The New Jersey Devils dropped their three-game streak and are fourth in their last six games. Over that stretch, the Devils have been outscored 16-2, including a 9-0 loss on Tuesday night at the hands of the New York Islanders. Questions are starting to rise about the job security of head coach Sheldon Keefe in just his second season with the club.
The New Jersey Devils Must Embrace the Hard
After the Devils’ 4-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night, Keefe was asked by Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com if he was concerned about his job if the team’s struggles continued.
“That’s out of my hands,” Keefe told reporters. “It’s not in my control. Like I said, I liked a lot about our game here. I know what this team needs, and we got to get them going, but I’m also well aware of the reality of the business and how it works, but I’m going to focus on getting our team ready for the next game and keep building here.”
Sheldon Keefe was Tom Fitzgerald’s hand-picked coach, given the accountability and discipline that he could bring to the group. Not to mention his ability to bring the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup Playoffs five straight years making the second round once in 2023. He had success in his first year with the Devils despite injuries in the second half of the season. New Jersey made the playoffs, just as they did under Lindy Ruff in the 2022-23 season.
The New Jersey Devils Still Need Another Goal Scorer
However, as with Ruff in his second season behind the bench, the message is somehow getting lost. The players keep telling everyone they know what to do. You have seen it. Earlier in the season, as mistakes crept into their game, the Devils went on an eight-game winning streak. So when this group wants to play, they can play with anyone in the NHL and beat anyone. But they need to play the right way and consistently for 60 minutes.
Since the injuries, which can no longer be an excuse, the Devils have been getting into bad habits that have not been fixed, dating back to the John Hynes era in New Jersey. Keefe sees it in this group, but they have to work to reach that level.
To me, we can use this as an organization as a great opportunity to take great steps in the big picture, because we’ve got a lot of things that we need to get better at. When we lose focus on that, and we get ahead of ourselves these kind of things happen. We got work to do to become a real hockey team. I think there’s a perception that we were a real hockey team before the work was put in. And you get exposed, and that’s, to me, where we’re at. We got to keep on building our game. And you see lots of elements out there. It’s closer than you think. Some of those pucks fall in the first period. Some of these chances, we win the hockey game here today, but that’s where at right now.
As he told reporters on Wednesday, the team may be as good as people thought, and they have to accept and embrace who they are right now.
Sheldon Keefe: “You Don’t Follow the Plan and Execute, That’sWhat You Get“
One knock on him is that he keeps repeating the same lines. The issue is that the general manager hampered him with this group, and he is pulling at straws. However, Keefe is up for the challenge and believes he can help turn things around.
“Part of coaching is you’ve got to deal with crises and challenges,” Keefe added to the media. “This kind of part, these kind of things excite me. I believe I can be part of the solution here. I’m going to keep doing my job to find the answers.”
Keefe is in year two of a four-year deal he signed back on May 23, 2024. The question is, will he complete year two of this deal or even this road trip? Something eventually has to give.
