So the 2023/2024 New Jersey Devils season has officially ended with a whimper after another futile effort in game 82 against the Islanders. There will be no game 83. I originally had the idea to do this article before the start of the season. I planned on this article being a Pie Chart of Praise as the Devils head into the playoffs for consecutive seasons since 2009/2010. Unfortunately that was not to be, as the Devils season is over before any post season game is played. When a talent laden team coming off of a franchise record season fails as spectacularly as the Devils did this season there is a lot of blame to go around. This is the UnclePuckers 1st annual Pie Chart of Blame.

5% Youth / Immaturity - This is tied as the smallest slice of pie given out to the Devils. Devil management, along with a large part of the fan base, was OK with going into this season with a revamped “D”-corp. Luke Hughes showed flashes of greatness in his limited play last season and Kevin Bahl grew leaps and bounds from the start of last year to the end. Losing veteran stallwards like Ryan Graves and Damon Severson last summer was not something we thought would bite us in the ass the way it did. Hamilton, Seigenthaler and Marino would be able to show the young Hughes the way. This was plan A. There was no plan B.  Dougie Hamilton was felled by injury after 20 games. Jonas Seigenthaler saw himself in and out of the lineup due to injury, and when he and John Marino were in the lineup their play was inconsistent and riddled with mistakes. This led to the Devils calling up another 19 year old in Simon Nemec. Nemec was not supposed to be an everyday player this year, if at all. He has grown a lot and Devil fans should be excited for what the future holds for both Hughes and Nemec. These two guys were asked to do more than any other defensemen of the team but, when you have two rookie 20 year olds playing over 20 minutes a night on a team that was supposed to contend for a championship it usually does not end well.

5% Off Ice Issues - Another small slice goes to off- ice issues. This is mainly the loss and subsequent arrest of both Michael McLeod and Cal Foote. This was an ugly disturbing situation that saw the Devils roster lose 2 every day starters but, that is the easy part to overcome. What is more difficult to overcome is the crimes these two are accused of committing. The Devils found out a guy that has been with the team for six years, a guy they went to battle with each night and a guy they called a friend was being accused of a heinous crime. The black cloud was hanging over the team all year and when the hammer finally came down it had to affect and possibly even divide the dressing room. To a much lesser extent, one of the guys you lost was boasting a 65% face off success rate.

10% Injuries - A slightly larger slice of pie goes to injury. All 32 teams in the NHL have to deal with them. But, not many teams had to deal with the injury bug as much as NJ. The Devils finished the year ranked 4th in man games lost with 279. More than just losing players to injury it’s who the Devils lost, and the amount of time some guys were out. Even if you have a deep lineup any team would struggle when losing J.Hughes for 20 games, D.Hamilton for 62, C.Lazar for 11, Tomas Nosek - 46 games, N. Hischier- 11 games, O. Palat - 10 games, N.Bastian - 28 games and T. Meier for 13 games. And that's just the most relevant long term injury. This led to guys being placed in spots they didn’t belong in and younger guys trying to do too much. It took over half a season for NJ to get somewhat healthy and by then the damage was done and the Devils never regained their form.

25% Goaltending - The Devils signed Vitek Vanecek in the summer of 2022 to be the #1 goalie in NJ. It was a move that paid off. Vanacek played in 52 games last season, winning 33 of them and posting a stellar 2.45 GAA & .911 sv%. Along with Akira Schmid, management of the Devils felt that goaltending was not a team need going into this season. They were wrong. This year saw major regression from both Vanacek and Schmid. This allowed Devil prospect Nico Daws to get a chance to play but it was obvious early on that these guys were not going to be the answer.This year Vanecek appeared in 32 games with 29 of them starts. His GAA was 3.18 with a .890 sv%. Akira Schmid played in 19 games with 15 starts, a GAA of 3.15 and an .895 sv%. Nico Daws saw action in 21 games with 20 starts, a 3.15 GAA partnered with sv% of .894. All three were below NHL league average of 2.91 GAA and .903 sv%. The late acquisitions of Jake Allen and Kappo Kahkonen proved to be too little too late to secure up the net.

