The New Jersey Devils just aren’t good enough right now.
Maybe that’s stating the obvious with the team falling out of a playoff spot and looking listless even over the last two games where they had a number of players return to the lineup. Yet at the same time it has to be said. With the amount of talented players on this team, being middling right now isn’t going to cut it. This was a team that had high expectations for themselves. A team that many pundits saw battling Carolina for the top of the division by season’s end. Yet right now, the Devils have to be more concerned about an early season’s end than battling Carolina for the division crown.
Which leads me to ask, should the New Jersey Devils coaches be concerned about their spots? Yes, players and responsible for playing and the general manager (who should probably also be worried about his job) is responsible for putting the team together. But the coaches are responsible for getting the most out of the personnel they have available to them, and you could argue that right now, they’re not doing that. Injuries have adversely impacted this team this season, but I’d argue that there were games with fill in players where the team looked better than in games where they were at full health.
Sheldone Keefe has a reputation as a successful head coach, but he’s not getting the results in Jersey that he did in Toronto. You could argue that he doesn’t have the same firepower he had in Toronto, but the current defense he’s working with should arguably be better than that during his tenure with the Leafs. Keefe should be held to the fire though mainly for his ridiculous lineup decisions. I get his lineup was more limited and he had to play certain players because of how many guys were out injured. Yet there were still concerning decisions being made, as I previously aired my grievances with. If Keefe consolidates all of his firepower into one line, while still playing Ondrej Palat on the second line, while there are players performing better in the Bottom 6 receiving fewer minutes, then I do not know if he is the correct coach to be leading this team.
The assistants I feel like I generally know less about, partly because they never seem to be focused on in most forms of Devils media. From what I know and have seen, I was never really a fan of the Jeremy Colliton hiring; he did well with AHL teams, but his time with Chicago prior to them officially rebuilding wasn’t great. Meanwhile Brad Shaw’s bio on the team website says he has “an extensive coaching resume” yet there’s very little listed statistically which always had me a bit concerned. Sergei Brylin maybe has a bit more leeway due to him being a great Devil for so many years coupled with AHL coaching success, but he might even be in danger if the Devils continue to simply tread water. The other part of why I feel like I know less of the assistants is that none of them mention specifically which parts of the team that each coach works with. Sure, the organization knows, but I think this is really bad for transparency because all the assistants get lumped together when maybe only one or two of them need to be replaced with a stronger coach.
Speaking of needing to be replaced, myself and others have written about Dave Rogalski before. The one assistant whose role is clearly define, he oversees goaltending, which has been the most inconsistent position for the Devils for quite some time now. He’s now in his sixth season with the team and is the longest tenured coach in the organization. And all I have left to say is how? This is a coach that has seen zero goaltenders develop or get better while he’s been here. We’ve seen a number of goalies leave and perform better outside of New Jersey; heck, Mackenzie Blackwood looks great for Colorado right now, but he even looked better getting shelled on a bad San Jose Sharks team in 2023-24 than he did the previous two seasons that he was stuck with Rogalski! Maybe literally any other goalie coach should be tried, and maybe it would help Jacob Markstrom to at least be league average again. I see no risk in making this change…which honestly should have probably been made a couple of seasons ago.
While the players bear part of the blame for the lack of results so far this season, it doesn’t mean the people who are supposed to be responsible for getting them ready are absolved. Coaches are also responsible for deploying players, which again has been problematic at times. If Tom Fitzgerald is worried about his job, or if he doesn’t want to have to worry, maybe it’s time to bring in at least one new coach (hint: maybe start with goaltending) to get better results. The New Jersey Devils are a franchise who in the past fired a coach while the team was doing well to make sure they got the results they needed. Fitz needs to remember the team’s history and identity if he wants to get everything back on the right path.
Because if he doesn’t, maybe it’s him and the coaches that all go out the door.
What are your thoughts on the job security of the Devils’ coaches; how would you rate the coaching staff overall? Who should be replaced in your eyes and why is it Rogalski? Is it Tom Fitzgerald who you believe should be more worried about his job? Are there any coaches available that you would prefer over who the Devils currently have? Leave any and all comments down below and thanks as always for reading!