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Devils management to players: ‘Play [blanking] harder’

2015 NHL Draft - Round One

SUNRISE, FL - JUNE 26: Ray Shero of the New Jersey Devils attends the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center on June 26, 2015 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Maybe it’s about Cory Schneider’s unexpected struggles. Perhaps it boils down to a team with limited talent showing its true colors. Whatever the case may be, the New Jersey Devils are currently on a seven-game losing streak.

GM Ray Shero doesn’t pin the struggles on coach John Hynes. Instead, the management team has quite the R-rated message for their players, as The Record’s Andrew Gross reports.

“Play harder,” Hynes said of the message management had for the team. “Really. Play [bleeping] harder. That’s what I’m talking about. There’s a will they need. There’s a passion and emotion to our game. How many scrums have we been involved with? No one is mad at us. There’s got to be pushback in your game and pride in your game. Someone takes your lunch money, what the [expletive]? It’s not good. That’s something we established last year. It’s a tenacity to your game. Our team last year, we never gave up. That, to me, is what you’re trying to build, and that’s pride.”

Shero also used the word “pride” in describing what he wants from his team, a group he believes has been looking “slow” lately.

The Devils are 0-6-1 in their last seven games, with just three wins since Nov. 17 (a 3-10-4 run).

Considering the level of competition in the East in general and the Metropolitan Division more specifically, New Jersey doesn’t have much room for error (if any). Some might believe that they’re simply better off flopping to grab some more high-end talent to add alongside the likes of Schneider and Taylor Hall.

Still, this isn’t a franchise that’s particularly used to cellar dwelling, so it’s easier to say “just tank” than to actually go through that slog.

Really, the Devils may say some, um, unprintable things if you bring up such an idea.