Although the New Jersey Devils made the Stanley Cup playoffs despite injuries to Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, the meek way they lost the first round left a bad taste.
The Carolina Hurricanes sent New Jersey home in five games last week. In a Thursday press conference, New Jersey GM Tom Fitzgerald and coach Sheldon Keefe made it clear the status quo was not going to be an option for the Devils this summer, setting the stage for significant roster alterations.
“We’ve got a lot of decisions to make on certain players, whether we bring guys back, trade players, we won’t be coming back the same group,” Fitzgerald told reporters. "Because it was just not good enough."
"We finished 16th out of 32 teams,” Keefe said. “That is average, and we are not here to be average.”
Those are bold words indeed from Fitzgerald and Keefe, who appear to have graduated from the Jim Rutherford School of Frankness. That’s terrific from a media standpoint. But a cursory look at the Devils’ roster situation makes it clear that widespread change may be easier said than done.
As it stands, New Jersey has about $12 million in salary cap space next season. They’ve got to sign a new goalie to back up Jacob Markstrom (unless they go with youngster Nico Daws), and most of their top talent is locked up with some form of no-trade or no-move clause.
That goes for veterans, including right winger Timo Meier, who had a disappointing season that included 26 goals and 53 points in 80 games, far from his career bests of 35 goals and 76 points. That also includes veteran left winger Ondrej Palat, who posted only 13 assists and 28 points in 77 games, well behind his career highs of 47 assists and 63 points in 75 games.
That’s not to say the Devils will convince Meier and Palat to waive their no-movement clauses and trade them. But the Devils need players to excel around Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. So Fitzgerald will have to do something that shakes up a team that wasn’t dangerous when the games truly mattered.
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The Devils have eight pending UFAs, including goalie Jake Allen, defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forwards Curtis Lazar, Daniel Sprong and Tomas Tatar.
But even if New Jersey chooses to let all of them walk away, you’d think, judging by Fitzgerald’s strong comments, there has to be more change than that.
It wasn’t all that long ago that the Devils were one of the sexy picks to go far in the playoffs. While the hockey gods hurt their ability to go far this season due to the injuries to key players, the odor of large-scale letdown is currently enveloping New Jersey, which should lead to notable changes in the Devils’ lineup.
The Metropolitan Division will be more competitive next season, with the Washington Capitals and Hurricanes at the top, the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders looking for a rebound year, and the Columbus Blue Jackets and Philadelphia Flyers aiming to improve with an up-and-coming roster. That means the Devils will be tasked with being better, if not to make the playoffs, then surely, to try and secure home-ice advantage.
For those reasons, it will be fascinating to see how Fitzgerald takes a blender to his roster.
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