There has been a lot of negativity when it comes to the discourse around the New Jersey Devils throughout 2025. And justifiably so.
For the second year in a row, the Devils got off to a good start only to give it back. They’re 39-38-6 in the last calendar year. The Devils, who were in a playoff spot on Thanksgiving, currently sit on the outside looking in. The team is capped out, and while they have draft picks available to trade, they’re in a tough spot where they need to subtract money to add money. Some of those players with bloated contracts have looked like shells of their former selves, and other GMs aren’t going to be looking to do the Devils any favors unless it is worth their while. The blame has been laid at GM Tom Fitzgerald’s feet, and there are fair questions as to whether or not head coach Sheldon Keefe is capable of getting more out of this roster.
The vibes, as they say, are bad.
So why am I cautiously optimistic about this team going forward when they’ve given me little reason to believe?
The short answer might very well be that I am a big dumb idiot for still believing in this group. But with the calendar shifting to 2026 tomorrow, at the bare minimum, I refuse to doom-watch this team thinking everything that can possibly go wrong will. Aside from the fact that that’s not good for my mental health, it’s also exhausting to be the fan who consistently says “see, I knew they sucked” all along. I’m still invested in this group, and I’m going to be until they give me a reason not to be. Despite things being bad at the moment, I don’t think we’re quite there yet.
I came up with a few reasons that I’ll be telling myself when it comes to why the Devils could turn things around in 2026. Will they? Who the heck knows? The Devils might keep pulling the proverbial football away like Lucy from Peanuts, but I’m still going to try to kick it. This is why they play the games. We all get to see what happens. We get to see what this group is made of, and we’ll probably get a clear answer whether or not some of these players should continue being on the roster going forward.
The Goaltending/ Defensive Efforts Have Actually Been Better of Late
We are dealing with very small sample sizes here. But with that said, Jacob Markstrom is at a .932 save percentage over his last three starts while Jake Allen is at .936 over his last four starts.
The fact that the Devils have been getting better goaltending really just hammers home how frustrating this stretch of futility has been. It’s really hard to win games in this league when you’re only scoring one or two goals in any given night, and you can’t ask the goaltenders to be perfect to make up for an anemic offense. I’m not saying the Devils should be throwing a parade because Markstrom didn’t look completely washed for a few games in a row or because Allen had a few good starts, but its better than the alternative and you gotta start somewhere when trying to take a step forward.
Prior to the Christmas break, the Devils had given up ten goals in their last six games, with one of those being an empty netter. Their record was 3-3.
Getting Brett Pesce back and helping stabilize that pairing with Luke Hughes likely has had some impact on that defensive turnaround, but generally speaking, the goaltending and the defense has been doing their part and giving the team a chance to win. It’s time for the offense to do their part.
Special Teams Should Be Better With Brett Pesce and Jack Hughes Back In The Lineup
The Devils penalty kill has typically been one of the strengths of the team the last few years, but they took several steps back when Pesce got injured.
The penalty kill in games that Pesce has played is killing penalties at a 90.0% clip, only allowing 4 goals in 40 opportunities. A lot of that comes from the stretch earlier in the season where the Devils killed off 21 consecutive penalties, but it’s all still part of the resume at the end of the day. The Devils have also killed off 7 of 9 penalties in games since Pesce returned.
To give you an idea of how much the penalty killed dropped off in Pesce’s absence, the Devils killed off 40 of 60 penalties, converting at a 66.6% rate, without him in the lineup. The majority of that damage came in the final few games before Pesce returned, with the Devils killing off 5 of 12 penalties over four games. It doesn’t take an expert to say that that’s not good.
As for the power play, the Devils converted at a 25% rate prior to Jack Hughes’s injury (11-for-44) and are 1-for-3 since his return, good for 25.5%. Without Jack, the Devils converted at a 17% clip (8-for-47).
At the moment of this writing, the Devils penalty kill sits 27th in the league at 75.8%. The power play has done better at 20.7%, good for 12th in the league. I’m not trying to suggest that Brett Pesce is solely responsible for any success the penalty kill has, nor am I trying to suggest that Jack Hughes is solely responsible for any success the power play has. Sometimes, the Devils penalty kill gives up goals when Pesce is on the ice. Sometimes, the Devils power play scores when Jack is off the ice or not directly involved with the run of play.
That said, both of those players play significant roles on those respective units. Pesce, who is the Devils best defensive defenseman, leads all Devils players in time on ice per game on the kill at 2:53. Hughes, who is the Devils best offensive threat, is 3rd amongst Devils forwards at 2:54 in time on ice per game. Those respective units flow through those players. They’re a big part of the reason why those units have success, and when they’re not in the lineup, their absence is felt. There’s no getting around that.
Shooting Luck (Or Lack Thereof) Should Turn Around to Some Extent
In the Devils final 11 games prior to the Christmas break, they shot a hair over 6%.
As a point of reference, the league average is roughly 10.3%.
Shooting 6% over any prolonged stretch is bad, but it’s also to the point where “this can’t go on forever”. Only Chicago has scored fewer 5v5 goals since December 3rd, and while Chicago might be getting comically bad luck with a .946 PDO in that stretch, the Devils aren’t doing much better at .986.
