Was Devils’ Sheldon Keefe out of line for his comments about Johnathan Kovacevic?
Over the weekend, New Jersey Devils blueliner Johnathan Kovacevic answered a question about the team’s struggles and what they need to do to get back on the right foot with the playoffs on the horizon.
The Devils currently sit second in the Metropolitan Division with 80 points, seven ahead of the New York Rangers. So the Devils might be safe with 11 games to go, but with a 4-6-0 record over the past 10 games, things are starting to get ugly in New Jersey.
When Kovacevic’s name was brought up in a post-game press conference with Sheldon Keefe, the Devils coach was quick to call out his defenseman.
“Kovacevic just needs to play better. That would help,” Keefe said.
.@GabeCTrevino: Kovacevic just mentioned to us that the team needs to have a “playoff mindset” going down the stretch —
Sheldon Keefe: Kovacevic just needs to play better. That would help…
*Ends press conference* #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/McuwJqcu4j
On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli discussed the comments and whether Keefe was right for expressing his frustration:
Tyler Yaremchuk: “Frank, was this garbage from Keefe?”
Frank Seravalli: “It was. Why are you hitting your guy with some friendly fire? I don’t understand it. I’m all for like a hard quip every now and again from a coach to send a message, but that’s a guy standing in front of a microphone saying all the right things for your team, trying to drag your team into the fight. And you turn around, and you slap him in a clip that’s now gone viral. I don’t understand the thought process. I think a huge tactical error and one that I think speaks to the poor season that the devils have found themselves rolled into now.
“It hurts not having Jack Hughes, of course, and Dougie Hamilton. I get it. But that team has been a wreck since Christmas, and I don’t know, let’s flip it around. Maybe if the coach coached better, maybe they’d be in a different spot.”
Tyler Yaremchuk: “Sheldon Keefe seems to be a guy who doesn’t mind doing a lot of finger-pointing. And I think my finger would point to his playoff record. And I’d go, “Really? Are you, are you really going to be throving shade at a guy like Kovacevic?”
Frank Seravalli: “And they just gave him $20 million. He’s like, this guy’s not going anywhere. Why would you do it? Why embarrass your own player? I don’t ever see the point in doing that. It’s no different than what I said about Patrik Allvin and his comments about Brock Besser. The name of the game is don’t embarrass your players publicly.”
Tyler Yaremchuk: “Yeah. I’m with you. They’re on a collision course with the Carolina Hurricanes, who are 9-1-0 in their last 10. Are we tapping the old Daryl Sutter ‘waste of eight days’ sign here?”
Frank Seravalli: “We’re getting close.”
You can watch the full episode below: