Devils GM backs coach, wants them to 'play harder'

Coach John Hynes has the full support of New Jersey Devils management but the players have to increase their effort, general manager Ray Shero said Wednesday.
"I can't even stress, I'm 100 percent supportive of our coach," Shero told Northjersey.com.

The Devils (12-13-7) have lost seven in a row (0-6-1) and are 3-10-4 after starting the season 9-3-3.
"We want our fans to have pride in this team," Shero said. "They did last year. We were off to a great start, played great at home. Now, over five, six weeks, we've given it back. And that's not good."
This season, the Devils were the last NHL team to lose a home game in regulation. After losing to the St. Louis Blues 4-1 at Prudential Center on Dec. 9, New Jersey lost four road games in a row and were defeated at home 5-1 by the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. The Devils have been outscored 30-9 during the losing streak.
"Play harder," Shero said. "… 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 [heck]? 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."
New Jersey was 38-36-8 last season, Hynes' first, and finished 12 points out of the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
"Whether it's accountability or whether it's the passion, people talk about leadership or character, and I don't buy that for a second," Shero said. "I have one word for anybody that plays for this team or works for this team: You have to have pride in anything you do."
Shero was speaking almost two years to the day the Devils fired Peter DeBoer on the day after Christmas 2014, one of several in-season firings made over the years by previous management led by Lou Lamoriello.
"This is the guy I hired," Shero said of Hynes. "Where some of these guys have come from, they fire the coaches all the time. Here, obviously, Lou did that quite a bit, and with good success. But John is the right coach for us. I really believe in what he's doing and how he does things."