Extra Credit Sports

This was the year the New Jersey Devils were supposed to finally break through to the top echelon of the NHL. They have a young core of Jack Hughes, their Captain Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt, all extended to long-term deals. These superstar players are surrounded with talent like Dawson Mercer, Timo Meier, and Andre Palat, as well as offseason additions Connor Brown, Cody Glass, as well as bringing over prospect Aryseni Gritsyuk from the KHL. They have an extremely full defensive room with Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes (who was extended to a 7-year, 9-mill aav contract before the season started), Brett Pesce, Jonathon Kovacevic, Simon Nemec, Brendan Dillion and Jonas Siegenthaler. They also have two talented veteran netminders in Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom. The team came into the year with extremely high expectations and started off meeting them, going 8-1 in their first 9 games. Since then, the team’s performance has fluctuated (mostly declining), raising the question of what is causing them to fall into the same pattern year after year without achieving the significant breakthrough that has been promised to fans for years.

One reason many fans blame is the constant injuries the team and their superstars face. Jack Hughes has never played a full 82 game season. Defenseman Jonathan Kovacevic is returning from long-term injured reserve, which is retroactive to the previous season; Brett Pesce has missed significant time due to injuries, and Luke Hughes sustained an injury in a recent game against the Calgary Flames. Other players have also missed time here and there because of illnesses or personal leave. These injuries have definitely held the team back, there’s no doubt about that, but good teams find a way to overcome injuries and keep pace with those around them in the standings. This team has been unable to do their part so far this season. In theory, they have a roster to keep afloat when a player or two goes down. They have 7, possibly 8 (Sheamus Casey) NHL caliber defensemen, a room full of veterans who have shown they can step up in the past, and an AHL team with forwards that, at the very least, aren’t liabilities on the fourth line. When these kinds of issues arise, it is clear that they stem from a lack of leadership and accountability.

I’m not blaming Captain Nico Hiescher; he’s a soothing voice in the locker room. He clearly has the passion needed to lead, but he balances that with the poise needed to keep the team focused. The leadership issues stem from Head Coach Sheldon Keefe and GM Tom Fitzgerald. Keefe is extremely passionate and has no issue showing it on the bench. Such behavior may sound positive because it helps fire up the team, but many people don’t respond well to that kind of reaction. Imagine if your boss started yelling at you or a fellow employee because you made a mistake. This brings me to GM Tom Fitzgerald, who has the complete opposite issue. He’s too calm, too shy; and too timid. While the team was going through their worst slump of the season, he did not speak to the press once. In fact, the season is already more than halfway through, and he’s only spoken once. His lack of accountability spreads through the organization, leading to the same mistakes being made over and over again. Instead of shaking up the roster and making blockbuster moves that might propel the team forward, he plants his feet on the ground and maintains the team is only a few role players away from being a true contender.

The last issue stems from Tom Fitzgerald, as well as how he built this team. We can be honest, can’t we? What professional athlete would want to play and live in Newark, New Jersey? Don’t get me wrong, I love New Jersey, but many would rather live where the coldest it gets is 60 degrees and cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Toronto all have teams. To contend with this factor, Fitzgerald sometimes overpays for a player or will offer them a No Movement Clause to give them and their families assurance they will stay in Jersey. Fourteen players currently have some kind of No Trade or No Movement Clasue in their contracts. Again, this may seem like a good move on paper, but when Quinn Hughes, one of the league’s best players and Jack and Luke’s brother, becomes available, securing a deal becomes nearly impossible. The two teams, Vancouver and New Jersey, had a deal in place that would’ve sent Douggie Hamilton, Dawson Mercer and draft considerations, but because Douggie Hamilton did not approve the trade, it couldn’t go through, and Quinn Hughes ended up joining Minnesota. This is a move that would’ve gotten Quinn in New Jersey a few years earlier than anticipated. The three brothers have clearly expressed their desire to play together, and with both Jack and Luke in New Jersey on long-term contracts, Quinn’s arrival is imminent. His contract is expiring in just two years, but Fitzgerald and the fans didn’t want to wait to get him in red and black. However, the large number of players with no-movement clauses (NMC) or no-trade clauses (NTC) makes it almost impossible to find a deal that both teams and the involved players agree to, not just for the potential Quinn Hughes trade but for all future trades.

The declined trades have other consequences. Not only is it difficult to try to make the team better through trades and acquire star players, but it also divides the locker room and makes players feel slighted. Douggie Hamilton was one of the first major free agent signings New Jersey had. He’s a true veteran of the sport and a Stanley Cup Champion. He was brought in to help mentor the young guys and lead by example. So when a mainstay of the team is offered in a trade, especially when that trade doesn’t happen for whatever reason, it affects the locker room. Guys who thought their roster spot was secured begin to question the team’s loyalty to them. Players in a rejected trade take time to accept it and refocus on the game. Lastly, those voices may carry less weight in the room. The abundant distribution of NMC and NTCs is the root cause of all this. This is where a good coach is needed. Sheldon Keefe, to his credit, has been extremely open to speaking to the media about the team’s performance. He has taken accountability, and so have many players on the team, including Nico Hischier and Luke Hughes.

In the midst of the fallout of the failed Quinn Hughes trade, the Devils welcomed the Carolina Hurricanes to the rock. In this game, Luke Hughes scored not one but two own goals. Inexcusable for a professional player, let alone one making 9 million dollars a year. The fans let him know their displeasure; every time Luke Hughes touched the puck, boos rained down from the crowd. Something like this doesn’t happen often, the home crowd not just booing their team but a specific player. New Jersey would ultimately lose the game 3-1. But once again we got an example of the team holding themselves accountable for their actions. Immediately after the game, Luke Hughes asked to speak to the media to apologize to the fans for his poor performance. This is the kind of leadership that the Devils should look to build around and off of.

This team isn’t bad. The Eastern Conference and the rest of the league feel closer than ever. The parity between the worst teams and the best teams is extremely close, where it takes only one or two guys to come or go for the standings to flip. If this team wants to finally break through into a contender, they need to take accountability for their mistakes and learn from them, trade assets to give the team a kind of reset they desperately need, and take the time off because of the winter olympics to get healthy. If this can happen there is no reason this team cannot at the very least make a deep playoff run.