Every sports league is full of copycats. Once a group finds a new thing that works, other groups immediately start trying to iterate and improve the idea. Teams that adapt quickly are often teams that win consistently. This season, the New Jersey Devils' failure to adapt and innovate in the midst of major injury replacements has cost them a chance to return to the playoffs. Here's what lesson the Devils can take from playoff teams if they want to improve to make a run next season.
Hire a Successful Coach, Not a Winning Coach
Arguably, general manager Tom Fitzgerald's most important decision while in charge of the Devils is selecting the team's next head coach. There are many names that have been thrown around in the media. Fitzgerald revealed in exit interviews what qualities he was looking for in a new coach. The main qualities were communication with all members of the organization, the ability to work cooperatively, and the need for accountability. He insisted on finding “a coach who will hold every player, not just a few boys, accountable.” If you don't have accountability, you don't have the elements of a great team.” The search for that coach should not end with coaches who have won the Stanley Cup.
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Since Scotty Bowman lifted the trophy with the Penguins in 1993, no other coach has won the trophy with more than one franchise. There have been many coaches who have reached the Cup final with the second team, but none have won. Does that mean that the Devils should skip coaches like Craig Berube from their list just because he has led the team to a championship? No, but it does mean that Fitzgerald shouldn't limit his search or prioritize coaches based on winning a trophy in their career. Having found the conditions he believes his team needs in a leader, Fitzgerald must throw in the towel to find a coach who will fully bring the Devils into their winning window.
What Fitzgerald should take away from teams like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Colorado Avalanche, and even the Washington Capitals is that low-level success is still success and that a coach in his first NHL career can, and often does, win at this level. . Jared Bednar led teams to championships in both the East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) and the American Hockey League (AHL) before being hired by Colorado, where he became the first coach to win the Stanley Cup after capturing both minor league titles. Before leading the Lightning to multiple Cups, Jon Cooper began his coaching career while finishing law school in Michigan. He was eventually hired by Tampa Bay to coach their AHL team, where he won the Calder Cup, set the league's longest hitting streak, and was named Coach of the Year before being promoted to head coach of the Lightning. Neither man had NHL head coaching experience before being hired, yet he won three of the last four championships.
This season, the Washington Capitals made significant progress after hiring a coach who has been successful at the AHL level but has yet to become an NHL coach. Spencer Carbery, a former AHL Coach of the Year, took over in Washington, guided the team through a difficult regular season transition, and outlasted several division rivals, including New Jersey, en route to securing the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. . Carbery commanded the room and found a team that would play a style and system that helped win, ultimately producing results. Similarly, the Edmonton Oilers hired Kris Knoblauch from the AHL a month into the season, and he led the team in the playoffs, erasing a rough start. The plan is there for Fitzgerald; he should not limit himself to only coaches with NHL experience; history has shown that the path is not always the most direct to the Stanley Cup.
LTIR: Use It or Lose It
When defenseman Dougie Hamilton went down six weeks into the season with a pectoral strain that will cost him the entire regular season, it was a major blow to the Devils' chances of reviving the magic of the 2022-23 season. The one silver lining for New Jersey should have been the extra cap space that puts your highest paid player on the Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR) it provides. Once it is confirmed that Hamilton is unlikely to return until at least the start of the playoffs, the Devils could potentially increase to $9 million over the salary cap if Hamilton is placed on LTIR.
In a team that has several holes, including defense and goalkeeping, this new money was supposed to solve the team's personnel problems. The Devils had to move quickly at the beginning of the season when it became clear that they needed to strengthen the back. Instead, the team opted not to significantly affect the LTIR cap and only added backup goaltending at the trade deadline. Failure to equip LTIR could cost them a chance to make the playoffs.
The postseason is full of teams that have used LTIR to their advantage, picking up good players to fill needs while others deal with injuries. The most prominent team to equip LTIR this season is the Vegas Golden Knights, who after placing captain Mark Stone on LTIR, acquired at the trade deadline and added Tomas Hertl and Anthony Mantha to bolster an already strong frontcourt. In recent years, eventual champion Tampa Bay has used similar tactics when stars Nikita Kucherov and Steven Stamkos were sidelined with long-term injuries. The effectiveness of LTIR is debatable, but teams that fail to take advantage of this legal opportunity in the rules do so at their own peril, and this season, the failure to take advantage cost the Devils.
