What Happened To The New Jersey Devils? 

You forgot to mention the fact that we traded several other key defensemen and filled them with rookies. Talented, promising rookies, but rookies.

Their starting 2 defensemen got long term injuries and could no longer cover for below average goaltending with a young defensive group. The end.

NJ was my favorite team growing up. With players like Brodeur, Stevens, Elias, Niedermayer and MacLean they were a powerhouse. Now they are going through dark ages.

coming from a fan of the devils, i don't know what's more impressive. the fact that the devils have somehow beat some of the best teams in the league (dallas, toronto, winnipeg) by 3 or more points, or the fact that they've lost to teams who are statistically doing worse than them (arizona, ottawa, buffalo)

The loss of spirited players like Wood and Tatar impacted the team's chemistry. The new players brought in did not provided the same energy.

Injuries. Roster turnover, rookies for vets. Below average goaltending. A full year of film for teams to adjust to Lindy's system. Fitz being too slow to make changes. They're in a good spot for next year, the direction is clear and the future is still bright.

Brutal Season for sure. But they have a really bright future ahead of them. With Ruff gone hopefully the front office will spring on a worthwile coach

This season has been painful

two underrated reasons for our failures this year is dougie hamilton being injured and mcleod and foote leaving. wver since dougie got injured (mid november) our pp has been a leavue worst. as for mcleod and foote, foote wasnt really a biiiig loss but mcleod def was. a guy who is (or was) beloved by ALL his teammates and was the leagues best faceoff man, along with having a career year turning out to possibly being a rapist definitely affected the team mentally. it also completely tanked our forward depth too

Despite all this we are still in with a shout at the playoffs (albeit unlikely) gives me hope for next season! Please get a good Goalie!

It's not just 1 problem that has gone wrong with the Devils this season. It's been many things that have all swelled up and into a perfect storm of bad over the garden state this season. So much hope going into this season and as a Season Ticket Holder, Opening Night was so great, and High Hopes were plenty for what should have been another great season of Devils hockey. 1. Bad Coaching 2. No Defense and Terrible Goaltending 3. Injuries and the Off-Ice Issues Those 3 reasons like you mentioned are why we have struggled but this core is still wicked young guys that aren't even in the primes of their carrer's yet. Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec will only get better and lead the defensive core in the future. And Just that goaltender away will help out in the net. Hopefully, Tom Fitzgerald and the front office will nail the Coaching hire and get that big goaltender he's promised because if not the fanbase will not be happy. The main lesson we can take away from this season is that nothing is ever for granted in this league sure we had success last season but that's long gone by now and you aren't just handed a playoff spot based off skill and talent. You still gotta play the games and earn your spot. I still think this team is fine for the future and I hope so as a season ticket holder but they have some work to do in the summer. Great video btw really enjoyed it keep up the good work

This is growing pains! Last year they came into their own and now no one takes them for granted, plus lots of injuries and bad bad goaltending. It’s very normal to regress like this when your very young.

As a Rangers fan, I'm happy for now, but I fully expect the Devils to bounce back next season.

Hughes is really good but he’s like that skinny player on the only Nintendo hockey game. You know the one you just tap and they lose the puck? That’s Hughes!

How can they be on a decline, they have Jack Hughes and he's so good that people pay to see him.

I was absolutely shocked as a rangers fan. I was truly in fear of this team this year, unbelievable

I was honestly shocked so many experts were picking them for the cup this year and not it just saying that as a bitter Rangers fan. Over the summer it was obvious they would have a problem in goal. Vanecek was totally exposed in the playoffs and the Schmid being the savior narrative got lit up against the Canes. His success was more due to the Rangers epic choke job and stubborn refusal to adjust as the series went on than to him being ready for prime time (I believe he was around .500 in the regular season before playing NYR in the playoffs). Anyway I’m terrified for the day they figure out their defense and goaltending.

Letting Miles, Gravy, and Seves walk in free agency was the main factor.

Traded two key defenders and Hamilton getting hurt was the problem.Dont blame Ruff also Hughes needs to bulk up and shut up.

