As absolutely horrific as this season was, I actually feel a lot more optimistic than previous seasons. With Hughes and Hischier, and to a lesser extent Bratt…it was “they’re going to be good” and they will be the core, but their production just wasn’t there yet. After their individual seasons, we can finally be confident that they are all true building blocks.
I was also really happy to see Sharangovich wasn’t just a flash in the pan his rookie season. I’ll admit, his first two months of this year had me concerned, but 30 goal seasons are clearly very attainable for him going forward.
Yeah, there's no denying that it sucked seeing how quickly they fell out of it this year, but this is the nature of a true rebuild: you go young, and it means that if some other parts don't shake out (in this case Dougie getting hurt, the goaltending turning into a grease fire, etc.) you'll likely end up with a bad record. Sucks, but that's usually how it goes when the key guys you're running out there are almost all under 25 years old.
I'm very much of the mind that this season boiled down mostly to what happened to the goalies. Not to say a healthy Blackwood/Bernier combo puts the Devils in the playoffs; 100 points was the minimum in the East this year, and that would've been asking too much. But I have little doubt that they'd at least have been closer to where the Isles ended up this year, closer to the "best of the rest" even if they weren't particularly in striking distance of the playoffs.
Kind of has to be said again: the
actual rebuild of the New Jersey Devils as an organization didn't really begin until Taylor Hall was traded away. Most of what went down before that was "retooling", in my book: an attempt to compete for a playoff spot while also trying to bring in some more young assets, combined with getting lucky in the lottery a couple of times. When they traded Hall, it was like an addict finally admitting they had a problem: Lou had spent years never letting us rebuild (with good reason, especially back in the days when there was still a fear we'd be relocated), but by 2014 it should've been clear that approach wasn't working anymore, and the organizational cupboards were pretty barren.
Well, they've now had a couple of seasons with this full rebuild underway, and you know what? They have a quality top six emerging already, along with what seems like a nice variety of options for the bottom six. There's now a growing influx of young defensemen making their way up, plus a few veterans to help ease them into the lineup without having to throw them into the deep end. For two (not even) full seasons, that's really not bad progress.
Of course, it
looks like a nightmare; the record the past two years absolutely sucks, and saying "just need to improve the goaltending and they'll be better!" is easier said than done. But the pieces are beginning to fall into place; if the goaltending can even be mediocre next season I anticipate them getting up into the 80s in points, and looking primed to take the next step.
Regardless, Fitz can't and won't be complacent this offseason, and hopefully we get more good draft news; if they can at least stay in the top five then I think they'll get one of the guys a lot of us are hoping for.
