{"id":452866,"date":"2026-02-06T17:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452866\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T17:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T17:23:07","slug":"break-up-the-devils-everything-is-on-the-table-with-this-broken-team-politi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/452866\/","title":{"rendered":"Break up the Devils? Everything is on the table with this broken team | Politi"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheldon Keefe said his Devils<\/a> have found \u201cthe recipe\u201d after their latest loss \u2014 and just in the nick of time, too! <\/p>\n

The ingredients are rotting in the fridge. The dinner guests have all gone home. The china is collecting dust in the cabinet. The silver is tarnishing in the buffet. But it\u2019s good to know that this team has found the formula for winning games, even if it is, you know, not actually doing that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI thought our guys deserved better tonight,\u201d Keefe said, and it is quite possible that they did. <\/p>\n

They limited the Islanders to seven shots through two periods before, predictably, giving up a back-breaking goal late in the third period in a 3-1 loss. That would have driven a lesser coach to throw his postgame meal against the locker room wall \u2014 last food reference, I swear \u2014 but not Keefe. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard not to accept that the recipe is right there,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

So the Devils head into the Olympic<\/a> break with a gold medal for trying. Their season is over, dead, kaput. But they have tumbled so far that the search for even the thinnest ray of light in the darkness has begun. <\/p>\n

Every now and then, they\u2019ll give fans flashes of the team they once were \u2014 like during the second period on Thursday night, when Jesper Bratt found captain Nico Hischier with a perfect cross-ice pass for what Keefe called \u201cone of my favorite goals of the season.\u201d <\/p>\n

He might have loved it so much because it was also the team\u2019s first goal in more than seven full periods. The Devils entered a crucial three-game stretch against Ottawa, Columbus and the Islanders needing points to stay within spitting distance, and instead, they were outscored 10-2. They have now one or fewer goals in 25 of their 57 games this season.<\/p>\n

It is hard to watch, and aside from that 10-minute mid-game stretch of competence on Thursday night, I found myself stuck on one question: Does anyone remember when the Devils<\/a> were … fun? <\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t all that long ago, I swear. Just a couple seasons ago, this team put on an electrifying show on most nights with an attacking, high-powered style that treated fans to an offensive show. This was a franchise on the rise that was loaded with young stars, and while they stalled against hardier opponents in the postseason, at least they were always interesting. <\/p>\n

How did that team become this team? <\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a perfect comparison, but lately, I\u2019ve felt like I\u2019ve been watching the Giants at the end their last few miserable seasons. The games are perfunctory. The atmosphere is blech. Instead of a Kiss Cam, the team could have a Yawn Cam. Maybe the Devils should trade for Tommy Cutlets<\/a>. <\/p>\n

To think: There still will be 25 games like this left when the NHL returns from the 23-day break, not that this matters. The Devils are 11 points out of a playoff position. The only team below them in the Eastern Conference standings are the hated Rangers, and they raised the white flag on the season weeks ago. <\/p>\n

Changes are coming. At this point, firing general manager Tom Fitzgerald<\/a> and head coach Sheldon Keefe before the end of the season won\u2019t do much more than appease a bloodthirsty fan base, but a leadership reboot feels inevitable and necessary. What else can ownership do at this point, assuming ownership is paying attention? <\/p>\n

But the last few weeks also have raised some serious questions about this team\u2019s core. <\/p>\n

Jack Hughes was on the ice for about 45 seconds before this game, receiving a lukewarm (at best) sendoff from fans before the Olympics. They\u2019re no doubt frustrated that the team\u2019s top center missed these crucial games with a lower-body injury but apparently will arrive in Milan ready to go for Team USA\u2019s first game next week. <\/p>\n

The Devils can\u2019t count on Hughes to stay on the ice, and for that reason, they can\u2019t count on him as their franchise player. Before the season, the idea that the team might trade Hughes would be absurd. Maybe it still is. But you\u2019d probably listen to the offer.<\/p>\n

Hischier, Bratt, Dawson Mercer \u2014 this team has too much talent to have the same minus-29 goal differential as the left-for-dead Rangers. Flawed roster construction is the biggest culprit, but the time is rapidly approaching when it is time to consider major changes to the team\u2019s core. That, fans hope, will be a decision for a new GM.<\/p>\n

For now, the Devils have to hope three weeks off for the Olympics will lead to a Miracle on Ice. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to go on a hell of a run, basically, is what it comes down to,\u201d goaltender Jake Allen said, but the veteran has been around long enough to understand that ain\u2019t happening. <\/p>\n

They may have found the recipe, as Keefe insisted. But everyone starved while waiting at the kitchen table a long time ago. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sheldon Keefe said his Devils have found \u201cthe recipe\u201d after their latest loss \u2014 and just in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-452866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}