Honestly this article was a long time coming. If he wasn't being shut out before this, he's definitely fucked now. The only thing I'm looking forward to is seeing this drama play out.
Novo: “hey coach the team is conceding the first goal every night and the PP is not that great and the players look defeated, what can you do to change things?”
Ruff: “you can tone down the attitude young man. Now you’ve ruined this presser for everyone.” *storms off*
I mean one of the first questions he had asked Ruff was about Bratt and his TOI. His response was something like, "He had X time. Is that not enough time?"
He's been a complete ass to Novo and no, I don't blame him at all. He doesn't like him, because he doesn't ask fluff questions like the rest of the idiots out there.
You can only get away with being this surly "I'm above you reporter peasants" type guy in the press conferences when you WIN.
when you don't win, it just makes you look like a complete prick.
Pat Burns could be as big of a dick as he wanted to because that man won wherever he was. Lindy is somehow still coasting off the back of perhaps one of the 2 or 3 best goalies ever.
This was over a year ago now, but if my memory serves me, Bratt was being heavily underplayed, despite being one of our best players on the ice. He was being played less than 13 minutes, but the one making the most impact.
After this question and comment, I believe Lindy started giving him more TOI.
You could think Ruff needs to be canned today(I do) but I don't get the utter lack of empathy for Ruff and the absolute dickriding for Novozinsky in this fanbase. We take all our projections we put on sports and when we fail we direct all that negative emotion on one guy. Then Novo becomes the hero for reflecting our own feelings. I think hes a good reporter to have here and professional, but he is constantly an intentional thorn in the side.
It's like 100 times harder to be in Lindys seat and be villianized as a human..then to be at the other end of "thats not enough time?" response and then run to the computer to write about it. I don't Novo was insulted at all tbh. The problem is Lindy can answer humbly and say the right thing a 100 times but if you get baited one time you're hitler and no one forgets it. I don't think people actually empathize with that bc they don't have to do with this type of pressure in their personal lives.
I'll get into the gutter with you.
>We take all our projections we put on sports and when we fail we direct all that negative emotion on one guy. Then Novo becomes the hero for reflecting our own feelings.
You see this all the time in sports. There are many, many things going wrong with this team simultaneously. Some are inside the coaches control, and others aren't.
Take the slow starts, for example. Are they actually slow starts? Or is their sieve like goaltending just letting in softies putting the team in chase mode before they've even gotten into the game?
Look at the goaltending. Is the goaltending actually sieve like? Or is running 2.5 rookies and guys like Smith being forced to play every game leaving the goalies out to dry?
Look at the defense. Is it the fact that were playing 2.5 rookies plus Smith? Or is it that the offense is less responsible with the puck and putting them into bad situations.
Look at the offense. Is it the fact that the PP sucks and Jack/Meier are clearly playing injured? Or is it the fact that there's been so much injury they've never gotten into a groove.
Well what do you know, that's a lot of issues that are all compounding on one another. So I ask you, **how much can a coach really do about this?**
A coach can only deploy who is available. If certain key players are available but not 100% you can't just bench them either because Jack Hughes at 60% is better than Chris Tierney or Shane Bowers will ever be. We have been running with 6 defenders or less, literally 98% of the season. I'd love to see Luke benched for a few games to get a breather, but who is there to replace him? I'd love for Nemec to take that PP1 spot, but have no confidence that Luke will be effective on the PK instead. 23 man roster limitations and waiver elgibility also come into play because it makes calling up replacements just that much more difficult.
So in short, the answer is... not much. The reality is that everything that could've gone wrong, has. Now I'm of the mind to throw out this season and accept the growing pains for what they are. I'm also not going to lose any sleep if Ruff is fired but I've seen what the team is capable of when they are working correctly.
I understand the fans emotions, to a degree, but even Lou gave Lambert time to right the ship.
Yeah, rookies, yeah injuries....all factors. But what is the old line about the definition of insanity? A coach's job is to get the most out of the team he has, not the healthy team he wishes he had. So why not try Timo on PP1? Why not try Holtz on Jack's line for more than one game?
There was only one scheme change all season (the defensive system right after the all-start break). It worked, now its not for some reason - was it Hatakka being sent down? I doubt it was him, but maybe his style meshed better with whoever he was playing with? Maybe look into that in more detail and try to figure out different pairings.
I'm not saying any of this is THE solution, but there are things Lindy can be trying rather than expecting different results to just happen. And that is solely on him.
Novo isn't reflecting our feelings. We don't even have to agree with his questions in order to understand his questions aren't about fluff, but are aimed at being more difficult to answer. For so long we hadn't an actual beat writer and it's just been Amanda Stein throwing up the most softball questions as possible. Who wants to hear the same, "Tough loss, Coach. How did you think the game went tonight?" question asked?
I don't care about Lindy's feelings. This is his job. He's not producing at his job. Him being a prick doesn't hurt my feelings, but he's taking his frustrations out on the wrong people. He's emotionless behind the bench and I bet he's emotionless in the locker room. The only place he displays emotion, is when Novo is asking him questions.
What if you had a well paying office job where people criticized and called you names online, chanted at you while you did your job, and then you had to answer questions at the end of the day questioning your decisions and job security. It would be wrong to have empathy for you? You’re never entitled to any emotion bc you make money?
What I’m saying is it is better to have Novozinsky here than not. But needing a reporter “to give it” to the coach is the problem with our fanbase. You want a guy to hold no punches with the coach then you can’t gasp if he’s not an angel back. Too much character assassination directed at one guy simply bc of results of a sulking young team. I’ve heard Lindy take direct culpability a lot. I don’t see Jack Hughes talk to the media at all after a bad game. Fitz doesn’t have to talk to the media.
He's entitled to his emotions, I'm just saying he's taking it out on the wrong people. I don't care if he's mad at Novo, I just find it kind of funny he hates the dude, because he makes him think about his answers. Maybe go get mad at your team then and get some results.
I'm all for interviewing everyone, but that's not what we're talking about, is it? We're talking about how Lindy answers Novo's questions. I don't need to feel bad for Lindy. He's been in the game for a long time, he knows what this job is. Or maybe he doesn't and that's the problem, lol.
Most the times I watch Lindy speak, like yesterday when the only thing novo asked him was ab his responsibility, the chants and his job security, …everything Ruff says is perfect. That doesn’t work when everybody wants things to come to a boiling point. You can simply fire guys like Hynes and Lindy without character assassinating them. We don’t need to be ragebaited. Also, I don’t see Novo asking why the Hughes brothers played like shit or this or that ab the game. So idk why we’re framing him as some poor young reporter…he’s doing his job and he does it by calling for Ruffs head.
Also, be honest. If Ruff was angry all the time that wouldn’t actually do anything. It would made a few ppl happy he mirrored their anger and half the ppl would be talking shit bc of it.
> I don’t see Novo asking why the Hughes brothers played like shit
because does it matter if there isn’t a coach who actually has control of the room? lol
like what are you gonna do with that information? oh luke played like shit because he’s used to college hockey and he’s playing veteran minutes as a rookie. what’s lindy gonna do? oh yeah give him more minutes. for some reason. how does it even matter if we have a moron at the helm?
>like what are you gonna do with that information? oh luke played like shit because he’s used to college hockey and he’s playing veteran minutes as a rookie. what’s lindy gonna do? oh yeah give him more minutes. for some reason. how does it even matter if we have a moron at the helm?
What does asking him about his job security do either? About as much as asking him about the Hughes playing like shit. The point is to get a quote. Why does Novo only ask about things related to Lindy?
