This is John Fischer’s last post at All About the Jersey as managing editor. After nearly 17 years here and nearly 19 years total, it ends with John answering questions from the People Who Matter.
Last week, I announced that I am stepping back and leaving All About the Jersey. It has been close to 17 years at SB Nation/Vox Media and close to 19 years total in writing about the New Jersey Devils on a blog on the Internet. This will be my last post here. Per my own “see you later” post, I asked you, the People Who Matter, to ask any questions you may have about the Devils, the site, and whatever else. As usual, you came through.
Firstly and more importantly, I remain floored and blessed at all of the well-wishes, messages of appreciation, acknowledgments of disagreements, and a lot of thank yous. Here, on X, in my inbox, and elsewhere. I am equally pleased to see those comments in support of Chris, who will be taking over this site as manager as of June 1. I thank you all.
The main reason why I asked for questions was because a lot of my own posts were driven by questions. Questions I was asked. Questions I saw in the comments. Questions I had myself. Answering those questions, I think, has led to more informative posts. As well as posts with takes where you may disagree but you at least understand where I am coming from. With that stated, let me dive in from the oldest comment in the post going forward:
From scott33:
If i was going to ask a question for the last article- it would be if the Devils ever reached out to you either on a post (good or bad) or anything that has been on the site. Has there been any kind of acknowledgement about the site even from their media people?
And, related, in a response, from ChuckTheDuck:
I second this question. Basically, has there ever been any formal recognition by the team or it’s players of this site, you, and the content.
Excellent questions! The super-short answer is not officially but they know and they read this site. Several events have confirmed to me that the team was and possibly is still aware of this whole site. As well as others:
Way, way, way back in the In Lou We Trust days on Blogspots, one of the first emails I received thanking me for having a site was from someone claiming to be Jamie Langenbrunner’s brother. This is the Internet and anyone can claim to be anyone. But who would pretend to be the brother of Jamie Langenbrunner? That was my first sign that the subject of the blog is aware.
This continued further into the SB Nation days. At one of the pre-season events (I want to say 2009) where fans could meet the Devils, I wore one of the few ILWT shirts made. Anssi Salmela saw it and was visibly impressed, telling me he’s read it. Lou saw it and smiled – which is probably the most acknowledgment I would get out of him.
Later in 2010, I did have Ilya Kovalchuk’s American agent reach out to me after the trade to New Jersey. Which confirmed that he knew about it. He was less interested in my questions about other clients like Anton Volchenkov, and so our discussions were Kovalchuk-related. In so much I did a lot of listening about Kovalchuk. He only asked once if I would consider (his word) writing something about Kovalchuk struggling after the trade. I told him no and he respected that. It probably helped that I wrote about it before he even called.
A bit later when Jeff Vanderbeek owned the team, one of their staff members did reach out to me to talk. Amid that conversation, I was told straight away that they know what I write, people in the office read it, they are OK with all of the criticism because we back it up (this is a crucial point), and they wanted to know how Matt Ventolo figured out all of that information about attendance That was his audition post. Matt was a great writer, by the way.
Jerry Tierney saw me on the lower concourse before a game at the Rock in, I believe, the 2013-14. He told me season ticket holders can meet with the new owners, Josh Harris and David Blitzer. So I went up with him to where the bar area is now above Sections 3 and 4. I believe it was Blitzer who said “In Lou We Trust” in response to a Person Who Matters. He shook my hand and repeated it. I said, I’m aware of it too – I came up with the site. We then chatted a bit and asked if the four comped seats next to my seat could at least be sold if they’re not going to be used by the team. Which was resolved since the comp owner (a former lawyer of the Devils) often left them empty. The then-new owners knew.
We have had commenters who were very clearly family members defending the play of Brett Seney and Eric Gelinas. They were not shy about it; I think that was common knowledge, though.
Going back to the initial question: None of these things were formal. But these things were enough to let me know that the hockey world is not so small, and as much as players and staff members are told to not read what is written about them, they or someone close to them did anyway. I hope they still do. I believe someone in the Devils organization still does.
From Seank70:
QUESTION for your last article: over the 19 years , what was the the top prediction you were right about ? And what was the biggest miss ?
I will answer the second one first. I have had a lot of misses. I have had a lot of failures, predictions gone wrong, and hopes dashed. I have been wrong a lot. I thought the 2014-15 Devils were going to make the playoffs. Nope. I thought the Devils would run it back after 2018-19. Nah. I thought the Devils could beat Los Angeles in 2012. Didn’t happen. I think you can claim most of my playoff and season predictions to be wrong and you would end up being right more often than not. Especially in the 2010s. My biggest miss that I can recall was not accepting that Martin Brodeur was really past it in the late 2010s – especially after 2012. I was very stubborn about that. Mike’s post at the Winter Classic and the game itself – which I attended live – was like a coffin being closed. I had to accept it after then. They needed to move on from Brodeur and I was one of the last to accept that.
The top prediction? I am going to keep going back to this well: The Devils should have drafted Brayden Point in 2014! This was not a case of us looking back in hindsight. We knew full well he had real potential and we were just hockey bloggers gleaning information from other people and sources. Brian profiled him! We took him at 30th in our mock! Point was passed over three times including an infamous choice of Connor Chatham over Point! I was mystified that he fell as far as he did. Tampa Bay continues to reap the rewards to this day.