From bad goaltending, mediocre defense, atrocious coaching, constant key players getting hurt, etc. This Devils season was disastrous all around Praying the 2024-2025 to be a big rebound 🙏

Errr…..injured 1&2 dman, the most important position in the nhl. Oh and Hughes injured 20 games and Hischier injured for 8 and Meier injured and your best face off man is gone for good. Your D core is the youngest in the league. Yeah blame the coach. Do you guys even watch hockey?

0:43 "With the mad advantage" LOL totally rad dude.

Eventhough im Nowhere near a devils fan. But the main issue with NJD this season is mostly due to Horrible Goaltending. Bad defending and Injuries. Not to mention Losing to teams that they should beat like Anaheim who alongside SJ are the top two worst teams in the league. also losing to The Sharks. Speaking of SJ. Ottawa. Buffalo and teams that they shouldn't be beating. Winnipeg Dallas Preds Colorado. Nucks. Marchy and the Bruins. Vegas and the Maple Leafs Eventhough to be fair. Toronto was Massively Outperforming The Devils it was the Leafs defense that was just off that game. Trading two Crucial Defenders and hamilton getting hurt was also a Huge Blow

Good summation but injuries were a way bigger deal, we were putting out half of Utica for a while there. That just made all the other problems worse. They def should have gotten rid of Lindy sooner but what are you going to do. Quite frankly while I’m not glad it happened, I think the boys were a little high on their own supply and needed to be taken down a peg and will come out of this season better for it, the future is still bright! LGD😈

luckily weve been a little better recently and some how are still in the race, its not over til its over

even though this season has been so miserable, its nice to see timo find his footing after ruff got fired, he leads the league in goals this month

The future is bright, timo is starting to heat up to honestly better than we thought he would be, Hughes will be one of the best in the league next year, our young D is starting to develop, we'll go big game hunting this off season for a goalie, etc. I'm not too worried about the future, we've got a great young core

New coach and one solid d man. Goaltending looks like it’s sorted now

Same what happens to the Sens accept for playoffs. I thought Devils of old and one of the cup contenders. Not winning yet, but keep knocking on the door.

I'm a Red wings fan but it applies to them too they can't beat teams they should smoke. And they get blown out! Good video.

Some New Jersey Fan told me at the beginning of the season that they would do better than our Bruins 🇨🇦🏒🍺🐈💀!

In my opinion, they changed too much in the offseason, particularly on the Blue Line. I wasn't a fan of letting Ryan Graves go to Pittsburgh for nothing and I wasn't a fan of trading Yegor Sharangovich to Calgary for Tyler Tofolli, especially since it didn't work out in the end. Also, losing your Special Teams coach to Nashville defidently hurt their overall play.

Of course there is gonna be decline of play when a 19 now 20 year old and another 20 year old are playing just about all season long, 20 mins per game on the backend. That obviously isn't the only reason but it's a big one.

It is simple. Bad goaltending, injuries and bad coaching.

Jack Hughes started to try to make the perfect pass instead of shooting the puck that’s what I saw

With there Goaltending they might as well play with 6 attackers plus every team pushes them around.

As others have mentioned, injuries to 2 top D-Men which also exposed their below average goaltending. Plus tuning out their coach. Also, the incentive of winning the Cup would only result in a parade that would just do a couple of laps around their arena parking lot. That does not compare to the ticker tape parade thru Times Square that the Rangers would get across the river from them.

Hamilton lost for the season leading to two rookie defensemen taking on more minutes then they should. Vitek regressed. Daws and Schmid regressed. Lindy kept Timo on his off side for the whole season. McLeod getting arrested. There were a lot of moving parts this season that didn't help. Personally I wished we didn't extend Ruff but instead promoted Brunette to HC. Made moves too little too late at the deadline. Oh well, got a ton of experience for players who needed it and now they played through adversity. Hopefully this motivates them next season and they have a breakout year.

