Playoff teams always have some bumps and bruises to show for their work.
With the New Jersey Devils season over, members of the team gathered for exit interviews on Thursday. While it seemed that many were hopeful of things to come, the Devils did begin to divulge the extents of their respective injuries. Most of the injuries being dealt with come from the blueline, which may not be very surprising, considering the defense-first game the team has played over the last season. While most of the team is expected to be ready for training camp in September, there is at least one player who will still be in recovery.
Kovacevic Will Miss Time in 2025-26
On the whole, Johnny Kovacevic gave Devils fans a lot of reasons to be happy that he signed a five-year deal with the team. Had Kovacevic wished it, he likely would have been one of the more sought-after unrestricted free agents available. He was on the younger side for a UFA, turning just 28 years old in July. As a defenseman who decided to go through the NCAA and AHL, Kovacevic also might not have as much wear and tear on his body than many defenseman his age. Since he departed Merrimack College in 2019, Kovacevic did not play 60 games in a season until the 2021-22 year, as the 2020-21 AHL season was largely cut due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As far as 6’5” right-handed shutdown defensemen who can flatten opposing forwards go, Kovacevic should be pretty fresh. In my opinion, there are not a lot of reasons to think a five-year contract for a player of Kovacevic’s age and ability-level will age poorly, so any complaints about his deal are more about the lack of presently-apparent available cap space than anything else.
During his exit interview, Johnny said that he sustained a knee injury on his first shift of Game Three. As James Nichols reported for New Jersey Hockey Now, Kovacevic will have to wait for his swelling to go down for a few weeks before getting surgery, so he will not be ready for training camp in September. Additionally, Kovacevic pointed to his contract as a way to give himself as much time as possible to recover from his injury. So, Johnny Kovacevic should come back at 100% next year. He knows that, not only is he signed, but the defense is so deep that he can really make sure that his knee does not become a long-term issue.
Brenden Dillon’s Neck Injury
Brenden Dillon is reportedly going to be ready for the 2025-26 season. As he mentioned in his exit interview, he has been really lucky to avoid neck and head injuries for a guy of his style, but it is always concerning to see a physical player come back from a neck injury. He did note that he consulted with doctors and surgeons to ascertain that he could return for training camp — and he seemed to like the answers he got. But players as intense as Brenden Dillon are not easily kept out of games, and if you watch his exit interview, you can read the disappointment all over his face.
Disappointment is good, in this case. Brenden did not give his injury update and slink off for the summer. He knows he is a leader for the team, and is just as interested in improving the hockey side of things as he is setting himself right medically. This is one tangent which struck me in particular, given how the team played in the 2023-24 season:
I think when you talk about culture, like, you know, there’s good people here, there’s good people in the organization: ownership’s great, management’s great, coaches are great…but ultimately, like the players have to understand, like it’s hard to be, you know, a good team year after year after year. For us to come in next year and think, yeah we had playoffs, it’ll be good, like we’re just gonna make them next year, like that’s….you know that’s just setting yourself up for disaster.
Unlike Kovacevic, Brenden Dillon does not expect to miss time, so he should be a part of making a good first step in the 2025-26 season. Personally, I just hope that Dillon rethinks his style a little bit — at least for the regular season — and put himself in a little less harm’s way. His injury was scary to watch, and the longer he goes without another neck or head injury, the better.
Keeping an Eye on the Shoulders
Neither Luke nor Jack Hughes spoke with the media on Devils breakup day, and there was no update on Luke Hughes. Many seem to assume that his current situation is related to his left shoulder injury at the end of last offseason, but there has been no confirmation to this point. Luke did not have surgery to repair his shoulder in September, which allowed him to return to the team with Brett Pesce during the season. His older brother, Jack, had shoulder surgery in early March after hurting his right arm, working to ensure that he is ready for training camp.
If Jack gets a bit over six months to recover from shoulder surgery, I would imagine that the team would seek to put Luke on a similar timeline if the shoulder expectation proves true. Jack also got shoulder surgery at the end of the 2023-24 season, which gave him a bit over five months of recovery before training camp. If it turns out that Luke managed and played through the injury all season, the team could easily opt to offer him a longer recovery time. Why not come back in November or December after building more strength? Like Kovacevic, Luke Hughes is not going anywhere, and he can take his time. I would just like to see both brothers come back strong enough that neither deals with a shoulder injury in 2025-26.
Positives: Jonas Siegenthaler Should Be Good to Go
In his exit interview, Siegenthaler said that he twisted his foot when he suffered that non-contact injury back in February. So, the injury was not knee as previously rumored. Still, Siegenthaler noted that it was a little challenging to play all the playoff minutes he did, and that he is focused on continuing to rehab and build strength in his leg over the summer. Considering how well Siegenthaler played during the first round, though, I am not really worried that he will look any different next season. After all, he came back from lingering issues during the 2023-24 season to have the best season of his career this year.