From snwbdgislife:
I’m not sure this is an appropriate question or if you have addressed it sufficiently. But in my view the hardest thing to gain in sports is a significant advantage over your competition. IMO NJ had it 2 years ago. I thought it would take years for NYR and NYI, much less WAS and PIT, to catch up to NJ’s speed and skill. But in the quest to get tougher and harder to play against they lost that big skill/speed advantage. And ironically they did it to try and compete with CAR. But they are still losing to CAR and CAR isn’t the gold standard anymore. So NJ is stuck in the messy middle. They are not as strong/tough as CAR and CAR isn’t as tough as FLA. But they have also lost their skill/speed advantage. Some stars and a lot of meh IMO. What the heck would you do if you were GM?
I fully agree that the Devils misread the five-game second-round elimination to Carolina 2023 and the failure of 2023-24 to mean that they should get bigger, tougher, grittier, and more experienced. All it got them was a five-game first-round exit to Carolina in 2025. A valiant effort given all things considered but an elimination all the same. And it is hard to not see Florida as the gold standard of the NHL as they are about to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals for a third straight year.
I will say that a deep analysis of Florida would be required to learn the right lessons. I understand they are heavy and they throw plenty of legal and not-legal shots. So are other teams in this league and they won diddly squat with that (see: Washington). Florida is a fascinating case of a team not really built through the draft (they have five drafted players on their roster and three of them were over 10 years ago) but through trades (most notably Matthew Tkachuk), free agency (most notably Sergey Bobrovsky), and even waivers (most notably Gustav Forsling). They are a team that rolled the dice on Paul Maurice, who had a reputation of being a loser until he didn’t lose. They are a team committed to analytics as assistant GM Sunny Mehta has worked closely with Bill Zito. For as much complaining about a tax advantage, the Panthers are in their fifth straight season of being a playoff team, which matches all of the times they ever did it before 2020. Ownership, Zito, Mehta, and the staff did a lot to turn things around and stick their ways of playing hockey. If the Devils and others want to take any lessons from the Panthers, then it should be in how they scout and analyze pros to acquire. I would start there if I was a GM.
In terms of how to build or adjust the roster, I would focus less on going big or going nasty and go more about going cohesive. Similar to Carolina, Florida is a team where the fourth line and third defensive pairing is going to play similarly to how the first line and first defensive pairing plays. It is aggressive. It is a challenge to identify depth players to keep things going. And it is not a guaranteed Cup winner (nothing is). But it will elevate a team because if an opponent struggles with one style of play, they are going to hate it when it does not let up.
For the older People Who Matter, this was also a big reason why the Devils had such a long Golden Age. Yes, the neutral zone trap flipped the game on its head and the Devils were not going to be bested at playing the 1-2-2. What made theirs so difficult to breakdown was how everyone bought into it and the players they would bring in would buy into it as well if they wanted to last in New Jersey. I do not think the 2024-25 Devils had a problem with buying into a system, but I do think there was a divide into what each line or role was buying into and it did not work out so well against a machine like Carolina. And it would not likely work so well against other machine-like teams like Florida where the issue is not so much one matchup but all of them.
The gut reaction is to get nasty or bigger. I think the real value is to find out where the league is going and try to get ahead of that and be among the leaders of the next wave, than trying to fight the currents of the ocean or just following the leaders of the current wave (who are currently the Panthers until they are not). If I or someone in my organization develop something on-ice that will make the league baffled at how to handle it like the 1993-94 Devils did, then a new Golden Age can begin.
From Tasmar Vanderweghe:
I also applaud the fact that you have decided to do a Jim Brown/Barry Sanders and go out while you’re still at the top of your game. Thanks for everything John…agree or not. In parting though…I do have some questions that I hope you’ll deem worthy of answering…here goes….please limit the answers to persons or events during your time running the blog
Favorite Devils players (you can offer 3)
Favorite Devils coach
Least favorite Devils coach
Favorite Devils team
Favorite in person moment at a game
Least favorite moment
Can we have just one last rant about something like hits, grit, or fights making a difference?
Thank you. I will address all of these points and within the timeframe of 2006-2025:
- My three favorite Devils from this time period are Martin Brodeur, The Big Deal, and Patrik Elias.
- My favorite Devils coach from this time period is Jacques Lemaire. Peter DeBoer runs second for 2012. I have faith in Sheldon Keefe.
- My least favorite Devils coach was the Error of John MacLean. One of the few positives of that era was this post.
- My favorite Devils team from this era: the 2011-12 Devils. Followed closely by the 2022-23 Devils.
- My favorite in person moment at a game from this time period: 3. Akira Schmid shutting out Our Hated Rivals in 2023’s Game 7. 2. Taylor Hall’s greatest goal as a Devil. 1. Adam Henrique scoring in overtime in 2012’s Eastern Conference Finals in Game 6.
- Least favorite moment: I also attended this one too: Game 7 in 2009 against Carolina. Only time I ever left the Rock swearing up a storm. I am not going to list any others. It cannot be topped.
