The New Jersey Devils began the season as a consensus Stanley Cup contender. With nearly 60 games in the bank, they’re not even in a playoff position — they’re five points behind the Philadelphia Flyers in the Metropolitan Division and five points back of the Tampa Bay Lightning for the second wild-card spot. To be fair, there have been quite a few legitimate reasons for the Devils’ standings woes — they’ve dealt with a plethora of injuries this season, including significant time missed by star players Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, and Dougie Hamilton, a lot of which came with a good few games of overlap. On top of that, goaltending has been a monumental issue, with the Devils’ netminders combining for the fourth-worst goals saved above expected (GSAx) in the league.
Another gigantic issue the team has had, especially of late, is coaching issues. Head coach Lindy Ruff has (rightfully) taken a fair share of criticism considering the Devils’ disappointing standings lie, even going so far as taking responsibility for the results of this season in a recent press conference after a game in which he received a deafening chant of “Fire Lindy!” Between taking too much time to execute a systemic change despite poor results, questionable line combinations and player usage, and a lack of action taken on a recently abysmal power play, there’s ample reason for Devils’ general manager Tom Fitzgerald to take charge and fire Ruff. In all honesty, even if none of these were issues, they still should consider giving him the axe by proxy of being at the helm of the NHL’s biggest disappointment this season. The players play as if he’s lost the room — and it’s time to give someone else the reign.
Lack of Adjustments Made
The biggest issue, in my opinion, that Ruff has had throughout the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign is a lack of willingness to make alterations to his system in accordance with which players he’s icing. It’s no secret the Devils have had their fair share of injury woes — perhaps worse than any team not named the Chicago Blackhawks this year — but to sit there and do nothing to the system as its players habitually struggle to grasp the basic concepts of the defensive scheme is asinine and has held the Devils back from being a competitive team. In early January, when the Devils were arguably playing the worst hockey fans have seen all season, the team was missing all of Hughes, Hischier, Meier, and Hamilton. Depth pieces were forced to play more important roles and were subsequently played by less-talented, AHL-fodder guys, and still nothing changed systemically to make it easier for the players. The Devils suffered for it.
When Ruff did decide to change things up a bit — he made the center more responsible for roving in the defensive zone, thus taking defensive pressure off of both the wings and defensemen — the team instantly improved their defensive game and underlying defensive statistics. The problem is, the change came way too late; it came just before the All-Star Break, already more than halfway through a season filled to the brim with disappointments. They weren’t in a playoff spot then, and they’re not in a playoff spot now. I do wonder, though, if their goaltending would have improved earlier if the Devils had switched to the better defensive system earlier, and what impact that would have had on the standings, especially in parts of the season riddled with injuries.
Another facet of the game Ruff refuses to tamper much with is the power play, which has singlehandedly cost the Devils many wins due to a stretch in which the team has gone 4/52 (7.7%). Sure, the power play is assistant coach Travis Green’s “responsibility”, and sure, the power play was once ranked first in the league, but after a stretch like that, something simply has to be done. The only change that has been made has been a bad one at that, with sniper Alex Holtz and rookie phenom Simon Nemec being taken off of the second power-play unit in exchange for veterans Erik Haula and Colin Miller. The point is, even if Green doesn’t want to change anything with the power play because of their prior play, Ruff then must take the reins and at the least switch around the personnel.
Questionable Player Usage
For the vast majority of the season, Ruff’s line combinations and player usage have been questionable. He’s made many poor calls in terms of creating a balanced, sensible lineup both on offense and defense, and at times has caused the Devils to lose games simply because he was too stubborn to consider opting for a change in net on the second half of a back-to-back.
Alex Holtz
One of the biggest topics of debate among the Devils community has been the perplexing usage and deployment of 22-year-old winger Holtz. Despite sitting at second on the team in 5v5 goals (12) and fourth in total 5v5 points (22), he’s spent much of the season stapled in the bottom six — in particular the fourth line. There seems to be a magnifying glass on Holtz’s play, resulting in somewhat frequent benchings and a complete lack of opportunity to play in an increased role regardless of how well he performs.
