The New Jersey Devils have become an easier team to play against. Head coach Lindy Ruff called them “soft” at the beginning of the season. Not only are the Devils missing that lack of physicality on offense, but they are missing it on defense as well.
The losses of Ryan Graves and Damon Severson are bigger than most people think they are. And the team does not have that stay-at-home defenseman anymore like they used to. Not to mention, the team still makes mistakes in their zone and the players lack the understanding of situational hockey.
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And for the Devils to turn around their season, the players have to grasp that. So how are they going to do that? Well, it is as simple as bringing back Scott Stevens to the organization.
Vox Media NHL Analyst Bruce Zeman on the Full Press Hockey Podcast has stated in the last two episodes, that the Devils need to bring Scott Stevens back to help with the defensive issues with the team.
“I’ve said this on a couple of shows that I’ve done this week. I think, to me this is a glaring error and, we don’t know what’s in the room, that’s like a broken record when we say that, you don’t know but my feeling on this is if you could get the situation with Marty fixed which was pretty bad, you need to bring him into the situation. You need to give him the authority to make a difference.”
Scott Stevens was last seen on the bench with the Minnesota Wild as part of Bruce Boudreau‘s staff during the 2016-17 season. Stevens resigned to spend more time with his family.
Before that, he was the interim co-head with Adam Oates after they relieved Peter DeBoer of his duties. Before his head coaching duties, he was a consultant and then an assistant coach with the Devils from July 2012 to September 2014.
While being the co-head coach, Stevens’s job was to focus on the defense. At the time, the Devils were not in a position to win a Stanley Cup, but if you watched the games, the structure was there because he understood the game.
After his finishing up coaching, Stevens was on the NHL Network, and he pointed out deficiencies in the Devils defensive zone structure and their inability to break out of their zone cleanly. That kind of hockey mind is hard to come by. And the Devils need to get that resource back.
“I’m not saying that he should be the head coach, although I don’t think that would be a bad thing down the road. But the inconsistencies on the defense and just the mindset and the toughness and, and the ability to play from ahead or behind, there are so many things that that he would bring to this.”
The last time he was on the NHL Network was 2021. And back in 2020, when the Devils were looking to make a coaching change, when asked about coaching against Stevens said, “I guess I’ve never closed the door and you never know if the right situation were to come up, I may listen,” Stevens said. “But I’m pretty content doing what I’m doing right now.”
What he was doing at the time was seven to eight shows a week on the NHL Network. But to have a Hockey Hall of Famer and Three Time Stanley Cup winner not a part of the organization he helped build is tough. Again the breakup was not a good one, but if the Devils fixed the Martin Brodeur situation, they can fix this one right?
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“I mean, to me, this is a glaring thing that they need to do. I think it’s a misstep by the organization that he’s not there now. And, I love, I love the Devils fans, I really do, and I’ve been doing this like you, I’ve been doing this for a long time. But I kind of got to it the other day with a friend of mine who made some, I was telling you privately about, some comments about Stevens about him not being able to contribute.
That’s just an ignorant thing to say it’s just you have a player who is arguably one of the top three greatest defenseman in in history in the game’s history. He’s got three Stanley Cup rings, he’s got a Conn Smythe Trophy, and he’s got unquestioned locker-room credibility. If you think that someone like that can’t help this team. You don’t know anything about the sport.”
Scott Stevens is a brilliant hockey mind the Devils need to be utilizing more than they are. Again former players are back in the organization, it is time to bring the Captain back home.
But again it comes down to if Scott Stevens wants to do it.