- Hits, grit, fights make a difference only in a romantic sense but not in a sense that actually impacts the scoreboard of a hockey game. The ultimate example of this is the most famous moment from the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals. Younger me and many others associate that comeback series win by the Devils with Scott Stevens crushing Eric Lindros into oblivion. However, not only did that hit – arguably the most famous hit in Devils history – not intimidate the Flyers or have Philly wilt every time #4 took a shift; but the Flyers tied up the game 1-1 after that infamous moment. The Devils won the game thanks to Patrik Elias lifting up Dan McGillis’ stick and then putting home a puck somewhat sent on its way by Jason Arnott – who was checked hard by clearly not-intimidated Keith Primeau at the moment. If Scott Stevens’ most famous hit did not turn the tide of a massively important game – Game 7 for the right to play for the Cup), then how can any bodycheck by or on, say, Jesperi Kotkaneimi turn any tides? It really does not. I want the Devils to focus on the things that matter that would put points on the board or keep the opposition from putting points on the board. Grit does not win and if you think Florida is currently winning because of it, then we’re not watching the same games. (Not to mention that Carolina has been cheap-shot heavy this year, do not think I didn’t see Dmitry Orlov attempt to go Todd Marchment on Timo Meier in Game 3.)
From EliasStillRocks:
One last question…. As I try to keep life light and as humorous as possible…. What is the funniest post that you can recall that made you laugh
Oh, that is a very good question. I think the most I laughed was when Mike wrote about the incoming jersey ads back in December 2020. Which I still wish never happened. One of the many times we stood athwart history to say “No.” and history said “Too bad.”
From Jin4576:
Question: What would be your last song to close out this chapter in your life?
Good question! For the record, I took the idea of putting songs into Gamethreads from Steve Lepore. Credit him for starting that. I have only continued it. Anyway. For this post, two songs come to mind:
- Don Caballero’s “June is Finally Here” from their seminal album What Burns Never Returns
- NoMeansNo’s “The Night Nothing Became Everything” from their album 0+2=1
Both are instrumentals but both say quite a bit to me at least. The first, aside from its almost-timely title, feels like a song that is an ending. An ending to a lot of complexities. No false endings in the song either. The second is more or less an introduction to a new beginning. It is loud, all over the place to start, finds a center, and then fades out into an unknown silence. I am kind of in the second one now since last Friday’s post. The unknown silence will likely come tomorrow when I realize I do not have to write anything for Sunday. Or organize posts for free agency. Or the 2025 NHL Draft. Or some other change about the New Jersey Devils. Or anything. It will be strange. I wish I could say I knew what could come. It could be anything. And so nothing could become everything.
From TerreriStepper:
I missed my chance when we moved on from ruff, but I always meant to ask this because you may be the only one who gets the joke. Since he is still in the league though, why not: is Lindy lindy?
An excellent question! On the surface, Lindy may be seen as lindy because Lindy is still around. Plus, the game has become more offensive which suits a key component of Lindy’s philosophy as a coach (the other being having a stupendous goalie). However, there are not many (any?) Ruff disciples working in this league as far as I know. For something to be lindy, it needs to provide value and that means success in this sport. As great as 2022-23 was, he provided so little for New Jersey in the other seasons. Same with Dallas and Buffalo. So I would say Lindy is ultimately not lindy.
From devilsrock:
Question from me: looking at Florida, and if you are completely honest, do you see devils winning the cup with this core, i.e. Hughes brothers, Nico, Bratt?
I do. Especially in comparison to past Devils teams, the sheer offensive skill between those four blows away much of what previous cores had. Sure, there is a through line from Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski to Luke Hughes as much as there is one from Elias to The Big Deal, Bratt, and especially Hischier. But just as those past Devils paved the way, the current group is just capable of things that was not really thought of in the 1990s or 2000s.
Following on my response to snwbdgislife, the way to win is not so much to follow the leader but figure out what to lead in next. A team can be successful with the Hughes Brothers, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt as they hopefully find that out. The Devils management needs to identify what they can and want to do on the ice, and build a cohesive 18-man squad to do that.
From BringBackPeluso:
Question: I have a throwback 82-92 red and green jersey. I have been procrastinating for over 10 years?! on what player to get on it. Was thinking Lemieux our MVP from our first cup? I have a have a Daneyko jersey already. Also any insight as to where to get this done? I live in Bergen County.
Claude Lemieux did play for the Devils from 1990 through 1992 so he did legitimately wear the old red and green jerseys. He even put up 41 goals in 1991-92. You could do that.
As for where you can have it done, your best bet is to contact a sports apparel shop (e.g. Middlebury Sports Apparel in Randolph might do it) and see if they are willing to do it. It may be expensive but it could be done.
From Blood_Devil:
What was the most fulfilling thing you did during your tenure? What was your favorite article/series you wrote?
The most fulfilling thing I have done is to have a staff. When I started the blog, I was protective of it. It was mine. It was my responsibility. It was my words. It was my typos and errors. It was me. After a while, it was clear that if I wanted to be more serious about the site and have it actually have posts up related to activity happening, then I needed help. I also needed to establish what I wanted in a site instead of just what I wanted. If only to communicate to those who want to write about the Devils that there was a standard. Namely, to back up what thought, opinion, argument, take, statement, and so forth you have about the Devils. And, related to that I needed to be flexible enough to communicate that the site was just a hockey blog. It is not a full-time job. It certainly never paid like one. Family and health and real life was more important and so if we had to move things around, we could. Related: I wanted the other writers to write like themselves about what they want to write about the Devils. I would only ask them in specific cases as to what to write about, but even that was open ended to how the writer wanted to have it.
It has been a great success. I remain impressed that so many talented People Who Matter were willing to give their time, their attention, and their efforts to the site. It is why I specifically named so many people in last Friday’s post. I really could not have made In Lou We Trust / All About the Jersey into what it is for so many of you without them. And, most of all, all of those writers – and the ones I did not select from those audition posts – were people like you. They were readers and commenters. They bought in to the idea of the site and said “Yes, I want to contribute.” You, yes, you reading this, could do this one day. That I can even pass the site onto Chris is a blessing in of itself. Out of all of the things I have done, I feel the most fulfilled from that.
My favorite article/series varies. I loved doing the goal breakdown posts, even if I had to rush plenty of those posts due to timing. While they were not my idea, I loved the Top 25 Under 25 series, including asking the People Who Matter for their lists. The look back at each draft class, while long, has always been an interesting thing to dive into – and I love doing that. I managed to speak at a conference after researching time actually killed from penalty kills: Killing Time, which was done in 2015 and 2016 offseasons. Thank you, Ryan Stimson in particular for that. While I was in some personal pain at the time, documenting the New Jersey Devils 2010s: A Decade of Necessary Changes was a personal highlight and something I am proud of to this day.
From mrswiggins:
On the other hand, I have always agreed with you 1000% when to comes to Kurtis freaking MacDermid, and thus my final question to you is this:
– you get to play GM one last time. Give us the top ten realistic transactions you would make this offseason. Doesn’t have to be super detailed nor exactly cap compliant. Starting with #1:
– Waive MacDermid and bury his contract at Utica (because that’s better than buying him out, correct?)
OK. Let’s do it. Assume I have already had a deep conversation with Sheldon Keefe and his staff to understand what exactly they want all 12 forwards and 6 defensemen to do. Cohesion to the system is going to be just as crucial as talent from the open market. My first act is indeed to bury Kurtis MacDermid and pickup an extra $1.15 million in cap space for July 1, 2025. Done.
#2 Demote Seamus Casey to Utica to save another $0.950 million. Combined with the MacDermid burial, the Devils will have another $2.1 million to spend for a total of $14.05 million
#3 Buyout Erik Haula to save another $1.6 million and eat only $0.8 million for 2026-27. As per my buyout primer, while buying out Ondrej Palat saves more, it would cost more. And I think the Devils really need to move on in their bottom six. This puts me up to $15.65 million to play with.
#4. Since Luke Hughes cannot be given an offer sheet and he does not yet have arbitration rights, I send his agent a contract offer of $7.75 million AAV for 8 seasons and leave it at that. A total of $62 million committed to a defenseman I believe will be more than worth it. That leaves me with $7.9 million to play with for other moves.
#5. I talk turkey with Jake Allen and tell him he can come back if he is willing to do it for $2 million. Which is a big paycut from the $3.3 million he earned last season. If not, Nico Daws, the job is yours.
#6. I am only qualifying Santeri Hatakka and Isaac Poulter as RFAs. Cody Glass would be too expensive to keep around $2.75 million AAV and I think it is time to move on from Nolan Foote. Hatakka and Poulter can be super-deep options in their respective depth charts.
#7. How about a trade? Marco Rossi is apparently unhappy in Minnesota and Bill Guerin may not want to keep him. While Rossi could be an offer sheet target, I call up Guerin and give him an out around the draft. Instead of being squeezed to take draft picks, he can take Dawson Mercer and the 2026 second round pick to save face. While I have to still replace Mercer and Haula in the lineup, I have $11.9 million to use. $5 million of which will go to extending Rossi for four years. There’s my spine of the forward group. And before you tell me about the centers being small, please consult the Tampa Bay Lightning roster from 2020-2022.
#8. July 1 comes and I sign the following for my new bottom six with my most of my nice $6.9 million remaining: Cole Koepeke (shout out to JP Gambatese for the suggestion), Eric Robinson, Radek Faksa (shout out to Jared for mentioning him on Wednesday), and Steve Lorentz. Rossi centers the faster Koepeke and Robinson. Faksa can center the physical Lorentz and Cotter. What about Arseni Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho? Those four are the guys they need to surpass to earn a roster spot.
#9. I probably have some money left over from those four signings. Why not bring back some nostalgia for scoring if he’s down to take the $2 million that Allen may not take? How about a return of The Pride of Montvale, New Jersey, Kyle Palmieri? He has been productive, albeit in big minutes, with the Isles. With Mercer now with the Wild per #7, Palmieri is a fill-in middle-six winger who can score. At age 35 and the option to stay local, he may be interested.
#10. Also on July 1, I demand Ondrej Palat to give me his ten-team trade list and I send him to anyone willing to take him. If I can clear that $6 million by February 1, 2026, then I can set in motion the massive play for Quinn Hughes by that year’s deadline. Since that list cannot be given until July 1, 2025, I cannot move him before hand without his permission and I do not want to find out how much he liked George Costanza at Play Now.
My end result is a team that is faster, has more scoring punch, has a different look at depth, and it does not fully require the Devils to move on from their biggest anchor contracts in Palat and Dougie Hamilton which may have to wait anyway. Great question and we’ll see what Mr. Fitzgerald does himself in time.
