Much improved from 4 years ago. We have two young centres that look poised to lead this team going forward. A bunch of hobey baker nominees in the minors, 25M cap space next season, and some good 1st round picks. Shero won almost every trade, and brought in the 3 time KHL player of the year who is now over 1ppg since Hall was moved. Shero made this team young and fast, and improvement is very apparent if you watch what the youth are doing on a nightly basis.

As a pens fan, you should be a little kinder to the guy who took your squad to the promised land. Yikes
- bikeguy99

He inherited most of the 09 team. Can't give him credit for drafting Sid and Geno. Other than that, the Pens underachieved a ton......mostly because his loyalty to a crap coach. His drafting wasn't great either. Missed on most of his top picks when he kept them. Certainly not the worst GM and probably deserved more time in NJ. Gotta be more to the story.

As a pens fan, you should be a little kinder to the guy who took your squad to the promised land. Yikes
- bikeguy99

As a Pens fan, I cannot begin to tell you how badly he deserved to be poopcanned in the 412.

There better be a good reason other than the losing season. This is stupid. Ray is a competent GM. Not signing Hall isnt a reason to can him. One could argue that was tye right move to make. Maybe its Rays fault for keeping Hynes,.. I just dont get canning him now. Nico is just bitting his stride, Hughes is 18.. Blackwood looks good. ..i dont get it.
- MartysBetter88

I also think it’s a bit odd.

Did we just beat the caps and bolts and fire our GM? Wtf is going on???

Did we just beat the caps and bolts and fire our GM? Wtf is going on???
- Queenie_5_hole

Pure speculation on my part.... Ray didn't want to fire Hynes but the owner forced him his hand. After a couple of weeks, Ray was probably fuming and maybe words were said between the two. Resulting in Harris telling Ray to meet a security guard with a box at his office before being escorted to the curb.

In Pittsburgh Ray refused to fire his coach.....resulting in his dismissal. Bylsma awkwardly hung around for another month before he was dumped (thankfully). Ray forms friendships with his coaches when he should realize his coach is just another employee.

Pure speculation on my part.... Ray didn't want to fire Hynes but the owner forced him his hand. After a couple of weeks, Ray was probably fuming and maybe words were said between the two. Resulting in Harris telling Ray to meet a security guard with a box at his office before being escorted to the curb.

In Pittsburgh Ray refused to fire his coach.....resulting in his dismissal. Bylsma awkwardly hung around for another month before he was dumped (thankfully). Ray forms friendships with his coaches when he should realize his coach is just another employee.
- madmike71

Seems quite plausible. I felt Ray going with Nesreddine was his way of pushing back because he didn’t want to fire Haynes. So he kept the most similar coach possible.

I really liked Ray. Seems like a good guy. Not saying he was perfect but seemed good hearted and honest and a good horse trader.

No "mores" to come Ek? No uninformed speculation as to who his replacement may be? No pretend sources calling you with the scoop about the sacking? Really, I'm pretty disappointed in you right now.

Pure speculation on my part.... Ray didn't want to fire Hynes but the owner forced him his hand. After a couple of weeks, Ray was probably fuming and maybe words were said between the two. Resulting in Harris telling Ray to meet a security guard with a box at his office before being escorted to the curb.

In Pittsburgh Ray refused to fire his coach.....resulting in his dismissal. Bylsma awkwardly hung around for another month before he was dumped (thankfully). Ray forms friendships with his coaches when he should realize his coach is just another employee.
- madmike71

This^^ ....Ray probably told ownership, "Yeah, you make me fire my coach because you think he stinks but Nashville just fired Laviolette to hire him"

Pure speculation on my part.... Ray didn't want to fire Hynes but the owner forced him his hand. After a couple of weeks, Ray was probably fuming and maybe words were said between the two. Resulting in Harris telling Ray to meet a security guard with a box at his office before being escorted to the curb.

