Colorado Rockies 1976

Kahkonen was quite good in his small sample here, but that's all it was...a small sample. Jake's save% as a Devil fell all the way down to .900 after last night (all his Devils numbers took a beating after that hot start), but let's face it, not many goalies would've flourished over a full season with the 2023-24 Devils. This team was absolutely atrocious in its own end, almost all season. Yeah, like MD2020 said, MacDermid will be back, and will probably dress in games where goonish goofuses like Rempe are playing. Better than that Rempe running amok taking out god knows who. I don't really want the others back, but I swear if Smith somehow returns...that just can't fvcking happen. I'd have to wonder what the hell Fitz watched all year long to think that's a good decision. Yeah re: the AHLers, I suspect all will be back. Maybe one of Daws or Schmid is gone, if Malek or Brennan is worked into the AHL. Poulter's also in the mix.

Even more irritating at the time was being nowhere to be found. Fans AND media alike were wondering where the hell he even was.

I'm sure the Canadiens are taking this exact same stance if this guy didn't just put up 14 G and 33 A in 70 GP as a 20-year-old (just turned 21 yesterday) in his first AHL season. These teams should just admit it...when a guy who did some really sh!tty things can potentially help your team win and has talent, you'll bend over backwards to try to find some positive spin with regards to how much "better" of a person he really is now. That's all this is. The Canadiens think he can potentially make them a better team on the ice. If that wasn't the case, there's no "Well he knows he made a big mistake but..." from the Canadiens.

The core is on the clock, really (here's their ages for next season...posted it elsewhere previously): Jack Hughes: 23 (last 3 seasons: 189 GP, 229 Pts) Nico Hischier: 25/26 (last 3 seasons: 222 GP, 207 Pts) Jesper Bratt: 26 (last 3 seasons: 240 GP, 229 Pts) Timo Meier: 28 (last 3 seasons: 224 GP, 194 Pts) Dougie Hamilton: 31 (last 3 seasons: 164 GP, 120 Pts) Luke Hughes: 21 Simon Nemec: 20/21 Luke and Simon obviously haven't reached their primes yet, but the rest are there. FWIW, Dawson will be 23, and Marino and Siegs will be 27. Speaking of Dawson, he wound up with just 7 points over his last 30 GP...Devils gotta figure out what the hell happened with him. It's great that he played in every game for the third straight year but goddamn I barely noticed him way too much of the time. Still a lot of youth, but from now, each season needs to be approached with real urgency. The one thing that I take some solace in...as much as it sucks to miss the playoffs yet again (obvious been a LOT of that since 2012), I can't really make a remotely compelling case that this year's team was going deep, let alone winning in the first round...especially with Jack not being 100% and nonexistent coaching, and a lot of guys not playing up to last year's levels. So I guess take the Top 10 pick and go into next season thinking, in Fitz's own words: "The window starts NOW. Playoffs or bust!"

Yeah, none of them instill fear, can't argue that.

In the NHL it kinda does. Upsets aren't that uncommon...hell, Boston was taken down by the Panthers...yeah, that team turned out to be plenty damned good, but Boston put up a beastly record in 2022-23.

The bolded is where I think you can REALLY get on him. Even before personnel moves, I would've at least liked to have seen him try a different coach. Dougie being on LTIR freed up enough money that I think Fitz could've brought someone decent in that was on an expiring deal (as to not see his cap buggered up the following season). Of course it would have been nice to see Miller and others not get scratched on occasion so fvcking SMITH could play. If there was a move to help the Devils this year and beyond, I would've been up for such a move. But I agree in that I wasn't looking for any "All In" moves, based on everything else (the injuries, etc). Was looking more for this season not to be so easily allowed to fall apart.

What kinda sucks is that it looks like whatever they needed to learn from having lost to the Devils in the first round last season, they seem to have learned it. Hopefully the playoffs turn out to be a different beast yet again, and another year ticks off their window without a championship. And what REALLY sucks is that Lafreniere appears to have turned the damned corner. He finished this season with 18 points over his final 17 games, and 26 points over his final 28. And unfortunately this time it's not mostly due to great puck luck, which is what led to most of his prior "surges" (none as pronounced as this most recent one of course). His shooting% is up there (18.2%) but not outrageous, and he's been putting up more SOG. Hopefully he doesn't get too much better than he is right now.

That's not happening and you know it. He's going to get at least one more coaching hire and an offseason to course-correct. If this team struggles next season and he's not finding ways to turn things around, his seat will get very warm. Said it before but this season became his mulligan. He'll need to have the Devils consistently making the playoffs for a while before he gets another one. Agree. At least I know once Green is out, the process is underway.

Short answer: he probably genuinely felt like the answer was in the room, especially with that 14-6-2 run that helped to solidify the Devils in the standings at the time. And obviously not easy to go to ownership and say “Remember the guy who I backed and signed to an extension? Well I fvcked up, you mind eating some money on this one?” Where of course this “insanely patient/hopeful to a destructive fault” approach backfired the most is that now the crosshairs are firmly on Fitz himself. Last year’s GM darling is this year’s whipping boy, and his regular season is going to continue to be picked apart by just about EVERYONE. And not so much for the moves that he made, as much for the ones that he didn’t. If he had made a real coaching change earlier and not gotten results, he gets much more of a pass due to at least having done what everyone would’ve thought made complete sense.

There's guys out there for sure. I have no idea how Fitz's HC depth chart looks, but this can't be an offseason of pivots and Plan B and Cs. If it turns out that he doesn't want Berube and never did, I wouldn't get it, but OK...but who DO you want Fitz? Assuming that guy's available right this minute, START THE fvckING CONVERSATION.

Yeah I think if he had just TRIED to do something (starting with a coaching change, from OUTSIDE the organization, while the season was still alive), he'd be taking a lot less heat from the fans.

Ok Fitz…one team has already moved on from its head coach. I’m sure their search for a new one will begin in earnest. Please don’t waste time with any “maaaaaaaybe Green” nonsense. Devils need a new coach too. Green’s not your man, and everyone from the fanbase to the media can see it. Start the picking process while the pickins are good.

Hope we see a tweet like this about Groan sooner than later.

For now I’m just happy that this season didn’t end before it ever had a chance to begin. You fall to 10 games below .500 early and it’s plenty hard to come back from that…that felt like a real possibility at 0-5. The Mets are only 2.5 games out of first and only a game back in the wild card. Crazy early but nice to not be where a team like the Marlins are. I’m not sold on the Mets, but at least they’re not dead in April.