The 2023-24 New Jersey Devils regular season is over. The Devils failed to make the playoffs, making the season a failure. Nevertheless, the writers of All About the Jersey got together for the annual tradition of giving out awards for this season – for better or worse.
Tonight ends the 2023-24 NHL regular season for the New Jersey Devils. For a lot of the People Who Matter it can be summed up in two words: Good Riddance. The Devils followed up a 52-win season wherein they came back to eliminate Our Hated Rivals in seven games by missing the playoffs in the one season where even being decent for the last six weeks alone would give them a shot to play beyond today. It has been a season beset by inaction, injuries, inept goaltending play, inept tactics, and infuriating / deflating losses – especially at The Rock. I did not expect to be attending the end tonight, but it is what it is.
What this post is our annual tradition where the writers get together to give out awards based on the season that just happened. We have major awards, mostly mirroring the main ones the league gives out. We have minor awards, which highlight important parts of the season that just happened, good and bad. We even have superlatives, more offbeat entries from each of the writers. This was decided by this past Friday night; I doubt the game in Philadelphia or tonight’s game will change too many minds about our decisions. And it is not like you need my permission to disagree anyway. I am on the fence of doing an April Month in Review and I’m beginning to regret my decision to previewing every IIHF Men’s World Championship group since Divisions IV, II, and I all start within these next two weeks. That will not deter us from completing our annual tradition even if we want to forget this disappointing failure of a campaign as soon as possible.
I want to thank the writers for making their choices as well as supporting the site by writing for the People Who Matter all season long: James, Tyler, Alex, Jared, Dan, Jackson, Nathan, Caleb, and Chris. All stats are as of April 12 unless otherwise specified.
Major Awards
Team MVP: Jesper Bratt
There were a lot of performances this season that fell short, fell off from last season, or were just not good enough. Jesper Bratt is one of the few Devils who can say he improved. Bratt set career highs in assists (55, 14 more than last season), shots (246, 34 more than last season), average ice time (19:14, nearly two minutes more than 2021-22) and points (82, nine more than last season). Bratt put up production at a rate of 3.2 points per 60 minutes. To put that in perspective, let us go to Natural Stat Trick. Only 34 players in the entire NHL with at least 1,000 minutes played put up a rate of points above three. Bratt was legitimately a top scorer in the NHL; his 3.2 points per 60 minute rate was right below Steven Stamkos and Aleksander Barkov and right above Jason Robertson and Carter Verhaeghe. What is more that Bratt was a demon in 5-on-5 play with a CF% above 57%, actual and expected goals for percentages above 56%, and a scoring chance percentage above 58%. Bratt was either the leading forward or right among them in those categories. All this and Bratt even demonstrated he can be a very effective penalty killer on a secondary unit. Bratt more than earned his huge extension this season. The Devils were beset by a lot of things. Imagine if the 2023-24 Devils didn’t have Bratt. It would be a killer blow to a team that already faltered its way out of the postseason picture. That was how much value Bratt brought to the table.
Voting Commentary: Unanimous. Really.
Best Goalie: Jake Allen
Goaltending was one of the biggest concerns from the People Who Matter ahead of this season. I was one that did not think it was a big deal. I did not expect Vitek Vanecek to completely play his way off a cliff and eventually out of New Jersey. I did not expect Akira Schmid to also suffer as he did. I did not expect Nico Daws to come back and immediately show hope before being run into the rink. I did not expect Tom Fitzgerald to address this position as he was more interested in big swings for Jakob Markstrom that ended up being whiffs. Then came the NHL Trade Deadline day and Fitzgerald did something by the deadline: he acquired Jake Allen and Kaapo Kähkönen. Allen gave up two quick goals in his first appearance as a Devil – and then proceeded to demonstrate what a decent goaltender would look like for beyond a couple of weeks. Allen ended up taking the #1 spot in New Jersey in his short time here – 12 appearances – and posting a 90.6% overall save percentage and a 90.7% in even strength situations. While Kahkonen’s numbers have been better, he played in just five games. And Allen’s numbers dwarf the figures in the 89% range from Vanecek, Schmid, and Daws. In the valley of the blind, the man with one eye would be king. Allen has a good eye and the ability to make some stunning saves. Not that the Devils in front of him did as much as they could with it.
