How long before Shero feels the pressure? Fire Shero?

[Billdo]

Letting this Hynes stuff go this long and failing to address the goaltending are the only things I'd give Shero a demerit for. Everything else so far has been exactly what a lot of us have wanted aside from the Grabner deal which at the time made sense. They shouldn't have banked on Schneider rebounding although I'm not sure what else they could've done aside from bringing in a vet for Bing.

 

[McDuffz88]

As much as I love Shero he needs to start getting blame. Like I said in my previous post yes he has done a good job but it appears he hasn't learned his lesson. This team right now has no identity at all. If anything our identity is to give fans hope we're gonna win only to lose. I don't want Shero fired not yet, I give him until off season but if don't find a new coach then Shero must go that is a fact. The only question is at this point is he keeping hynes around just because there is no one around? Or because he has blind loyalty? If it's blind loyalty then Shero must go with Hynes.

 

[217 Forever]

Letting this Hynes stuff go this long and failing to address the goaltending are the only things I'd give Shero a demerit for. Everything else so far has been exactly what a lot of us have wanted aside from the Grabner deal which at the time made sense. They shouldn't have banked on Schneider rebounding although I'm not sure what else they could've done aside from bringing in a vet for Bing.

I'd argue that coaching and goaltending are the two most important aspects of a hockey team...

 

[Bleedred]

Letting this Hynes stuff go this long and failing to address the goaltending are the only things I'd give Shero a demerit for. Everything else so far has been exactly what a lot of us have wanted aside from the Grabner deal which at the time made sense. They shouldn't have banked on Schneider rebounding although I'm not sure what else they could've done aside from bringing in a vet for Bing.

Should have either bought him out or probably more realistically, got another (more proven) goalie for him to back up.

Blackwood would have had to pay the price by starting the year in the AHL, but with how often Cory gets injured, he probably would have been called up at some point before too long. Either that or Cory being so bad would have caused the team to banish him to the press box and they would have had Blackwood up then. And that might actually happen anyway, only it will be frickin Louis Domingue’s call up

 

[Ol Dirty Bstrd]

If he stubbornly sticks with Hynes and lets Hall walk for nothing then his seat will get hot. The pressure will be on regardless. Rebuild 1 with Hall as a centerpiece looks to be a failure, that means rebuild two has go smoothly and quickly.

If he lets Hall leave for nothing he should be fired on the spot

 

[Hypernova]

As much as I love Shero he needs to start getting blame. Like I said in my previous post yes he has done a good job but it appears he hasn't learned his lesson. This team right now has no identity at all. If anything our identity is to give fans hope we're gonna win only to lose. I don't want Shero fired not yet, I give him until off season but if don't find a new coach then Shero must go that is a fact. The only question is at this point is he keeping hynes around just because there is no one around? Or because he has blind loyalty? If it's blind loyalty then Shero must go with Hynes.

Whenever Hynes mentions playing with their identity as a key to the game, i immedialety think so we're going to get a big lead and then blow it in the third because is the only team identity i know. I honestly have no idea what that is supposed to mean.

 

[Billdo]

I'd argue that coaching and goaltending are the two most important aspects of a hockey team...

I mean I literally said that those are the things I'd view negatively with regard to Shero...

 

[RandoDoomer]

If Shero isn't yet held to task after 4.5 years, given the train wreck Lou left him, how many years do we give him until we start to question his master plan? 7 years? 8 years? If he honestly is aiming at not completing this rebuild for another few years, why bring in an aging Subban now? He'll be washed up before the "good" window opens.

I did like what he did this offseason, which makes it all the more bewildering what's actually happening on the ice. I've been watching hockey for almost 30 years, and I find myself, during the games, asking "Why is that playing in that position?" and "What is that guy even doing right now?" I can't really wrap my head around what I'm seeing the players do on the ice. So, for me, I'd like to see Hynes fired now, and at least an interim coach brought in just to stabilize this mess. While I think the roster has issues, I would like to see what this current group can do with an actual, logical, system of playing hockey.

 

[McDuffz88]

I did like what he did this offseason, which makes it all the more bewildering what's actually happening on the ice. I've been watching hockey for almost 30 years, and I find myself, during the games, asking "Why is that playing in that position?" and "What is that guy even doing right now?" I can't really wrap my head around what I'm seeing the players do on the ice. So, for me, I'd like to see Hynes fired now, and at least an interim coach brought in just to stabilize this mess. While I think the roster has issues, I would like to see what this current group can do with an actual, logical, system of playing hockey.

