Jonathan Kovacevic left the Montreal Canadiens last offseason when Kent Hughes sent him to the New Jersey Devils in a swap that saw the Habs land a fourth-round pick in 2026. Since then, the right-shot defenseman has earned a regular spot in the Devils’ top four, forming a pair with Brian Dumoulin and signing a 5-year contract with a $4M cap hit.

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The Devils were having a good season, but things got a bit more complicated lately, with superstar Jack Hughes suffering a season-ending injury, just like defenseman Dougie Hamilton. New Jersey is 4-6-0 in its last 10 games and now only has 80 points, ranking third in the Metropolitan division.

After another loss on Saturday night, this time against the Ottawa Senators, Kovacevic spoke to the media and said:

We’re in a fight, and hopefully, that will get us to that playoffs mentality. We’re 10 or 11 games out, and we carry that into the playoffs, so…yeah, obviously, the results are tough, but we’re in a fight here, and we won’t back down.

His declaration was relayed to the Devils’ coach, Sheldon Kiefe, and the journalist didn’t have time to finish relaying it before he cut him off, saying:

Kovacevic just needs to play better. That would help.

This is not exactly the kind of comment a player likes to hear from his coach, but we’ve seen much worse in Montreal, this is nowhere near Michel Therrien throwing P.K. Subban under the bus after a turnover led to a defeat against the Colorado Avalanche:

We played hard, and I thought we played a very solid game; it’s too bad an individual mistake cost the game late in the game. […] As a coach, I thought he could have made a better decision at the blueline and move the puck behind, and he put himself in that position. […] We play as a team, and unfortunately at the end of the game, when we don’t play as a team with get in trouble and that’s what happens.

In three and a half years behind the Canadiens’ bench, we’ve yet to see Martin St-Louis do that to any of his players, and I don’t think we will see it. When he’s disappointed, he generally says he needs to look at the tape and address what needs to be addressed with the right person in due course.

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