Voting Commentary: Nearly unanimous. One writer joked he wanted Jeremy Brodeur for his play in Adirondack, but settled on Allen. One writer just wrote “No one.” And I can respect that.
Best Defenseman: Luke Hughes
This was a surprising winner but the Devils swarm-based, heavy strong-side defensive zone play left a lot to be desired. Luke Hughes at least rose up to take on big minutes, put up the most points by a Devils rookie defenseman in a season, and put up some very nice 5-on-5 on-ice rates. Luke Hughes averaged 16:36 in 5-on-5 play this season and when he took a shift, the Devils out-attempted their opponents (CF% of 54.3%), out-shot them (SF% of 51.82%), out-expected goaled them (xGF% of 52.58%), and out-chanced them (SCF% of 53.61%). This is quite good for any defenseman, never mind a rookie. In these modern times, it is not enough to just lock things down in one end, you have to contribute in all three zones and Luke Hughes could do that. Was he leaned on too much for the power play after Dougie Hamilton’s injury? Yes. Was his 230+ minutes with Brendan Smith such a disaster that it made Luke Hughes’ numbers look worse than they were? Absolutely. Is this still a strange choice? At first glance. But consider this. Dougie Hamilton played just two months, John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler were inconsistent and really poor, Brendan Smith was the same Smith who lost his job ahead of last season’s playoffs, Kevin Bahl is one-dimensional and a PIM machine, and so that leaves Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and 41 games of Colin Miller. With that context, it is not so strange.
Voting Commentary: Luke Hughes won this with a plurality of five votes. The other five were split between Colin Miller (2), Nemec (2), and Hamilton (1).
Best Offensive Forward: Jack Hughes
If Jesper Bratt is the team’s leading scorer, then how can The Big Deal win this award? Simple. Jack Hughes provided more offense. Remember that points per 60 rate that had Bratt in some great company? Jack Hughes had an even higher rate of 3.41 points per 60. A rate that put the Big Deal in between nestling him just below Mikko Rantanen and Jake Guentzel and just above Sidney Crosby and Elias Pettersson. Further, The Big Deal ended his season with 274 shots on net – something Bratt is not going to get to touch. Additionally, Jack Hughes out-produced Bratt on the power play with 31 points to his 27. Making it all the more impressive is that The Big Deal did all this while playing in 62 games and playing the last few months with a hurt shoulder that required surgery after the Devils admitted that, yeah, he should get it coincidentally as the Devils’ playoff hopes were near-death. The Big Deal is one. And he’s hell of a lot tougher than what some will ever give him credit for due to stupid reasons.
Voting Commentary: Nearly unanimous. Two picked Bratt, which is a fair substitute.
Best Defensive Forward: Curtis Lazar
Curtis Lazar was the one bottom-six forward on the Devils that no one really had much of a reason to be unhappy with. The definition of a hardworking guy who may not have the skill but does not hinder the team at all despite it. When Lazar was on the ice in 5-on-5 play, the Devils were relatively stout. While the Devils were out-shot and out-attempted, the attempt and shot against rates (56.51 CA/60, 27.72 SA/60) were quite low. Further, the locaiton of those attempts were relatively not so dangerous as Lazar had an xGA/60 of 2.39 with an actual GA/60 of 2.23. Lazar was one of the few Devils forwards who were not kneecapped by the goalies Lazar also took a regular shift on the PK and when he did, the Devils had an xGA/60 of 5.67. Not only one of the lowest among the regular penalty killers but an absolutely great rate on its own in shorthanded situations. Again, it was not blown up by the goalies given a GA/60 of 7.01. A lot of Lazar’s work is not fully appreciated but that is his role. To do a lot of work to make sure he is not so noticed and the Devils are not so exposed defensively.
