Another Stanley Cup Contending team may be firing their coach

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Ryan Hall
December 17, 2023 (9:33 PM)

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It seems that anytime an NHL team is going through a rough patch the talk around the league is that their head coach is on the chopping block.

Several teams have done this over the past couple of months since the season began including the Edmonton Oilers, St Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild.

According to Frank Seravalli of thedailyfaceoff.com, it appears the attention is now turned to the new jersey devils as they were pegged to be a Stanley Cup favorite but appeared to be struggling through the first quarter of the season.

Lindy Ruff has been with the Devils since July 9th 2020. He is one of the most successful coaches in the league and is ranked in the top three in terms of active coaches for wins. It seems the team's biggest troubles are the offence not clicking with a large drop off in points after Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt.

The Devils are also having trouble with slow starts along with the goaltending not being up to NHL caliber. Both goaltenders are above 3.00 goals against and a save percentage between .883 and .901.

With all these factors in place, it explains why the Devils are 11th in the Eastern Conference. There's still plenty of time to put the team back on the rails however coaches only have a short shelf life and Lindy Ruff could find his way out of a job if nothing changes.