There’s no denying some faults in Holtz’s game — he’s not a super effective play driver — but that’s even more of a reason for him to be stapled in the top nine. He’s going to find the most success alongside a highly-skilled play driver like Hughes, Bratt, Hischier, or Meier, and yet Ruff has chosen to keep him with Nathan Bastian, Tomas Nosek, and Chris Tierney. With a shot like Holtz’s, he must play with players who can actually provide him with transitional heavy lifting and quality passes.
Timo Meier
There’s no doubt that 2023’s big addition Timo Meier has been as monumental a disappointment as the Devils’ record in 2023-24. Still, as bad as he’s been, some non-play-related issues could be contributing to his horrific season. For one, he’s been a staple on the third line for the majority of the season, either being placed with recently-criminally-charged Michael McLeod, Curtis Lazar, or even Tierney. As the Devils’ highest-paid player, a former 40-goal scorer, and a player who took a pretty penny to acquire last season, one would expect him to be playing in a top-six role alongside one of the other stars. Sure, there’s the argument Ruff might want to spread out the talent to create a lineup with at least three lines chock-full of offensive threats, but when it clearly doesn’t work, something needs to give — and that is increased time for a player who gets paid more than any other forward.
Related: Devils’ Hughes Brothers Struggling at Crucial Point
On top of that, Meier doesn’t even see time on the first power-play unit. Instead, he plays 30 seconds per power play on a unit featuring no other transitional threats — he’s been doing the bulk of the transition work for the group — and no real offensive dynamos. Meier’s best position on the power play is the bumper; his strength on the puck and lightning-fast release are incredibly important for such a role. Yet, he finds himself on the outside, being responsible for doling out the puck to other players and very occasionally one-timing it rather than being in the dirty area of the ice where he works best — and he isn’t even doing it on the top unit.
Brendan Smith & Colin Miller
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed, it’s that Ruff seems to have favorites. For forwards, it’s the McLeods, the Lazars — grinders who are also excellent hockey players. On defense, well, it’s Brendan Smith. It seems that no matter what Smith does, no matter what avoidable penalty he takes or turnover he commits on his own end, he has a never-ending leash and simply won’t be punished for poor play or reckless penalties. Oftentimes, Ruff has chosen to play him instead of sturdy defenseman Colin Miller.
Miller missed 10 games in late October from a lower-body injury and missed one due to illness, but the other 10 games he hasn’t appeared in have been the result of being a healthy scratch in favor of Smith. It’s truly mind-boggling, as Smith has undoubtedly been the Devils’ worst defenseman this season. On the year, he is the only defenseman on the team with an expected goals share (xGF%) below 50% — and it’s well below that at just 46.84%. Miller, meanwhile, has a more-than-respectable xGF% of 52.34%. Ruff’s usage of the two has been questionable at best throughout the season, and it’s genuinely cost the Devils a few victories. Between the asinine penalties, poor play, and better options readily available, I have no clue what value he sees in keeping Smith in the lineup.
Goalie Roulette
Bar none, the mistake that has cost the Devils’ the most amount of grief this season related to questionable lineup decisions has been Ruff’s goaltender deployment. The classic philosophy is “ride the hot hand,” meaning “play the goalie who is playing the best right now until they prove they can no longer handle that pace.” No matter what, though — no matter who is playing well — Ruff seems to favor deploying Vitek Vanecek, who has been unequivocally one of, if not the worst goaltender in the NHL. I’m not sure if he’s coming from the mentality that he can right whatever mental ship Vanecek is struggling with this season, but it’s an experiment that has needed to end for a very long time.
If Vanecek is unable to play and there’s a back-to-back, Ruff will play the same goalie for both games rather than relying on a fresher, yet less-seasoned goaltender. He’s deployed Akira Schmid in both games of a back-to-back twice, neither of which resulted in a win in the latter half, and Nico Daws once — which he won, but at the expense of stamina that has led him to play poorly ever since.