This is not rocket science. The Devils defense corps lost Dougie Hamilton for the season early on among many other injuries to their D men and didn't and/or couldn't replace them. It takes three years to make an NHL Defenseman and for all of the offensive potential in Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec both of those guys weren't able to play defense at even close to a NHL level. Compounding this problem the Devils went into the season without a proven NHL veteran goalie too. Vanacek was irratic at best and was eventually moved to another franchise. Backup Akira Schmid needed more work at Utica before being given the full time goaltender job. The addition of very young German goaltender Nico Daws was very promising but neither Schmid nor Daws was the answer in 2023. Eventually towards the end of the season the Devils acquired Stanley Cup winning goalie Jake Allen from Montreal. A veteran goalie that Devils GM TRom Fitzgerald could have acquired months earlier for the same price before the season collapsed in on itself and Lindy Ruff was fired (not for anything he did or didn't do BTW). price but did nothing. If I'd have to blame something or somebody for what what happened to the Devils this year. First and foremost I'd have to say injuries while secondarily the Devils front office was awful in doing nothing to improve the situation untill way after it was too late. Calgary was shopping multiple D-men and their Goalie for months and Fitzgerald did nothing ecept to "fire Lindy".

Personally, I feel like I was the only sane hockey fan in the world last year. They had no goalie, and like everyone on that team last year had a career year. It was never gonna stick

The inability to change things before it got worse killed the Devils this season. Goalie play was a killer. We kept sending Vita out there and he kept failing. That should have stopped many months ago. Injuries to key players and the inability to make it work without them hurt too. I really hope Jack can get through a full season with his production someday. Damn, it wasn't until I heard it, but wow losses to non playoff teams have been really bad. 🤦‍♂️

What happened?? They didn't lose enough games. They have more wins than the Islanders who grabbed a #3 seed. Great system awarding points for losing in OT.

I like how the coach "wasn't able to turn it around" which is a cop out statement if I've ever heard one. Coach was conducting the orchestra, those Bums with were just ALL outta tune on the ice.

I was only listening to the list of things that were wrong and as a sabres fan, you could change the title to "what happened to the sabres" and it would be the same exact issues.

100% offense and 0% defense. That's what happened. Other Devils fans attacked me with "it's not he 90s anymore!" but you'll never win a cup without defense.

Two key things: The defense frankly stunk all season. Missing Dougie was a gaping whole after also departing with Severson and Graves. Luke looked like a rookie more times than you'd like, he likely could have benefitted from some AHL time. ..... And of course, the keepers. Upgrading to even middle of the pack goalies had made a huge improvement. We needed the change way earlier in the year.

I'm going to say that NOT many experts said they'd win the Cup. That they'd contend, yes. But I'd not heard Devil's to win Cup at the start of the season.

this reminds me of edmonton after 2016-17. more days of dark to come for these guys

We need guys willing to bleed for the team on defense and a young goalie with no ceiling and one forward with size and skill. That’s what’s needed but good news is it’s very doable!

As a NJ diehard, let me break it down for you real quick. The offseason GM Tom Fitzgerald allowed several veteran defenceman to leave and replaced said veterans with children & first time full timers. GM Tom Fitzgerald failed (again) to upgrade the disaster that was the Goaltending position. Lindy Ruff his entire tenure with NJ, the goaltending save percentage was below .900. Another Tom Fitzgerald disaster. Tom Fitzgerald in the offseason trade Yegor for Toffoli in a seemingly win now move. Then Tom Fitzgerald trades Toffoli at the deadline for peanuts leaving NJ without a tremendous young player nor a proven veteran. Another Tom Fitzgerald disaster. Couple with the fact Jack Hughes was hurt all season long ( again ). Part due to the fact Gm Tom Fitzgerald refuses to sign legitimate veteran power forwards who can protect NJs pipsqueak stars in Hughes & Hischer ie like Foligno's role with Bedard in Chicago. NJs bottom six...stinks and for the most part all season hadnt done much of anything. Nj all season long needed to upgrade the goaltending while also bringing in a legit force defenceman who can bring the body. Tom Fitzgerald fired Lindy too late to matter & traded for a few old goaltenders from the scrap heap, again too late. GM Tom Fitzgerald punted and tanked the season. It is as simple as that. NJ is a team that drips with talent. However, they are small and soft as silk. As they have been under Gm Tom Fitzgeralds entire tenure. NJ has a serious grit, toughness, and mental toughness problem....and it comes from the top down. When management levies no demand for success coupled with no accountability , then of course the team will not be a legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Tom Fitzgerald needs to be fired. 🔥 However, NJs lame-o ownership group of Harris / Blitzer will not do it.

