The New Jersey Devils had a successful 2022-23 campaign which saw them finish second in the Metro division with 112 points. Coming into the 2023-2024 season, the franchise and it's fans were eager to build on the success of last year. Unfortunately, the Devils have played well below expectations this season. New Jersey is eight points out the final Wild Card position. All the losing led to General Manager Tom Fitzgerald making a major shakeup by firing of head coach Lindy Ruff and replacing him with associate coach Travis Green on an Interim basis.
It appears like Lindy Ruff's "old school" way of coaching was wearing thin with his players in New Jersey. Fans pointed out Ruff's treatment of former 7th overall pick from 2020 Alexander Holtz as being unfair at times. Holtz was on a short leash, any mistake he made was going to cost him ice time.
Ruff hasn't been able to get the same production out of his players compared to last season. Dawson Mercer, Timo Meier, Erik Haula have all seen dips in their production. We haven't even touched on the goaltending for the Devils this season which has been awful. All three of Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid and Nico Daws have save percentages under .900 and goals against averages of over 3 per game.
General Manager Tom Fitzgerald met with the media today to discuss the firing of Lindy Ruff and talk about the failed season in New Jersey. Fitzgerald is a former NHL forward who played in over 1,000 games. The Devils general manager knows what it takes to develop players. During the press conference Fitzgerald admitted to not always agreeing with Ruff's ways of coaching.
