New Jersey Devils Key Players Express Disappointment At Exit Interviews

The New Jersey Devils held their exit interviews and the biggest takeaway was the players disappointment in how their season ended.

The time for talking is over for the New Jersey Devils. There has to be action heading into next season.

Heading into the 2021-22 NHL season, the New Jersey Devils wanted to play meaningful games. That did not happen down the stretch. And for the fourth consecutive season, and ninth time in 10 years, the Devils are going to miss the playoffs. For a team that was a perennial contender, it has been a decade of disappointment.

The New Jersey Devils wanted to take the next step this season, however, they fell short of those expectations. And those statements were echoed by the players throughout Day One of exit interviews.

“We definitely fell short, we had high expectations for ourselves and everybody was not quite where we needed to be just yet. There’s steps we took steps in the right direction, you could see some of our players took key steps in the right direction,” Damon Severson said in his end-of-year availability. “It was a tough year, we’re not in the playoffs again, but there are pieces in place, and that we keep saying that we’re going to have to stop saying that pretty much now.” 

Severson has been highly outspoken this year in regards to building a winning culture and being part of a winning team. He doubled down on his comments by stating the talking has to stop about having the pieces in place and more action needs to be taken so the Devils do not go again this time next year.

“Next year if we’re still here talking when other teams are still playing… it will be a huge disappointment for the organization,” Severson said. 

And he is right. At some point, the Devils have to put a competitive club on the ice. The talk about next year has to go away. New Jersey made progress this year by having four players record 20 or more goals. However, it was not good enough to make the playoffs. And the Devils have not built on their last trip to the playoffs in 2018. In fact, they went backward. The Devils have a nice young core to build around, but eventually, it has to translate to being better on the ice. It is all well and good to have a great prospect pool, but eventually, there has to be results.

“Disappointment is still there for sure. We wanted to play some meaningful games at the end of the year and make this playoff but unfortunately, in reality, we did not achieve our goal but it’s frustrating for me and our team,” Nico Hischier said in his year-end availability. “But still have to try to remember some positive things out of this season.”

Hischier was one of four players (Jack Hughes, Yegor Sharangovich, and Jesper Bratt) to record 20 or more goals. But he knows the attitude has to change this offseason for the team to get better. Not only for himself but the rest of the team as well. If the results are going to be different every player has to use their disappointment as fuel for next season. And just like Severson, Hischier pointed to the fact the New Jersey Devils have to start winning despite being a young team.

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Hischier was not the only core player to speak his frustrations about the disappointment of this season. Jack Hughes who missed the remainder of the regular season with an injury was not happy about how the Devils finished the season.

“It’s frustrating,” said Jack Hughes in his year-end availability. “We want to be better in the standings. We want to be playing important hockey. It’s really hard to win, so I don’t want to come out here and throw all these expectations around and stuff, but we’ve got to have a good summer. Everyone has got to keep getting better. And it’s important that guys have to step up and have a big summer, get better, get stronger. And then we have got to come in next year and be rejuvenated and excited to go.”

Hughes showed he can be a breakout star in the NHL. Despite his injuries, he was still third on the team in points with 56. Hughes set career highs in points goals (26) and assists (30). If Hughes was not injured as often as he was, he was on pace to break the 30-goal mark. One thing Jack talked about was staying healthier. And when Hughes is in the lineup the Devils are a better team.

For his age, Hughes is showing great leadership qualities and echoed what Hischier talked about and that is it is an important summer for the New Jersey Devils. If they want to break the cycle of missing the playoffs everyone has to buy into the system and the work ethic. And for a competitive player like Hughes, he is tired of losing and it is just his third year in the league.

“‘I’m not enjoying this [losing]. Like I said, it’s really hard to win this league. But I’d like for our team and myself to be playing important hockey here down the stretch,” Hughes said. “So I mean, it’s been frustrating but at the end of the day, the season’s over. You have just got to go back and regroup, and be extremely excited for next season.”

Even newcomers Ryan Graves and Tomas Tatar expressed their disappointment in not making the playoffs this season. Both players know the Devils have to be better if they want to live up to their own internal expectations next season.

The Devils broke the cycle once as stated earlier. That was 2018 when Hischier and Bratt were just rookies. Since then four straight playoff misses. In order to get to the playoffs, the Devils have to be a consistent team night in and night out. That is something the Devils must be better at. Especially this summer.

With this much disappointment in the locker room, expect the players to have a different attitude next season.