Lindy Ruff Owns Devils Losing Streak Saying “It’s On Me”

The New Jersey Devils are in the midst of a five-game losing streak and head coach Lindy Ruff says it is on him for the way the team has been performing on the ice lately.

“The same things happen to our club over and over, ill-advised mistakes that turn into goals against. Careless decisions with the puck that turn into goals against,” Ruff said following the Devils 5-2 loss the Detroit Red Wings Saturday night. “All that’s on me. That’s my responsibility. The way this team plays is my responsibility.”

What Ruff is talking about is the Devils are making the same mistakes and having the same breakdowns in their system. And it is happening at the worse time in the game. The Devils who have no margin for error to begin with because the players out of the lineup because injury and COVID, have to play mistake free hockey. As we have seen over the last five games, one mistake is the difference between winning and losing.

What is troubling is when he is asking players in between periods “how long is it going to take to for us to learn.”

Granted this is a young team, but when the general manager goes out and gets players like Dougie Hamilton and Ryan Graves along with a Tomas Tatar, eventually that excuse has to stop. Yes, these players are young, and the only way to sometimes learn is through losing. But at what point does the losing stop and these young players learn from their mistakes. If the Devils want to play meaningful games as general manager Tom Fitzgerald stated, the same mistakes cannot happen.

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And that is on the coaching staff to constantly drive home. But for some reason, these players are not getting the message or sticking with the message. As Lindy Ruff noted, the Devils start the game off the right way, but for some reason, they cannot stick to the plan. And that is what is most frustrating about. It seems they know more than the coaches do and a big reason why they are struggling.

There was so much promise 10 games ago as the Devils were able to survive the period without Jack Hughes in the lineup. And things have gone bad to worse for the Devils this season in terms of injuries at goaltending position as Mackenzie Blackwood and Jonathan Bernier are both sidelined with injuries. Not to mention all the COVID stuff going around the league. But every team is dealing with it and overcoming that.

“Plain and simple our (the Devils) top players need to be better than the opposition’s top players,” Ruff said after the game. That has been the difference in each of these losses. Ruff wants the top guys to be tougher to play against. The Devils need their top guys to play better. Granted they were without Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Ryan Graves, and P.K. Subban. It’s not like this team was scoring goals with those players in the lineup either.

Now the Devils have dropped nine of their last 10 contests to fall to 10-14-5 this season. After missing the playoffs for the last three campaigns, many expected New Jersey to be more competitive in 2021-22. However, the reality of the situation is that this team was not going to make the playoffs this season. And were still years away from being competitive. That is the reality of the situation.

Something has to change. Is it time for Lindy Ruff that has to go? Did Fitzgerald put a team together that was good enough to compete? These are legit questions, but when teams like Detroit and Ottawa are taking the next steps and the Devils are going backward you have to wonder if Ruff was the right hire for this team.

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