Voting Commentary: This was more contentious than the Best Defenseman award. Lazar won this with just four votes. The other six were split with two each for Ondrej Palat and Nico Hischier, one vote for Erik Haula, and one vote for Chris Tierney.
Best Rookie: Luke Hughes
This was a straight 5-5 tie between Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec. As the managing editor, I am breaking the tie for Luke Hughes because A) he won Best Defenseman and Nemec did not and B) there is a really good chance Luke Hughes ends up third in Calder voting this season behind Conor Bedard and Brock Faber.
Both Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec did quite well on their own this season. I already discussed Luke Hughes. For Nemec, he also was thrown into big minutes after his call up resulting from Hamilton’s pectoral injury. His on-ice percentages were not as good as Luke Hughes, but being above 50% in CF%, SF%, xGF%, GF%, and SCF% is still good for a rookie. Especially one who had to play quite a bit with Siegenthaler (most common defensive partner) and Bahl (nearly 200 minutes and they have not been good). The future is indeed bright for the Devils blueline. But I have to break the tie for the guy with the other award and who had a better season.
Voting Commentary: See above.
Minor Awards
The Sergei Brylin Award for Versatility: Curtis Lazar
Curtis Lazar prevailed for the Brylin by, well, being a utility player. Winger? Check. Center? Can do. Kill penalties? Yep. Get a lot of different teammates ranging from Nathan Bastian to Erik Haula to Dawson Mercer to Alexander Holtz to Chris Tierney to Ondrej Palat to Timo Meier? And that’s just the forwards he played at least 100 minutes with. What did he not do? Play on the power play, but really would he have been worse than Haula or Palat on the second unit? Lazar may not be a play driver or a major producer. But the Devils could arguably use another Lazar or two for depth purposes and he did a decent job in multiple spots.
Voting Commentary: Another plurality victory for Lazar. Nico Hischier garnered four votes to Lazar’s five with one lone dissenter picking Bratt given his inclusion on PK duties.
Best Comeback: Timo Meier’s Second Half of the Season
Timo Meier’s first half of the season included benchings, demotions in the lineup, injury, playing poorly through said injury, and Lindy Ruff not using him in the roles that made him a scorer in San Jose. By February, Timo Meier had nine goals, nine assists, and 98 shots in 34 games. From February to current, Meier was closer to 100%, moved up to a scoring line, seemingly unleashed with Ruff replaced by Travis Green, and out-scored his first four months of the season in March alone. In the last 33 games, Meier has 16 goals, 15 assists, and 103 shots. This is what a comeback looks like. For the money Meier makes, I would like him to be a lot more consistent. His next head coach should also use him appropriately.
Voting Commentary: This was nearly unanimous. One dissenter selected Nico Daws. Which is a really good choice as Daws recovered from hip surgery, he was thrown into the NHL shortly after returning to play at all in Utica, and was asked to do a lot for a team that needed anything resembling decent goaltending. For a couple of weeks, Daws did that. Of course, he was run into the ground and sent packing to Utica once Allen arrived.
Best In-Season Move by the Devils: Trading for Jake Allen
One of the last moves made by General Manager Tom Fitzgerald this season was sending a conditional third round pick in 2025 to Montreal for goaltender Jake Allen. While I was not thrilled with the deal at the time, Allen has become an oasis in the desert that has been Devils goaltending in 2023-24. As such, he was named the Best Goalie. It is fitting that the deal to get him would be seen as the best move made within 2023-24 by the Devils.
Voting Commentary: This one was another win by plurality. Four voted for the Allen trade with one voting for the trades, plural, to get Allen and Kahkonen to New Jersey. That one voter hedged his bet and it worked out. One voter did pick the Kahkonen trade on its own. One voter called for the Nick DeSimone claim from waivers back in January as the best in-season move. One voter chose the call up of Simon Nemec after the Hamilton injury. One voter credited Fitzgerald for “not panicking.” And one voter voted for the firing of Lindy Ruff as the team’s best move – with a caveat in the next award.
