With the team taking a week off, it is time to answer the questions on the minds of Devils fans. As always, these are real questions submitted on Twitter.
At what point do games become must-win after the All-Star Break as the Devils are on the outside looking in? @MZharnest
Must-win games are largely a fallacy for most professional teams unless they face elimination. Fans can expect the Devils to vault out of the break with urgency, especially if the return of Jack Hughes and others is as close as has been rumored. The team trod water for the most part without Hughes but did cede some important ground. Now that they have had time to regroup after the loss of Hughes, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Brendan Smith, and the initial shock over losing two teammates to indefinite leave upon facing indictments, the Devils must immediately hit the ground running to regain a playoff spot. The talent is there, and general manager Tom Fitzgerald has the cap space and assets to give this team the pieces it needs to succeed. The February games are vital, but the must-win games likely won’t arrive until late March/early April.
Do you feel, like I do, that this season is similar to the New York Jets’ season where injuries (in the Jets’ case, one) give everybody a mulligan for this year and they just scrap the season and move on to next season hoping for the best? @devlzfan
The simple answer is no because, unlike the Jets, the Devils have not gone all in at the expense of their cap to win this year. The Devils acknowledged that their window flew open a little quicker than expected and made moves to try to support that, but this is a team built for the next five to seven years of contention, not a team that put all its eggs in the basket of a 40-something superstar motivated to cement his legacy. Reasons for mulligans abound for New Jersey: the injuries, the experience Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Alexander Holtz have gained, poor goaltending, etc. However, I wouldn’t look for Fitzgerald, or the players, to “scrap the season.”
Related: Bratt and Haula Providing Devils with Leadership Amid Injuries
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Management and ownership are also focused on the business side of the team. Season ticket renewals are about to go out, and coming off a season where the team boasted the largest increase in season ticket subscriptions in the NHL, there is motivation to try to maintain those levels and get to the playoffs, where teams generally go from the red to the…
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