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After a bad Western Canada trip where the Devils managed just one win in four games (against Edmonton) and looked lifeless through stretches of every game, it's beginning to feel like the beginning of the end for Pete DeBoer's tenure in New Jersey.
Since bringing the Devils to the Stanley Cup Final in his first year, the Devils have missed the playoffs in consecutive seasons and look to be heading down that path once again. The Devils are only one point out, but they play in the worst division in hockey and have played two more games than the Rangers, who sit a spot ahead of them.
The season is hardly over, but if the Devils don't start winning games - and soon - I think a coaching change will be made.
I still believe DeBoer is a good coach and New Jersey's lack of success over the last few seasons is hardly his fault - they have been a bottom-5/10 team in terms of talent since 2011/12 - but it's easier to replace a coach than changing half of the roster.
Every coach has a shelf life and it tends to be shorter when a team isn't drowning in their own success and/or there's not much roster turnover, and that's the case in New Jersey.
In the past I've defended DeBoer because the Devils generally outplayed/outshot their opponents, but couldn't find a way to win games due to a lack of scoring ability on the roster.
This season, with a little more offensive punch, the Devils continue to struggle collecting points and aren't outplaying teams the way they usually do. As a matter of fact, New Jersey seems to be getting outplayed more often than not and in some cases it hasn't even been close, as we saw last night in Vancouver.
While the Devils are hardly overflowing with talent, and they've had some injury problems, there is some more offensive punch on this team than we've seen the last couple years. The results, however, have been the same, if not worse.
As you can see, the Devils shot attempts per game are down, their shot attempts against are up, their goals against per game is up, and their possession numbers are down from what we've seen in recent years. That's hardly a recipe for success.
You never want to see someone lose their job and I hope DeBoer can figure out a way to right this ship quickly, but the more I watch this team the more I feel that's becoming an increasingly unlikely task.
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