Fire Sale Is the Devils' Only Friend

Wayne Simmonds is not reacting to the news that

the Devils have already traded him. But the confusion is understandable.

Today is the NHL's trading deadline, and my team, the New Jersey Devils, have gone into full "fire sale" mold. The great new era they tried to build didn't happen, so they're tearing it all down and starting all over.

Before the season began, they signed free agent right wing Wayne Simmonds to a 1-year contract, obtained defenseman P.K. Subban in a trade with the Nashville Predators that looked like a steal, and sent 2 draft picks to the Vegas Gold Knights for left wing Nikita Gusev. Things were looking up.

They didn't stay that way. Head coach John Hynes remained clueless, and the team hasn't looked like making the Playoffs at any point during this season. General manager Ray Shero then traded the team's best player, left wing Taylor Hall, as part of a package with the Arizona Coyotes for right wing Nick Merkley, 2 guys who will probably never make it, and 2 conditional draft picks. This was the 1st sign that Shero intended to blow it all up.

On December 3, Hynes was fired, and replaced by Alain Nasreddine, who still hasn't had the "interim" tag taken off him, and hasn't really earned that yet. On January 12, Shero was fired, and replaced with Tom Fitzgerald, a former Islander and the 1st Captain of the Nashville Predators. He's also serving as an assistant coach to Nasreddine, and also awaits the removal of the "interim" tag.

I thought getting rid of Shero and Hynes was the answer. But the owners -- including Josh Harris, also the owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers, whose "Trust the Process" slogan also seems to have stalled -- don't seem to get that a question exists.

Then, last Sunday, Fitzgerald made a pair of trades. Andy Greene, a Devils since 2006, thus the last remaining player from the Meadowlands era, and the team's Captain since 2015, was sent to the Islanders for a 2021 draft pick and David Quenneville -- whose brother John had been traded away at the start of the season, and whose cousin Joel was an original 1982-83 Devil and a 3-time Stanley Cup-winning coach for the Chicago Blackhawks.

I can understand trading Greene. He's 37, and isn't doing us or himself any good by staying. But David Quenneville is far from ready for the NHL, and that draft pick won't help us for over a year, if at all.

The same day, Fitzgerald sent center Blake Coleman to the Tampa Bay Lightning for yet another draft pick, and left wing Nolan Foote, son of former NHL star Adam Foote. He's nowhere near ready, either.

Today, it got worse. The Devils traded Simmonds to the Buffalo Sabres for a conditional 5th round pick in 2021. Someone joked online that both teams lost the trade. Another person joked that Simmons deserved the respect of being traded to "not Buffalo."

It was also announced that defenseman Sami Vatanen had been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for left wing Janne Kuokkanen, defenseman Frederick Claesson, and a conditional 4th round pick this year. Kuokkanen is doing well at the hockey equivalent of Triple-A ball, but this was a trade of a reasonably good NHL defenseman for 3 guys who are not ready to play in the NHL, and might never be.

The Devils are trading good, proven players for prospects. Seems to me that there's a baseball team not far away that tried this, and it spectacularly failed (never mind the Asstros' cheating), and now the owner has said, "Fuck this, I'm opening the vault."

I know that can't really be done in a league with a salary cap (one of the dumbest inventions in sports history: Socialism for the owners, unregulated capitalism for the fans), but the Devils are no better off than they were when Lou Lamoriello went senile.

Since the trip to the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, the Devils have made the Playoffs only once, in 2018. In divisional play, they have finished 5th, 6th, 7th, 7th, 8th, 5th and 8th. They are currently 8th and dead last in the NHL Metropolitan Division. Their 58 points put them 16 behind the last Eastern Conference Playoff berth. Only 5 teams have fewer points.

With a roster that started out with a former Hart Trophy (regular season MVP) winner in Hall; plus veteran talent in Subban, Simmonds, center Travis Zajac and right wing Kyle Palmieri; exciting prospects in Gusev, and centers Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and Kevin Rooney; and good young goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood, this could have been the season the Devils turned it around.

Nothing has been turned around. To paraphrase Don McLean, "So, come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack Flash sat on a candlestick, 'cause a fire sale is the Devils' only friend."