Worst In-Season Move by the Devils: Travis Green, Interim Head Coach
There is no shortage of choices for this one given how the season went. Last year’s winner was the mismanagement of Alexander Holtz. That would apply in 2023-24 and that was not even chosen by any of the voters this season, myself included. The winner by plurality was the decision to name Travis Green as the interim head coach. If the choice was made to keep consistency in tactics and man management behind the bench, then it blew up in the Devils faces. Since Ruff was fired on March 4, 2024, the Devils have went 8-10-1 while putting up hideous numbers in 5-on-5 play. Even with Allen and Kahkonen providing some much needed stability in the crease, the performances under Green have been largely pathetic. Multiple games with fewer than 25 shots on net in 60 minutes. A continuation of bleeding the first goal of the game such that the Devils broke the 50-game mark. Blowing games in the third period. The worst part is that given how the Eastern Conference has been, a NHL average 55% point percentage would have had the Devils still in the playoff picture. Instead, Green coached them down to be eliminated in Game 79. Green is absolutely Not the Guy to get the Devils to a better place in next and future seasons. It all stemmed from naming him interim in the first place.
Voting Commentary: I cannot criticize the other choices by the other writers too much. I think they are valid choices. This won with just 3 votes, my own included. The one writer who voted for firing Lindy Ruff as the team’s best in-season move voted for firing Ruff too late as the worst in-season move. A different writer selected the decision to keep Ruff as long as Fitzgerald did as the worst move. Fitzgerald’s patience alone got a vote with the writer stating “Tom Fitzgerald doing nothing until it was too late.” There was a vote for no goaltender upgrades until the deadline. There was a vote for Brendan Smith being a regular playing defenseman. And there were two votes for the trade to acquire Kurtis MacDermid. I did not vote for that one, but once again, my stance on MacDermid in song.
Best 2023 Offseason Move by the Devils: The Jesper Bratt Contract
On June 15, 2023, the New Jersey Devils and Jesper Bratt agreed to an eight-season contract extension worth $63 million. This places Bratt’s cap hit as just below $8 million, the third highest among Devils forwards and the fourth highest among all Devils players. Per CapFriendly, this season was the peak of the salary with Bratt earning $10 million. Being a top scorer on the team and among the league shows he has earned a ton of that, if not entirely. Being the MVP of the 2023-24 Devils team helps too.
Voting Commentary: This was another victory by plurality as four votes went for the Bratt contract. The other six were split evenly (two votes each) among three other moves: the Damon Severson sign-and-trade, the trade for Tyler Toffoli, and the Colin Miller trade.
Worst 2023 Offseason Move by the Devils: Not Upgrading the Goaltender Position
It was not something I agreed with at the time, but there were concerns and hopes that Tom Fitzgerald would address the goaltending situation. Connor Hellebuyck was the target until he got Andrei Vasilevskiy money from Winnipeg. Then the targets eventually switched over to Jakob Markstrom, which did not happen even going into the season. While not much from Vitek Vanecek’s or Akira Schmid’s 2022-23 campaigns suggested they be among the worst goalies in the league, they played quite close to it. As such, the failure to upgrade this position stood out even more. Yes, it is hard to get a goalie, Tom Fitzgerald. So is being a general manager of a hockey team is hard. As is life. Deal with it.
Voting Commentary: This won with five votes, so another win by plurality. There were two votes each for the signing of Tomas Nosek and two for hiring Travis Green as Andrew Brunette’s replacement. Nosek had a rough go of it, so I think that is a bit harsh. The Green hire, yeah, that stank after Dougie Hamilton got injured and the insistence of running the same ineffective power play schemes continued. There was a vote for the Toffoli trade, so that was not universally liked.
Best Surprise: Simon Nemec
I will admit I wanted Shane Wright in 2022. But I am very pleased the Devils chose Simon Nemec instead. I covered his numbers earlier, which were OK on a team where the blueline was not always OK. What impressed many was how quickly Nemec “got it” since being called up. It was not long before he showed he could pinch and activate better than most of the other defensemen, he could read and complete passes that others would not try, and he knew how to hustle back. In a season long on disappointments, Nemec immediately showing he is a NHL defenseman and one to watch for in the future was a very, very pleasant surprise.
