MY NHL

Yes, I am a week late to this party, but let's get a perspective here: On June 29th, 2016, New Jersey Devils General Manager Ray Shero made a trade which sent shock waves throughout the National Hockey League by acquiring former first overall pick star winger Taylor Hall from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Defenseman Adam Larsson. It was a 1 for 1 deal with no draft picks and salary retained. Many thought it was a franchise altering move for New Jersey which was starving for a star player since the likes of Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk left the team in Summer's past. However, Hall's first season in New Jersey was a disaster, not stats wise, but the team, much like his Edmonton team's finished last in the Eastern Conference and the Devils won the right to the #1 overall pick in the 2017 Draft which they used to select Swiss Center Nico Hischier. In 2017-2018, Hischier would play a prominent role in helping Hall win the Hart Memorial Trophy for League MVP an...

The New Jersey Devils finally fired Head Coach John Hynes after a 9-13-4 start to the season and a 7-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night. Assistant Coach Alain Nasreddine was promoted to Interim Head Coach just hours before the game against the Vegas Golden Knights, which they lost 4-3 to fall to 9-14-4. Yes, the change was made in between a back-to-back situation. Peter Horachek, a pro scout for the Devils and two time Interim Coach himself of the Florida Panthers and Toronto Maple Leafs will assume Nasraddine's old duties as his Assistant. General Manager Ray Shero implied that the Rangers game and the Sabres debacle were the last straws to fall for Hynes. So, with the change made, my simple opinion is that Shero must hire previous NHL coach to the full-time role with one exception. And, he must stay away from Dan Bylsma despite previous success. I will get to the exception later. Obviously, this is Nasraddine's first Head Coaching job, being it is Interim, so h...

The New Jersey Devils have played 26 games and are 9-13-4 to show for it. They sit 10 points back of the Carolina Hurricanes for the final Wild Card spot and have definitely dug themselves a huge hole so far this season, but it is already getting late early. One big habit they cannot get out of is protecting a 3rd period lead. Not saying this season is over by any stretch, but they have not shown any signs that they can go on a huge winning streak. I know this is a sad reality for us Devils fans, but we might have to suffer another 1-3 years to get back into the playoff conversation. So, with that, it might be time to start focusing on building for 2020-2021. The Devils big hurdle for next two drafts is no 2nd round picks. They traded them to acquire PK Subban and Nikita Gusev. But, they still have their own first round pick in 2020 and 2021. Here are some things they can do to get back into the playoff conversation for 2020-2021. 1) If they do not plan on firing John Hynes, the...

The New Jersey Devils remained win-less in 6 games as their record grew to 0-4-2 after 1 matinee loss to the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center today. Once again, NJ had a 4-1 lead and ended up losing 6-4 and the power play remained blank. Florida made it 4-3 with under 10 seconds left in period 2 and tied the game in the opening minute of period 3. Fans began chants to fire 5th year Head Coach John Hynes, who's seat is getting hotter with each passing game. This was the start of a 6 game home stand for the team, but the question is, how long is the leash right now on John Hynes? As I mentioned, NJ has the next 5 games at home with a Thursday night match-up against the arch-rival NY Rangers and the #2 overall pick Kaapo Kakko. It appears very likely that Hynes will not be fired by then or even this Saturday's matinee against the Vancouver Canucks. However, the team will not play until the following Friday after that giving them 6 days off. That could be the first window...

After a very busy off-season which saw them add the likes of PK Subban, Jack Hughes with the #1 overall pick, forward Wayne Simmonds and Nikita Gusev, the New Jersey Devils are 0-2-2 thru the first 4 games of the season. They have been outscored 18-5 since having a 4-0 lead against Winnipeg last Friday which they ultimately blew and lost in a shootout. All the pressure seemingly is on 5th year coach John Hynes with fans calling for him to get fired. But would this be the absolute right move? Lets pause on that front for NOW. Yes, the team is still searching for it's first win and yes Hynes has not coached well so far into this young season. The special teams have been awful on all fronts, Blackwood has been bad and Schneider has been good. Last Friday's collapse against Winnipeg seems to still be lingering with the team. NJ had a 4-0 lead until Winnipeg scored with under 15 seconds left in period 2 and then scored their 2nd goal early in the 3rd and Schneider left the game...

It is July 31st and Taylor Hall remains unsigned past this upcoming season with the New Jersey Devils. GM Ray Shero and his agent Darren Ferris have been in contact throughout the Summer, but things have been relatively quiet in the past few weeks since coach John Hynes said he is committed to team for this season regardless of new contract or not. Assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald told reporters yesterday that Hynes traveled to Toronto to meet with Hall and did not divulge on more after that but things are going well for him. It is obvious that the closer that we draw to training camp, the more serious talks will get. Hall did not want to rush into anything after the season in regards to his future in New Jersey. He wanted to wait and see what Ray Shero did this Summer to improve the team. Now that it has been a very busy Summer for Shero adding the likes of Jack Hughes with the number 1 pick, forward Wayne Simmonds, defenseman PK Subban and acquiring forward Nikita Gusev from Vegas. H...

It is July 11, 2019 and we are where we were back in my last post about Taylor Hall and that is he is still is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent next Summer on July 1 at Noon ET. With the history New Jersey has had in losing big name players under Lou Lamoriello, fans obviously are in a state of panic. Lamoriello already had this experience with his NY Islanders when they lost John Tavares for nothing in free agency last Summer to Toronto, but Lou was new on the job. Yesterday, during the teams developmental camp, Head Coach John Hynes mentioned Hall is 100% all in on the season with the Devils despite the contract uncertainty. The big question is, what does GM Ray Shero think or how he is going to approach the situation? As mentioned above, the key for Hall and the Devils is to not get TAVARES-ed. Meaning, if he does not sign an extension by training camp, the best route to go is to trade him for heavy assets of roster players, prospects and likely a 1st and 2nd roun...

Taylor Hall of the New Jersey Devils is slated to become an unrestricted free agent at Noon on July 1, 2020 a little more than a calendar year from today. He has one year left on his deal at $6 Million AAV. There is no secret that General Manager Ray Shero has a very tall task in convincing the 2018 NHL MVP and his biggest acquisition as GM to sign with the team long-term and possibly for the rest of his career. David Pagnotta of the rumor blog TheFourthPeriod.com released an article suggesting Hall is in no rush or is not even interested in signing an extension at the moment or possibly this upcoming season.  So, here are the main questions surrounding him and his future: 1) Will Taylor Hall sign an extension before or on July 1, 2019?  So, here is the deal, NHL protocol states that an upcoming unrestricted free agent in the following Summer cannot sign an extension until July 1 of the previous year. Being that Hall is to be a UFA on July 1, 2020, he can sign hi...