Christmas cookies and then eating all Christmas cookies by ourselves in one sitting. Ironically, that’s how we dealt with the loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
With that, the Devils’ last home game in front of home fans before Christmas was Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh. Even if Thursday’s game was a loss, it would have been filled with holiday cheer. So with that we say from the bottom of our hearts happy festivus to all of our readers! Also, go fly a kite, omicron! Also, Santa, please bring back the Devils’ dancers!