Todd Cordell: Senators 4, Devils 2: Not good enough

I'm just upset that we missed our window to fire Hynes after that start when we had about 2 games in 11 days. A new coach could've installed a new system with so many practice days. At that point we could tell if it was the coaches or the players.

If it's the players, we trade Hall, Vatanen, Greene and anyone non-essential for prospects and picks that will help with the long rebuild.

If it was Hynes, we turn the ship around earlier and have a shot at 1) the playoffs this year and 2) keeping Hall.

Now I think we miss the playoffs, Hall doesn't re-sign and we have no idea if it's just because the message has gotten lost after 5 years of Hynes or if we don't gel.

Season is over, unfortunately. It would take a herculean turnaround to even realistically make things interesting. I truly don't think Shero will fire Hynes in-season, best case scenario (if you want Hynes gone) is it happens in the offseason.

They need to trade Hall ASAP. I don't know what the return would be but you figure the closer it gets to the trade deadline the less likely they are to get a kings ransom, not to mention Hall's propensity to get injured in December or January. He's not going to re-sign (who can blame him) so they need to just move on and recoup whatever assets they can (hopefully a first plus a good prospect/young player).

Fortunately the team still has their first rounder and the top of this season's draft is supposed to be very good. It sucks that we are yet again talking about the draft but it is what it is. 2017-18 was the outlier, this team has been rebuilding since 2015 and doesn't look ready for prime time. Maybe a ton of it is coaching, I hope so, but again would be surprised to see Shero fire Hynes in-season unless they go on a ridiculous losing streak.

Tennyson is f**king useless!
Am i to believe there is no better option right now in the minors than this guy?!
Until we overhaul our defense this team is going nowhere.

Nico will be the captain of this team. He has such graceful skills and yet plays in the dirty areas of the ice. He blocks shots, attacks the net, plays awesome along the boards.

Get rid of Hall and build around Nico.

At least Rooney got injured in practice so Boqvist gets to play.

Burn it to the ground

Watched the game unfortunately for Devils fans ... until they fix the net ... it really doesn’t matter what else they do.

The postgame interviews are humanly the worst! The coaches and players don't even need to do it anymore. Just take one from a previous game and apply it to the next game. Players should just say, "What I said last postgame." The worst thing about the interviews is how they try to spin the interview with positives along with "few minutes/mistakes cost us the game."

Hynes has all the pieces and the players should know the system....whatever that may be. Oh yeah, fast supportive and breakdown. One thing for sure is that the system has never sustained multiple long winning streaks in a season (including the playoff year). It's 6 games, then lose 3, then win 2, then win another 3, and so on and so on.

Yeah, fire Hynes and staff. First 2 years you could forgive Hynes because Shero was fixing Lou's roster mess. I'll even give Hynes a pass for last year due to the injuries. This year, Hynes has his veterans who should know his system by now, better veteran talent, and young players with a bunch of high-end skills.

Have Fitzgerald as the interim coach and hire a veteran coach for next year(not a teacher). Guarantee Babcock, Cooper, DeBoer(yeah rehash), and Boudreau will be available next summer. Ironically the Kings (who are even having a worst season than the Devils) need a teaching coach like Hynes and the Devils could use McLellan. I wonder if there's a trade there?

For all the negative, all is not bad. The Devils do have a good foundation with Hughes and Hischier so that's a start. Even Blackwood is fine. They actually have good young forward depth in the roster and in the prospect system. Bratt, Boqvist, McLeod, Bastian, Seney, Wood (he's starting to "get it"), and finally Zacha.

Surprisingly, keep Zacha now. Hynes tries to ruin him, but he's really proven this season that Hynes isn't going to keep him down. With the right coaching and system, Zacha will be at least a 50 point man. I really like the line of Zacha-Hischier-Bratt.

As for trades and next year's draft, be smart. I hear people screaming to trade Severson. Please don't. He has his flaws but he has a great contract. Trading him and the Devils are depleting their already terrible defense. What are they going to get, another forward? Their forward depth is fine. If the right trade comes, then yeah trade Severson. But I highly doubt the right trade will come.

Trade the UFAs and get assets back for Hall, Vatanen, and Simmonds. If Greene and Zajac (I know he has 2 years on his contract) want to chase a Cup, trade them also. Besides some of the young players mentioned above, the leadership group will be fine for next year with Subban, Palmieri, Severson, and Hischier. I really thought Hall was captain material, but watching him this season he's obviously not.

