Hope for the New Jersey Devils 20-16-17 season is quickly eroding away with each successive loss. Much of this can be traced back to five New Jersey Devils tactical issues contributing to the team’s lack of success in the past few weeks. Both General Manager Ray Shero and Head Coach John Hynes need to get these deficiencies patched up as quickly as possible.
Defensive Zone Exits
This is the first of several New Jersey Devils tactical issues. Watching the Devils try to exit their zone after they gain possession is painful. Defensemen frequently seem tentative in making the first pass. Once a pass is made, it often is not particularly crisp. When they are on target, it is not uncommon for the intended target to lack the hand-eye skill to properly accept the pass. And the ability of certain forwards to win battles on the half board to get pucks out is, to be frank, not always of NHL quality. They need to compete harder and win those 50-50 pucks. The end result are gads of defensive zone turnovers and entire shifts with the team penned back in the defensive zone.
And, even when the Devils do get the puck out of the zone with a few passes, often they do so without generating any speed through the neutral zone. Or the zone exit occurs at the end of a long shift when the players on the ice are out of gas and need a change. Consequently, red line dump-ins conceding possession, rather than speedy forwards maintaining control of the puck gaining the offensive zone with some time and space, are all the rage on the Devils.
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All in all, exiting their own zone is clearly one of the most serious weaknesses of the Devils at this point of the campaign.
East and West
As a club with a propensity to be pinned in their own zone for a minute or two at a time, turnovers anywhere near the vicinity of the neutral zone are a real killer. The Devils have an exceptionally odd affinity for cross-ice passes in the neutral zone or at the top of the offensive zone.
These type of passes can certainly be pretty and imaginative, but when they go astray, play quickly shifts in the wrong direction. And then, too often, off we go for another 60 seconds or so watching the Devils vigorously defend in their zone.
This can’t happen anywhere near as often as it does. New Jersey needs to implement a more direct, North and South style of play to tilt the ice more towards the opposition goal and avoid turnovers which define where the game is being contested. One can’t win games spending 60-70% of the game in their own zone. The Devils must get more pucks deep and go a good job both cycling and on the forecheck to relieve some of the extensive pressure placed on the defensive corps during the course of the typical Devils game.
Odd Man Rushes
What a huge problem. It was amazing how many 2-on-1 opportunities the Devils permitted on the power play against the Rangers. Had to be a minimum of four during the first two penalties. And it’s not a short-term consideration, it has been a constant theme all year long. Defenseman making poor judgement calls when pinching or haphazardly joining the attack at the wrong time is ripping apart the heart of the Devils’ defense. Every game we see a minimum of 2-3 odd man rushes.
And it does not help when the man back defending on an odd-man rush lacks a basic understanding of his responsibility in that situation. Jon Merrill’s play as the man back on the first Nashville goal at the Rock was abysmal. He’s supposed to take the pass and let Cory handle the shooter. Merrill looked like a statue as he allowed a pass to slide over to James Neal for the goal. I give him credit for being back, but beyond that, it was truly horrific defending.
Fighting The Puck
Everyone can see Cory Schneider is not himself this year. While many of the goals are beyond his control, it also is fair to say Cory is giving up big, juicy rebounds on shots he saves with alacrity. In the past, one of the strengths of his game was that he swallowed up the majority of the routine shots he faced. But this year, it is as though his pads are made of concrete and he’s knocking out a super ball. I don’t consider Schneider to be the root of all evil as it pertains to the Devils’ poor play in December, but he’s certainly not stealing the club any games thus far in the 2016-17 season.
Goal Front Activity
Last but not least, the play immediately in front of the Devils cage is perhaps the biggest problem of all. One can not even begin to count the number of “dirty” goals conceded via rebounds, screens or deflections as clubs get the puck to the net with one or two forwards camped in front of Schneider. He is constantly harassed and unsighted. This is totally unacceptable in today’s NHL. It simply must be dealt with.
Personally, while I like the Devils’ coach, I am totally perplexed why John Hynes is so willing to shuttle forwards in and out of the lineup and juggle line combinations while leaving the defensive group as essentially a static group. They are not clearing out the area in front of the net, it is an obvious issue, but we’ve seen the same seven guys in there night after night after night, making the same errors of commission and omission (in the case of not moving forwards out of the slot).
At some point, one would hope, The Devils need to begin thinking about giving someone from Albany a shot to do this job the way it needs to be done. Maybe there is another Miles Wood down there in the ranks. There is not a lot to lose, it is hard to imagine too much regression from what was seeing in the past two weeks from the likes of Kyle Quincey or Jon Merrill.
Good News
I guess the good news is that these New Jersey Devils tactical issues are correctable. Zone exits can be practiced, styles of play can be addressed and blueliners can be coached to be more conservative/physical or face potential replacement. I truly hope we see some improvement soon. The past couple of weeks have been tough to take.
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