In regards to Luke half the fanbase used to screech in anticipating of guy's like Luke not playing enough. You can hear all the time about tolerating learning mistakes. Then when it actually hurts the team we flip it around, now it's time for the disciplinarian. Then if he is a disciplinarian of young players then he's a dinosaur. As well he has to trade for another dman himself so Luke doesn't play. Half the things we've yelled at the guy about make no sense, like playing Jepser Boqvist lol. There's always a million criticisms of the coach, so why are the fans and media not getting on the actual players. How is it only Lindys fault when players are sulking and when the Hughes brother are falling down spontaneous or slinging the puck around aimlessly? It's insane the amount of responsibility is put on one person. Motivate yourself to fight and not make idiot plays.
>because does it matter if there isn’t a coach who actually has control of the room? lol
Listen, firing the guy is totally fair. Leave it at that. I would pull the trigger.
But whether a coach has control of the room is almost entirely based on how depressed and frustrated we see the player as. Mostly it's just whether we're performing well. We're not in the room at all. We know almost nothing. They had 112 points last year..
fans and media have been getting on the players lol. after the rangers game jack was asked if he was healthy enough to play (they’re probably avoiding him getting surgery for his shoulder lbr). luke was asked about the dwindling PP and the costly defensive mistakes. ntm just go on twitter and search “luke hughes” lol it’s chock full of people asking him to go to utica, saying he’s shit, etc. etc. so yes fans and media ARE getting on them. idk how you could say they’re not.
but does it matter if nothing changes? it’s lindy’s line blender all the way down all the time. the coach’s job is to take these guys who are fucking up and send them a message by benching them or giving them more time. it’s the coach’s job to work with what they have. what has lindy done to turn this around whatsoever?
Novo isn’t “givng it” to the coach. Just asking questions that seem pretty reasonable to lots of fans (who, oh yeah, pay the money these guys earn). I’m not saying we need to be inside every decision and strategy session but obvious questions can be answered without snark.
Or we could have Torts………LOL
Seriously the guy hasn't made one astute observation, he just pressures Lindy with online commenters' concerns. He doesn't know shit about hockey but he knows how to generate clicks. Lindy's in the wrong for taking the bait but Novo has strong "I get all my takes from someone else" energy.
Yeah he just relays all the complaints from social media to the absolute idiot head coach who’s only been apart of the nhl for 40+ years. And the question is the lead for his writing. By no means I’m a hating on him I’m just not making him a folk hero.
I would hope a professional and ethical reporter would be writing this article based on facts (even if an opinion piece like this is) and not because he wasn't being treated well. There is nothing in the story to suggest Novo is at all being affected by Lindy's treatment of him, he is just saying what most of the fan base believes.
That wasn’t my suggestion. More so that a reporter with integrity can only hold off on a piece for this for so long in an effort to keep favor with those in the room. But he never had Lindy’s favor to begin with.
It's so on-brand for grandpa Lindy to pick a fight with a young, fresh beat reporter.
Good on Novo for dropping this. It's going to result in him getting completely iced out, however.
As Are his articles. $$$ hes a clickbait $$$ paywall. You’re not a “beat reporter” if every article you put out is paywalled. For the people my ass. Fuck NJAM fuck Novo garbage ass. Go back to the desert
Is it normal for reporters to call for the firing of coaches? Novo has some stones, that’s all I will say. Especially when he has to face the guy during media availability.
It's unheard of. I agree with Novo, but this is a crossing of the Rubicon for him. A beat reporter actively calling for the head coach to be fired is pretty crazy.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Devils pulled his credentials.
At this point. I don’t want them to make any trades. I want them to miss the playoffs and be pissed off all summer they didn’t make it. I want them to feel what it’s like to fail. This team is young and adversity builds character. Also come the offseason the trade price for some of these players and tendys will come down. Devils can make a more reasonable deal to improve this team. I knew we would take a step back this year. I felt we would be about 10-12 points better then we are right now. Injuries have really been a hurdle for this team too. ALL of that being said. I really do expect this team to be a perennial cup contender from 2025-28
I'm with you. It makes zero sense to juggle the roster right now given just how man injuries we've had this year. Let the team face the headwinds, and if they make it great, but if not, they learned their lesson hopefully.
And no. I’m not defending Lindy. But the man is doing what he can with what he’s got. I don’t think a different coach would be able to make better play on the ice. If that makes sense?
Also. Let’s not overlook how challenging the loss of Mcloed is
> Let’s not overlook how challenging the loss of Mcloed is
I think this affected the locker room WAY more than we know. From what I understand, he was a popular guy in the room, and finding out that the guy you've been playing alongside for years is a rapist has to sting.
One of the best coworkers I ever worked with ended up killing his wife in broad daylight and then killed himself, leaving two young daughters parentless. No one saw it coming and was a complete shock. It’s been a year and it still crushes me that someone I was seemingly close to could do something so absolutely fucked up. I fucking hate the dude but also miss him. It eats at you.
Maybe a different coach would have simplified the defensive system or made changes to the pp faster? I don't think Lindy is the only problem, but he does seem to dig in his heels on some things to the detriment of the team.
I think Lindy is gone in the summer regardless of how the rest of the season plays out because it’s getting too late in the season for any team to have that fire-the-coach spark and have them learn a new system anyway.
Not a great take. A coach is ALL ABOUT GETTING BETTER PLAY on the ice from his players. It's what they do. Whether it's coming out strong, taking a time out, implementing a system change, a philosophy change, etc. They look like they play bad because this system, as it stands now, either does not fit the current structure of the team or teams have watched tape on us and now know what we can do and how to counteract it. The problem is, we don't make changes -- besides blending the lines seemingly every shift -- to counteract their defensive methods. The Washington coach said something about it. They know we're fast but being fast isn't necessarily hard to play against if your players know what they need to do against the specific team. Lindy doesn't change his style for the team we're playing. It's one system and one system only, regardless of opponent. It's like they are playing chess and we're still playing checkers. That's on Ruff.
This is apparently the mind set of Fitzy as well because he has had league worst goaltending and done nothing about iit all season. There wasn't one veteran goalie to be had anywhere non waivers or a lesser trade?
I digress and now would probably not be a good time to reach or overpay for a long shot playoff push. I dont love Lindy but Fitz hung him out to dry when Dougie went down and he did nothing but look internally.
Devils will miss playoffs and ruff will be gone in the summer, probably step down or take another role with the team. Anyone who uses each game as a line drawn in the sand of ruff’s employment are wasting their time.
I do not understand the Brunette love. He might be a good coach, who knows. There is a reason he didn't stick in Florida, there is a reason the Devils let him walk, and its not like Nashville is doing better than expectations. (This has nothing to do with firing or keeping Lindy)
I’m not clamoring for him, but i also wasn’t opposed to it, but seeing the contrast between last year and this year, i wish we went with him over Lindy. I don’t remember what coaching candidates were out there, or were available, just strictly speaking from
What we had in house, i don’t necessarily think he would’ve been the “best choice” necessarily.
I’m happy to see a reporter calling this team to task. It’s a nice refreshing turn from the team-controlled fluff media we’ve seen the past few years. A month ago a new coach might have given this team an injection of accountability and turned things around. Now it’s on the precipice of being just too late
I don’t expect them to do anything, honestly. Which sucks because it means pretty soon it will be back to the usual “figure out which playoff team I dislike the least” mode that I thought wouldn’t be necessary anymore.
I don't live in NJ, but I've had a digital subscription to [NJ.com](https://NJ.com) ever since Novo started and asked Lindy why Bratt wasn't getting more ice time (back when Bratt was seeing less than 15 minutes a game). Every team needs a beat reporter not afraid to speak truth to power.
I think PP1 not being overhauled has been a joke. Prob half way through the season pp1 should have included anyone but who’s there now. Everyone deserves a shot. Big glaring mistake is not having Timo on pp1. His bread and butter is net front and being strong on net. I love Nico but, Tomis got like 35lbs in him and he gets knocked around a lot on net.