Exactly my idea. Get a new coach now it doesn't matter who, just get a new set of eyes & ideas out there & let's see how this team looks under someone else. Then when offseason comes you make a go at the real coach you want. But I would like to evaluate what this team has to offer with someone else. Every player on this team (that played under a different coach) has looked so much better compared to hynes. I don't think it's a coincidence all these players are having down years at once. It's obvious coaching is holding them back & they don't trust the plan. Coaching is just as important as the roster you have. Look no further then the MacLean season. We went from worst team in the league to the best literally over night by just replacing our coach.

 

[NjDevsRR]

This is the first season he starts to take on any blame. The posters who ragged on him in the past few years are nuts.

Priorities for Shero:

Re-sign or trade Hall
Find an adequate NHL coach
Improve goaltending
Improve Defense

 

[guitarguyvic]

This is the first season he starts to take on any blame. The posters who ragged on him in the past few years are nuts.

Or perhaps we spotted the red flags that everyone else conveniently overlooked because they were so bought into the “anyone other than Lou will be great” mentality.

 

[My3Sons]

I think Shero had one priority for this season - extend Hall. He tried hedging his bets with short term upgrades to try to convince Hall that the owners would spend and the team would be better. He, like some of us including me, got fooled by Cory's end of last season and thought last season's debacle was mostly due to injuries and bad goaltending that would be rectified by Cory's return to health and MBW picking up where he left off last year. The coaching has been terrible (which is odd to me given that this staff made the playoffs with a somewhat less talented team), the goaltending has been uneven and mostly bad, and the imports haven't made a significant difference for the team.

Beyond signing Hall I'm not sure what Shero's expectations were for this year and if Hall won't sign I'm not sure that Shero has a plan B. Hopefully the Hall situation is settled sooner rather than later and they can move on. Part of me still thinks that Shero is keeping Hynes as some sort of lure for Hall even though it seems to me that is pointless.

On balance I like Shero and want to give him the benefit of the doubt but it's weird to me he went from draft and develop to trade and compete in one offseason after the team stunk last year. I'd like to know more about his plan for the team beyond extending Hall.

 

[NjDevsRR]

Or perhaps we spotted the red flags that everyone else conveniently overlooked because they were so bought into the “anyone other than Lou will be great” mentality.

Nope. We are light years ahead of where we were in 2015. Lets see if Ray finishes the job, if not then it will be time to move on.

 

[RandoDoomer]

Nope. We are light years ahead of where we were in 2015. Lets see if Ray finishes the job, if not then it will be time to move on.

Might be true, but we're on pace for the fewest wins in the Shero era. I'm not even confident we'll get to 25 wins this year. Kinda weird to say 5 years into a rebuild. Kinda feels like bottoming out to me.

"Trust the process."

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

I have no idea why some are questioning the Subban trade when we gave up peanuts to acquire our best dman on the roster today.

Ray is elite when it comes to trades, he’s hired a very solid scouting staff but Hynes has got to go and if I have a knock to throw Shero’s way it’s his lack of knowledge on how to build a solid blue line. He’s had that issue in Pittsburgh and he’s not doing a great job since joining the Devils.

I think Shero is itching to pull the trigger on Hynes but who’s out there to replace him? I’ve brought up the name of Guy Boucher several times and if I was Shero, I’d hire him during the offseason. He’s a teacher, works wonders with youngsters and knows how to setup a defensive system way better then Hynes can ever dream of.

 

[Triumph]

I have no idea why some are questioning the Subban trade when we gave up peanuts to acquire our best dman on the roster today.

Ray is elite when it comes to trades, he’s hired a very solid scouting staff but Hynes has got to go and if I have a knock to throw Shero’s way it’s his lack of knowledge on how to build a solid blue line. He’s had that issue in Pittsburgh and he’s not doing a great job since joining the Devils.

I think Shero is itching to pull the trigger on Hynes but who’s out there to replace him? I’ve brought up the name of Guy Boucher several times and if I was Shero, I’d hire him during the offseason. He’s a teacher, works wonders with youngsters and knows how to setup a defensive system way better then Hynes can ever dream of.

Guy Boucher's Ottawa Senators gave up 2931 shots last season, last in the league. They gave up almost 300 goals. Now it's been speculated that this was a directive from the general manager to make the team more offensive-minded, given that so many of their players were ultimately traded, it was thought that making things more uptempo might fetch better returns for their forward stars, but I'd hesitate to hire someone like Boucher.

 

[Spoiled Bratt]

Guy Boucher's Ottawa Senators gave up 2931 shots last season, last in the league. They gave up almost 300 goals. Now it's been speculated that this was a directive from the general manager to make the team more offensive-minded, given that so many of their players were ultimately traded, it was thought that making things more uptempo might fetch better returns for their forward stars, but I'd hesitate to hire someone like Boucher.