I would agree with the line of thinking that this team could use another finisher or two in their top six. I would also agree that they’re probably just an average team when it comes to finishing. Tom Fitzgerald needed to add another scoring forward in the offseason, but the lack of cap space that he had a hand in creating prevented him from doing so. But it should be also noted that they just got their best finisher back in the lineup with Jack Hughes and that alone should make some impact.
I’d like to see the Devils figure out a way to create more offensively. I know Jesper Bratt has been a whipping boy of late due to his scoring struggles, as he’s a ‘pass first, ask questions later’ player. It was nice to see him score a couple goals the other night against Washington, but I need more from him. I’d also like to see Arseny Gritsyuk play with better players who can find him in a position to get his shot off. Gritsyuk needs to be a guy who is getting his shot off since he’s one of the few players on the roster capable of being a goaltender clean.
But I’d also like to see the Devils do more to change their puck luck. The Devils don’t play for rebounds, as they have ONE goal off the rebound at 5v5 this season according to MoneyPuck. Worst in the league. They don’t do enough when it comes to getting bodies to the front of the net and either tipping or redirecting shots. They’re also 32nd in the league at goals for above expected at 5v5 despite being 11th in the league at getting shots on net, which really hammers home how much they’ve struggled finishing.
Stop with the overpassing and setting up the “perfect shot” that NEVER GOES IN and start throwing the puck on net from all angles and maybe good things will happen. Diversify your approach so you’re not so one-dimensional and easy to defend. Doing so should create shooting lanes that haven’t been there earlier in the season.
The Devils Are As Healthy As They Have Been In Awhile
Let’s turn the clock back to Opening Night, when the Devils iced this lineup.
Now lets look at the lineup they’ve iced in their most recent game.
Aside from swapping out Evgenii Dadonov for Stefan Noesen and some line tweaks, it’s basically the same lineup.
Now, that lineup didn’t win on Opening Night in Carolina, but it is the same lineup that rattled off eight wins in a row shortly thereafter and beat some of the better teams in the NHL in the process.
None of this means that the Devils will continue to remain healthy going forward or replicate that early season success. Some injuries have had a far greater impact than others, as we’ve already discussed with Hughes and Pesce. There’s a lot of luck and randomness to all of this, and if the so-called Hockey Gods decide it’s just not your year, it’s not your year.
But they’re….(knock on wood)….relatively healthy at the moment. And generally speaking, having good players in your lineup is better than having replacement level players.
The Schedule Is Easing Up
I will preface this portion of the article by saying that generally speaking, I despise playing “the schedule game”.
The reason for that is this is professional sports. The term “Any Given Sunday” exists for a reason, because any team can theoretically beat any other team on any given day. Add on top of that how tight the league has been in general this year and one could say that its actually misleading to suggest the schedule is easy given the circumstances.
I don’t think anyone can dispute that the first half of the Devils schedule is far more difficult than the second half. And with that said, it should be pointed out that they don’t face a team like Colorado, Anaheim, or Vegas again unless the Devils were to somehow reach the Stanley Cup Final….something we would all sign up for. The Devils don’t face Tampa Bay again this season unless they meet in the playoffs.
That’s not to say the Devils don’t have difficult games on what is supposedly one of the easiest schedules remaining in the league. The Devils still have Carolina three times and they have yet to solve their Carolina issue. There’s tough games here and there such as Dallas and Florida and Minnesota. They just lost in overtime to Washington, a team ahead of them in the standings, the other night. And if you want to be cynical, one could say every game is a tough game when you might be as average as this Devils team appears to be. I get all that. But there isn’t a stretch in the second half where they have 5-6 tough games all in a row where you wonder if they’re going to win a game at all within that two week stretch.
The Devils still need to get their own house in order and take care of their own business, but at least it’s not as rough as it looked early on.
Final Thoughts
I don’t think the Devils are championship contenders as presently constructed. But that doesn’t mean I want to see them pack it in either. This is a team that should be a comfortable playoff team, and it’s about time they start acting like one and showing it on the ice.
The bad news is that injuries and inconsistencies have chipped away at the point lead they accumulated in the early weeks of the season and put the Devils right on that playoff bubble. The good news is that they still have half the season to go, they’re getting healthier, and the schedule isn’t as brutal as it was in the first half of the season. It wouldn’t take much of a winning streak to be right back in the mix for the playoffs, but they need to do it.
You’re only as good as your record though, and the stats are only good until the next time there’s an 0-4 and that dynamic changes. The Devils may have key pieces back, but they still don’t look like a team that is about to turn the corner and go on a winning streak. Rather, they look like a team that is hanging on and trying to survive on any given night they play hockey. Until THAT changes, its tough to see the Devils fortunes changing as well. And because of that, my cautious optimism might be closer to actually being wishful thinking.
(Stats referenced in this article do not include the December 30th, 2025 game vs. Toronto, a game where I’m certain the Devils won’t play as poorly as they have all season and make this entire article seem ridiculous in retrospect)