[NEXT DAY] Thread 55/82 Devils at Senators, Saturday, January 31, 2026

17 comments

1. https://preview.redd.it/fufhqinypvgg1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3a896ea8c551b88b631c04c1abefa48cf3870efd

2. On the one hand, I always want the best for the team and I’d love to see them turn their shit around after the olympic break and squeak into the playoffs.

   On the other hand, I hope if they continue to play this badly that it will result in this being the last season with the team for Fitz and Keefe.

3. Call me crazy but I still believe in fitz.

   Keefe on thin ice. Dude has gained 50 lbs this season. Those Ls are crushing him.

4. Keefe really should’ve been fired after the 0-9 loss to the Islanders. Letting him continue fucking up this roster and not change anything about our scheme is tragic. Fitz should’ve been fired after that embarrassing press conference. Telling us that “he doesn’t look at standings” and that he doesn’t know anything about the coach’s scheme is just Fitz insulting this fanbase’s intelligence.

   Blues back in 2019 fired their coach, went on a heater, and changed history. Blue Jackets this season fired their coach and are on a heater. Buffalo of all teams is squarely in the playoff hunt after firing their gm. This org has done nothing, so it shouldn’t be a surprise for nothing to have happened. And the worst part is that nothing will continue to happen with this ownership group.

5. This team just doesn’t have it.

6. As Limp Bizkit said in his song 

   “Everything is fucked
   Everybody sucks”

7. Sadly we’re just not good. Our 5v5 isn’t strong, we used to play a transition game, at least that’s what we were made to do, we don’t play that way. We don’t really have an identity. We need to find something.

8. Maybe we never had a window to begin with

9. https://preview.redd.it/g25chdnyzvgg1.jpeg?width=527&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1fc76fc77d1bf8e16684a8de4593f8c391708edd

10. Team cannot score. Our leading point scorer (Nico) is on pace for 61 pts. Our leading goal scorer (Nico) is on pace for 27 goals.

    Our franchise player has once again proven we cannot rely on him to play more than ~60 games in a season.

    Our special teams continue to cost us games on both sides. With the skill this team has, the pp should be an undebatable strength.

    Our ‘starting goalie’ who was just inexplicably extended 2×6 is statistically one of, if not the worst goalie in the league.

    Our 2 highly drafted ‘stud’ defensemen continue to struggle, and are both way behind where they were expected to be at this point.

    We’ve gone nearly 2 full seasons without addressing the obvious hole at 3C. (Glass is a fine player, but a serious team is not relying/content with him as their 3C)

    What else? Genuinely the only 2 redeeming qualities I can think about this season are Gritsyuk and Lenni.

    Oh, and the Quinn Hughes embarrassment tour rolls on. We had a 2 dman pretty well telling the world he wanted to be a devil, and our gm screwed it up so badly, that now we have to watch Quinn succeed and be happy in Minnesota. I’d be shocked if Quinn is ever a devil at this point

11. The Devils are currently averaging 2.63 goals per game, on pace for 216 this season. That’s only slightly better than their decade of darkness/Goals for Cory/Bernier and Tootoo top line era, when they were averaging about 2.24 goals per game.

    It baffles me how this team is leaps and bounds more talented than the 2010’s rosters but still can’t put the puck in the net.

12. That play where the Devils regained possession, worked backwards, and Kovacevic held the puck forever behind the net, waiting and waiting and waiting… just to fire it straight to an Ottawa Senator in the NZ. And then the Senators immediately get a chance in the slot.

    That’s just the perfect encapsulation of this team, this system, and this season.

13. When they brought in Keefe as coach I never in a million years thought they would have a problem with offense. Now that I look at the layers of the roster, the defense especially, Keefe possibly designed the system because he knew he didn’t have a lot of speedy, puck moving defense to play a rush offense. I don’t know if he had more in Toronto though. Pesce looked slow as shit last night. Dougie – slow, Dillon – slow Kov – slow and etc etc the exception being Luke. Roster does not complement each other from forward to defense and from line to line even. That’s on Fitz. It’s on Keefe that there has to be a somewhat better way to utilize his offensive threats in a better way than he has. Just a disaster from top to bottom. I have to say I’m a teacher and think of my years in terms of “school year” and hockey season happens to match up for the most part. This has been one of the most miserable years for me in BOTH my career and my hobby! I can’t wait until summer at this point so I get some relief from my job and my hockey team and hopefully some meaningful changes to the hockey team and a fresh start for both in September.

14. If theyre going to sell, are they going to trade hischier with a 1.5 years left on his contract? If hes gonna walk after next, seems like now would be the time to sell. 

15. The mess Fitz has built with this roster should be studied lmao.

    “We’re in win now guys! So we’re going to trade all our youth, depth and picks for (sometimes overrated) old people. One even has a cool name that rhymes with fire!”

    * Zetterlund makes $4.5m less than Timo, plays less time, and only has 6 points less than him, and is younger.
    * Zacha had a hat trick 2 weeks ago, Haula isn’t on the team anymore.
    * We play Markstrom on the regular with Blackwood, Wedgewood and Schmid floating around the NHL, leading unstoppable teams. No team to my knowledge has been a contender with a sub .880 goalie since before our first cup.
    * We regularly play Glendening (who unironically might be the worst forward in the NHL), when we had Greer, Boqvist, Bardakov etc. on the roster.
    * Sharangovich is an “overpaid mess”, makes $3m less than Timo, only 8 less points than Meier, and is also younger.
    * We let Marino walk, and he’s playing better than Kovy, White, Hamilton and arguably Pesce.
    * Kevin Bahl has 8 points less than Timo Meier (as a dman), we gave him and a first up for Markstrom xD.
    * Toffoli isn’t on the team anymore, but sure was a fun year.

    Leeeeeeeeeeeet’s stop trading assets for overrated vets pls. We’re not winning while Markstrom is on the books, plan for 2028.

16. What did Fitz say in his previous press conference ” this is on me “. Yep.

17. We need a young GM, who will retool this thing on the fly. Bring in a coach who is going to demand control of the locker room. This team as currently constructed just isn’t it!