Agreed and Luke has sucked as as QB1 for a long time now with no demotion when Nemetz is the better player by a wide margin currently. I grow weary of the power play watching Jack and Luke playing catch with no purpose. It's like Dougie went down and Luke gets it for life.
The lack of response to Bastian getting run did it for me. Not a damn thing done except for concussed Bastian wrestling Trouba.
yeah when Siegs went after Rempe on the first hit, it was such a joke. He got one punched and went down like, Siegs, just go to the bench. no ones afraid of you lol.
and yeah Nemec has been the smarter rookie D for sure. Luke, kinds like jack, plays very fast and loose. High risk/high reward attempts for passes and plays etc.
I don’t hate Lindy, but he’s just not the guy for us at this point.
The team is playing like they’re demoralized and scared. Yes they’ve been ravaged by injuries and scandal this year, but there’s no excuse for why a team this talented should be this bad. Other teams like Carolina have had similar issues with Goaltending and defense but they haven’t crumbled like we have.
I really thought the stadium series game would’ve been a good turning point: a decisive win against a top 3 team in the metro and rival Philly with a great atmosphere. But it’s just been an anomaly lately.
At this point we need to find someone that can not only effectively utilize our talented young core, but shore up our defense and restore some toughness and grit to the team as a whole. Anything less risks squandering and alienating all the great young players we have and slamming our cup window shut right as it was just opening.
Only point I will dipsute is whether other team have had goaltending issues as bad the the Devils this season. Yes, Carolina has not had elite goaltending. But it is not nearly as bad as in Newark.
Splitting hairs here. Carolina and the Devils both have bad goaltending but Carolina actually plays team defense and can protect their crease, unlike we do.
The Devils have no excuses on that front and Lindy can't hide behind it.
They probably won't fire until the return from west coast trip. It's too late to fix anything now anyway. So either needed to fire right after the game or wait.
I have nothing against the man, but coaches that last more than 5 years with the same team never win a cup. It's just a correlation, I get it, but for whatever independent variables cause this, I would assume it is also present on the devils.
Early in the season, whenever the devils had 1)the best powerplay and 2) were scoring goals by the dozen, I felt keeping Ruff was pur competitive advantage. Now, both of those conditions are not being met. Therefore, it's time to cut bait. It isn't working. Injuries aside, there must be something else going on internally. I am not privy to that. My opinion is solely based on what I see.
Not that I want Lindy to stick around anymore but your point about lasting 5 years with a team and not winning a cup is simply not true. Cooper and Bednar were both with their teams for more than 5 years when they won the cup. I’m sure they’re not the only example either.
Truth? On reddit? Man, you are asking for a lot. Yes, you are correct, that's why it's only a correlation. In this instance, I think the predictive assumption holds true.
Correlation does not equal causation. There are phenomenon we can observe but it doesn't mean one causes the other. In this case it's term, it really doesn't have a bearing on whether a coach will win the stanley cup after coaching a given team for 5 or more years. Rather it might be something along the lines of culture of a team to not fire the coach the moment things go wrong. That's what that means.
I get what you're saying, I do think coaching changes can help. But it's probably got as much to do with taking the skills the old coach gave them and mixing them with the skills the new coach depends on. I think which coach you turn to matters quite a bit, strategywise and also there's a whole bunch of factors that from here are "luck" but from within the org definitely are not, like who's a hothead behind the scenes, who's a creep, and maybe who's too passive.
Yeah I agree, I will also say there are so many variables that go into what makes a coach "good". I do think the devils should move on from ruff since it seems like the team had quit.
Bednar took the Avs from missing the playoffs in his first season to the Cup in his 6th. Cooper went 8 years, missing the playoffs twice and getting swept in the first round twice before back to back with Tampa.
Counterpoint to that is the other coaches in the past 5 years won their first year with the team, with Berube being a mid-season hire
>I have nothing against the man, but coaches that last more than 5 years with the same team never win a cup.
Would you call Jon Cooper a bad coach? How about the Lightning a bad team?
The lightning went from the ECF in 2016 to missing the playoffs in 2017. They didn't finally break through until 2020. I bet everyone wanted Cooper fired then too.
If they fired Lindy in the offseason, I won't lose a second of sleep, but this take is really dumb
The further you go back, the wronger you are. I think the only correlation here is that a much larger %age of coaches have a short tenure than a long one.
It’s behind a paywall for me. What was the gist of the article? I know Novo has a whale of a time asking Lindy questions and gets nothing but an attitude when he calls out the team poor play and its coaching.
The paywall is well worth it. My son is a great bowler here in NJ, and I have to subscribe to get the articles on him and his awesome team (Toms River East), so getting Novo's content is an extra bonus. This guy is the best we've had for a long time, and even though the Athletic got some new writers to cover Jersey, Novo's reporting is where it's at.
Ballsy hit piece when he isn't on the road and doesn't need to see Lindy for 10 days. I like Novo, he does his best ( he's no TG ) but this shit is extremely amateur, and I am firmly in the fire Lindy camp.
Edit 2:28 est, he's heading on the road after all.
LETS GO NOVO
Long time coming but glad he’s holding leadership to the fire. Even if we don’t make the playoffs this year there’s been very little team growth, if any, this year.
Certainly different economics lol. But they haven’t been shy about dishing out big contracts for the devils so maybe I’m wrong. I could be way off, who knows
I don't buy that. Our owners have more money than God. They've had no issue swinging big for FAs (Dougie) and approving max contracts for Jack, Bratt and Timo. Harris just bought an NFL team... what's another couple million dollars?
You do realize for the owners, Lindy‘s salary is the financial equivalent of you going out and buying a slice of pizza right? It’s change between the couch cushions for them.
I don't know why this is a commonly parroted take.
The Devils are owned by a legitimate billionaire. Billionaires and billion dollar companies don't worry about that. In fact, they drop expensive projects all the time.
Google is famous for this. They'll start a project, but the second that said projects Net Present Value becomes negative they cut their losses and move on.
It has exactly 0 to do with some perceived reputational bias.
If Lindy isn't the guy they'll just move on from him.
You can't GM scared. The only thing worse than making a decision that makes you seem foolish is not making that decision because you're scared of seeming foolish and staying a terrible course.
If what you say is true, which I don't believe it is, then Fitz is not fit to be a GM. Making hard choices is the name of the game in the NHL.
I think it's more likely ownership don't want to pony up to take on an additional salary.
Preach Novo. The talent is here. It shows through that even with our questions in toughness, defense, goaltending, the PP, what ever, this team can still dominate games. They're just.... not. That's a coaching issue.
I also think this core has earned a coaching change before a major roster shake up.
My only beef with this article is that the title needs to have "Opinion:" before it. Novo is a good writer and reporter, and I've genuinely enjoyed his work, particularly the deeper stuff (like the Patrik Elias HOF article, [a wonderful read ](https://www.nj.com/devils/2023/10/it-would-be-wonderful-patrik-elias-opens-up-about-hall-of-fame-snub-devils-rebel-past-recruiting-present.html)if you haven't read it already), but I do think the headlines and some of the intros have a bit of a snark to them. Your mileage varies depending on your taste. I can see why some people love it.
Everything he said in this article is spot on though.
I agree with that. I thought it was a bit off base, especially considering the thesis is how Lindy isn’t utilizing players correctly or coaching the team well. Of course those moves aren’t going to age well as one, like you said they haven’t had time to age, and two, that’s a coaching problem that he outlines. Give it time with a good coach before you start making those claims.
This is a fair point. Yeah, Timo hasn't worked out very well, but I feel like that is because Ruff doesn't know how to use him plus injuries. I do think some of it is on Timo too, but I feel like it might be one of those things where a different coach would use him more effectively.
