After a poor January, tensions and frustrations have risen after the New Jersey Devils went 3-4-0 in February. This post goes over what happened in a short month and what the issues are.
The month of January 2025 was not a good one for the New Jersey Devils. They went 5-5-3 as they slumped, suffered, and, on some nights, just plain stunk in at least one end of the rink. While short, there was some hope the Devils could turn things around in February. Instead of providing a reason to be encouraged, the Devils managed to frustrate the People Who Matter even more by going 3-4-0. The team finished tied for 22nd in the NHL with six points earned in the month. They remain holding onto third in the Metropolitan but the gap between them and fourth-place Columbus has been narrowed. The issues with the team are clear and there is less than a week for management to address at least some of it by the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline. A very busy and important March schedule will begin tonight. Before we focus entirely on that, let us take one last look at February.
The Games of February 2025
The New Jersey Devils had four games in seven days to play before the season broke for the 4 Nations Face-Off. The first game was on Sunday in Buffalo. The Devils went out there and got slammed in the first period by going down three goals. And going down again, 2-4 in the second. While the Devils made a game of it with a shorthanded goal in the third period, they could not find another goal. The bad first period sank them in a 3-4 loss to the Sabres. The Devils went to Pittsburgh on Tuesday. The team opted to give Nico Daws a start and he was sensational. Especially as the defense was shorthanded due to an injury to Jonas Siegenthaler. The Devils went up in this one but could not hold on and so a 2-2 game required overtime. Which solved nothing so a shootout was needed. After an extensive shootout, the Devils won their first one since the 2022-23 season for a 3-2 victory. On Thursday, the Devils returned to the Rock to host Las Vegas. Would they build on their win? Absolutely not. The Golden Knights styled and profiled all over the Devils in a 1-3 defeat that made the game seem closer than it actually was. The final game before the break was in Montreal on February 8. There, Jake Allen was the star as he goalied the Canadiens all afternoon. The Devils scored first and never looked back in a 4-0 victory. A 2-2-0 record before the break.
At the 4 Nations Face-Off, three Devils participated. No one got hurt so that was the ultimate victory. Erik Haula represented Finland after returning to the Devils during those four games. He pretty much played like he has been with the Devils. Just making up a roster spot and not accomplishing much for the Finns. Jack Hughes got prime minutes on a USA roster stacked with talent. But he was often used as a winger and the plays were not always there, so his impact – and the offensive impact of the national team – was limited. Jesper Bratt can at least say he scored an important goal: the eventual game winner over America. Alas, the game was just a consolation as an overtime loss to Canada and Finland meant Canada’s win over Finland knocked the Swedes out. Canada won the tourney on Thursday thanks in part to Adam Fox ambling behind the net, causing Auston Matthews to make a tough decision on defense. That decision left Connor McDavid wide open. As ever, never trust a member of Our Hated Rivals to succeed in a major setting. Maybe that was not your takeaway but it is my coping mechanism.
Anyway, the season resumed on February 22 for the Devils and the majority of the league. The Devils hosted Dallas before embarking on a five-game road trip that will end on March 4 in Dallas. In their second home game of the month, the Devils fell behind to the Stars in the first period 0-2. After getting frustrated by Casey DeSmith, Jack Hughes put the Devils within one in the third period at 1-2. Only for the Devils to get lazy and give up a goal right away. Which led to Hughes scoring again. But the Devils could not complete the comeback and they lost 2-4. Welcome back to the regular season, fans.
Two of the five road games on the trip would close out the month. On Sunday, the Devils started it in Nashville. Daws was given another start and he was utterly fantastic in this one. Not so much for the defense as they gave up a ton to the Predators but Daws got them all. The Devils scored first and really pulled away in following periods. Even people not named Jack Hughes got on the scoresheet. It was a decisive and enjoyable 5-0 win over Nashville. The good feelings of that one would be wiped away on February 26 in Denver. The Colorado Avalanche rushed down the Devils, took an early lead, and then blew the game away late. Seriously, Jake Allen tried, Jack Hughes again made it a one-goal game in the third, and the Devils found a way to just fall apart. Allen left early after a fifth goal against due to apparent cramping and dehydration. He was also probably and righteously angry and no one says he could not be both. Anyway, the Devils lost 1-5 to really sink confidence in a team that was so, so good just two months ago.