Fitzy's offseason decision to re-sign Ruff instead of making Andrew Brunette head coach was huge. It's obvious that Brunette's coaching was a big part of last season's success. Ruff mishandled Timo Meier and Alexander Holtz, among others and could never figure out either his line or defense pairings. Fitzy's mishandling of the goaltender situation and his decision to rely on young defensemen also proved disastrous. So, step one in the offseason is to fire Fitz, whose judgment is terrible. Second, get a tough coach such as Berube or Brindamour. Then, give the new GM permission to trade ANYBODY, including the Hughes brothers. Make the team tougher and more like the Canes, Panthers, Golden Knights, Lightning, and Predators. Keep Jake Allen as your #2 goalie and sign (or trade for) a real #1 goaltender such as Saros or Ullmark. But the #1 key to this offseason is to fire Fitzgerald. If you don't do that, you're just not serious about winning.

It’s weird because the NY giants pretty much fell of the same way last year ,got into the playoffs which was big because they never get in ,Won a playoff game,got destroyed the next playoff game/sereis,has high expectations for next year,fail everyone and suck/ don’t make the playoffs next year.that must suck for New Jersey

Everything went wrong for them unfortunately. Just hoping for a competent coach, change in defensive system, and for everyone to stay healthy

I said during the off-season that Lindy ruff would lose the locker room and he was riding talent without coaching. Like gallant

Gm got rid of defense and veterans and top prospects and didn’t replace them

Biggest problem was everyone crowned your ass before any pucks dropped.

All due respect, the caps are going to the playoffs so saying you lost twice to them isn’t too bad. Yeah they having an aging core, but the coach can tinker with lines to win games. Are they contenders? Hell no, but they do enough to scrape byZ

Whenever they score it says you suck I don’t know if they are talking about them or the other team

Lost Hamilton for the season and no Goaltending. They couldn't stop a volleyball. Not a difficult equation to figure out.

Last year wasn't luck, this year injuries (and then goaltending) took them out.

What happened is that their coach who was responsible for last year's success, went to Nashville

Eh… If they scored 25 goals on the power play and 37 5v5, how did "most of their goals come from the pp"?

If they can restructure Meier's contract that would help...but they need the right coach.

They lost their assistant coach who is now the head coach of the Nashville predators.

Making Ruff the scapegoat is a mistake. The move away from him has not changed the outcome. Perhaps “I’m a superstar” Hughes should be looked at as representative of team attitude.

To their credit the Devils had a deal in place and ready to go for goalie Jakob Markstrom from Calgary but **management** interfered and vetoed the trade ! Also losing 74 point d-man Dougie Hamilton early in the season and for the rest of the season didn't help either !

Why don't they look at a decade ago when they had a great goalie and good defence?

I actually enjoyed the Devil's season this year. Enjoyed watching them fail. LGR!!!! 💯💯💯

Could probably do a video on the Jets… 6 straight losses.

They drafted and picked up too many undersized guys. Injuries will be a big problem for this team for a long time.