From 950003dev:
My one question to you is this.
I have been a hockey fan for over 60 years. I believe the greatest series I have ever witnessed (even though I hated the final result) was the 1994 Eastern Conference championship between the NJ Devils and the New York Rangers. What was your greatest series?
The greatest series for me was 1995 Stanley Cup Finals. I never saw the 1972 Summit Series what with me being both American and born in 1983. However, that series is Important because of how it changed the game. For the NHL, that series changed what hockey would be until the Salary Cap Lockout of 2005. The Devils were into their second season of utilizing a neutral zone trap. The narrative was that a Red Wings team loaded with legends, then current and eventual ones, was going to stomp them out. The Devils did more than play with them. They swept them. They forced the league to recognize that a great system can beat an on-paper superior lineup. They forced Scott Bowman to sit down with Slava Fetisov and talk until he discovered the Left Wing Lock, which helped Detroit become even more dominant in the 1990s. They also secured history for the Devils franchise, the state of New Jersey, and a 12 year old me.
From Säbelzahntiger, who asked several questions:
Some questions:
– If you could, what would you change about the current framework the NHL is operating in to make the game even more attractive? (can be in-game rules, CBA, player safety, points system, playoff seeding etc.)
– As someone who has never attended a game in North America, which arenas would you recommend visiting and why (apart from the Rock)?
– Many discussions in the comments revolve around factors (and their relative importance) to get this team closer to winning (analytics, speed, system, grit etc.). Curiously, culture (or chemistry) remains largely absent. How would you factor culture into the equation? I’m asking this as well from a Swiss and personal perspective, having quit playing hockey due to toxic locker room culture and hearing sometimes stories from Swiss players who returned from North America never fully getting accustomed to the business side of things. I’m also curious on your take more generally about the hiring culture and apparent nepotism in the NHL. My hunch is that the Devils could be a lot more successful if they would break with this.
– Lastly, given the current core of the Devils, what sort of brand of hockey do you think they should adopt to get past teams like Carolina and especially Florida with their tenacious forecheck? With what type of players would you complement the core?
Great questions! I shall answer them in order:
First: I think the game as it is now is quite attractive. The massive increase to the salary caps is not coming from people who dislike the game. If I were in charge, then I would hire some different creative people to promote the attractiveness of this game. Some of their ads now are good, such as the ones focusing on the new generation of players; but they need more. And they should invest in other types of media. There is a NHL Network. Use it more! Have a show explaining how coaches look and coach up the game. Have a show focusing on the minor affiliates and prospects on the come up. Have a show of stories from players. Have more content and different types to not appeal to different fans but different kinds of fans.
It would not be attractive, but I would enforce some new rules. The Department of Player Safety would be run by a non-hockey person as to not be biased to how they used to play or to a former team. Purely for optics, that would help. I would enact minimums for certain suspensions and quantities of suspensions. If someone gets tossed for putting someone on a stretcher, then he should get a longer punishment than someone else getting tossed for being mad at the end of the game. I do not think people would like it but it would be more consistent and, in time, begrudgingly accepted.
Second: I would recommend the Rock. I have not been to too many other arenas. MSG is cavernous and remarkably expensive beyond the concept of having to be in the midst of Our Hated Rivals. Can’t recommend MSG.
Third: I think a lot of the comments after the loss to Carolina should be more about tangibles than intangibles like grit and culture since the Devils lost in five games due to some very tangible differences between the two teams. As much as the Devils are not focused on much by sports media, anything foul in the locker room would hard to be ignored in today’s media environment. Especially as more and more players and agents have their own media to discuss and bring up things. Even back in 2010-11, it was pretty apparent to non-connected hockey bloggers like me that Jamie Langenbrunner’s repeated “It’s in the room” comments after another loss under John MacLean spoke to issues in the culture.
I do not think the Devils’ problem in 2024-25 was due to players not agreeing with how business should be done or not buying into what Sheldon Keefe wanted them to do. The roster’s flaws came about when then scoring slowed down and the injuries picked up. Their lack of depth in talent was further exposed against Carolina in a five-game loss. The lack of cohesion in the team has to do more with what the players could do as opposed to the players not being on the same page. To that end, I think the locker room is not an issue.
As far as nepotism and hiring in sports, it is unfortunately an issue in general. Whether it is engineering, business, finance, or sports management, who you know is often a better decider for getting a job than what you know. The bitter and harsh reality is that if the person is competent and the business or team is successful, then the nepotism is not really an issue to most people. The issue is when then the nepotism does not lead to success or hinders it. To that end, I do think the Devils could stand to keep stepping away from the traditional 200 Hockey People (it’s not just men anymore, plenty of women in hockey prefer “The Old Ways”) to find that next wave of where the league is going. It usually takes some out of the box thinking to figure out what will be successful next in the league instead of figuring out how to imitate someone else’s success.
Fourth: Beating Carolina’s and Florida’s forecheck is going to require a strong gameplan, commitment to that plan, and providing enough quality on the ice to keep them honest when the Devils do have the puck. Both teams love to forecheck with layers and support. If the Devils can more reliably use their aggression to their advantage, then they can find space to use their speed to rush attacks down. Weirdly, Keefe sort of, kind of found that in spots in the five game series loss. It may behoove him to try to find it (or at least find it in the current Carolina-Florida series) to make that something the Devils can pull out if/when it happens to them by an opponent. As far as complementing the core, the Devils need scoring talent and speed. We saw what Fitzgerald brought in for this season to add experience, grit, size, and it meant very little as it came with slowness, less of skill on the puck, and less movement off the puck that could have kept a Canes team honest.