As for the draft, the Devils don't really need the #1 pick. It will help and give them flexibility with trading a forward but it's not necessary. They need a stud defenseman. And when I mean a stud defenseman, someone who makes the team their first or second year. They'll have their flaws their first year, but you'll see the potential. Jones and Doughty are good examples. Makar (technically 2 years in college) and Heiskanen are more current examples. I get why Dallas didn't want to trade Heiskanen when they were after Karlsson. The kids a stud.

So, the lesson here is to fire the coaching staff, make smart trades, and draft a stud defenseman.

Goaltending is a whole other issue that we've all beaten to death.

So this is what it was like being a Devils fan in the 80s.

I thought Blackwood was really really good last night aside from that first goal. The Sens didnt get a lot of shots off but almost every single one of them was a grade A look and he kept them in it.

This to me was their worst loss of the year, which is really saying something. The team is a mess, and absolutely screaming out for a coaching change. Plain and simple Hynes does not get them ready to play. He is so level-headed and plan oriented that I think it actually puts these guys to sleep.

The postgame interviews are humanly the worst! The coaches and players don't even need to do it anymore. Just take one from a previous game and apply it to the next game. Players should just say, "What I said last postgame." The worst thing about the interviews is how they try to spin the interview with positives along with "few minutes/mistakes cost us the game."

Hynes has all the pieces and the players should know the system....whatever that may be. Oh yeah, fast supportive and breakdown. One thing for sure is that the system has never sustained multiple long winning streaks in a season (including the playoff year). It's 6 games, then lose 3, then win 2, then win another 3, and so on and so on.

Yeah, fire Hynes and staff. First 2 years you could forgive Hynes because Shero was fixing Lou's roster mess. I'll even give Hynes a pass for last year due to the injuries. This year, Hynes has his veterans who should know his system by now, better veteran talent, and young players with a bunch of high-end skills.

Have Fitzgerald as the interim coach and hire a veteran coach for next year(not a teacher). Guarantee Babcock, Cooper, DeBoer(yeah rehash), and Boudreau will be available next summer. Ironically the Kings (who are even having a worst season than the Devils) need a teaching coach like Hynes and the Devils could use McLellan. I wonder if there's a trade there?

For all the negative, all is not bad. The Devils do have a good foundation with Hughes and Hischier so that's a start. Even Blackwood is fine. They actually have good young forward depth in the roster and in the prospect system. Bratt, Boqvist, McLeod, Bastian, Seney, Wood (he's starting to "get it"), and finally Zacha.

Surprisingly, keep Zacha now. Hynes tries to ruin him, but he's really proven this season that Hynes isn't going to keep him down. With the right coaching and system, Zacha will be at least a 50 point man. I really like the line of Zacha-Hischier-Bratt.

As for trades and next year's draft, be smart. I hear people screaming to trade Severson. Please don't. He has his flaws but he has a great contract. Trading him and the Devils are depleting their already terrible defense. What are they going to get, another forward? Their forward depth is fine. If the right trade comes, then yeah trade Severson. But I highly doubt the right trade will come.

Trade the UFAs and get assets back for Hall, Vatanen, and Simmonds. If Greene and Zajac (I know he has 2 years on his contract) want to chase a Cup, trade them also. Besides some of the young players mentioned above, the leadership group will be fine for next year with Subban, Palmieri, Severson, and Hischier. I really thought Hall was captain material, but watching him this season he's obviously not.

As for the draft, the Devils don't really need the #1 pick. It will help and give them flexibility with trading a forward but it's not necessary. They need a stud defenseman. And when I mean a stud defenseman, someone who makes the team their first or second year. They'll have their flaws their first year, but you'll see the potential. Jones and Doughty are good examples. Makar (technically 2 years in college) and Heiskanen are more current examples. I get why Dallas didn't want to trade Heiskanen when they were after Karlsson. The kids a stud.

So, the lesson here is to fire the coaching staff, make smart trades, and draft a stud defenseman.
- CardiffGiant

While I agree with almost everything you stated, I have to disagree with our forwards in the system I do not see anything more than bottom 6 and maybe one top 6 player. A little early to judge the ones playing in the Bing but nothing says top line player so far. I agree we need to build around Nico and Jack and maybe even MB2. Send Schnieds to the Bing and pray someone pulls him off waivers. Trade all UFA's and Subban for picks or prospects and please re-build the coaching staff. The sooner this happens the better. A rebuild should not take this long!!!

