Colorado Rockies 1976

To be fair, Babcock has had a lot more to work with through the years than Hynes has in his much shorter sample. Obviously I'm not a huge Hynes guy at this point and I'm not going to be heartbroken if he doesn't survive the season, but it's only right to point that out. Mike Keenan technically has a Cup to his name too (even if it was Messier who really held the team together). Dan Bylsma and Randy Carlyle do too. Want either one of them? Babcock's teams have gone a combined 32-42 in the playoffs over the last 10 years (winning three series). Like I said in my previous post, I'm not completely against the idea of Babcock coming aboard and I think Shero has to least look into it, but I think a lot of Devils fans think he's going to turn this around very quickly and in time will almost definitely take this team deep into the playoffs. I don't think he'll have as much of an impact as fans expect...I think the fact that he's Not-Hynes and won a Cup (almost 12 years now) has fans thinking he's as close to a sure thing as there is. That I don't see (I do think he should represent an upgrade over Hynes, but I'm not sure if he's the RIGHT one).

Since these posts are going more in depth than "FIRE HYNES! ACQUIRE BABCOCK NOW!!! NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW!!!", I'll piggyback off these. It seems like everyone's assuming that the ball is firmly in Shero's court, and that all he has to do is can Hynes, make a phone call, and just like that, Babcock is here. One problem with that is that it doesn't take into account that Babcock was fired with another three seasons left on his deal after this one...he can make a fortune just sitting around doing absolutely nothing for the next few years, if so inclined...but at the very least, it also affords him plenty of patience, in that if he does still want to coach, he doesn't necessarily have to jump right back in if he's feeling a little burned out or needs to recharge. He can wait until a situation that he considers to be ideal for him opens up. And it's not like he's had any great run of success in Toronto, given the talent that he had to work with...yes, he won a Cup back in 2008 with Detroit, but his teams have also won a grand total of 3 playoff series in his last 10 seasons (going back to his Red Wings days)...and not a single one in the last six. Though the Leafs have a seemingly endless amount of money to burn, it's also very telling that they were willing to let him going with SO much money and term left on his deal...not that the Leafs aren't immune to making rash decisions, but that's still a hell of lot of money to pay a guy to do nothing at all. They couldn't have come to that decision without thinking it through on some level, and simply concluding that as costly as firing Babcock was going to be, that they had no other choice. Anyway, not saying that I'm dead-set against the Devils hiring him...assuming Babcock wants to jump right into another HC gig, the Devils may not have to offer him a crazy term with a lot of money...Babcock's got so much money coming from Toronto that maybe he's open to the idea of finishing out this season and coaching three more, on a reasonably-priced contract. But like Neb00rs has pointed out, this is not an absolute no-brainer slamdunk kind of move. I get it, he's Not-Hynes, just like Domingue is Not-Schneider, so Babcock already is an attractive candidate right there. But let's not completely overlook the red flags that come with him...one being that his shelf-life might be shorter now than it's ever been. Should the Devils hire him through the end of 2023, it's not insane to think he might not make it to the end of that deal. There's some blowup potential with him. All this being said, if push comes to shove, I have to at least look into it if I'm Shero. I know Shero probably wants to give Hynes one last benefit of the doubt now that Schneider's out of the picture for the moment, and Vatanen's in over Tennyson. But I think you're just pumping a dry well with Hynes at this point. It really feels like it's time to move on.

I don't think the organization ever viewed Wedge or Appleby as legit #1 candidates...Wedge was basically given away for a 5th-round pick, and like mfitz said, Appleby got a brief look because a hell of a lot went wrong.

He's not THE problem, but he's A problem. Very disappointing, especially since he was expected to contribute offensively. But overall I just see a guy who would've been a perfect fit on the late 90s - early 00s Rangers...a (former) name player who's now past his prime but being paid very handsomely to be a much lesser version of himself. I understood taking the risk (especially since the price to acquire him wasn't prohibitive), but like I've said...looks like Nashville knew what they were doing.