In the responses to Säbelzahntiger’s comment, Bar Man had this question:
To bring this back on topic, I’d like to know what John thinks about changing OT and maybe adjusting standing points?
Which was echoed by NJ Seagull:
Got it. Math was hard late last night when I posted this. And yes, to keep this on topic I’d like to know John’s opinion on this (and 10-min OT)
I am OK with going to 3-2-1-0 like the International Ice Hockey Federation does. It is not the end of the world if the NHL sticks to 2-1-0 as they have been. I do not think that teams will suddenly go super-hard in a tie game in the regular season. Some teams just let it go beyond 60 because they are tired or just want to get something for their efforts amid the grind of an 82-game season. But if the NHL goes to it, it would be OK with me.
I am also agnostic about 10 minute overtimes. As it is, the five minutes often mean a extra and usually long shifts for a handful of players. I do not think 10 minutes to get extra players involved will help make overtime any more interesting. Especially if those players are slower, less skilled, and therefore ill-suited for 3-on-3 hockey. And regular season games have to end at some point. If the NHL wants to go for it, then fine. But I’m fine with the current format here too.
This absolutely means the playoffs should not change. The NHL has the perfect format for games in the playoffs. They should not touch it ever. I fear it might after Gary Bettman, one of the league’s biggest proponents, retires.
From Rolston14:
For the analytical folks is it possible to throw out some numbers (how many original users/commenters are still posting/active, how many total active members do we have, what percentage of unique page views are there vs total commenters i.e. how many lurkers?, what article generated the most comments, any other “stats” you might think we would find interesting)
The other question i’ve always had but never asked, was how would we go about contacting other members of the blog individually (if both parties were in agreement of course) – I’m thinking something along the lines of sharing our twitter handles or some-such. or maybe there’s a good reason for not wanting to do that, I don’t know, but i always sort of wondered.
There have been a few times i’ve had tickets to a game and would have liked to give them away to folks here, but i wasn’t sure if that was something that would be frowned upon, or then to my point above, how to even go about contacting someone without having to put our info in a comment. (maybe an optional profile setting where we add twitter handle?)
I would love to have the answers about the readers, commenters, and users. Due to changes in the comment system throwing out a lot of the old comments, that is really hard to figure out. Not to mention there are user accounts that are really spam accounts so they may not be “real deal” people interested in the Devils. Lastly, the readership counting has always been iffy on my end so I wish I could say with certainty how many people we have read this. This is a lot to say I do not know and I wish I did! The most I can look back under the new commenting system is the last 120 days, where we have had 34,686 total comments. Not necessarily 34,686 different people and that number is smaller than what we would get in-season.
In terms of contacting other people, that invites a potential safety risk since I do not know how many people want to put their info out there and want to be contacted. For the staff, we do have a masthead to be contacted. But individual users, not so much.
Sorry I could not provide a more interesting answer, especially to that first one. I would love to know how many page views we had over these nearly 17 years.
From MDDevil:
My question: do you think the Devils will win a Stanley Cup with the 3 Hughes brothers (WHEN/after Quinn is acquired that is)? And bonus points for the year (because, let’s face it, the answer HAS to be yes.)
My answers: Yes and I will predict it will be in 2028. Not the first year of Quinn Hughes. After some period of teeth gnashing about how the Devils have all three Hugheses and cannot win it, they will and a lot of the haters and losers will suffer yet another crushing ‘L’ with the fourth banner to be raised before 2030.
From RaaandyMcKay:
Finally, per your request, some questions for you to choose from. 19 questions for your 19 years of covering NJD, to be exact.
Since our last cup win in 2003:
1. Best player not named Bratt – value vs draft position?
2. Best one tool player?
3. Most complete player?
4. Biggest draft bust?
5. Biggest draft miss? (a la Barzal, Rossi, etc)
6. Which Devils team was 1 piece away from winning a cup, and what piece was missing?
7. NHL player (2003-now) who never played for NJ, but would have been a perfect fit?
8. Devils player who most exemplified a style of physical play that you feel has no place in the game?
9. Devils player who most exemplified a style of physical play that you feel belongs in the game?
10. Favorite fight?
11. One face-off to win a cup – who takes it?
12. One penalty shot / shootout attempt to decide a huge game – who takes it?
13. Best candidate for player/coach & in which season?
14. Which everyday player would you choose to alternate as forward & D in the same playoff series?
15. Most overrated Devils great?
16. Player who most deserves to be considered a Devils great, but is not?
17. Best starting 5 + goalie, but only players who spent one season or less in NJ?
18. In a league that often discourages big personalities, most unique off-ice player?
19. Doesn’t TWENTY YEARS have a nice, clean ring to it???
I did ask for questions. Let’s run the gauntlet! In order:
- The trick answers are Brian Rafalski, John Madden, and Andy Greene as they were never drafted. Of actually picked players by New Jersey: Willie Mitchell, an eighth rounder from 1996 that ended up playing in over 900 games.
