It’s nearly the ides of March and despite Devils’ fans’ hopes and dreams let’s face it, our
beloved NJ Devils are slipping further out of the playoff picture. What was a season of unlimited
potential has gone off the rails due to a plethora of reasons. Injuries. Goaltending. Defense.
Coaching. You name it, the list goes on.
It may be hard to believe that within this season of let’s call it, disarray, losing to the New York
Rangers for the third time this season has the potential to do more good for this team than
anything else has this season.
That’s right Sheila, this is exactly the kind of adversity this team can use to make them, well... a
better team. Team as in focused with a common purpose, team as in playing for each other,
team as in more than the sum of its parts. Due to a slew of reasons familiar to fans this year the
2023-24 Devils have struggled to be that kind of team.
This opportunity may have been delivered to us by none other than dirtiest of the dirty, Matt
Rempe. I won’t go into detail recounting the clearly dirty and intentional elbow he threw on
Jonas Siegenthaler last Monday night or the shameful job the refs did allowing him to get off the ice
unscathed or the fact that he turned down answering the bell for his dirty hit on Nate Bastian
from their previous matchup when MacDermid challenged him earlier in the first period. Clearly
he’s a coward and clearly he’s there to injure the Devils.
But as a team what you don’t control is what your opponent chooses to do, what you do control
is your response. I left last night’s game thinking what a missed opportunity that was but all
hope is not lost, April 3rd the Devils will be back in MSG and they should be out for blood. I’m
talking Samuel L. Ezekiel 25:17 level vengeance.
Sure a win would be nice, but what is even more important is the kind of team building, singular
focus, and purpose they’ve missed all year. It’s no secret to Devils’ fans - especially so to older
fans that remember their cup winning era - that the New Jersey Devils of the last few years,
despite the amazing skill they have on their bench, have lacked grit. It seems Fitzgerald has
acknowledged as much in his acquisition of power forwards like Timo Meier and, of late,
enforcer Kurtis MacDermid. I know many Devils fans - particularly younger fans - who have
explained away the Devil’s lack of grit with expressions, like “the game has changed” and “but
we’re a speed and skill team”.
But it’s high time we face facts, what we really want is a playoff team, a Stanley Cup contender.
Still mathematically possible, we could end up playing the rags in a 1 vs 8 situation. How do
you expect a seven game series to go if the Devils are going to be the ones taking all the
injuries to our skill players? How do you disincentivize a team for taking out your guys with dirty
hits? The answer is you make them pay the same price. And yes we’re not talking about a team
of goons, but we’re talking about a team that plays for each other and will give as good or better
than it gets.
So April 3rd it’s time to get medieval on their asses.
The Devils should target the Ranger’s skilled players and take them out, by hit preferably clean
but if an eye for an eye is what it takes then that’s what it takes. Stand up for themselves and
fight at every opportunity. Even a bench clearing brawl is not out of the question if that’s what it
takes. Show some heart, show some pride and develop a culture of accountability that extends
from each player on our time and let our opponents know we’re keeping score in every sense of
the expression.
Grit is more than having an enforcer and a couple of power forwards, it’s commitment from the
entire team to play with passion, intensity, and when required, vengeance. The theme for the
rest of the season, a theme that will carry through into next year. This year too many times
we’ve seen that they’ve lost that edge present last year that’s needed in comeback situations all
year, they need a little Dylan Thomas in their locker room.
Do not go gentle into that goodnight.
Now Thornton what’s that poem mean to you?
It means, it means... we don’t take shit from nobody!