Get to Know the Devils' New Faces: Shero, Hynes and (Sort Of) Greene

The New Jersey Devils drop the puck on their 33rd season tonight. (It should be 34, but 2004-05 was canceled.) They do so with a new general manager, a new head coach, and a new captain (although he's not a new player).

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Rejean Shero, a.k.a. Ray, was born on July 28, 1962, in St. Paul, Minnesota. At the time, his father, Fred Shero, a former New York Ranger defenseman, was coaching the St. Paul Saints of the International Hockey League. "Freddy the Fog" would later coach the Philadelphia Flyers to their only Stanley Cups, in 1974 and '75; and the Rangers to the Finals in 1979.

Ray played hockey at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, near the St. Lawrence River, a border with Canada. He captained the team, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in 1982, but never played in the NHL. He was an assistant general manager in the early days of the Ottawa Senators and Nashville Predators franchises.

He was named general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2006, and built the team that faced the Detroit Red Wings in back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals, losing in 2008 and winning in 2009. Led by Sidney Crosby (who was already there when he joined) and Evgeni Malkin (whom he drafted), the Pens have been in contention for the Cup ever since Ray got there.

He was named Devils GM on May 4 of this season. He is now 53 years old, and thoroughly experienced, and a winner.

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John Hynes (he has no middle name) was born on February 10, 1975, in Warwick, Rhode Island. He played at Boston University and won the 1995 National Championship, on his "hometown" rink at the Dunkin Donuts Center (formerly the Providence Civic Center). Despite his proximity to, and connection with, Boston, he appears not to be related to John B. Hynes, Mayor of Boston from 1950 to 1960, and namesake of the city's convention center.

He became an assistant coach at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell in 2000, and at the University of Wisconsin 2 years later. Starting in 2003, he was the head coach of the U.S. national Under-17 Development Team, winning a gold medal at the 2006 World Junior Championships.

In 2009, Ray Shero brought him into the Penguins organization, as an assistant coach for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. A year later, when head coach Todd Reirden was promoted to an assistant's job in Pittsburgh, Hynes was named head coach at "WBS." They made the Playoffs in all 5 of his seasons, including 2 conference finals.

Shero named him Devils head coach on June 2. This is his first coaching job in the NHL, either head or assistant, and, at age 40, he is the youngest head coach in the League. He is still, however, older than all of his current players: Patrik Eliáš, the oldest, is 14 months younger.

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Andrew Greene (odd that none of the 3 has a middle name) was born on October 30, 1982 in the Detroit suburb of Trenton, Michigan. Kind of fitting that he's made his name in a State whose capital is named Trenton.

A 5-foot-11, 180-pound defenseman, he played hockey at Miami University of Ohio, and was named an All-American in the 2006 season. He wasn't drafted by any NHL team, but the Devils signed him out of college anyway. He played just 1 season in the minors, with the 2006-07 Lowell Devils, and was called up to the big club late in that same season.

In 559 games, has scored 31 goals with 140 assists. He played in all 24 of the Devils' games in the 2012 Playoffs, culminating in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Today, he was named the 11th Captain in club history, with former Captain Eliáš, 2012 postseason hero Adam Henrique, Travis Zajac and Mike Cammalleri.

The 11 Captains in Devils history are, as follows:

1. Don Lever, 1982-84
2. Mel Bridgman, 1984-87
3. Kirk Muller, 1987-91, including the 1988 Playoff run
4. Bruce Driver, 1991-92
5. Scott Stevens, 1992-2004, including the 3 Stanley Cup wins
6. Scott Niedermayer, 2004 after Stevens' career-ending injury
7. Patrik Eliáš, 2005-07
8. Jamie Langenbrunner, 2007-11
9. Zach Parise, 2011-12, including the 2012 run to the Finals
10. Bryce Salvador, 2012-15
11. Andy Greene, 2015-present

Dave Turner and Jeff O'Connor, writers of the Devils Insiders blog, tweeted this morning, "Is there anyone who has defined 'being a Devil' more than Andy Greene? Well deserved." I presume that they mean, "anyone on the current roster." And, even then, you could say Eliáš.

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Opening Night tonight! Gametime is 7:00 PM, at the Prudential Center, against the Winnipeg Jets. Let's Go Devils! Devils Army, Rise Up for Jersey's Team! And Rangers Suck!