- Best one tool player, goodness: How about Miles Wood whose one tool was to skate super fast in a straight line.
- Most complete player: In Devils history, that is easily Patrik Elias.
- Biggest bust: In the era of this blog’s existence, John Quenneville. For the Devils, take your pick between Jean-Francois Damphouse, Adrian Foster, and Ari Ahonen.
- Biggest miss: I repeat, Brayden Point in 2014.
- The Devils team that fell short of a Cup by one piece was perhaps the 2001 and 2012 Devils teams that made it to the Finals. The 2001 team just needed some gas. The 2012 team needed a healthy back for Ilya Kovalchuk. More seriously: Both teams could have used one extra scorer to put them over the top in each series and I think they would have won it all.
- I would have loved, and I mean loved, Point in a Devils uniform. Ditto for Patrick Marleau (I believe NJ came close a few times to getting him), Roman Josi, Jason Robertson, and, not that this would ever happen but Anze Kopitar.
- Take your pick between the many goons I had to write about over the years from Gazdic, Peters, Boulton, Farnham, Geertsen, Janssen, MacDermid, Gabriel, and probably some others too. Sasha Lakovic may have been the worst I have seen among them.
- In a pre-Rule 48 world, Scott Stevens. Now? I would say Timo Meier does it.
- None, really.
- Nico Hischier. And I’m serious.
- Among the current Devils, Jesper Bratt.
- Candidate for a player-coach could have been Stevens in the early 2000s.
- Ah, the Brylin. Among current Devils, Hischier would probably be the best at it. The job would go to Nathan Bastian since he seems to understand defense and he certainly was not going forward a whole lot.
- Most overrated Devils great? I think the great ones are legitimately great. To not avoid the question entirely: Ken Daneyko only because his prime years were in a very different era of hockey that really did not apply in the 1990s or his twilight years in the 2000s or any games he has commentated since.
- Time heals all wounds so Zach Parise. In time, I think he will get his due. The People Who Matter did forgive Scott Gomez eventually. You can add Travis Zajac to this answer too.
- I hate this question because most of the guys I think of actually played two seasons like Neal Broten and Doug Gilmour. I will pass. Sorry.
- The most unique off-ice player is Jaromir Jagr. All accounts is that he is devoted to the game and is just a character.
- It does but I can’t do 20. Sorry.
From The Great Slawslaw:
My question: who deserves to have their name on the cup more: Corey Schneider or Jack Hughes?
Trick question: The Cup isn’t about deserves. More seriously, it has to be The Big Deal as he can still win one as a player. Unless Schneider gets into coaching or management, he is not going to get there.
From an email of an anonymous user, a series of questions (I removed the ones I already answered from others):
Most unexpected place you were recognized?
When did you know that you had something percolating w the site?
How often would you have something just about done then essentially rewrite it?
Any topic you wanted to explore in more depth but didn’t have a window for it?
During the down years, was doing the site able to make the seasons more bearable or more of a drag?
What (if anything) made you go ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this’?
Did doing the site ever make it tough to just be a fan?
In order:
The most unexpected place was when I was walking around in downtown Westfield and someone drove by yelling they liked my site. I waved back. I was effectively catcalled on the street for my hockey blog. I never expected that.
For the percolation: two things. I knew I had something percolating when I had someone – I forget the name, sorry! – suggest I register a domain name for In Lou We Trust so more people could access it easily. Which I eventually did and paid for. For a hobby and having plenty of disposable income, I figured it was worth it. It was.
Especially when James Mirtle reached out to me to join Sports Blog Nation. He gave me the details and pitched me that all I would need to do is to write. He also said $50. I wrote back that I don’t know if I can do it while paying $50. He wrote back and said, no, we would pay you $50. I accepted and that is how I joined up in 2008. I want to say I was the seventh hockey blog and part of a wave of hockey blogs to fill out the league.
Aside: I think Lighthouse Hockey, Mile High Hockey, PensBurgh, Winging it in Motown, Pension Plan Puppets, and Stanley Cup of Chowder predated me. Apologies if I got that wrong.
I would re-write paragraphs or sentences somewhat often. Hence, some of my silly typos or extra words left in would get through to publish. Rarely would I re-write a whole post from scratch. Once I have an idea and I have the thoughts to go with it, I get going and I tend to stick with it.
Topics I wish I could cover more is a good one. I wish I did a series where I forced myself to learn in public about hockey tactics and coaching. It is an important aspect to the game and good analysis at least shows how a team is performing on the ice beyond the numbers. It also can answer why the Devils did/did not do well. I can still learn it; but it will have to be on my own. I also wish I brought back to the Soft Goal Analysis or Goal Review (I did one for David Clarkson) or some kind of running list of details about goals the Devils scored in a season. Something to provide more value beyond just a goal total. I also wish I explored other lesser known nations in hockey like I did with the Philippines. Specifically India since they are a strange entity: a long-ish IIHF member that has never played in the World Championships and seemingly has not made strides in a formal program despite having a history of people playing the sport over a century ago. And more goal breakdowns. They were time-consuming but always worth the effort.
During the down years, it became a drag. When the rebuild was beginning in earnest, I think most of the People Who Matter expected it to be rough. When the team flopped after 2018, it became more of a bemusement. The 2023-24 campaign was a bear to get through for me just because it was just a whole lot of let downs after some positive times and ultimately not a whole lot to hope for other than changes. The 2024-25 Devils did improve, which was good.