Voting Commentary: This was nearly unanimous. One voter chose Lazar. The other nine picked Nemec.
Most Disappointing: John Marino
So many options and John Marino emerged as the one to eke out as the winner of this not-so-prestigious award. I would describe Marino’s 2023-24 as a roller coaster. He had some nights where he looked like Marino of last season. He had some, arguably, more nights where he looked lost. He finished this season with a somewhat positive set of rates in 5-on-5 play, which is good but the GA/60 of 3.46 was second worst to Smith. That was indicative of how Marino and the Devils were blown up for scores when he was out there. And those 5-on-5 on-ice rates of 2023-24 were worse than those last season, reflecting a decline. Given that Marino is signed for another three seasons and an 8-team no trade list begins in next season, the incoming coaching staff needs to help Marino (and Siegenthaler for that matter) rebound in a positive way.
Voting Commentary: Marino really did edge out a victory here with three votes. And one of those three also included “the defense,” with another tagging Jonas Siegenthaler along with Marino. Alas, Siegenthaler garnered one vote alone so Marino got the edge here. Two votes just wrote Goaltending, which was absolutely a hinderence for this season. Two votes went for Dawson Mercer, who absolutely took a step back in both production and effectiveness compared with last season. One vote went for Timo Meier’s first half of the season, which was fair.
The one remaining vote went for Michael McLeod. My only disagreement is that disappointment is too light of a word for McLeod. He has far, far, far more important things to worry about than an award on a hockey blog right now.
Best Utica Comet: Graeme Clarke
Short of a massive surge from either Brian Halonen or Ryan Schmelzer, Graeme Clarke will finish 2023-24 as the leading goal scorer for the Comets with 24 goals. He will also finish with the most shots on net with 194, well ahead of second place Kyle Criscuolo’s 136 shots. Clarke demonstrated that he was a scorer at this level once more. The 2019 third round selection would make his NHL debut on January 6 in a loss to Vancouver. He played 9:32 and then eventually was moved back to Utica. He is currently with the Devils and got a shot on net in nearly 16 minutes in Toronto. There is a larger discussion to be had about the Devils not really giving their call-ups anything more than limited minutes to see what they could do. But Clarke was the best among them in Utica
Voting Commentary: Clarke won with six votes. Two dissenters went for Brian Halonen, whom did put up 28 points in 31 games in Utica and, like Clarke, got a brief cup of coffee with New Jersey. Two dissenters went for goaltender Isaac Poulter, whom earned a NHL contract with a 91.1% save percentage in 28 games with the Comets.
Best Prospect: Seamus Casey
Seamus Casey was the top defenseman on a Michigan team that went to the Big Ten championship game and the Frozen Four before being eliminated by a monsterous Boston College squad. He finished his sophomore season with 7 goals and 45 points in 40 games with the Wolverines. Casey was also a part of the United States team that took Gold at the WJCs with six assists in six games. Most of all, Casey was named to the First Team All American squad for the West by the CCM/ACHA joining 2024 stud prospect Zeev Buium of Denver with the East team featuring Lane Hutson of Boston University and Ryan Ufko of UMass. You do not earn these honors easily, especially as college hockey has been a factory of hockey talent. Casey could very well get an entry level contract sooner rather than later, which would cap off a great 2023-24 season for the prospect defenseman.
Voting Commentary: This was nearly unanimous with eight out of ten votes going for Casey. One voter chose Clarke, which makes sense as that voter also picked Clarke as the top Comet. One voter chose Lenni Hämeenaho, who had a very good season with Ässät. He played in 46 games in Liiga and put up 14 goals and 31 points. The senior did not qualify for the playoffs but their U-20 team did. Hämeenaho was sent down to help them and put up four goals and twelve points in six games for U-20 team to win their championship. Additionally, Hämeenaho finished tied for second on Finland’s WJC team in points with six in seven games.