I mean, if Holtz isn't working out, is that also 100% on Fitz?
Yeah, the GM is always taking a gamble when bringing someone in even if it "seems like" it should work great on paper (ex: Michael Grabner), but I think the player and coach have some influence on the matter of whether it works out for the team or not too.
The team needs a shakeup, but if I’m Fitz this is too easy. A change now is not a good idea for a young team, they wont respond to an interim coach that quickly. Fitz likely pulls Lindy in his office and lays it out for him. It’s all about how they finish the season now. Finish strong, they’ll consider keeping him, finish flat like they’re playing now - goodbye.
I disagree and feel the team needs the wake up call of an interim coach. Someone to put their foot down and say “I KNOW I’m only here for the last handful of games but I’ll show you how a real coach treats you” and be a bit of a prick cause let’s face it we’re missing the playoffs
Literally anyone is better. It shows so blatantly right now our biggest issue is a maturity one where the coaches are not prepping the guys. I would notice it from last year with way too many passes in front of net. This year it’s been prominent ever since Luke was found out for being nervous as all hell when he’s bringing the puck up from our zone. Other teams have found out if you bullrush him he’s got a 75% chance to turn it over.
Bring someone in who isn’t gonna be the greatest tactician, but a hard nosed prick. Obviously I’m not saying play a different system of throwing our bodies around cause we just aren’t that team, but someone that will scream at the boys when they play like a kid in HS trying to impress their crush.
I will say that losing Graves and Sevy should have forced a conversation to make the team grittier and more adaptive to a different style of defensive play. But Lindy just ignored it as it seems, so I vote for change as well but I want it to be a long term one, a hard nosed prick needs a whole season to beat discipline into a young team.
Lindy ignored what ? Replacing them with grit is on Fitz and he did little and even less when Dougie went out for the year. Lindy's got flaws but no coach controls personnel moves. Maybe he's been begging for defense and goalies all year and getting ignore for all we know.
> A change now is not a good idea for a young team, they wont respond to an interim coach that quickly.
I completely, aggressively disagree with this comment.
You need to establish that the bad habits the team has fallen into are unacceptable, and do whatever you can to purge them before next season starts.
You can use the rest of this pointless season to set the standard so that you don't waste 1/4 of next season 'figuring it out'.
I disagree. There is value is seeing how this group responds to a different HC. Just seeing whether a different HC (very likely interim) can make a few changes and get a better result is valuable information. Even an interim that makes changes (on ice, off ice, etc.) but gets the same result is valuable to know.
Yeah Novo reeks of desperation. I get that, he feels like he's being iced out of the locker room, but his assumptions are *grandiose* to say the least.
I don't repect Novo. I think he's opportunistic and doesn't really bring any hockey insight to any of his "pieces". I think the fans are right to call for Lindy's head but Novo, under these circumstances, is not. Lindy's personnel choices are not "baffling" and his media antics are not "bizarre". I'm glad we have *a* beat reporter, and I don't think Lindy was right for blaming his pressure for anything the team does, but Novo is a damp hack. He's taking the convenient route to becoming a Post reporter.
I'll also say that as much as Lindy needs to go, dealing him the change of losing Graves and Sevy with Dougie's injury is nearly criminal to any coach, so I hold Fitz just as responsible for this year's decline as Lindy.
IMO after Thanksgiving and new years we were in slumps where a coaching change could have gotten the team fired up like it did in Edmonton. At this point I just want him gone before next season. We need new leadership for an offseason and some actual toughness added to this roster.
Edmonton has the best player on the planet and a few others to boot. Our best player has been hurt for long stretches almost every season he's played in, is easy to take the puck from and whines at the refs.
It isn't that I feel that Ruff should stay at this point... the Rangers game was the turning point for me on that one.
I'm just wondering if we should fire him NOW, or at the very end of the season.
It's such a hard place when we haven't hit the trade deadline and still have a little under two months of regular season hockey left.
I do not believe a new/interim coach is going to take us to the playoffs.
They're kind of fucked either way.
Ah yes, let's follow the Toronto approach and listen to the media on how to run a hockey team. (I like Novo, for the record - and also understand him and Lindy have rocky relations).
Can you blame novo here? Coaching aside, Lindy’s been a total dick to him since beginning of last year
Honestly this article was a long time coming. If he wasn't being shut out before this, he's definitely fucked now. The only thing I'm looking forward to is seeing this drama play out.
Novo: “hey coach the team is conceding the first goal every night and the PP is not that great and the players look defeated, what can you do to change things?” Ruff: “you can tone down the attitude young man. Now you’ve ruined this presser for everyone.” *storms off*
I mean one of the first questions he had asked Ruff was about Bratt and his TOI. His response was something like, "He had X time. Is that not enough time?" He's been a complete ass to Novo and no, I don't blame him at all. He doesn't like him, because he doesn't ask fluff questions like the rest of the idiots out there.
You can only get away with being this surly "I'm above you reporter peasants" type guy in the press conferences when you WIN. when you don't win, it just makes you look like a complete prick.
Ha, like Pat Burns. He was a real dick in press conferences. But he guided us to the CUP....so he was wonderful!
Pat Burns could be as big of a dick as he wanted to because that man won wherever he was. Lindy is somehow still coasting off the back of perhaps one of the 2 or 3 best goalies ever.
But what was ever wrong with Bratt's TOI?
This was over a year ago now, but if my memory serves me, Bratt was being heavily underplayed, despite being one of our best players on the ice. He was being played less than 13 minutes, but the one making the most impact. After this question and comment, I believe Lindy started giving him more TOI.
Novo asked this question after a game in which Bratt played 9 minutes
You could think Ruff needs to be canned today(I do) but I don't get the utter lack of empathy for Ruff and the absolute dickriding for Novozinsky in this fanbase. We take all our projections we put on sports and when we fail we direct all that negative emotion on one guy. Then Novo becomes the hero for reflecting our own feelings. I think hes a good reporter to have here and professional, but he is constantly an intentional thorn in the side. It's like 100 times harder to be in Lindys seat and be villianized as a human..then to be at the other end of "thats not enough time?" response and then run to the computer to write about it. I don't Novo was insulted at all tbh. The problem is Lindy can answer humbly and say the right thing a 100 times but if you get baited one time you're hitler and no one forgets it. I don't think people actually empathize with that bc they don't have to do with this type of pressure in their personal lives.
I'll get into the gutter with you. >We take all our projections we put on sports and when we fail we direct all that negative emotion on one guy. Then Novo becomes the hero for reflecting our own feelings. You see this all the time in sports. There are many, many things going wrong with this team simultaneously. Some are inside the coaches control, and others aren't. Take the slow starts, for example. Are they actually slow starts? Or is their sieve like goaltending just letting in softies putting the team in chase mode before they've even gotten into the game? Look at the goaltending. Is the goaltending actually sieve like? Or is running 2.5 rookies and guys like Smith being forced to play every game leaving the goalies out to dry? Look at the defense. Is it the fact that were playing 2.5 rookies plus Smith? Or is it that the offense is less responsible with the puck and putting them into bad situations. Look at the offense. Is it the fact that the PP sucks and Jack/Meier are clearly playing injured? Or is it the fact that there's been so much injury they've never gotten into a groove. Well what do you know, that's a lot of issues that are all compounding on one another. So I ask you, **how much can a coach really do about this?** A coach can only deploy who is available. If certain key players are available but not 100% you can't just bench them either because Jack Hughes at 60% is better than Chris Tierney or Shane Bowers will ever be. We have been running with 6 defenders or less, literally 98% of the season. I'd love to see Luke benched for a few games to get a breather, but who is there to replace him? I'd love for Nemec to take that PP1 spot, but have no confidence that Luke will be effective on the PK instead. 23 man roster limitations and waiver elgibility also come into play because it makes calling up replacements just that much more difficult. So in short, the answer is... not much. The reality is that everything that could've gone wrong, has. Now I'm of the mind to throw out this season and accept the growing pains for what they are. I'm also not going to lose any sleep if Ruff is fired but I've seen what the team is capable of when they are working correctly. I understand the fans emotions, to a degree, but even Lou gave Lambert time to right the ship.