Potential Replacements
Travis Green
The obvious choice as a replacement for Ruff is assistant coach Travis Green, who has previously been an NHL head coach for the Vancouver Canucks. His coaching career doesn’t have the best record nor any accolades — he spent five years with the Canucks during their rebuilding phase and ended up posting a .478 win percentage through four-and-a-quarter seasons — but he would be the natural progression for the team’s next head coach. The problem I see in Green, though, is that his approach to the power play mimics Ruff’s lack of adjustments made at even strength; the team’s struggles on the power play haven’t resulted in any personnel change other than removing Holtz and rookie Nemec from the second power-play unit in favor of Haula and Miller. Given his coaching record and lack of initiative in changing a power play that doesn’t work, I would be in favor of looking for an outside hire.
Jay Woodcroft
It’s no secret that the Edmonton Oilers have had quite the turnaround this season after beginning the year to the tune of 2-9-1, as they now sit in third place in the Pacific Division with a 34-20-2 record. Their underlying analytics have been strong throughout the season, indicating that the Oilers’ early-season record was not necessarily reflective of their play, but then-coach Jay Woodcroft was canned as a product of their poor record anyway.
Woodcroft’s usage of his premium talent has always been something I’ve kept my radar on — it was nice to see a coach play the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for 24-28 minutes a night rather than trying to balance the line times or preserve the player’s endurance. After all, don’t you think your team would perform better if their best players played more? Woodcroft’s career record of 79-41-13 (a .643 winning percentage, by the way) is much more indicative of his prowess as a coach than the Oilers’ devastating start to 2023-24. His systems are historically elite off-the-rush and in a cycle offense, and unlike Ruff’s system, is effective at preventing high-danger chances. It’s hard to understand why he hasn’t garnered a job yet, to be honest — it makes me wonder if the Oilers’ management is preventing him from talking to other teams, as technically he’s still contractually obligated to listen to Edmonton’s ownership.
Bruce Boudreau
Having last coached for the Vancouver Canucks in 2022-23, Bruce Boudreau has been open about his desire to continue coaching in the NHL should a team reach out to him for a position. It’s relatively shocking that he hasn’t been offered a spot anywhere yet, considering his career record of 617-342-128 — a .642 win percentage over 16 years. His system is similar to Ruff’s in the sense that there’s a heavy emphasis on rush offense, but it’s more conservative on the back end. Pair that with his aptitude for developing young players — something that Ruff is also excellent at doing — and it’s a recipe for success with this current roster. Plus, wouldn’t it be much more fun seeing someone with some emotions behind the bench?
Rikard Grönborg
Rikard Grönborg has been on some Devils’ fans’ radars since 2020 when it was reported the team reached out to him to see if he’d show interest in coaching in the NHL. He’s expressed interest in coaching the big leagues before but has stayed in Europe for years, most recently coaching Tappara in Liiga, Finland’s highest league, to a league-best point percentage. He’s been among Europe’s top coaches for a very long time, and it may be time to reignite the interest in acquiring his services.
Stylistically, Grönborg is a bit of an enigma. Whereas most, if not all NHL coaches dictate the roles that their players play, forcing them into a rigid system where there are specific positional roles, Grönborg chooses instead to carve out roles specific to individual players. The first-line center and the second-line center could have different positions on the ice depending on their strengths as players, for example. It’s incredibly complex, but always keeps the opposition guessing and puts his teams at an advantage. He gets input from his players on his system, something that many European coaches take pride in, and something the Devils should keep in mind should they look for another coach this season or this off-season. Grönborg would be my personal choice.
Lindy Ruff is Not the Solution
Regardless of whether you blame the season’s lack of success on Ruff, it’s time for him to go. I, for one, love his system, generally speaking. The run-and-gun, rush-first style of hockey is a ton of fun to watch — it’s just been outgrown by the roster. Some sort of switch-up is needed to inspire the team, and after a horrid recent stretch of hockey, that switch-up needs to be a coaching change.