New Jersey Devils Head Coach Calls Out Two Young Top-Five Picks After Terrible Performance
The New Jersey Devils were poor in their return to regular season action, and Head Coach Sheldon Keefe wasn't shy about calling out two young players.
For the most part, this has been a highly promising season for the New Jersey Devils, but in their return to regular season action on Saturday, they fell 4-2 to the highly talented Dallas Stars.
That gives New Jersey eight losses in their last 13 overall games, with the team falling since Jacob Markstrom went down with injury, and things may be getting worse after their latest defeat.
The biggest positive of this team is their youth performing incredibly well throughout the year, but when Head Coach Sheldon Keefe was asked about the play of Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes after the game, he had a very simple and pointed response.
That was Keefe's response to being asked about the two playing as a pairing on the Devils blue line, so while they have some immense positives as players overall, as a pairing, it simply doesn't make sense moving forward.
The top four of the Devils is one of the most balanced in the entire NHL, but with a third pairing made up of two guys with a lack of experience at the top level, they're now in a tough spot, as they want both in the league but likely can't replace anyone in the top four to make room for them.
Ultimately, the future is incredibly bright for both Nemec and Hughes individually, with the team spending top-five draft picks on both in recent years, but now, they've got some big decisions to make as they look to turn recent momentum and make a splash in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Alexander Ovechkin | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Dylan Strome | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Aliaksei Protas | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Jakob Chychrun | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tom Wilson | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| John Carlson | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Will Cuylle | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Connor McMichael | 1 | - | 1 | |
| J.T. Miller | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jeff Skinner | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Viktor Arvidsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Pierre-Luc Dubois | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Adam Fox | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cody Glass | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Danton Heinen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Zach Hyman | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor McDavid | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 57 | 40 | 14 | 3 | 83 | |
Capitals | 56 | 37 | 11 | 8 | 82 | |
Stars | 56 | 36 | 18 | 2 | 74 | |
Golden Knights | 57 | 34 | 17 | 6 | 74 | |
Oilers | 56 | 34 | 18 | 4 | 72 | |
Wild | 57 | 34 | 19 | 4 | 72 | |
Panthers | 58 | 34 | 21 | 3 | 71 | |
Maple Leafs | 56 | 34 | 20 | 2 | 70 | |
Hurricanes | 57 | 33 | 20 | 4 | 70 | |
Avalanche | 58 | 33 | 23 | 2 | 68 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||