The New Jersey Devils may be on break for the Olympics, but there are still players within the organization that are active. Sure, a few Devils are representing their countries at the Olympics, but I’m
mainly referring to prospects and AHL players in action. The team’s affiliate, the Utica Comets, may have had the week off for the All Star break, but play resumes tomorrow for the league, while Utica has to wait until Saturday for their season to resume. Sitting with a record of 13-22-5-3 and in last place in the Eastern Conference, the New Jersey Devils organization as a whole is failing.
While New Jersey has had some level of success (in that they at least made the playoffs a couple of times) over the last few seasons, Utica hasn’t been a playoff team since 2022-23, and you could argue they were already declining towards the level they are at now in that season. While the team was legitimately good in 2021-22, they still weren’t winners and their predecessor, the Binghamton Devils, was a bottom feeder more often than not as well.
Let’s face it: most of the Devils’ draft success stories are either from high first round selections or, like Arseny Gritsyuk and Jesper Bratt, are from overseas development. Yes, there’s definitely been a handful of players who have come up through the Devils’ minor league system who wound up going on to find NHL success, but even some that you could call a success are looking more like minor complementary pieces that true Top 6 Forward/Top 4 Defender talent. There’s still some hope for recent draftee and recently promoted Devil Lenni Hameenaho at least, but there still has to be a good amount of concern. The majority of the NHL club’s current roster wasn’t drafted by the Devils, and while that’s probably true for a lot of teams, the Devils aren’t being supplemented by most of their draft choices either. So what can be done to fix this?
Firing people seems to be a popular topic when discussing the Devils lately, and today will be no exception! If the Devils aren’t finding a lot of success through drafting, maybe it’s time to change the people making those decisions. Whether it’s scouts, members of management, or both, something isn’t working right now. The Devils organization isn’t finding success at either the major league or minor league level and while it could be argued that the major league club is underachieving and should be winning, it’s not the case. Certainly, there doesn’t seem to be enough of a talent influx or pipeline to keep any success sustained even if the NHL team turns things around.
The Devils might also want to invest in a coaching/management overhaul at the minor league level. I’ll be frank enough to admit I don’t follow the AHL staff closely enough to know how much turnover they’ve had in recent years, but we’re talking about a group that has been bottom of the barrel for three straight years now. Yes, there’s going to be less wins at the AHL level when the NHL team is in win now mode, but we can’t even say the Devils are in win now mode currently! What kind of message does that send to prospects? What kind of culture is that building? How much damage is being done to the development of kids who could maybe one day become legitimate contributors?
My answer for those questions is that honestly it’s hard to gauge right now because of the earlier discussed problem that the Devils just don’t seem to have players coming into Utica that could become legit players. Sure, maybe a guy like Shane LaChance eventually is full time in the NHL, but he projects as more of a low line guy, not an impact player. The Devils just have seemingly not struck on enough mid-round selections lately to fill out a competitive Utica squad, which has also led to limited reinforcements for New Jersey when necessary. Compare that to Boston and Pittsburgh, two teams that were supposed to falter and be on the outside looking in; both are in playoff spots (well above the Devils in the standings) and have two of the best AHL affiliate in terms of results.
Changes need to come for the Devils in multiple aspects of the whole organization. Sadly, it seems like it might very well take quite a few firings and new voices to get the team back on track to where it was supposed to be right now.
What’s your take on the Devils developing of players; do you think it’s time for a change in scouting? Would you rather see management and/or coaching get overhauled in Utica? Do you think this is a complete top-down problem? Or is the drafting fine and just being overly scrutinized because of how bad the Devils are this season? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!