Change Will Do You Good
The Devils need look no further than across the Hudson River to see how much and how quickly a team can benefit from a change in style and system. Last season under Gerard Gallant, the New York Rangers played freely; they were strong on special teams but they came in at 5v5. This season, with almost the same personnel, the team is playing organized and connected and finding ways to close games defensively. Much of that should be attributed to the 1-3-1 defensive system installed by new coach Peter Laviolette. Gone are the days of a team abandoning its defense when taking a lead in the third period and allowing multiple comebacks. This season's version of the Rangers grinds out games in the third period, making it difficult to erase the deficit.
Like the Rangers, the Winnipeg Jets also made small but effective changes. Amidst rumors of a bad locker room and problems with the team, the general manager sent players to the room to improve the depth of his team. These moves showed his best players that he was building a team that would compete now, then signed those players to long-term contracts and gave head coach Rick Bowness a full season. With those small but impactful changes, the Jets often played like the best team in the NHL and entered the playoffs as one of the favorites.
The Devils should learn from these teams, be loyal to them. Immaturity was a common mantra during the second half of the season. Fitzgerald needs to confirm if there are any major problems, eliminate problems in the locker room, and find a system that best fits his talent and a coach who will use this system by buying his best players. Fortune favors the brave, and with the Devils teetering on the precipice of success, it's time for Fitzgerald to be brave.
Ice is Home Advantage
One unfortunate Hallmark of Lindy Ruff's tenure in New Jersey was an inability to dominate at home. Too often, especially this season, teams with less talent find ways to run away from Newark with points. Ruff often has the team play a simple game on the road and try to show off the fans at home, sometimes to their detriment. One need only look back at the terrible atmosphere at the Prudential Center last April and May to see that there was no problem with the building or the fans; there is support. The next coach must see how he can make the team own its structure in a way similar to the Rangers or Carolina Hurricanes in this year's playoffs.
All aspects of the production of games in the fields should be reviewed and how they contribute to the success of the team at home. It may be time to update or start new traditions with the fan base. The fans have shown and proven that if New Jersey is a competitive team, they will fill the building and provide energy; the party must now harness that power and find a way to dominate more at home. The goal difference at home was 20 while it was +3 on the road. Only one team has a greater goal differential at home than on the road, the Minnesota Wild, and the margin is two goals, not 17. If the Devils had played even at home, they are in the playoffs. With this being the second straight season where the road goal differential is better than the home differential, the organization should spend time rethinking and retooling.
Lost Points
One sign of a team learning to win is to find a way to overtime to accumulate at least one point that the team earns in overtime or penalty kicks. This “lost point” is why the New York Islanders played more than game 82, while the Devils did not. Too many times this season, the Devils have found themselves in close games as the clock ticks down in the third period, needing to take the lead or get a goal to equalize, and have been unable to finish the game with at least one point. More ironically, the Devils were built for overtime. Their combination of speed and skill makes them outstanding in 3v3 play and is often enough to secure that second point if the first is in the bag.
The Devils finished the season with more wins in regulation than either the New York Islanders or the Capitals, both teams that made the playoffs before them. The Islanders scored 16 points in the loss, the Capitals 11. If the Devils had taken one more game a month into overtime, they would have been ahead of both teams and in the playoffs. What should not be overlooked is that the Islanders and Capitals are veteran teams with significant playing experience and understand the importance of a point in October, perhaps more than the young Devils. After this season, that should change. The excuse of youth inexperience will no longer be tolerated if the club wants to take the next step.
Missing the play-offs this season was a huge disappointment for the Devils. Fortunately, they are not far from returning to the postseason. They have the skills in the dressing room to compete for titles in the next decade, but they must make changes and learn from successful teams if they want to protect their power.
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