In Pittsburgh Ray refused to fire his coach.....resulting in his dismissal. Bylsma awkwardly hung around for another month before he was dumped (thankfully). Ray forms friendships with his coaches when he should realize his coach is just another employee.
- madmike71

I think as it may turn out that Martin Brodeur had a hand in this firing...AND NOT SAYING he was the person that removed him, but ownership rightfully so knows Brodeur is our all time Devil and if there is anyone they will trust to turn this around its him. This is about selling tickets and with Brodeur now in the front line of a rebuild with Nico & Hughes as the centerpieces they are thinking the fan base will be energized to see how it falls together, Shero just couldn't expect this ownership to sit around another 2-3 years without making playoffs and expect to keep his job.I also feel if this is possibly a sign that ownership is looking to spend some money in off season maybe Brodeur as Hall of Famer can persuade a few top names to at least consider signing here. It will be interesting to see how this plays out with who are next coach is, even though Nas has done a great job so far I have a hard time believing with a possible new GM on horizon they will look to see who is most qualified candidate available. That said if we keep beating teams like WASH & TB Nas will clearly make a strong case for staying!

Had the opportunity to meet Shero on NYE of all nights during the lockout, when he was still with Preds organization. Just waiting for a table at a local steak house. I think I was likely only guy in place who knew who he was. Incredibly nice guy. Can't see him back in Nashville since I think Poile Jr is being groomed to replace Poile Sr.

Why is Subban getting a total pass on the Devils crap season. 10 pts, only 1 PP pt!!

His allegiance to Hynes to me destroyed his credibility with ownership.Throw in the fact it’s painfully obvious the years of Sheros drafts have this organization about 5 more years behind turning it around. Now I feel we are getting somewhere. I am happy somebody else will be in charge of building a roster around Nico, Hughes,Bratt, and our core of young D(Severson Butcher, Smith & Dahl)
- RussH1964

Underrated fact that not a lot of people touch on. Overall they have drafted so poorly outside of the obvious Hischier and Hughes picks, and the Zacha selection alone should have gotten him fired with how the rest of that first round turned out. Five years in and the team is maybe two steps ahead of where they were when he took over, and with how off the rails these past two seasons have gone he forced ownership's hands.

So Palmeri for a 3rd?
- Cptmjl

and Komarov

Underrated fact that not a lot of people touch on. Overall they have drafted so poorly outside of the obvious Hischier and Hughes picks, and the Zacha selection alone should have gotten him fired with how the rest of that first round turned out. Five years in and the team is maybe two steps ahead of where they were when he took over, and with how off the rails these past two seasons have gone he forced ownership's hands.
- Cmor11794

Interesting story about Shero.... Well I find it interesting anyway...

Ray came on the radio years ago after the draft explaining why he was always partial to drafting offensive dmen (even reaching at times). He drafted a bunch of them here with limited success. He said he liked to draft them because they're in high demand around the league and they're always good for trade capital. He fleeced Dallas on the Goligoski trade so he believed he could continually replicate it. Instead of drafting the best players or drafting for need, he was somehow thinking two steps ahead about flipping these young dmen for other players. I thought it was a moronic strategy. Unfortunately for Ray, his later drafts produced some good players but this was after he was fired.

Nice man for sure, but has some flaws. Though you could say that about all of them.

He inherited most of the 09 team. Can't give him credit for drafting Sid and Geno. Other than that, the Pens underachieved a ton......mostly because his loyalty to a crap coach. His drafting wasn't great either. Missed on most of his top picks when he kept them. Certainly not the worst GM and probably deserved more time in NJ. Gotta be more to the story.
- madmike71

He made some huge moves for the Penguins.

He brought in Gary Roberts. While he wasn't on the Cup, his impact on the team was huge.
He traded away Carcillo, who would play a role in their 09 Cup Run.
He made the trade for Dupuis and Hossa. Hossa was the best winger Crosby's played with in the NHL and Dupuis went on to be a key player.
He made the trade for Kunitz who played a huge role for years.
Finally, he traded for Bill Guerin, the guy who brought them from really good team to Stanley Cup Contender. He was able to bring winning experience while still being a very productive player.
He also acquired Craig Adams, Matt Cooke, Petr Sykora, Miro Staba, and Ruslan Fedotenko,

But yes, he inherited most of the team, let's go with that.