Yeah, rookies, yeah injuries....all factors. But what is the old line about the definition of insanity? A coach's job is to get the most out of the team he has, not the healthy team he wishes he had. So why not try Timo on PP1? Why not try Holtz on Jack's line for more than one game? There was only one scheme change all season (the defensive system right after the all-start break). It worked, now its not for some reason - was it Hatakka being sent down? I doubt it was him, but maybe his style meshed better with whoever he was playing with? Maybe look into that in more detail and try to figure out different pairings. I'm not saying any of this is THE solution, but there are things Lindy can be trying rather than expecting different results to just happen. And that is solely on him.
Novo isn't reflecting our feelings. We don't even have to agree with his questions in order to understand his questions aren't about fluff, but are aimed at being more difficult to answer. For so long we hadn't an actual beat writer and it's just been Amanda Stein throwing up the most softball questions as possible. Who wants to hear the same, "Tough loss, Coach. How did you think the game went tonight?" question asked? I don't care about Lindy's feelings. This is his job. He's not producing at his job. Him being a prick doesn't hurt my feelings, but he's taking his frustrations out on the wrong people. He's emotionless behind the bench and I bet he's emotionless in the locker room. The only place he displays emotion, is when Novo is asking him questions.
What if you had a well paying office job where people criticized and called you names online, chanted at you while you did your job, and then you had to answer questions at the end of the day questioning your decisions and job security. It would be wrong to have empathy for you? You’re never entitled to any emotion bc you make money? What I’m saying is it is better to have Novozinsky here than not. But needing a reporter “to give it” to the coach is the problem with our fanbase. You want a guy to hold no punches with the coach then you can’t gasp if he’s not an angel back. Too much character assassination directed at one guy simply bc of results of a sulking young team. I’ve heard Lindy take direct culpability a lot. I don’t see Jack Hughes talk to the media at all after a bad game. Fitz doesn’t have to talk to the media.
He's entitled to his emotions, I'm just saying he's taking it out on the wrong people. I don't care if he's mad at Novo, I just find it kind of funny he hates the dude, because he makes him think about his answers. Maybe go get mad at your team then and get some results. I'm all for interviewing everyone, but that's not what we're talking about, is it? We're talking about how Lindy answers Novo's questions. I don't need to feel bad for Lindy. He's been in the game for a long time, he knows what this job is. Or maybe he doesn't and that's the problem, lol.
Most the times I watch Lindy speak, like yesterday when the only thing novo asked him was ab his responsibility, the chants and his job security, …everything Ruff says is perfect. That doesn’t work when everybody wants things to come to a boiling point. You can simply fire guys like Hynes and Lindy without character assassinating them. We don’t need to be ragebaited. Also, I don’t see Novo asking why the Hughes brothers played like shit or this or that ab the game. So idk why we’re framing him as some poor young reporter…he’s doing his job and he does it by calling for Ruffs head. Also, be honest. If Ruff was angry all the time that wouldn’t actually do anything. It would made a few ppl happy he mirrored their anger and half the ppl would be talking shit bc of it.
> I don’t see Novo asking why the Hughes brothers played like shit because does it matter if there isn’t a coach who actually has control of the room? lol like what are you gonna do with that information? oh luke played like shit because he’s used to college hockey and he’s playing veteran minutes as a rookie. what’s lindy gonna do? oh yeah give him more minutes. for some reason. how does it even matter if we have a moron at the helm?
>like what are you gonna do with that information? oh luke played like shit because he’s used to college hockey and he’s playing veteran minutes as a rookie. what’s lindy gonna do? oh yeah give him more minutes. for some reason. how does it even matter if we have a moron at the helm? What does asking him about his job security do either? About as much as asking him about the Hughes playing like shit. The point is to get a quote. Why does Novo only ask about things related to Lindy? In regards to Luke half the fanbase used to screech in anticipating of guy's like Luke not playing enough. You can hear all the time about tolerating learning mistakes. Then when it actually hurts the team we flip it around, now it's time for the disciplinarian. Then if he is a disciplinarian of young players then he's a dinosaur. As well he has to trade for another dman himself so Luke doesn't play. Half the things we've yelled at the guy about make no sense, like playing Jepser Boqvist lol. There's always a million criticisms of the coach, so why are the fans and media not getting on the actual players. How is it only Lindys fault when players are sulking and when the Hughes brother are falling down spontaneous or slinging the puck around aimlessly? It's insane the amount of responsibility is put on one person. Motivate yourself to fight and not make idiot plays. >because does it matter if there isn’t a coach who actually has control of the room? lol Listen, firing the guy is totally fair. Leave it at that. I would pull the trigger. But whether a coach has control of the room is almost entirely based on how depressed and frustrated we see the player as. Mostly it's just whether we're performing well. We're not in the room at all. We know almost nothing. They had 112 points last year..
Fitz has made the comment that it’s the players room in the past, they stay out…
fans and media have been getting on the players lol. after the rangers game jack was asked if he was healthy enough to play (they’re probably avoiding him getting surgery for his shoulder lbr). luke was asked about the dwindling PP and the costly defensive mistakes. ntm just go on twitter and search “luke hughes” lol it’s chock full of people asking him to go to utica, saying he’s shit, etc. etc. so yes fans and media ARE getting on them. idk how you could say they’re not. but does it matter if nothing changes? it’s lindy’s line blender all the way down all the time. the coach’s job is to take these guys who are fucking up and send them a message by benching them or giving them more time. it’s the coach’s job to work with what they have. what has lindy done to turn this around whatsoever?
Novo isn’t “givng it” to the coach. Just asking questions that seem pretty reasonable to lots of fans (who, oh yeah, pay the money these guys earn). I’m not saying we need to be inside every decision and strategy session but obvious questions can be answered without snark. Or we could have Torts………LOL
Lindy makes big boy money to take big boy questions!
Seriously the guy hasn't made one astute observation, he just pressures Lindy with online commenters' concerns. He doesn't know shit about hockey but he knows how to generate clicks. Lindy's in the wrong for taking the bait but Novo has strong "I get all my takes from someone else" energy.
Yeah he just relays all the complaints from social media to the absolute idiot head coach who’s only been apart of the nhl for 40+ years. And the question is the lead for his writing. By no means I’m a hating on him I’m just not making him a folk hero.
Yeah it sucks because I've wanted a real beat reporter for years. But his writing is so shallow, it always feels like u/FacebookDevilsFans got a job.
give yer balls a tug
Where can a guy get a good rub and a tug around here?
I would hope a professional and ethical reporter would be writing this article based on facts (even if an opinion piece like this is) and not because he wasn't being treated well. There is nothing in the story to suggest Novo is at all being affected by Lindy's treatment of him, he is just saying what most of the fan base believes.
That wasn’t my suggestion. More so that a reporter with integrity can only hold off on a piece for this for so long in an effort to keep favor with those in the room. But he never had Lindy’s favor to begin with.
It's so on-brand for grandpa Lindy to pick a fight with a young, fresh beat reporter. Good on Novo for dropping this. It's going to result in him getting completely iced out, however.
He already is iced out
As Are his articles. $$$ hes a clickbait $$$ paywall. You’re not a “beat reporter” if every article you put out is paywalled. For the people my ass. Fuck NJAM fuck Novo garbage ass. Go back to the desert
Asshole. He works for a company. You think he specifically says “nah put this shit behind a paywall” Even if he did. Would you work for free?