By the Numbers
All stats come from Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com where mentioned. Stats in the top ten are colored in green; stats in the bottom ten of the league (23rd to 32nd) are colored in red. Ties in rank are rounded up to the highest rank.
Yes, these are all numbers from just seven games played instead of 10+ games. Still, numbers that rank poorly should be seen as such. Unfortunately, there was a lot of this in February. I had to use a lot of red in this month.
5-on-5 Play: The shooting slump, as defined by shooting percentage, certainly stopped. The goaltenders more than did their job. What in the world were the skaters doing? Or the coaching staff?
Natural Stat Trick
I know Jonas Siegenthaler was injured in the Penguins game but the loss of one defenseman does not turn a team into the second-worst defensive team in the NHL for a month. Even if it was a seven game month, the Devils were getting absolutely wrecked in the run of play. The offense dried up as opposing teams just fired away at the Devils. Credit to Jake Allen and Nico Daws for holding up as well as they did under these awful conditions.
Here are the on-ice rates in February for the forwards. My goodness, Erik Haula was absolutely shambolic out there after he returned from injury. The Devils were out-attempted by nearly 50 attempts per 60 minutes when he took a shift. An xGA/60 rate of 4.95 when he was on th eice is hideous. He managed to be a black hole within the bottom six black hole of forwards on this squad. Absolutely brutal. He was not alone in terms of poorly performing Devil forwards in 5-on-5 for February. Dawson Mercer was real bad. Nathan Bastian was real bad. Hit machine Paul Cotter was real bad. Justin Dowling out-performed Curtis Lazar and both were bad. In February, though, it seeped up the lineup. Timo Meier’s backchecks were nice but opponents out-performed the Devils against him. The Big Deal’s and Jesper Bratt’s against rates were real bad, likely a function of being double-shifted if/when Sheldon Keefe benched one or more of his near-useless bottom six players.
The defensemen were also hammered in large part in February. Only with Brett Pesce did the Devils put up an xG% above 50%. Only with Dougie Hamilton did the Devils match the opposition in terms of attempts. Brenden Dillon was picked on; not what you want from an experienced defensive defenseman like him. Jonathan Kovacevic has suffered without Siegenthaler, who was not good against Buffalo. Luke Hughes was uncharistically pinned back a lot and forced to scramble a whole lot more in his own end than on offense. I want to give passes to Casey and Nemec as they are call ups to fill out the blueline but they were not helping the cause outside of a goal by Casey against Nashville. The Devils were pinned back and the defensemen were forced to suffer. Sometimes for long shifts if a zone exit could not be created.
If you want to wonder, hey, what can I criticize about the coaching staff, then this is one of them. I am mystified how Keefe, McGill, and Colliton saw this transpire on the ice and did not seek an adjustment beyond mixing up lines. It is not like the whole roster went to the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Power Play Situations: The power play also took a step back. See if you can find out what it was. Not a fun fact: they shot at 15% last month and converted over 20% of their chances.
Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
If you said the actual shots themselves, then you would be right. The Devils may have fired pucks but the lack of them being on target really hurt the potential of the power play. Shots have to be accurate to actually go in. The Devils were not in February so they finished in the bottom third of the league for actual shots and expected goals and just outside of the bottom third for actual goals. And high-danger chances, which is a bit surprising since the Devils’ power play formation plants a player right in front of the goalie. The Devils went 3-for-18 on powerplays. That can get better if the Devils are able to more accurately shoot their pucks. It can also get better if they can draw some more calls. 18 opportunities in 7 games is not a lot. That is a result of the bad 5-on-5 play in February. The opposition has no reason to foul the Devils if the Devils do not give them one by driving play forward.
