Another Devils Off-Season Arrives Too Early: What Went Wrong

The New Jersey Devils had high hopes heading into 2010 NHL Playoffs. 

After finishing second in the Eastern Conference and adding star LW Ilya Kovalchuk to the roster, the sky was the limit for the hopes of what this team was thought to be capable of doing in the playoffs. 

Unfortunately, for the third straight year, the Devils are forced to reflect and take a long hard look at themselves and try to figure out what went wrong.  Not only did the team lose in five games to the seventh seeded Philadelphia Flyers in the first round, they seemingly at times didn't put up much of a fight either, almost giving a November-like effort, rather then one needed in the second season. 

They never showed the hunger and resolve that Devils teams have been known for in the past, and that is what is the most disturbing of all.

With that, let's take a quick look back at the season that was and list out the big problems I see as the biggest reasons for the downfall of the Devils in the 2009-2010 season:

1. The coach and players were not on the same page.  Clearly, there was some amount of tension between the coach and the players.  It was  documented in the Newark Star-Ledger that Captain Jamie Langenbrunner had issues with the way things were handled at different times by Head Coach Jacques Lemaire.  Some of these gripes seem legit, but aren't the players all professionals?  Shouldn't they be able to get past these events and prepare themselves as much as needed so they can perform to their maximum ability in the playoffs?  You would think so, but unfortunately it was apparent this wasn't the case.  In the end, the team ultimately gave up to some extent on its coach and Jacques Lemaire took the high road and retired because of it.
2. Ilya Kovalchuk and the team did not mesh well.  This isn't necessarily a reflection on Kovalchuk directly, but it seemed all too often like the Devils were trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.  Add to that, constant line juggling, and Ilya receiving preferential treatment (also referred to in the Star-Ledger link above), and it adds to the troubles in the locker room.  It appears Kovalchuk was a good fit as a player in the locker room, but on the ice it didn't mesh well at all.  They never seemed to find the right combination of players to play with Kovalchuk, and the constant line juggling certainly didn't help.  That isn't to say it couldn't happen if he were to re-sign, but for the 2010 playoffs, the acquisition of Kovalchuk did not live up to expectations.
3. The team didn't have a strong will to bounce back.  Probably greatly in part because of what is referred to above, this team wasn't able to overcome adversity when it absolutely needed to.  Take a look at some of the recent playoff series as an example.  The Devils scored the first goal in the middle three games of the series, only to lose two of them.  Specifically, in game Four, they scored first and were starting to feel good about themselves.  The Flyers came back and scored twice, and the Devils then basically gave up for most of the last 90 minutes of the series.  Regardless of any in-house disputes, how a team with the players it had on its roster, could basically gave up in the middle of Game Four of a playoff series against a hated rival is simply mind boggling and hard to take.  Jelly jar throwing incident aside, I hope GM Lou Lamoriello realizes this and is able to look long and hard at the roster to see where it can be changed to correct this major issue.
4. Defensive breakdowns.  The Devils have taken a hit to their legendary defensive corps over the years.  Gone are the likes of Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko and Brian Rafalski.  In their place, the talent has had a major drop-off in guys like Bryce Salvador, Mike Mottau and Colin White.  Because of this, the Devils often struggle in their own zone, leaving goalie Martin Brodeur out to dry at times.  There is no better example then this then the OT goal by the Flyers' Daniel Carcillo in Game Three of the series.  There was a breakdown/miscoumminication between Travis Zajac and Mike Mottau that had both guys cover Simon Gagne, but neither covered Carcillo, and when Richards was able to chip the puck past Colin White, a wide open Carcillo had an empty net to tap in the game winning goal.  All too often, there were similar breakdowns that led to great offensive chances for their opponents.  Sometimes Brodeur was able to bail the Devils out, but eventually, even he couldn't save the Devils.
5. Guys were not put in the best position to succeed.  Guys like Patrik Elias, a career winger, who was playing center, Dainius Zubrus was bounced back and forth between wing and center and even guys who had worked well together in the past like Travis Zajac, Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner weren't put back together.  Defensemen like Andy Greene and Paul Martin were paired together when in the past they were used to being paired with a more stay-at-home guy.  D Matthew Corrente was played at fourth-line RW, rather then being used at his natural defense position, not to mention passing over seasoned vets like Jay Pandolfo, who was scratched.  D Mark Fraser was inserted into the linup for his first career playoff game in a hostile environment in Philadelphia.  Individually, these may not be a big deal, but when you add them all up, you can easily make the argument that the players as a whole weren't put in their best position to succeed, and it certainly did not help matters at all.
6. Poor transitional play.  The Devils played way too often in their own zone and couldn't get the puck not only out of their defensive zone, but into the offensive zone either.  The defense was the big culprit for this, as the needed effective breakout passes didn't happen on a regular basis, leading all to often to soft little clearing attempts and essentially giving the puck back to the Flyers either still in the zone, or in the neutral zone, with the ability to bring the puck right back into the Devils zone.  Other then Andy Greene, Ilya Kovalchuk and sometimes Paul Martin, there was no one who was effective at making sure the puck left the Devils' defensive zone and made its way safely into the offensive zone.
7. Patrik Elias didn't stir the drink.  As I've often pointed out, the Devils seem to go as Patrik Elias goes.  Maybe it was because of the concussion he suffered in Colorado on January 16th, or maybe a lack of a full training camp or maybe even a lack of chemistry with Ilya Kovalchuk and his other linemates, but whatever the reason was, you didn't get the normal Patrik Elias producution in the playoff series.  He never seemed to feel comfortable, and it was not hard to see when the Devils were on the power play.  How many times did he lose control of the puck almost uncontested?  Don't think this didn't take its toll on a team that often feeds off his production.

Here's a look at what went wrong for the Devils this past year.  Is this everything?  Not by a long shot, if you wanted to break down each game, you could find many other things that went wrong.  

In my opinion, these were the major issues the team encountered that helped lead to the great disappointment of the 5-game series loss to the Flyers.

Coming soon.....What should the Devils do to regroup in the off-season and prepare for 2010-11