Superlative Awards
These are offbeat awards by the individual writers, identified by their initials. They’re not binding. They are for fun. It is how these award posts are closed out. Some of them were determined days before this post. Initials indicate who came up with what.
The Fire [Insert Current Coach Here] Award to Travis Green (JT): After Lindy Ruff was canned, it’s next man up, as they say! Let’s go Travis!
Most Valuable (Missing) Player (DR): Dougie Hamilton. We clearly somehow underestimated how important a $9 million dollar defenseman is to his team but it was never more obvious than when he got hurt. The Devils still had ample chances despite his injury to make the playoffs in a uniquely weak field but he probably would have made a significant difference towards that end. The power play died, defensemen got pushed up the depth chart and sank, and a big voice was seemingly missing to get them back on track when things got tough.
The Scott Clemmensen Award for Best Painted Mask (TB): Kaapo Kähkönen
Ken Daneyko Award for Most PIMs (AP): Kevin Bahl. 80 PIMs in 78 games, 21 more than the next Devil. Way to go?
The 3rd Annual “I’ve Seen Enough” Award (JM): Brendan Smith, a player who this team continues to pretend is a legitimate NHL defenseman and sometimes decent 4th line winger when the truth is he’s neither. Teams serious about winning don’t carry a Brendan Smith on their roster in 2024. And they certainly don’t play him over 15 minutes a night in over 3/4 of the team’s games when they’re trying to make up ground all year.
Most Frustrating Stat, Part 1 (JB): The Devils will end the season with no winning OR losing streaks of more than three games. Wild.
Most Time Spent in the Doghouse (CM): Alexander Holtz. Whether you like Holtz or don’t, you can’t deny that both coaches kept him in their doghouse more often than not.
Worst Coach (CF): Travis Green
Defender Least Likely to Screw Up (CF): Simon Nemec
The 3rd Annual “Ozzie Smith Falling into the Springfield Mystery Spot” Award (JM): A tie between Jonas Siegenthaler and John Marino, two players who went from being quality defensive defensemen as recently as last season to looking like they’ve never played professional hockey before
The Hüsker Dü Prize (JF): Samuel Laberge. The Devils actually signed him to a contract so he could be called up. He played in two games. 4 minutes against Philadelphia on November 30 and 2:11 against San Jose on December 1. 12 total shifts. He was indeed one of the players of the 2023-24 Devils.
The What Would You Say You Do Here Award for Undeserved Job Longevity (JT): Dave Rogalski
Best Thing that NHL Edge Taught Me (TB): Luke Hughes being the fastest defenseman skater in bursts this season
Best Jumbotron Snack Racer (DR): Auntie Anne’s. No further questions.
I’ll Take That (AP): Jack Hughes. Hughes had 64 takeaways in 62 games to lead all Devils.
Most Frustrating Stat, Part 2 (JB): The Devils will likely end the season with as many or more wins as most teams in front of them in the standings. In the end it will be their lack of loser points that have cost them a postseason spot. That tells me this team wasn’t as bad as we think, but it’s also one of the most frustrating things about this campaign.
Should Have Seen More Ice Time Award (CF): Santeri Hatakka
The “There Are Four Lights” Award (JF): Ondrej Palat punching Connor Clifton’s lights out after Clifton head-shotted Nico Hischier. Despite Palat taking an instigator that cut into the major penalty Clifton got, there were plenty of the People Who Matter who insisted that no one stuck up for their captain. And still do, evidently. Weird.
The Erika Wachter Award (JT): Erika Wachter for still being Erika Wachter Also known as the best Broadcaster Award. She’s seriously the best.
Best Chirps (TB): Curtis Lazar on Luke Hughes
Physicality Award (AP): Curtis Lazar. Lazar had 146 hits in 71 games to lead all Devils by 18 hits and all other forwards by 32.