Injuries and under performance hope they grow and learn

Also the toffolie sharangovich trade hurt them, why trade a young stud for someone much older

I remember them bragging about how much younger they are then the rangers and will dominate this year 😂😂 It’s the rangers that is that powerhouse team. LGR

Given that I am Swiss, I made the effort to go a bit deeper into the issue since they have 4 Swiss players on their roster. I have to disagree on most of your analysis. The team is one of the youngest in the whole league. Without Dougie Hamilton the team is still something below 25 years old. Their current 1&2 defenders are both 20 years old! The team has lost over 120 man games due to injury because of Hamilton, Meier, Hischier, Jack Hughes and Siegenthaler alone. The team has lost over 40 goals and 61 assists because of their injuries. Dougie Hamilton missed 53 games and if one applies the same per game stats as last year, the team lost 14.3 goals and 33 assists just because of him. McLeod has missed 28 games and the team has lost 6.1 goals and 6.0 assists because of losing him. Meier has missed 13 games and therefor 6.6 goals and 4.3 assists. Hischier has missed 11 games and therefore 4.2 goals and 6.6 assists. Hughes missed 16 games and therefore 8.8 goals and 11.52 assists. Siegenthaler is not a scoring machine but a very solid stay at home defender. Mc Leod and Hischier are two of the top face-off players McLeod 58.3% and Hischier 56.7%. McLeod is a rare right hand shot center. Meier came back from the injury early because of the situation the team was in. He played with some level of pain for about 12 games. The same for Jack Hughes - it took him about 10 games to be somewhat on a normal level. Because of the constantly changing roster, also the production of the other players went down the drain. Without Hischier or Hughes Bratt won't simply be as productive as with them - just as any other player would. This means they most likely would have between 8 to 10 points more had they not had the injuries. Given that especially goalies depend on their mental strength a weak defense does not help and they will not play their best. The goalies did NOT fail - the team failed the goalies (because of the injuries). The same goes for the young defenders. The situation simply asked too much from them Fitzi could not have anticipated this! Defenders like Hamilton don't grow on trees and a manager cannot replace them within weeks - unless you want to give up too much... Meier looks lost? The guy just scored 10 goals in about 11 games! So, what happened was nothing else than a rotten bad luck season because of injuries.

the capitals are not one of the leagues lower ranked teams. you literally showed them in the wildcard spot seconds later.

25 power play goals, 37 even strength goals "Most of their goals were coming from the power play" What

main issue is they paid Timo Meier instead of Ryan Graves. You dont build from offense.

Injuries have ravaged them this season

Don’t get him started, it’s a mess

Karma for beating Rangers last season lol! But in reality though biggest reason is loss of Dougie Hamilton. You don't replace a guy like that, yes Rangers lost Fox for a month, but if it would have been longer then that we'd be toast too.

So the goalkeepers should not let too many goals in but watching hockey game with even 2-3 goals is super boring.

I can sum up the season in 3 words goaltending goaltending goaltending.... Gm waited way to long to get Allen a month sooner and they would be right in the mix .

This szn is gonna teach em a lot I bet they bounce back and terrorize the league for the next decade plus

Lacklustre goaltending and injuries to Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton, and Nico Hischier. Basically, the entire team except Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and their trade deadline acquisition goaltenders sucked

Devils should trade for Quinn Hughes to bring all 3 brothers together they could send Hamilton with a few prospects and first round picks

Why did you edit a white helmet onto the home uniform

They are not under performing... They way over performed last season. They are performing to what they really are. It sad to say but it is true.

Yeah pretty obvious goaltending and our defense sucks. Allen has only been here for a little bit his still been better then any goalie we have had this year

Goaltending, injuries, coaching.

We are begging for a clinch right now

It waa a giant mess -injuries -inexperienced defense -bad goaltending

Need an 8min video to say Dougie Hamilton?

hopefully green works out better in new jersey than vancouver

Stop making excuses with the injuries. Debs have lost to a lot of bad teams this year. Last year was more of a fluke. Teams figured out how to stop them especially on the PP. They are a turnover machine too. 10th year out of last 12 missing the playoffs! Fore!!!

It’s been a “Ruff” season

Goaltending, goaltending, goaltending, for the millionth time. Yes defense, but Goaltending!!!!! Plain and simple

Travis Green is definitely not the solution, rather the opposite.

Devils arent written in this years script

They put all their eggs in the Akira Schmid basket, thinking they had a stud goaltender. Isn't he in the minors now? LMAO!

Because there goalies couldn’t duplicate what they did last year. They were a pretty good duo but it was just smoke and mirrors 🤣 LGR!!!!!!