Among the issues the Devils could work on is making risky plays rather than safe one. Is this more of a coaching concern, or a personnel concern?
While the 2025 calendar year hasn’t gotten off to as strong of a start as we had hoped, the 2024-25 season overall for he New Jersey Devils continues to be a success. Sitting second in the Metropolitan Division, the club also owns the second highest points percentage in the conference at the time of writing. They’re also 10th in scoring while allowing the fifth fewest goals in the league; not bad for a team that is currently tied for most games played at this point as well. The Devils may not be a powerhouse, but overall the season is looking good.
There are, as always, things that could be improved upon. Right now, one of them that stands out to me, is some of the unnecessary risks the Devils are taking. And that, in my opinion, is something the coaching staff needs to work out.
The NHL in some ways is a risk versus reward game. Make a pass through traffic to an open player? Could result in a highlight reel goal. Have that same pass get cut off? Odd man rush going the other way, and critique raining down upon the passing player rather than praise. Hold a puck and dance around a defender? Those players earn reputations for their deking skill. Hold on to it too long? Similar to the picked off pass, critique and vitriol.
Often, hockey players are coached to make the simple play; the number of broadcasts where viewers can hear Ken Daneyko or Bryce Salvador (or both) say to get the puck up the boards and out is too high to count. Yet we still see NHL caliber regulars who will make a pass out in front of their own net. Heck, the Devils have tried this to bad results a few times this season alone, and they can’t rely on Jacob Markstrom bailing them out each and every time it leads to a turnover.
We’ve also seen the players holding on to the “puck too long” issue, which is what led to me wanting to write about this today. Jack Hughes, in particular, is the biggest culprit; yes, I know he’s the star forward. Yes I know he’s going to make some bad plays from time to time due to how many dynamic good plays, but watching him try to hold the puck only to lose possession at the blue line in an empty net situation is getting old. Jack is far from the only player to make mistakes, but you want your stars to be your best players, and you also want them to not make the same mistake season after season. Some of this is obviously on the players; they’re human beings and like any other human, are prone to mistakes.
The coaching staff, however, is also responsible for reminding players and coaching bad habits out of them. NHL veterans should be making the strong, safe play more often than not, especially in situations where it can lead to goals against. The Devils haven’t had an egregious number of these issues (otherwise they’d probably be lower in the standings) but it’s enough of them for it to be noticeable to wanting to see them clean up their game. Sheldon Keefe and his staff have gotten positive results so far, but if the Devils want to be playing hockey well into May and possibly June, now is the time to start cleaning up some of these recurring errors.
The staff and players have done well to mesh so far. Now they need to start finding ways to make sure there’s less risk in their play in each remaining game. It could be the difference between a long postseason run and an early end of the season.
What are your thoughts on the risks the Devils take on the ice; do you think they’re worth it more often than not? Are you tired of watching similar turnovers happen from similar risky plays? Do you place more onus on the players or the staff? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!