The Devils are in position to draft 1st overall again and will have tons if space to shop with old expiring contracts. I think Shero set them up to do some damage and should have been given one more season.

The Devils are in position to draft 1st overall again and will have tons if space to shop with old expiring contracts. I think Shero set them up to do some damage and should have been given one more season.
- Rinosaur

Not really sure putting a team "in position to draft 1st overall" is a bullet point you want on your resume

Not really sure putting a team "in position to draft 1st overall" is a bullet point you want on your resume
- eichiefs9

I get that, but you’re able to do that one more time during a rebuild and have lots of space to spend around the young core? I’d say that’s a pretty good situation to be in.

The point is whoever comes in right now has a lot of room to improve because of what Shero left them. He didn’t add any terrible contracts or trade for any bad players.

I get that, but you’re able to do that one more time during a rebuild and have lots of space to spend around the young core? I’d say that’s a pretty good situation to be in.

The point is whoever comes in right now has a lot of room to improve because of what Shero left them. He didn’t add any terrible contracts or trade for any bad players.
- Rinosaur

I'm not saying he did a bad job, but three first overall picks in four years would be pretty sad. For all their incompetence and failures as a front-office the Islanders/Garth Snow never even failed enough to have more than one first overall pick.

He most certainly did not leave them with any bad contracts to deal with, that's true, but I don't know if I'd praise (or criticize) him for his tenure there. He tried, I will certainly give him that much, and but really he was just kind of neutral, in terms of his overall body of work.

Why haven't the Devils named Marty Brodeur as the new General Manager?

Brodeur learned the job for 3 years under Blues' GM Doug Armstrong in St. Louis as Assistant General Manager until he bailed for a "silk
stocking" job with the Devils.

Why haven't the Devils named Marty Brodeur as the new General Manager?

Brodeur learned the job for 3 years under Blues' GM Doug Armstrong in St. Louis as Assistant General Manager until he bailed for a "silver stocking" job with the Devils.
- Hip Check

Either he's Yzerman , Sakic orrr Rob Blake , Brett Hull's short stint with the Stars.

The Devils are in position to draft 1st overall again and will have tons if space to shop with old expiring contracts. I think Shero set them up to do some damage and should have been given one more season.
- Rinosaur

Even with that said, I don't believe 100% It was a firing, more of something he refused to go with. This close to trade deadline can not just be bad timing. Like Todd Cordell pointed out in his blog you don't give a GM the power to fire the coach and trade Taylor Hall pick a new coach and oh yeah your fired! The team has also played some inspired hockey since the departure of Hynes and Hall. Maybe the message is being sent you all are playing for your jobs no one is safe!

Shero wanted to rip the organization apart..

He wanted to Trade
Palmieri
Vatanen

He did trade HAll--HAd to ... could have gotten an NHL player for him.

PK -Playing better .

Simmons -I like Simmons and he brings something that does not show up on score sheet. but for 5 Mil??


resign Gusev. now !!

We cant go BACK to nothing again or SHEROs last 3 seasons are a waste...

We do have some good ....

Nico
Hughes -Needs to get bigger ,he looks worn down already . too too young still.
Gusev -Sign this guy already only has next season .
Blackwood
Bratt
Boquist
Coleman -Leads NJD is goals ?
Wood -playing with Fire ever game
PK -A vet who will be stable , great shot
Vats -Another vet with a wicked shot
----------------
the KIDS
Mcleod
Basita
Bahl
Smith
Walsh
Thats about it ........

the unknown......
------
Zacha
Simmons
Hayden
Rooney
Cory
Severson
Butcher
Muller
Carrick

The old men
-----
Greene
Zajac