Robbie Ftorek.....

So this is what it was like being a Devils fan in the 80s.
- devilspep

Yeah but it was acceptable because the talent was severely lacking on those teams and we knew they sucked. They were so bad it was comical. But it was fun watching Chico flounder around on the ice.

I'm not sure what the answer is, or what I want with this team. Burn it to the ground? I don't think so. Fire the staff? maybe. Trade Zajac, Greene, Simmonds, Vatanen?? eh.. now? maybe some of them? I don't think we need to trade Zajac. He has value right now and should have more value to us next year than whatever we'd get for him. Maybe the other 3 at the deadline. I'm ok with re-signing Vatanen at a good price. Trade Subban? no. Hall? maybe yes.

I'm not sure what the answer is, or what I want with this team. Burn it to the ground? I don't think so. Fire the staff? maybe. Trade Zajac, Greene, Simmonds, Vatanen?? eh.. now? maybe some of them? I don't think we need to trade Zajac. He has value right now and should have more value to us next year than whatever we'd get for him. Maybe the other 3 at the deadline. I'm ok with re-signing Vatanen at a good price. Trade Subban? no. Hall? maybe yes.
- MartysBetter88

I would trade at the deadline if we arent in playoffs:

Greene
Zajac (though I think he has a NM, and let him die a devil)
Simms
Vats
Hall
Subb.

I would trade at the deadline if we arent in playoffs:

Greene
Zajac (though I think he has a NM, and let him die a devil)
Simms
Vats
Hall
Subb.
- Leniwm1

Subban I don't even know what to think. I know he's good, but he looks like ass out there. Don't think they're going to trade him though.

Is that back to back no shots or assists for rooney

Subban I don't even know what to think. I know he's good, but he looks like ass out there. Don't think they're going to trade him though.
- ryant601

If you've ever played hockey, you probably saw some players want the puck on their stick just so they can do "moves". Pk seems like that guy. Also, he needs to focus on keep his shots low. He shoots hard without any accuracy.

If someone wanted him I'd trade him.

Subban I don't even know what to think. I know he's good, but he looks like ass out there. Don't think they're going to trade him though.
- ryant601

He looks pretty terrible, but I’d like to see what he could do with a competent coach, playing in a system with some structure and accountability.
Regardless of how he’s playing, he’s the most talented dman the Devils have had in some time. I think when things are going poorly, he’s one of the guys (also Hall) who tries to get it all done himself, and that’s just not going to work. But I’d be reluctant to trade someone with his ability, especially at a time when his value is probably lower than ever.

I'm not sure what the answer is, or what I want with this team. Burn it to the ground? I don't think so. Fire the staff? maybe. Trade Zajac, Greene, Simmonds, Vatanen?? eh.. now? maybe some of them? I don't think we need to trade Zajac. He has value right now and should have more value to us next year than whatever we'd get for him. Maybe the other 3 at the deadline. I'm ok with re-signing Vatanen at a good price. Trade Subban? no. Hall? maybe yes.
- MartysBetter88

This was supposed to be the teams push for a playoff spot. If we just have a firesale at the deadline then it basically sends the message that we are still in the middle of a rebuild. We need to give another coach a shot with this group before we write them off.

I would trade at the deadline if we arent in playoffs:

Greene
Zajac (though I think he has a NM, and let him die a devil)
Simms
Vats
Hall
Subb.
- Leniwm1

Trade the whole roster

Trade the whole roster
- shvingter88

Hoping I get traded to a new fan base soon.

Todd Cordell: Senators 4, Devils 2: Not good enough
- Todd.Cordell

When the game is tied with less than 2 minutes left, and Hynes throws out Butcher and Tennyson, with Bratt and Gusev???? If you need a goal, most of those guys could be useful, but if you want a point put out some guys that aren't defensive liabilities.

Subban I don't even know what to think. I know he's good, but he looks like ass out there. Don't think they're going to trade him though.
- ryant601

I doubt they can trade him without retaining 2M+ of his cap hit. I believe he is currently the 3rd highest paid D in the league next to Doughty and Karlsson (could be wrong on that), and his play is indicative of a 2M player so far this season.