Positives: A Healthier Brett Pesce
As he noted in his interview, Brett Pesce said that he was “excited” to have a “normal summer routine” after spending the 2024 offseason recovering from surgery. For Devils fans who just watched him for most of a full season, I think the prevailing thought should be that this is only the beginning for Brett. He was not 100% in the playoffs, but kept helping the team out with his blend of focus, positioning, and desperation. Having a stronger, faster Brett Pesce at the start of next season will do wonders to re-establishing the team’s identity.
Dougie Hamilton: The Long Road
Despite just coming back from an injury in the playoffs, Dougie Hamilton mostly stayed mum about what he went through and what he plans on doing to get ready for next season. I can understand the apparent exhaustion. Hamilton came back from a torn pectoral and surgery to be ready for the start of the 2024-25 season, only to go down with an apparent knee injury 63 games into his season. One thing that felt different from Hamilton this year was his shot, as he seemed to have trouble being as accurate with his slap shot until later on in the season, though his goal-scoring remained more sporadic than it has been since 2022. If the Devils want to maximize their potential next season, they need to make sure Dougie Hamilton is healthy enough to score 20 goals for them again. Hopefully, his lingering injuries are not too serious, and he comes back in a better position in 2025 than he was last year after his pectoral surgery.
How Injuries Affect the Cap Next Season
With Johnny Kovacevic expected to miss training camp next season, he could very well end up on Injured Reserve or Long-Term Injured Reserve at the start of the year, depending on the moves that Tom Fitzgerald makes over the summer. With the impending Luke Hughes extension and a few needs to be met around the team, there is a very good chance that the Devils are right up against the cap ceiling — or over it, if they expect Kovacevic to be out for awhile. As PuckPedia explains:
If a team cannot be cap compliant on opening day without using LTIR, the LTIR Pool is the amount the team exceeds the Cap. For example, if a team is $3M over the Cap and places a player on LTIR with a $4M Cap Hit for the opening roster submission, the LTIR Pool is the $3M that the team exceeded the cap
To avoid this and maximize potential LTIR space, the Devils will want to be right under the cap ceiling. There are ways to work that out, including sending waiver-ineligible players and Kurtis MacDermid to the AHL, keeping the team at an 18-skater minimum before executing the LTIR moves and any subsequent call-ups. The Devils have the following waiver-ineligible skaters currently on the roster:
- Luke Hughes (just one game away from waiver-eligibility)
- Simon Nemec
- Seamus Casey
Yes, the Devils would be able to send Luke Hughes to the minor leagues on paper — for just a moment — in order to put Johnny Kovacevic on LTIR. Without making other moves, that could introduce things like the possibility of retaining Brian Dumoulin. Otherwise, players who want to return can help the team be as deep as possible by taking less money to stay with the team. As these weeks go on, we at All About the Jersey will begin to discuss those contract decisions more.
Half of the Devils’ best shutdown pairing will be out for what seems like at least a chunk of next season. After testing the patience of fans a little bit too much in 2025, I think Tom Fitzgerald needs to be more aggressive in using the cap exception that may be available to them from the start of the next season. The best teams in the league do it, and the front office can learn as much from others as the players learn from watching the teams still playing in the playoffs. Even with the concern of Kovacevic returning to the team before the turn of the calendar, we still do not know how long his recovery will be — or what ligament he tore — and I always expect more injuries to happen, anyway.
One Last Positive: A Chance for Nemec
With Kovacevic’s injury, Simon Nemec’s path to a full-time NHL role next season no longer relies on the movement of a defenseman via trade. Going into next season, the Devils should have three pairings in Hughes-Pesce, Dillon-Hamilton, and Siegenthaler-Nemec, which should all work wonderfully in the absence of Kovacevic. I still think the Hughes and Dillon injuries are worth keeping an eye on, as bringing a guy like Brian Dumoulin back would ensure that Nemec continues to have a legitimate NHL defenseman as his partner if any of his left-handed counterparts turn out to miss time next season.
Still, Nemec showed us that his confidence was in there all along during the playoffs. He started making moves through opponents to create offense, he started cutting down plays against the rush, and his decisions were far better than they were from October through March. With another summer of maturing and building strength, Nemec might even be someone who contributes in all situations. Perhaps he continues to play on a two-defenseman power play unit with Dougie Hamilton in a spot for one-timers. Perhaps he takes a defensive role and some penalty killing time. Sheldon Keefe, as a defense-first head coach, is the kind of coach you should expect to get the most out of Nemec, and I am excited to see what he does next season.
Your Thoughts
Where do you think Kovacevic’s injury places the team next year? How do you think Simon Nemec will respond to the opportunity? Do you think the Devils will encourage Kovacevic and Hughes to take their time in recovery? How might these injuries affect trade discussions and free agent targets? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.