The 3rd Annual “I Don’t Blame You, I Blame the Person Who Hired You” Award (JM): Alex Holtz for the second year in a row! Instead of being a healthy scratch for most of this year, he spent most of the year being punished on the 4th line for whatever 200 Hockey Man galaxy brain reasoning while the rest of the roster got to routinely make mistakes that actually lost games. Maybe Holtz will have a long, productive career when he’s traded to Boston for Linus Ullmark this summer.
The “Needs Improvement” Finding for Off Ice Work (JF): I wrote about the Devils game experience back in November. It did not get much better since then. I do and did like the inclusion of local bands on the concourse. Not sure why they need to sell expensive tickets to make it so, but there was clearly enough musicians interested to make it work. More of that, please.
Best Skater (CF): Luke Hughes
Strongest Skater (CF): Timo Meier
The “Maybe We Should Be Talking More About This Guy Being Part of the Future Going Forward” Award (JM): Santeri Hatakka, who was one of the few Devils defensemen who didn’t repeatedly embarrass himself with poor play night in and night out. Since Hatakka will require waivers next season according to CapFriendly, I think he should be penciled in for the 7th D role going into the offseason.
The “It’s a Metaphor” Plaque (JF): “Enjoy” the highlights to arguably the worst loss of the season that showcases a lot wrong with the 2023-24 Devils. A 2-6 defeat to Dallas on Brylin Night wherein Lindy Ruff claimed he just wanted to win the third period after going down 0-4. He did not win the third period. He was also not fired immediately after this game.
The Healthy Scratch Award (JT): Nick DeSimone for getting picked off waivers and then not playing for like half a century and then coming in and probably being our most steady defenseman.
Most Consistent Tweet All Season (TB): “1-0, them,” @NJDevils
Dikembe Mutombo Award (AP): Kevin Bahl and Simon Nemec. Both are tied with the team lead with 102 blocks.
The “Do you actually have that dog in you?” Award (JM): Dawson Mercer, a player who I’m told has that dog in him but rarely showed it in a contract year.
Most Agile Skater (CF): Jesper Bratt
Most Underappreciated (CF): Jesper Bratt
The “Mister Softee” Award (JM): Tom Fitzgerald, for building a hockey team that your local high school team could bully on the ice. Please go get some players who won’t fold the second anyone gives them any adversity or pushback.
The Leah Hextall Memorial Prize for Tommy Novak/Tomas Tatar (JF): Ondrej Palat. No, it’s not that commentators mixed him up with Tatar. It is just that Palat was a lot like Tatar this season. Great 5-on-5 on-ice rates. With less production. And not much help on special teams. And a worse contract. OK, maybe Palat was not exactly like Tatar.
Best Goal (CF): Luke Hughes end-to-end against Columbus.
Peak of the Season (CF): Jack-to-Luke overtime winner against Philly
The “Off-Ice MVP” Award (JM): Ken Daneyko. He might be old-school (he’ll be the first one to tell you that) but he knows a thing or two about winning hockey and he correctly, repeatedly called out this Devils team for making the wrong play, which 9 times out of 10 wound up going into the back of the net behind whoever the Devils goaltender was on that night.
The “I Hate This Stupid Fact” Ribbon (JF): As of April 13, the Devils have given up the first goal of the game 55 times this season. It is not a NHL record; that would be 60 times by the historically abysmal Capitals of 1974-75. But they have a shot at surpassing a truly awful 1974-75 Scouts team that did it 56 times for the franchise record.
The “I wish he didn’t say that” Award (JM): Jack Hughes, for saying people pay to watch him play. Chalk it up to it being a heat of the moment thing and immaturity on his part, but it gave the haters and doubters ammunition to come after him. Its not a great look when he’s a physically compromised shell of who he is as a player.
Toughest Performer (CF): Jack Hughes
Most Memorable Clownish Quote (JF): It’s a tie between Lindy Ruff telling Ryan Novozinsky he “doesn’t watch the game very well” when Novozinsky questioned Alex Holtz’s benching in spite of scoring a game-tying goal and Lindy Ruff telling reporters after a 1-5 loss to Our Hated Rivals that featured a Green-driven ineffective power play, “I imagine you’ve asked every player – now they’re feeling and you guys are creating excess pressure.” Ruff has since been fired. No word if you can find Lindy Ruff working with Barnum and/or Bailey.