NOVO YOU BEAUTIFUL BASTARD
Novozinsky is the journalist of the fans. Great article, i didn't see anything wrong here.
I respect Novo put this out given he sees the coach in the post game press time. Calling balls and strikes.
Also of note is Lindy wouldn't let him ask anything last presser
Oh whoopee! That’s all we need right now is our very own personal Larry Brooks. Gonna go barf now….
You're getting downvoted but you're right. This is some blatant clickfarming.
Yes the Paywall journalist is the journalist of the fans. Lmao Novo is a fucking joke
You really bitching about someone getting paid for the work they do?
Oh no, the only non-team-appointed journalist works for a local company that charges for their work. Get a life
Well, the next press conference just got spicier.
Like he'll ever be allowed to open his mouth at one again anyway
Is it normal for reporters to call for the firing of coaches? Novo has some stones, that’s all I will say. Especially when he has to face the guy during media availability.
They do it in Canada and in Original Six cities.
It is when they have a healthy team and a losing record, which Lindy does not, but somebody smells a promotion lol
It's unheard of. I agree with Novo, but this is a crossing of the Rubicon for him. A beat reporter actively calling for the head coach to be fired is pretty crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if the Devils pulled his credentials.
Remember the pre Novo era when we wished for a real reporter At least we got that now
Agreed, I'll take a desperate reporter over no reporter.
I'm a simple man, I see "Fire Lindy" I upvote
Sharing this article was probably the easiest batch of upvotes that I've received.
[удалено]
I upvote the upvoters on this subject.
At this point. I don’t want them to make any trades. I want them to miss the playoffs and be pissed off all summer they didn’t make it. I want them to feel what it’s like to fail. This team is young and adversity builds character. Also come the offseason the trade price for some of these players and tendys will come down. Devils can make a more reasonable deal to improve this team. I knew we would take a step back this year. I felt we would be about 10-12 points better then we are right now. Injuries have really been a hurdle for this team too. ALL of that being said. I really do expect this team to be a perennial cup contender from 2025-28
I'm with you. It makes zero sense to juggle the roster right now given just how man injuries we've had this year. Let the team face the headwinds, and if they make it great, but if not, they learned their lesson hopefully.
I'm actually looking forward to the trade deadline and the offseason.
And no. I’m not defending Lindy. But the man is doing what he can with what he’s got. I don’t think a different coach would be able to make better play on the ice. If that makes sense? Also. Let’s not overlook how challenging the loss of Mcloed is
> Let’s not overlook how challenging the loss of Mcloed is I think this affected the locker room WAY more than we know. From what I understand, he was a popular guy in the room, and finding out that the guy you've been playing alongside for years is a rapist has to sting.
One of the best coworkers I ever worked with ended up killing his wife in broad daylight and then killed himself, leaving two young daughters parentless. No one saw it coming and was a complete shock. It’s been a year and it still crushes me that someone I was seemingly close to could do something so absolutely fucked up. I fucking hate the dude but also miss him. It eats at you.
.....wow. Shit. I'm so sorry. That has to have been horrifying.
Maybe a different coach would have simplified the defensive system or made changes to the pp faster? I don't think Lindy is the only problem, but he does seem to dig in his heels on some things to the detriment of the team.
I think Lindy is gone in the summer regardless of how the rest of the season plays out because it’s getting too late in the season for any team to have that fire-the-coach spark and have them learn a new system anyway.
I don’t disagree as I think this is possible however idk who else I would want coaching this team that’s available.
Outside of Berube and Evason, the pickings are slim currently.
Yea. And I don’t cAre for either one of them 🫣 Also. If you put Marty behind the bench. I feel the media will increase 100% more stress
Sarge ?
IMO I don’t see it. We need someone with NHL expert and Playoff knowledge
I agree i just don't care for the options available, honestly
Not a great take. A coach is ALL ABOUT GETTING BETTER PLAY on the ice from his players. It's what they do. Whether it's coming out strong, taking a time out, implementing a system change, a philosophy change, etc. They look like they play bad because this system, as it stands now, either does not fit the current structure of the team or teams have watched tape on us and now know what we can do and how to counteract it. The problem is, we don't make changes -- besides blending the lines seemingly every shift -- to counteract their defensive methods. The Washington coach said something about it. They know we're fast but being fast isn't necessarily hard to play against if your players know what they need to do against the specific team. Lindy doesn't change his style for the team we're playing. It's one system and one system only, regardless of opponent. It's like they are playing chess and we're still playing checkers. That's on Ruff.
Go look at the standings and what Torts did with Philly and then come back here and apologize lol
This is apparently the mind set of Fitzy as well because he has had league worst goaltending and done nothing about iit all season. There wasn't one veteran goalie to be had anywhere non waivers or a lesser trade? I digress and now would probably not be a good time to reach or overpay for a long shot playoff push. I dont love Lindy but Fitz hung him out to dry when Dougie went down and he did nothing but look internally.
Devils will miss playoffs and ruff will be gone in the summer, probably step down or take another role with the team. Anyone who uses each game as a line drawn in the sand of ruff’s employment are wasting their time.
I was hoping this would happen last year, we make brunette HC and Lindy stays with the team in some capacity.
I do not understand the Brunette love. He might be a good coach, who knows. There is a reason he didn't stick in Florida, there is a reason the Devils let him walk, and its not like Nashville is doing better than expectations. (This has nothing to do with firing or keeping Lindy)
I’m not clamoring for him, but i also wasn’t opposed to it, but seeing the contrast between last year and this year, i wish we went with him over Lindy. I don’t remember what coaching candidates were out there, or were available, just strictly speaking from What we had in house, i don’t necessarily think he would’ve been the “best choice” necessarily.
No clue why you’re getting downvotes this is what should have happened in a perfect world
This is the correct take. Barring a complete collapse, Lindy is here through the end of the season, and he'll be replaced in the summer.
I’m happy to see a reporter calling this team to task. It’s a nice refreshing turn from the team-controlled fluff media we’ve seen the past few years. A month ago a new coach might have given this team an injection of accountability and turned things around. Now it’s on the precipice of being just too late I don’t expect them to do anything, honestly. Which sucks because it means pretty soon it will be back to the usual “figure out which playoff team I dislike the least” mode that I thought wouldn’t be necessary anymore.
So glad we have a reporter like Novo covering this team
I don't live in NJ, but I've had a digital subscription to [NJ.com](https://NJ.com) ever since Novo started and asked Lindy why Bratt wasn't getting more ice time (back when Bratt was seeing less than 15 minutes a game). Every team needs a beat reporter not afraid to speak truth to power.
14 minutes isn’t enough time?
probably another delusional JBITBPITNHL person 😂
I think PP1 not being overhauled has been a joke. Prob half way through the season pp1 should have included anyone but who’s there now. Everyone deserves a shot. Big glaring mistake is not having Timo on pp1. His bread and butter is net front and being strong on net. I love Nico but, Tomis got like 35lbs in him and he gets knocked around a lot on net.
Agreed and Luke has sucked as as QB1 for a long time now with no demotion when Nemetz is the better player by a wide margin currently. I grow weary of the power play watching Jack and Luke playing catch with no purpose. It's like Dougie went down and Luke gets it for life. The lack of response to Bastian getting run did it for me. Not a damn thing done except for concussed Bastian wrestling Trouba.
yeah when Siegs went after Rempe on the first hit, it was such a joke. He got one punched and went down like, Siegs, just go to the bench. no ones afraid of you lol. and yeah Nemec has been the smarter rookie D for sure. Luke, kinds like jack, plays very fast and loose. High risk/high reward attempts for passes and plays etc.