As far as the whole "Fire Hynes" thing goes...I think we're closer to it happening than most think. I'm guessing Shero is looking at the Devils' decent record when Cory didn't start (7-4-2 heading into last night), and is saying "OK, if Cory's that big of a problem, then I'll remove him from the equation." And then there was Tennyson, who's clearly played more than he should have. Now that Vatanen is back, there's another excuse that Hynes doesn't have anymore. Of course, who knows how much of an improvement Domingue will be over Cory (hard to imagine that he won't be though, as Cory's numbers so far in 2019 were off-the-charts rotten), but I think Shero will soon reach the point where he'll say "OK, I've been very patient, I've removed a guy who was clearly a huge detriment to the team having a chance to win when he was in net, I've assembled a team that I thought should be competitive, what else am I supposed to do?" If Fitzgerald could be interpreted as the first salvo (who knows if Hynes really asked Shero if Fitz could step behind the bench) in the "Warm up Hynes' seat" offensive, then I say that Cory being demoted is the second. If you want to argue that Shero's vision of what this team can be is flawed, you can do that...but I think HE still believes in it...and if that's case, and some of Hynes' ready-made fallbacks (like Cory being awful) are being eliminated, soon Shero's not going to have much choice but to conclude that his coach isn't the guy to get the most out of this team.

You're making it sound like I think Blackwood's a sure thing. I don't. But he's young and he's already had some good moments as an NHLer. Which is already a lot more than the Ahonens and Frazees ever accomplished here. It's not Blackwood's fault that he hasn't played a "meaningful game" yet, however you define that. For now I'll watch him play and hope he develops more consistency.

It's not easy to banish a guy making $6 million this year and the next two years. He had a nice run to end last year, which could have bought him some currency. If the system was as barren as it had been in recent seasons as far as goalies are concerned, he almost definitely gets more games to try to pull himself out of this. Blackwood played well enough to put the kebosh on that. I think Dominque is strictly here to be the backup and because he's Not-Cory. This is Blackwood's gig for the foreseeable future.

At least Blackwood has shown enough in his brief time in the NHL that the Devils COULD feel comfortable enough to banish Cory for the time being. That's a start. But we'll see some rough games and some inconsistency (and obviously some good games too). I'll live with potential upside over the dead-end street that sadly was present-day Cory.

I think just about everyone not named Sterio was on board with PK, but that deal is looking pretty bad at the moment (especially since the Devils took on a lot of money, even if it's not for too too long). Really hope PK has something more than what I've seen so far. Not impressed.

Not like we're getting an answer to any of this immediately. But at least we see signs of a guy who might be a #1 someday...not a sure thing of course, but at least the Devils don't have to keep rolling with Cory out of necessity.

Every closeup of DBA gets harder to take...

Nashville must feel more right about that deal every day...oh well...

Would be nice...

It wouldn't surprise me one bit if that happened. I'm saying if you're the Devils, you garner energy from wherever you can. Somehow you're still in this game on the scoreboard. Try to feed off it.

He was that bad, and if anything, it's not crazy to think a guy like Elias (with his experience and knowledge) working with him and Gusev missing those two games had a subtle calming effect and is allowing Goose to see the game with a steadier eye.

Whatever the breakdown is, this is when you look at the scoreboard and say "Somehow we're still in this, maybe we've weathered their best, let's just see if we can get something done dammit!"

Notice that he's played better since he was scratched and worked with? Could be that this was the right move and benefitted both the player and the team. And yeah I like Coleman a lot. Guy never stops trying.

They've managed to hang around in this game somehow. Goddamn Mueller better not be a Devil next year.

Moreso now! COLEMAN!

Boston is one of those teams that seems to have an extra player or two on the ice at all times. Everyone just seems to be in the right place at the right time, damn near ALL the time. This is one of those opponents that's simply a bad matchup. If they pick up a couple more wins should they lose tonight, I'll live with it.

Wow or oh boy. Either suffices.

One guy is a legit NHLer who’s averaged 30 G per 82 GP as a Devil. The other guy doesn’t have even 30 G in his NHL (when he’s not in the AHL) career. I know you hate Palms and you jump on him for crimes real and imaginary, but c’mon man.

Man you really do hate that guy.

Hynes already in full D.B.A. mode...because of course he is. Bruins are just better at hockey. Argh.

And that was part of the problem...for all of the fun highlight saves you got to see back then from the "pure reflex" guys like Terreri, you also had wrong guesses that led to a lot of goalies looking flat-out foolish...a lot of them would commit hard and simply couldn't recover. Playing the percentages isn't as much fun to watch, but you can understand why that became the norm (though I could still do without the bloated equipment of the last several years).