I think my “I can’t believe I’m doing this” thoughts tended to center around money. Namely, the lack of it I earned while doing all of this. From Mirtle’s initial offer, to raises received, to a lack of raises definitely not received, and eating a paycut a few years back to keep the site possibly alive (which it did), I really am not coming out of this endeavor ahead financially. I would be reminded of this at least annually around tax time where despite the lack of income, I certainly got to pay the government. This is not sour grapes. I always treated All About the Jersey as a hobby and not a job. It never paid enough to be a job. It paid enough to make my taxes more costly, but not enough to be anything full-time. I do think that I left plenty of money on the table for not reaching out for more money. I do not regret it much because, again, this was a hobby to me. And I think the other writers got that too since, again, we all have our own jobs outside of the site. That all said: that one draft post where I involved a made-up yam was pretty silly too. I was taking inspiration from David Nonis as a potato from Pension Plan Puppets, so I wanted to do my own version with a yam.
Did doing the site make it tough to be a fan? In a sense, no. This was an output of me being a fan. It is a reason why I never took press credentials and did not want to play journalist when others may have wanted that. I want the Devils to win. I want to cheer for them. I want to write good things and praises for them. I want to be wrong when I am negative. I want the Devils to win. But being a fan also means living in reality and so even when I would be more pessimistic or down or wanting wrong things to be made right, I had to write that. I would like to think this site as a whole, represents the full experience of fandom from big-picture thoughts to really granular subjects to out of the ordinary takes to regular things you would expect to see.
In a sense, it did make it harder. One of the reasons why I am stepping away is because it is getting harder for me to write as I have been about the Devils. And as NJ Seagull noted, I do have to keep attention to the online world as actual, real life hockey is in front of me. I have to put being a fan aside to comment on X or this site or to remember something for writing later. Related to that, if the Devils stink it up, most of you – the People Who Matter – can go leave the game or turn off the TV. I am committed to watching and giving thoughts about it regardless of how stinky it got. And when the game ends, you can move on to the next thing. I would have to write, check to make sure someone else is, or get ahead on the next thing I am writing. This is not a complaint, but it was work at times and certainly not by being a fan.
I am looking forward to being just a fan. Even if it is for a little bit. After all, one of the reasons why I started blogging at all was because I have a lot of thoughts about the New Jersey Devils and I figured I should share them with people who would actually care about them instead of people just humoring me.
With that, those are my last answers to your questions here. If anyone put any up after 9:20 PM on Thursday night, then I am sorry if I have missed it. I was going to leave it here but, as usual, I cannot so I will not. One more time, for the last time:
I thank everyone who commented at all to last week’s post, sent a message on X, or even sent me an email wishing me well. I am blessed to receive such well-wishes from a lot of you, whether you have been reading since the Blogspot days or you just started reading the site this day. I encourage you all to keep reading people you may not agree with, cause you to look at the Devils and the game differently, and engage. There is more to sports than just the results. Learn, dig into it, and understand the whys and hows and what could bes of the Devils. It is far more interesting anyway.
I thank Chris, Nate, Jared, James, Alex, Gerard, Jackson, Ian and all of the previous writers at All About the Jersey for contributing their time and efforts. Chris will take the lead and he will do a fantastic job in what will be a new era of All About the Jersey. Please support him because the hockey will not stop at All About the Jersey.
I thank James Mirtle for taking a chance on me in 2008 and the larger Vox Media management for not cutting AAtJ with the other hockey sites a few years back. I also want to thank, in particular, Tyler Bleszinski and James Bankoff for their support and even enduring sitting by me at a game a long, long, long time ago (I want to say it was a win over Toronto, not sure). It is a minor miracle these days to consistently be a part of someone’s site for years much less nearly 17 of them. And to also leave that site on one’s own terms and on positive terms. I appreciate that.
I thank my family for their encouragement, understanding, and especially patience. If only for all of those hours spent writing instead of doing something possibly productive.
I thank the New Jersey Devils. Whether I agree with how things are going, disagree with their direction, get mad when they suffer by their own hands, get glad when they succeed, and everything in between, they are a team worth watching, thinking about, and, yes, even loving. The New Jersey Devils will always be a part of my passion. Will it lead to some other thing I do in the future? Maybe, maybe not. Will I always have season tickets and go to as many games as I did? Maybe, maybe not. But I will always remain a supporter of the New Jersey Devils. That will not change.
I thank God. If only for giving me the gifts to get this far at all.
I thank you. Yes, you. By being a reader – not even a commenter, a reader – and a New Jersey Devils fan, you are a Person Who Matters. In the hockey world, few give the Devils and their fanbase any respect. That was as much true from 1995 to 2003 as it is today. I learned that you will not be given respect. You need to take respect. Do not let anyone tell you that you do not matter as a Devils fan. You do. You count. And if you support New Jersey, then I know you can be loud enough to be heard. That stereotype about New Jersey is 100% true: we make ourselves heard. So do not be meek. Do not demand it, command it. You are a Devils fan. Let’s go.
All this to end with the my standard ending to a post: Please leave your reactions and other thoughts about this site and the New Jersey Devils in the comments. Thank you for reading.