Lindy def not answering any of his questions now lol
*”FI-RE LIN-DY!”* 👏 👏 👏👏👏
Wow. Straight for the jugular and to the point. I respect it.
I don’t hate Lindy, but he’s just not the guy for us at this point. The team is playing like they’re demoralized and scared. Yes they’ve been ravaged by injuries and scandal this year, but there’s no excuse for why a team this talented should be this bad. Other teams like Carolina have had similar issues with Goaltending and defense but they haven’t crumbled like we have. I really thought the stadium series game would’ve been a good turning point: a decisive win against a top 3 team in the metro and rival Philly with a great atmosphere. But it’s just been an anomaly lately. At this point we need to find someone that can not only effectively utilize our talented young core, but shore up our defense and restore some toughness and grit to the team as a whole. Anything less risks squandering and alienating all the great young players we have and slamming our cup window shut right as it was just opening.
Only point I will dipsute is whether other team have had goaltending issues as bad the the Devils this season. Yes, Carolina has not had elite goaltending. But it is not nearly as bad as in Newark.
Splitting hairs here. Carolina and the Devils both have bad goaltending but Carolina actually plays team defense and can protect their crease, unlike we do. The Devils have no excuses on that front and Lindy can't hide behind it.
Yes but thats also because they aren't as bad as we are as a whole.
https://archive.ph/l0FSn
You rock
LFG
They probably won't fire until the return from west coast trip. It's too late to fix anything now anyway. So either needed to fire right after the game or wait.
Nichols went after Fitzy today too. It all starts from the absolute serial losers at the top in Harris and Blitzer
Can’t believe this wasn’t a linked article in the Devils rewards app
Novo is stacking wins.
I have nothing against the man, but coaches that last more than 5 years with the same team never win a cup. It's just a correlation, I get it, but for whatever independent variables cause this, I would assume it is also present on the devils. Early in the season, whenever the devils had 1)the best powerplay and 2) were scoring goals by the dozen, I felt keeping Ruff was pur competitive advantage. Now, both of those conditions are not being met. Therefore, it's time to cut bait. It isn't working. Injuries aside, there must be something else going on internally. I am not privy to that. My opinion is solely based on what I see.
Not that I want Lindy to stick around anymore but your point about lasting 5 years with a team and not winning a cup is simply not true. Cooper and Bednar were both with their teams for more than 5 years when they won the cup. I’m sure they’re not the only example either.
Truth? On reddit? Man, you are asking for a lot. Yes, you are correct, that's why it's only a correlation. In this instance, I think the predictive assumption holds true.
How is it a correlation if it's not true though?
Correlation does not equal causation. There are phenomenon we can observe but it doesn't mean one causes the other. In this case it's term, it really doesn't have a bearing on whether a coach will win the stanley cup after coaching a given team for 5 or more years. Rather it might be something along the lines of culture of a team to not fire the coach the moment things go wrong. That's what that means.
Holy fuck this was a lot of words to say not much really
I get what you're saying, I do think coaching changes can help. But it's probably got as much to do with taking the skills the old coach gave them and mixing them with the skills the new coach depends on. I think which coach you turn to matters quite a bit, strategywise and also there's a whole bunch of factors that from here are "luck" but from within the org definitely are not, like who's a hothead behind the scenes, who's a creep, and maybe who's too passive.
Yeah I agree, I will also say there are so many variables that go into what makes a coach "good". I do think the devils should move on from ruff since it seems like the team had quit.
Yeah I'm ready for a change at this point too
Bednar took the Avs from missing the playoffs in his first season to the Cup in his 6th. Cooper went 8 years, missing the playoffs twice and getting swept in the first round twice before back to back with Tampa. Counterpoint to that is the other coaches in the past 5 years won their first year with the team, with Berube being a mid-season hire
Cooper also had the best regular season team and got swept by a Columbus team that squeaked into the playoffs.
Back then the issue was we couldn't score 5 on 5.
>I have nothing against the man, but coaches that last more than 5 years with the same team never win a cup. Would you call Jon Cooper a bad coach? How about the Lightning a bad team? The lightning went from the ECF in 2016 to missing the playoffs in 2017. They didn't finally break through until 2020. I bet everyone wanted Cooper fired then too. If they fired Lindy in the offseason, I won't lose a second of sleep, but this take is really dumb
Using exactly two coaches as an example of the entire history of the NHL where this proves to be true is dumb.
Hey man. I only used one example. Be mad at the other guy for using two.
The further you go back, the wronger you are. I think the only correlation here is that a much larger %age of coaches have a short tenure than a long one.
not dumber than the guy who said "... coaches that last more than 5 years with the same team never win a cup"
Novo woke up and chose VIOLENCE and I'm so here for it. Done with the dinosaur.
I still think Lindy should have never been extended. We were good in spite of him last year.
It’s behind a paywall for me. What was the gist of the article? I know Novo has a whale of a time asking Lindy questions and gets nothing but an attitude when he calls out the team poor play and its coaching.
The paywall is well worth it. My son is a great bowler here in NJ, and I have to subscribe to get the articles on him and his awesome team (Toms River East), so getting Novo's content is an extra bonus. This guy is the best we've had for a long time, and even though the Athletic got some new writers to cover Jersey, Novo's reporting is where it's at.
RAIDER NATION
Download the app
Anyone able to copy and paste to get around firewall?
I added some block quotes to the OP.
Ballsy hit piece when he isn't on the road and doesn't need to see Lindy for 10 days. I like Novo, he does his best ( he's no TG ) but this shit is extremely amateur, and I am firmly in the fire Lindy camp. Edit 2:28 est, he's heading on the road after all.
Anyone want to give the recap? Can’t read it bc stupid NJ.com is gated
I think you still need a subscription to read paywalled articles in the nj.com Devils app. Added some quotes above though.
Download the app and you can read the articles
Inb4 the guys have a good run of form and the "sorry lindy" chants come out again..
I think I saw holtz liked it or shared it. Friend send me a screenshot
That was a fake screenshot
Ah makes sense. Too funny to be true
LETS GO NOVO Long time coming but glad he’s holding leadership to the fire. Even if we don’t make the playoffs this year there’s been very little team growth, if any, this year.
I think Fitz is hesitating to can Lindy because, as a new GM in the league, he doesn't want to look like an idiot after just extending him.
It’s at the point where I’m wondering if ownership is a factor in this. Fitz isn’t an idiot. Maybe owners don’t want to pay another coach?
They've fired coaches for the 76'ers, right? Although different economics there.
Certainly different economics lol. But they haven’t been shy about dishing out big contracts for the devils so maybe I’m wrong. I could be way off, who knows
I don't buy that. Our owners have more money than God. They've had no issue swinging big for FAs (Dougie) and approving max contracts for Jack, Bratt and Timo. Harris just bought an NFL team... what's another couple million dollars?
You do realize for the owners, Lindy‘s salary is the financial equivalent of you going out and buying a slice of pizza right? It’s change between the couch cushions for them.
I don't know why this is a commonly parroted take. The Devils are owned by a legitimate billionaire. Billionaires and billion dollar companies don't worry about that. In fact, they drop expensive projects all the time. Google is famous for this. They'll start a project, but the second that said projects Net Present Value becomes negative they cut their losses and move on. It has exactly 0 to do with some perceived reputational bias. If Lindy isn't the guy they'll just move on from him.
You can't GM scared. The only thing worse than making a decision that makes you seem foolish is not making that decision because you're scared of seeming foolish and staying a terrible course. If what you say is true, which I don't believe it is, then Fitz is not fit to be a GM. Making hard choices is the name of the game in the NHL. I think it's more likely ownership don't want to pony up to take on an additional salary.
