It hasn’t been fun to be a New Jersey Devils’ fan the past few weeks. Fans have voiced their frustration mainly at the coaching staff. “Fire Recchi” chants have become common place the past few games, and quite loud at that.
General Manager Tom Fitzgerald had something else to say about the team’s recent struggles. The biggest headline from talking with NHL.com’s Mike Morreale was that Fitzgerald re-affirmed his commitment to head coach Lindy Ruff. Instead, Fitzgerald places the blame on the leadership on some veteran players. Let’s take a closer look at some of Fitzgerald’s comments about his team.
He Singled Out Ruff In A Good Way
Looks like Ruff is here to stay, for now at least. Fitzgerald praised his communication skills with players as a strong suit. One interesting thing we picked up was although Fitzgerald seemed high on Ruff, he wouldn’t talk about the rest of the coaching staff. Unless there were quotes left out of the article, Fitzgerald seemed to refer to Ruff and only Ruff. If he had faith in the assistant coached like Mark Reechi and Alain Nassredinne, wouldn’t he have given them a shoutout? Maybe something as simple as “Lindy and his coaches” to let us know the coaching staff is safe the way it is? Perhaps Fitzgerald is open to changes under Ruff behind the bench.
He Sounds Like Hal Steinbrenner
What does the owner of the New York Yankees have to do with this? Well, when the baseball team from the Bronx was underperforming this past summer, Steinbrenner made a similar comment that the on field product was the fault of players not stepping up. New York fans, being New York fans, weren’t exactly thrilled with the excuse but some in local sports media (for example Michael Kay) defended the argument and added credibility to it. Obviously, comparing baseball players to hockey players is an apples-to-oranges comparison, at best. But, we have heard it before.
He Would Not Mention Special Teams
In addition to “veteran players” (Fitzgerald named none specifically), he also pointed to goaltending injuries being a problem. One glaring problem from the team has been their special teams, especially the power play. While the power play has looked better at times over the past few games the bar was set very low. The team still continues to let up shorthanded goal after shorthanded goal. Anyone who watched this team knows this is a major problem. Yet, Fitzgerald didn’t mention it. Maybe he thought mentioning it would lead to questions about the coaching staff, specifically Mark Reechi. If we haven’t mentioned it fans haven’t been exactly happy with him lately.
Youngest Team In The League, But Blaming Veterans?
A direct quote from Fitzgerald is, “We can be the youngest team in the league, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t play the right way, play with good habits.” It seems odd to placer a major blame on the veteran presence of the team and then acknowledge they are the youngest team in the league. There are veterans on this team with a good amount of NHL seasons under their belt. Then again, the “veteran” players excuse doesn’t seem like one you would use on a young team.
Don’t Expect High Scoring
Another direct quote from Fitzgerald was, “the reality is, players need to play the right way game in and game out and want to win games, 1-0 or 2-1”. Maybe we’re reading between the lines here, but it sounds like Fitzgerald doesn’t expect them to score much. The Devils can win games with goaltending and defense, but that’s when both of those are healthy. There is no way this team is winning those 1-0 or 2-1 games with the team’s top two goalies injured and one half of the top defensive pairing in Ryan Graves still sidelined.
Another question is why doesn’t Fitzgerald think this team will score more? With Jack Hughes back and Jesper Bratt having a career year it shouldn’t be as much of a concern as it was when Hughes had his shoulder injury. No matter the score a low scoring win is better than a loss.