25% Coaching - Acquiring a new coach to take over this team might be the most important hire Tom Fitzgerald has ever had to make. Lindy Ruff was the man at the helm of this team from the 2020-2021 season. Although some fans wanted to see the Devils go in a different direction behind the bench this season it was not to be. Ruff received an extension last summer and early this year it was becoming obvious that he had no answers for questions the Devils had. A coach's job does not just end with X’s & O’s. It is their responsibility to get the team prepared to play each and every night. To put his or her players in the best possible situations to succeed. When your line-up is depleted with injury, having a sound system that guys can be plugged into easily was not his philosophy. His team defense was either too complicated for young guys to master or it was just non-existent. His mishandling of Timo Meier is well documented but, when your blue chip trade acquisition is playing on the bottom six and only seeing power play time on the 2nd unit eyebrows get raised. He seemingly had no good plan to help develop Alex Holtz mixed with the inconsistent line combinations and lack of any type of team structure led to him being released with 22 games left in the season. To win a championship in any sport a team must be comfortable with being uncomfortable. This Devils team played uninspired hockey this year. They were unable to overcome any set-back that reared its head and in turn is what caused Lindy Ruff to lose the locker room and subsequently led to his unemployment.

30% Management - This is the biggest slice of pie. The reason for this is that if management acted sooner and addressed these issues with a sense of urgency the Devils fortunes may have ended differently. “In Fitzgerald We Trust” That was the mantra last summer. Fitzgerald pulled a few strings last year and it seemed as if he had the midas touch when building this team. He traded for Timo Meier and signed both he and Bratt to long term deals. The world was singing Fitzgeralds praises and everything was coming up Devils. This past off-season Devil nation was split on the goaltending duo of Schmid and Vanecek. Enter Connor Hellebuyck. The top flight goaltender from Winnipeg was rumored to be coming to Jersey. This would have been a franchise altering move that would have solidified the position for the foreseeable future. Fitzgerald did not pull the trigger but instead ran it back with last year's duo. When the season got underway it wasn't long until we realized last year's tandem would not be the answer. Fitzgerald was rumored to be in trade talks with the Calgary Flames for their star net minder Jacon Markstrom. The deal appeared to be complete until we found out that it wasn't. Fitzgerald apparently wanted the Flames to retain some of Markstroms salary, a request that Calgary was not willing to make. Throughout the year the Devils were also rumored to be kicking the tires on Jusse Soros out of Nashville. Rumors are all it ended up being. With the injuries and lack of experience on the blue line this year a defenseman was also a glaring need for NJ. Again, rumors were rampant. Chris Tanev and Noah Hannifin are just two players the Devils were interested in. Both men were traded, just not to NJ. The Devils were always the bridesmaid but never the bride this year. Then, on trade deadline day he made moves to bring in J. Allen & K. Kahkonen. This was an upgrade for NJ but once again it was just too little too late. The biggest indictment I can give to Tom Fitzgerald is how his lack of improving the on-ice product affected the team. When a team has such high expectations like the Devils did this year but find themselves struggling to gain momentum and consistency it is the management's job to do whatever they can to make the team better. Fitzgerald allowed over 9 million dollars in available long term IR money to disappear, coupled with his failure to obtain any kind of upgrades for this team sent a clear message to the men in the dressing room that he did not believe in them.

In a year filled with would of, could of, should of and what if’s, the Devils players and management have the most important off-season in franchise history on the horizon. A true #1 goalie, a solid above average defensemen and a stud head coach are the biggest needs but it isn't all of them. If the Devils begin the 24-25 campaign without addressing these problems it will most likely be the last off-season Tom Fitzgerals gets to manage the New Jersey Devils. If he gets it right then next year should look a lot more like 22-23. The core of this team is talented. They are a blast to watch and deserve to get their chance to compete for the Stanley Cup. Let's hope this is the last regular season “Pie Chart of Blame” for the next 10 years.