The New Jersey Devils have had some struggles in 2024-25, but the last few contests have been mostly in their favor. With surrounding teams not winning all of their games in hands, things look encouraging.
A couple of weeks back, I questioned if New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald was starting to feel some heat under his seat. The team had a few rough performances and their points percentage looked pretty average, especially compared to teams nearby in the standings who had much better percentages due to games in hand. The schedule is starting to equalize a bit, and while the Devils still have a few more games played than some others in the division, things are less bleak than they were before. There’s still things to work on, but maybe the Devils are truly better than last season.
The team’s current points percentage entering play tonight is .600. It’s not a spectacular number, as it only equates to about a 98 point pace for a whole season, but it is currently good enough for fifth in the Eastern Conference right now. Oddly enough, three of the other four teams playing above that pace are within the division right now. Back to the point however, is that the Devils have done mostly good things in their last four games that would have you believe they are starting to pull it all together. The one blemish over that span would be playing 55 solid minutes in Calgary to watch it all fall apart across two back to back shifts, leading to a score that on paper looks like a lopsided loss. If you take out those five minutes though the last four games have been some of best hockey the Devils have played since the spring of 2023.
Part of the reason for that has to be the improved defense, particularly the return of both Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce from injury. Both have looked great in their play, and not only are they moving the puck up the ice, but they’re denying chances for the opposition as well. Johnny Kovacevic has played even better than anticipated and Jonas Siegenthaler is back to looking like the player he was two seasons ago for the most part. Brenden Dillon and Dougie Hamilton can be an adventure at times, but they’ve also put forth some positive early returns. Simon Nemec being Pressbox’d isn’t ideal, but I don’t exactly look at Utica as an attractive option for getting him minutes right now either with the mess they have been.
Want another reason to be optimistic? I don’t think we’ve seen the best from Jack Hughes or Jesper Bratt this season yet either. While Bratt has been an assist machine and Jack has been solid, I still think each one of them has another gear. We know both can heat up with goal scoring, and while the team has been able to do that pretty regularly so far, one or both of Hughes and Bratt getting into a mode where they can take over games would make the Devils that much more dangerous. Ondrej Palat has been a bit better as of late, but I still think he’s mis-cast playing where he is with the aforementioned pair, but with injuries already hitting players further down the lineup, there may not be anyone to slot in here without turning the Bottom 6 into a disaster. Heck, maybe Palat heats up and it leads to more opportunities for Jack and Jesper; you never know in the strange world of the NHL!
The goaltending is still a bit below league average in terms of save percentages, but Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom have also each had some big games. In fairness to both as well, their save percentages are still better than anyone from last season, save for the six appearances of Kaapo Kahkonen. While it’s still only November, the Devils will have played roughly a fifth of their season schedule after tonight. As the team continues to grow more familiar with each other, hopefully we see better outcomes and stats related to the two netminders. And if the team has a night where they struggle, hopefully it is a rare occasion and whoever is in net can come up big when needed.
The Devils have looked better both on the ice and the standings and points percentages of the conference are starting to show that as well. This is mainly because every other team who had games in hand didn’t win all of them, which was the worst case scenario I talked about in the article on Fitz. Playing .600 hockey all season probably doesn’t get the Devils the results they want come April, but if they continue to play like they have for the past week and a half, rather than how they did in the four straight losses prior, everything should work out. Grab a couple more win streaks, solidify the team play in our own end, and the train should stay on the tracks we thought it would be riding on prior to the season’s start.
What are your thoughts on the Devils recent play and the schedule equalizing? Are recent individual performances helping to propel the team? Do you think the group is finally starting to gel? Leave any and all comments below and thanks as always for reading!