The New Jersey Devils are a team with a variety of winning records. Last year the Devils made it to the playoffs for the first time in 6 years. This was a monumental season for the team. Eventually, they lost in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning but were one of 16 teams to make it to the playoffs out of 31. The team went 44-29-9 that season which clutched them to the playoffs. Although they did not win the Stanley Cup they still made it to the playoffs. This season they are 9-10-4 with only 23 games in out of 82 games. The question is, why are they doing worse this year compared to last year? One reason is the rest of the team is not holding up to par as the first line. As the saying goes, “You are as only good as your weakest link.” Another reason is that they cannot get a lot of shots with their coaches strategy. This strategy focuses on the net which is a high scoring area. The Devils defensive strategy attacks the places that the team does on offense. Data shows that a high amount of shots come from low danger areas meaning that it is harder to score from there usually. The problem is when they do not execute this strategy the way the coach wants it. Some people, including Nick Villano, writer of the article Are New Jersey Devils A Bad Team believes that, “It’s hard to call the Devils bad, only because this terrible stretch has been during a massive road trip” (Villano). This is supported by the fact that 11 of their 12 losses are away, also all of their wins except two are home. In the end, I believe the reason for why they are doing worse than last year is because the plays that are set up for the team is controlling the puck and taking smart shots. The problem for the Devils is that they can’t make these smart shots enough. The Devils have been recently had trouble winning games. Even with this is happening New Jersey still loves their team.