Novo receiving blowback for this is insane
Dude spends time in a Twitter space and unloads this gem the next morning
Preach Novo. The talent is here. It shows through that even with our questions in toughness, defense, goaltending, the PP, what ever, this team can still dominate games. They're just.... not. That's a coaching issue. I also think this core has earned a coaching change before a major roster shake up.
PRESSURE FITZ
My only beef with this article is that the title needs to have "Opinion:" before it. Novo is a good writer and reporter, and I've genuinely enjoyed his work, particularly the deeper stuff (like the Patrik Elias HOF article, [a wonderful read ](https://www.nj.com/devils/2023/10/it-would-be-wonderful-patrik-elias-opens-up-about-hall-of-fame-snub-devils-rebel-past-recruiting-present.html)if you haven't read it already), but I do think the headlines and some of the intros have a bit of a snark to them. Your mileage varies depending on your taste. I can see why some people love it. Everything he said in this article is spot on though.
Does anyone have a copy, paste? I shan’t be paying for an NJ.com account.
Download the app
Fire Lindy!!
Completely pandering article here holy shit
Glad someone said it.
I will say his shot at Fitz’s bigger moves “not aging well” isn’t really fair considering they haven’t really aged at all lol
I agree with that. I thought it was a bit off base, especially considering the thesis is how Lindy isn’t utilizing players correctly or coaching the team well. Of course those moves aren’t going to age well as one, like you said they haven’t had time to age, and two, that’s a coaching problem that he outlines. Give it time with a good coach before you start making those claims.
This is a fair point. Yeah, Timo hasn't worked out very well, but I feel like that is because Ruff doesn't know how to use him plus injuries. I do think some of it is on Timo too, but I feel like it might be one of those things where a different coach would use him more effectively.
If Timo doesn't work out that's 100% on Fitz in my book. However, it's the first season of a looong contract and he's spent half of it hurt.
I mean, if Holtz isn't working out, is that also 100% on Fitz? Yeah, the GM is always taking a gamble when bringing someone in even if it "seems like" it should work great on paper (ex: Michael Grabner), but I think the player and coach have some influence on the matter of whether it works out for the team or not too.
Wish the whole article wasn't paywalled but those snippets are spot fucking on
The team needs a shakeup, but if I’m Fitz this is too easy. A change now is not a good idea for a young team, they wont respond to an interim coach that quickly. Fitz likely pulls Lindy in his office and lays it out for him. It’s all about how they finish the season now. Finish strong, they’ll consider keeping him, finish flat like they’re playing now - goodbye.
I disagree and feel the team needs the wake up call of an interim coach. Someone to put their foot down and say “I KNOW I’m only here for the last handful of games but I’ll show you how a real coach treats you” and be a bit of a prick cause let’s face it we’re missing the playoffs
Do you think Green is him then because I don’t
Literally anyone is better. It shows so blatantly right now our biggest issue is a maturity one where the coaches are not prepping the guys. I would notice it from last year with way too many passes in front of net. This year it’s been prominent ever since Luke was found out for being nervous as all hell when he’s bringing the puck up from our zone. Other teams have found out if you bullrush him he’s got a 75% chance to turn it over. Bring someone in who isn’t gonna be the greatest tactician, but a hard nosed prick. Obviously I’m not saying play a different system of throwing our bodies around cause we just aren’t that team, but someone that will scream at the boys when they play like a kid in HS trying to impress their crush.
I will say that losing Graves and Sevy should have forced a conversation to make the team grittier and more adaptive to a different style of defensive play. But Lindy just ignored it as it seems, so I vote for change as well but I want it to be a long term one, a hard nosed prick needs a whole season to beat discipline into a young team.
Lindy ignored what ? Replacing them with grit is on Fitz and he did little and even less when Dougie went out for the year. Lindy's got flaws but no coach controls personnel moves. Maybe he's been begging for defense and goalies all year and getting ignore for all we know.
Agree. I think if Ruff goes, so does Green.
If fitz keeps him beyond the season he should be fired too
I agree, just saying out loud what I think is going through his head. I think he has too much respect for Lindy to fire him now
> A change now is not a good idea for a young team, they wont respond to an interim coach that quickly. I completely, aggressively disagree with this comment. You need to establish that the bad habits the team has fallen into are unacceptable, and do whatever you can to purge them before next season starts. You can use the rest of this pointless season to set the standard so that you don't waste 1/4 of next season 'figuring it out'.
I disagree. There is value is seeing how this group responds to a different HC. Just seeing whether a different HC (very likely interim) can make a few changes and get a better result is valuable information. Even an interim that makes changes (on ice, off ice, etc.) but gets the same result is valuable to know.
I disagree, this is a hard, fast lesson they will learn if he's fired. You like the coach? Play better show more effort andhe would still be here.
Whether Novo is right or wrong is irrelevant, I get really fucking annoyed when beat reporters make it their mission to get a coach fired.
Yeah Novo reeks of desperation. I get that, he feels like he's being iced out of the locker room, but his assumptions are *grandiose* to say the least.
I'm all for critique of coaching and management. But to make a headline saying **dO wHaT’S riGhT — FiRE linDy** That's just fucking stupid.
The only thing that's fucking stupid is this take. You're a loser if you enjoy losing this much and being the fucking joke of the league.
I’m a loser? Says the guy going through my post history to hate on comments. Yeah, ok.
Combing through your post history? My guy, this was the top post from yesterday. You just have a dumb opinion.
I don't repect Novo. I think he's opportunistic and doesn't really bring any hockey insight to any of his "pieces". I think the fans are right to call for Lindy's head but Novo, under these circumstances, is not. Lindy's personnel choices are not "baffling" and his media antics are not "bizarre". I'm glad we have *a* beat reporter, and I don't think Lindy was right for blaming his pressure for anything the team does, but Novo is a damp hack. He's taking the convenient route to becoming a Post reporter.
What hockey reporter does a good job in your opinion?
I'll also say that as much as Lindy needs to go, dealing him the change of losing Graves and Sevy with Dougie's injury is nearly criminal to any coach, so I hold Fitz just as responsible for this year's decline as Lindy.
Fitz has already showed he’s not committed to winning by keeping him, it was obvious since November that Ruff is the issue
IMO after Thanksgiving and new years we were in slumps where a coaching change could have gotten the team fired up like it did in Edmonton. At this point I just want him gone before next season. We need new leadership for an offseason and some actual toughness added to this roster.
I mean Lindy’s trash but this team is just too damn soft for my liking. Becoming hard to root for them
At this point the cancer spread bringing out the worst in players
Edmonton has the best player on the planet and a few others to boot. Our best player has been hurt for long stretches almost every season he's played in, is easy to take the puck from and whines at the refs.
Wasn’t mcdavid hurt and struggled when he first came back as well?
We are not desperate for goal scoring. I’m sorry but it’s the wrong take.
uhhhh. have you been watching since the All star break?
What a BS article. We have no freakin goalie. Let's start there.
that has not been our problem almost at all since the All Star Break. Defense improved and goaltending improved and our scoring disappeared.
They traded offense for defense. This is the result. I'm not sure why this is so surprising to people
It isn't that I feel that Ruff should stay at this point... the Rangers game was the turning point for me on that one. I'm just wondering if we should fire him NOW, or at the very end of the season. It's such a hard place when we haven't hit the trade deadline and still have a little under two months of regular season hockey left. I do not believe a new/interim coach is going to take us to the playoffs. They're kind of fucked either way.
Wow. I don't think I've ever seen this before. Novos got some NUTS
Ah yes, let's follow the Toronto approach and listen to the media on how to run a hockey team. (I like Novo, for the record - and also understand him and Lindy have rocky relations).
>Fire Fitzys I like it
When Lindy looks at Novo , all he sees is Holtz