Patience Award (CF): Tom Fitzgerald
Mixed Bag Award (CF): Lindy Ruff
Ivan Pavlov Acknowledgement (JF): Anytime I bring up how Kurtis MacDermid has A) not provided any value to the team, B) not deterred anything – just ask Siegenthaler and Nemec, and C) MacDermid is Fitzgerald’s idea of adding toughness, calling him a “leader” within weeks of joining the team. When this happens, I get a heap of vocal comments who are vocally unhappy that I point out that the metaphorical emperor isn’t wearing any clothes. Sorry, but it’s true; MacDermid was a needless acquisition Enjoy this tune.
The “I forgot we stink at that too” Award (JM): The Devils for losing to Nashville in the shootout late in the season. When you go 77 games in between shootout losses and sit through all of the other bad things that happened to the Devils this year, its easy to forget the Devils still stink at the skills competition.
The Under the Radar Disappointment of the Season (JF): The New Jersey Devils trainers and medical staff. Hischier head-shotted by Clifton? Let him clear protocol, take a heavy hit from Dylan Cozens, and lose him for a bit. Timo Meier hurt? He can play through it. He’s not playing well through it? Well, too bad. Jack Hughes’ shoulder may need surgery? Hey, he says he wants to play, who are we to suggest otherwise he probably won’t suffer long term damage. No, he can’t take faceoffs; yes, he can take hits. Just go with it until the playoffs you’re not making at this rate are not made. Nathan Bastian hit the head by Matt Rempe? Hey, we learned from Hischier that as long as he clears protocol that he can go. It’s not like Jacob Trouba is going to hurt him. Ignore that it happened. Siegenthaler wants to come back quickly after his own Rempe-driven head shot? No need to get him prepared, just dress him the moment he’s cleared. Just after his broken foot too. Was it worth having multiple Devils play through injuries? No! Say what you want about Las Vegas, but they let their players heal up longer and to their benefit. Possibly coincidentally, they’re a more successful organization. Runner ups to this “award” include Ryan McGill, Chris Taylor, Dan MacKinnon, Kate Madigan, Matt Cane, and Tyler Dellow.
The “Wait, did that really happen?” Award (JM): Remember when Justin Dowling scored his one goal this season? Remember when he and Alex Holtz looked like they’ve played together for 10 years? That was cool. Shoutout to Justin Dowling.
The Two Sides of the Same Coin Best & Worst Losses I Attended (JF): I attended the MetLife Stadium Series game. Witnessing the Devils beat on the Second Rate Rivals was fantastic and a high-point in a dismal season. On the other side of the coin, I also witnessed the ugly 1-5 loss to Anaheim in December. While I also attended the infamous 3-6 loss to San Jose, I took two people who have never seen hockey live before to that Anaheim game and I still feel I have to convince them that it is not always that bad at the Rock. (Aside: If I attended Brylin Night, then that would have been #1 easily.)
The 3rd Annual “Sickos” Award (JM): Me and anyone else who watched 82 games of whatever this season was. I deserve a medal.
The Best Readers (JF): You. It remains you, the reader: the People Who Matter.
Thanks again to James, Tyler, Alex, Jared, Dan, Jackson, Nate, Caleb, and Chris for their contributions to this season’s award voting. I thank all of the writers for contributing to this site throughout this failure of a season. The season is so over. We will not leave, though. We will continue to write about the team from after-season thoughts, free agent plans, prospects for the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, and more as it happens. There is even the IIHF World Championships to indulge in. Division IV starts tomorrow, even. We will even have an open post for the 2024 NHL playoffs so we can all support whoever is playing Our Hated Rivals among others.
Once again, thanks to you for reading this site throughout the 2023-24 season. Please also have your say about this year’s awards in the comments, whether you agree or disagree with them and why. Thank you for reading.