JP, I like your suggestion of Jay Woodcroft as a replacement coach during the off-season for the Devils. I think the Oilers firing him when they did was a mistake, but time will tell.
I am a Devils season ticket holder and have watched too many games when they were lethargic (deflated) and constantly playing from behind. Fortunately, taking my 5 year old grandson to quite a few games made them enjoyable and HE never wanted to leave a game early! LOL
Yeah, I definitely love Woodcroft as an option -- he's easily my #1 choice to be at the helm next year. Even McDavid said himself that Woodcroft never lost the room, and the underlying statistics for the Oilers this season showed that the team was still secretly elite despite their abysmal start.
I used to be a ticket holder myself, funnily enough the last year I held season tickets was the 2021-22 season. I'd like to think that not renewing those tickets is why the Devils decided to have their record breaking season the following year. Glad to hear you're teachin 'em young, though! hahaha
Excellent detailed analysis of “what went wrong” with the Devils season. When all of the “fire Lindy” chanters were happy that he was fired last week, I still contended that HE was NOT the problem with this team. This article analyzes it well and clearly concludes that it’s the awful goaltending and poor play of their key players. Yes, someone has to take the fall and it’s always the coach, which sometimes sucks, but they realize it’s part of the job (and they still get paid). I had given up on the season around Christmas time, with the inconsistency and mediocre play…it just became evident that this team was not going to put together the necessary streak to make a run at the playoffs.
I definitely agree with you. While I’m not of the opinion that Ruff was the issue — as I mentioned I really do like his system for the skaters for the most part — I do think Fitz was right in letting him go (it probably came a little too late if anything). The team seemed deflated and it definitely looked like he lost the room.
Hopefully they make the right call and hire someone with a somewhat similar system in the off-season.
JP, I like your suggestion of Jay Woodcroft as a replacement coach during the off-season for the Devils. I think the Oilers firing him when they did was a mistake, but time will tell.
I am a Devils season ticket holder and have watched too many games when they were lethargic (deflated) and constantly playing from behind. Fortunately, taking my 5 year old grandson to quite a few games made them enjoyable and HE never wanted to leave a game early! LOL
Yeah, I definitely love Woodcroft as an option -- he's easily my #1 choice to be at the helm next year. Even McDavid said himself that Woodcroft never lost the room, and the underlying statistics for the Oilers this season showed that the team was still secretly elite despite their abysmal start.
I used to be a ticket holder myself, funnily enough the last year I held season tickets was the 2021-22 season. I'd like to think that not renewing those tickets is why the Devils decided to have their record breaking season the following year. Glad to hear you're teachin 'em young, though! hahaha
Excellent detailed analysis of “what went wrong” with the Devils season. When all of the “fire Lindy” chanters were happy that he was fired last week, I still contended that HE was NOT the problem with this team. This article analyzes it well and clearly concludes that it’s the awful goaltending and poor play of their key players. Yes, someone has to take the fall and it’s always the coach, which sometimes sucks, but they realize it’s part of the job (and they still get paid). I had given up on the season around Christmas time, with the inconsistency and mediocre play…it just became evident that this team was not going to put together the necessary streak to make a run at the playoffs.
Thanks Brian!
I definitely agree with you. While I’m not of the opinion that Ruff was the issue — as I mentioned I really do like his system for the skaters for the most part — I do think Fitz was right in letting him go (it probably came a little too late if anything). The team seemed deflated and it definitely looked like he lost the room.
Hopefully they make the right call and hire someone with a somewhat similar system in the off-season.