Before preseason even started, I thought that the defense would be shaky at best, and that was with Bryce Salvador and Anton Volchenkov on the roster (both are out with injuries right now). I've been proven right so far. But like most others, I really didn't expect for the offense to be having such issues, and for the team as a whole to be doing so badly.
Problems:
- Too many rookies. Obviously, playing with three rookies on defense isn't ideal for any team, but it's been a particularly negative aspect for the Devils. They call them rookie mistakes for a reason, and while I think fans appreciate Matt Corrente's fiery attitude, Matt Taormina's offensive upside, and Olivier Magnan-Grenier's first career game in Montreal, all three have contributed to the defense being exposed. Badly. And it's not just the rookie mistakes, either. I don't think the rest of the team is very confident in the rookies on defense. And here's something I thought of while I was watching the Rangers-Devils game Sunday night: the biggest issue with rookies is how undisciplined they can be. One of the things that comes with experience is becoming more disciplined. While I haven't been paying attention to who on the Devils is getting called for penalties the most, I'll definitely keep an eye on that from now on.
- Veterans slumping. I'm not talking about the "young veterans" like Parise, Kovalchuk, Zajac, etc. (although Clarkson has definitely been slumping). Patrik Elias, Jason Arnott, and Jamie Langenbrunner (the older vets) have been way too quiet. While I understand that they're aging and their play will drop off year by year as a result, I think we can expect more from those three. They need to have more of an effect on the game, even when they're not scoring. They're too smart of hockey players not to. Also, Henrik Tallinder and Andy Greene have not played up to par on defense and that's probably one of the reasons that the rookies are being exposed so often. Marty Brodeur also had a slow start to the season, though he's definitely been better the past few games. And Johan Hedberg's first start...well, let's not even talk about that.
- Power play and transition game. Both have been awful. The atrocity of the transition game stems from the troubles on defense, but I expected the power play to have been better this season.
- Can't score. So far this season the Devils haven't scored more than three goals in one game, and they've only done that twice. Whether it's from lack of communication/chemistry, wasted power play chances, an awful transition game, bad luck and bounces going the other way, the puck is not finding it's way to the back of the net.
- Offense can't sustain any pressure. This sort of goes along with their scoring issues but I decided to put it in it's own category. The Devils haven't committed to any set system or structure, but they've been a dump-and-chase, cycle-the-boards team for a long time now. At any rate, cycling along the boards is an integral part of the game and you can't sustain any pressure without it. The main reason for this? The defense doesn't jump in on the play in the offensive zone. The forwards are often left playing 3-on-5 deep in the other team's zone. When they lose the puck, they have to backcheck fast to help out their defense.
- Mental issues. They don't play the second period. They get extremely discouraged with the more opportunities they miss. They also get discouraged if the other team scores. That last one is the reason why the Devils keep losing by such large margins. The opposing team scores one, and then it's like an avalanche of goals.
- State of the organization. This last one is the root of all of these problems. Currently the Devils appear to be in the middle of a dump-salary/rebuilding type of phase while they're also stuck in a win-now type of phase. I don't think you can be both at the same time. Something's gotta give, and it will eventually. How do you prevent the organization from losing it and slowly collapsing season by season? It's not like they stopped signing bad contracts. In three years, (halfway through Volchenkov's deal) I think a lot of people will be upset with Volchenkov's cap hit. I can't give you a timetable for Tallinder, but over $3 million for a 31-year-old, primarily defensive defenseman for the next four years? He's due to become the next Colin White.
- Trade. I think this is the easiest way to fix the weak defense (and send down some rookies), transition game, and the issues with sustaining pressure. The personnel on defense right now just aren't going to be able to fix it. Taormina, Magnan-Grenier, Corrente, and even Alexander Urbom aren't all of a sudden going to age five years. Of course, the issue with making a trade for a legitimate puck-moving defenseman is that sooner or later the Devils are going to have to make a trade to get under the salary cap. If another team won't take a less valuable contract in exchange for a pick as a cap-clearing move, then the Devils might end up having to trade away good players just to clear space and might not be able to make another trade for a puck-moving defenseman. At this point, I personally would prefer to not trade Langenbrunner , especially with Clarkson slumping so badly. I know a lot of other people would but the truth is, we know Langenbrunner can perform better and we've only seen Clarkson do well at the beginning of last season, before his injury.
- Fix the power play. I'm no coach, and I'll admit I don't know all that much about specific hockey strategies, but there are a couple of things wrong with the Devils' power play that I'm noticing. 1) They can't get through the neutral zone due to their [lack of a] transition game so they can't set up and 2) their power play isn't creative enough. Bringing in Adam Oates as an assistant coach was supposed to help with #2, and maybe they still need time to get everything to work together. One thing they should definitely try more of is moving with the puck instead of just repeatedly passing it. If the Devils' players move, the opposing defenders will have to move with them. The more they move, the better chance there is of an opposing player being caught out of position. They also should plant somebody on top of the goalie (like they should be doing already but whatever).
- Keep pressure off of the defense. With a defense as weak and shaky as the Devils', it's important that the forwards do their best to help out and not expose them even further. When they can't keep the pressure out of their own zone, they need to find a way to outscore the other opponent. That's where the power play becomes key.
- Scoring. The Devils would definitely be scoring more goals if they could get it together and break out of this funk. There needs to be more secondary pressure and scoring from the second and third lines. If Arnott, Elias, Langenbrunner, and Clarkson could break out of their slumps, that would obviously help the situation. Maybe the lines need to be re-worked (again).
- Prevent the organization from reaching its downfall. Obviously, this could be helped if Lou Lamoriello hadn't signed guys to bad contracts. But we can't change the past so let's focus on the future. 1) Don't let Zach Parise leave next year, and if it goes to arbitration and he is only signed for one year, don't let him leave the year after that either. 2) Don't let Travis Zajac leave in two years. Zajac isn't as much of a priority as Parise right now, but he's still important for the future. They absolutely can't let Parise go under any circumstances. If it means having to bring up ten rookies who make less than $1 million just to squeeze under the cap, then so be it. And if that means they throw away the season next year, then so be it. I'd rather have Parise locked up to help us "rebuild" then have him walk and be stuck with Kovalchuk carrying the team for the next however many years, because we all saw how well that experiment worked out in Atlanta.
- Stay positive and focused. It's critical that this team overcomes its mental issues, because that was its biggest issue during the second half of last year and the playoffs. I don't know how to make them do it but they need to learn to just stay positive and keep pushing. They can't keep getting discouraged after every opposing goal. The two games they've won, Marty was spectacular and earned a shutout. That's not gonna happen every game. Not even close. So they really need to just go out there and play the game for all three periods, no matter what.
- Stay disciplined. I think this goes without saying. It's difficult to win games when you give the other team six power plays. So stop taking dumb penalties. That is all.
Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Kovalchuk-Josefson-Zubrus
Elias-Arnott-Clarkson
Pelley-Sestito-Mair
I want to switch Langenbrunner into Zubrus's spot for two reasons. Number one: ZZ Pops has great chemistry and it might spark Langenbrunner into playing better. And number two: The Devils are missing a lot of opportunities, and while Zubrus has scored some nice goals at times, I don't think he's quite enough of a finisher for Parise and Zajac, considering how many opportunities that they can create for their line.
I also think Kovalchuk and Zubrus played pretty well together, and Josefson is slightly familiar with Zubrus from pre-season. If that line doesn't work out, they could always try Kovalchuk-Arnott-Elias and Zubrus-Josefson-Clarkson.
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