Who else is out there that would make any sense? I want no part of Hitchcock or any other dinosaur that will screw up our youngsters in favour of declining veterans.

I don’t think we can base Boucher’s record on a depleted roster that was going absolutely nowhere.

 

[guitarguyvic]

Nope. We are light years ahead of where we were in 2015. Lets see if Ray finishes the job, if not then it will be time to move on.

We are “light years” ahead of where we were 5 years when we are on pace the have fewer wins than that season? There’s been zero positive progression of the on ice product in those five years, minus one outlier season when the league MVP and a hot goalie at the end of the season carried the team to the playoffs. In fact each year the on ice product gets worse.

If you want to say the POTENTIAL of our prospects is better, I’ll give you that. But that’s not some amazing accomplishment given that the previous regime had the worst prospect pool in the league. Generally I don’t see a lot of high end talent coming up the ranks besides the two first overalls that this GM lottery ball stumbled into.

 

[Triumph]

Who else is out there that would make any sense? I want no part of Hitchcock or any other dinosaur that will screw up our youngsters in favour of declining veterans.

I don’t think we can base Boucher’s record on a depleted roster that was going absolutely nowhere.

They were last in the league by a significant margin. This season's Senators are at least a little better, but this team is considerably worse - Stone, Duchene, and Dzingel didn't play any games at all for this year's team, and their ice time has been replaced by Connor Brown, Vlad Namestnikov, and Anthony Duclair.

 

[Triumph]

We are “light years” ahead of where we were 5 years when we are on pace the have fewer wins than that season? There’s been zero positive progression of the on ice product in those five years, minus one outlier season when the league MVP and a hot goalie at the end of the season carried the team to the playoffs. In fact each year the on ice product gets worse.

If you want to say the POTENTIAL of our prospects is better, I’ll give you that. But that’s not some amazing accomplishment given that the previous regime had the worst prospect pool in the league. Generally I don’t see a lot of high end talent coming up the ranks besides the two first overalls that this GM lottery ball stumbled into.

The fact that you can square these two statements is staggering.

The Devils have Miles Wood and Cory Schneider from the 2013 draft. Schneider is bad now and has been below-average for the last 3 years. Miles Wood is a 3rd/4th line forward. Overall it is probably a net negative for the Devils to have these two players. Santini was also a net negative.

The Devils have John Hayden from the 2014 draft. Josh Jacobs is in the minors but he passed through waivers and is almost certainly just a body at the NHL level. Hayden is too. That's all the Devils have for a season where they finished 10th worst, and we're only 5 years out from that draft. Players from that draft are in their prime. It was not a good draft, to be fair - a lot of teams did poorly. The Devils have nothing from it.

And that's part of the problem with this team - there's almost nobody in their prime. Everyone is entering it or exiting it. That's because it's hardest to get players in their primes from other teams.

As for the prospect pool, again, by disqualifying the lottery picks as successful, you've taken out half of the first round picks made by the Devils over this time. It's hard to beat the lower rounds - teams rarely find stars there, and nobody does it consistently. But there's a lot of potential successes down there, and for them to become stars it would likely happen at the NHL level.

 

[MadDevil]

I still have faith in his roster building, but I'm seriously starting to question his abundance of patience for coaches. I can understand giving Hynes a break for really his first 4 years. The first couple years there simply wasn't much talent to work with. He made the playoffs in year three. Horrific goaltending + injuries killed pretty much any chance of success last year. This year though, with the moves we made, we shouldn't be even worse than we were with the injuries last year.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

We are “light years” ahead of where we were 5 years when we are on pace the have fewer wins than that season? There’s been zero positive progression of the on ice product in those five years, minus one outlier season when the league MVP and a hot goalie at the end of the season carried the team to the playoffs. In fact each year the on ice product gets worse.

If you want to say the POTENTIAL of our prospects is better, I’ll give you that. But that’s not some amazing accomplishment given that the previous regime had the worst prospect pool in the league. Generally I don’t see a lot of high end talent coming up the ranks besides the two first overalls that this GM lottery ball stumbled into.

If you're really going to argue that the organization was better off in 2015 than it is now....whew boy.

 

[RandoDoomer]

Meanwhile, somewhere on Long Island...

 

[Jersey Fresh]

If Hynes is canned before or soon after the season, I'll give him another go.

Otherwise, can his ass too.

 

[SJinNewJersey]

I do think Shero is holding onto Hynes because Hall like him.