Penalty Kill Situations: The Devils penalty kill was successful in February. This end of the special teams was not an issue.
Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
Credit again to the goalies. Often times, a goaltender has to be a team’s best penalty killer. Jake Allen and Nico Daws certainly were in February. The Devils did show that they can defend when down a man. In addition to limiting opponents to a top-ten rate of shots against, they improved their HDCA/60 rate from a bottom-third in the league in January up to nearly in the top-third in the league in February. They still gave up plenty of attempts and scoring chances, but nothing outrageous.
The outrage should be more in how many penalties the team had to kill. Only three teams had more shorthanded situations than the Devils in February. Only one team had to kill more shorthanded ice time than the Devils in February. The Devils’ discipline was lacking. Off the top of my head, the worst calls were from Stefan Noesen got tossed for a headshot on Tage Thompson; Brenden Dillon punching Lian Bischel after a ref kept them apart; and Ondrej Palat tripping Martin Necas. The Devils were great at limiting the damage but the team could have helped themselves by not putting themselves in situations like that. That some (most?) of the avoidable calls came from veteran players speaks to a larger issue with the team.
Goaltending: The goaltenders did their job!
Natural Stat Trick
Jake Allen’s numbers fell in February but he did not go from the penthouse to the outhouse. Even with some really, really bad performances by the guys in front of him, he stopped four more goals than expected from the opposition’s attempts. Over three for 5-on-5 situations. Being around the top 20 for save percentage is still quite good. Allen absolutely did his job. Nico Daws in spot duty was as good as possible. He goalied Pittsburgh and Nashville for victories. He faced a flood of pucks in those games and managed to give up very little. That combined with his limited ice time obviously helped the ranking of his stats They were still very good. Nico Daws did his job. The 18 guys in front of them, not so much in February.
Additions and Subtractions
The Devils were active in terms of transactions in February. No, not in terms of trades. But in terms of movement with Utica in response to injured and recovered players.
In terms of goaltending, only one was made that involved actual games: Nico Daws was recalled at the start of the month. With Jacob Markstrom out, the plan was to get him in a game before the break so Jake Allen did not play every one. Nico Daws took his opportunity against the Penguins and made the most of it. It helped him get the start against the Predators on February 23 and he earned his first NHL shutout. Markstrom has resumed practicing with the team and did travel on the team’s current road trip. However, he was not deemed ready to return. Allen and Daws owned the crease in February. As evidenced by the numbers, they did their jobs quite well.
On defense, the major issue was an injury suffered by Jonas Siegenthlaer in the shootout win over Pittsburgh. He was placed on injured reserve during the second week of the 4 Nations Face-Off and remains there since then. The Devils did call up Simon Nemec to replace Siegenthaler’s spot in the lineup. Santeri Hatakka, who did return to practice, was put on waivers and sent down to Utica around the same time. Nemec did not impress in his few appearances with the Devils. He roamed a lot and to little effect. Seamus Casey was called up ahead of the break ending and returned to the lineup in Nashville. While Casey has been limited in use and has been sheltered, he has scored a goal and not wandered much on defense. For the moment, Casey has been preferred to be in the lineup ahead of Nemec. Siegenthaler remains on IR for the time being. It is not known if he will return later this season.
Up front, the Devils would get Erik Haula back in action for the February 4 game against Pittsburgh. The Devils sent Brian Halonen down to make room for him on the active roster. With the Devils spending a month having Curtis Lazar and Justin Dowling both playing regularly out of necessity, this was a welcomed return in theory. However, Haula has been real rough out there and not much better than those two players. He has been playing at least. Not well, but playing. A bigger return came after the 4 Nations Face-Off: captain and center Nico Hischier. He was activated from IR on February 22 before the game against the Stars. The do-it-all-and-do-it-quite-well center was dearly missed. While the game against Dallas was not the best, he shined in Nashville. The team’s original center depth has been restored for better or worse. Plus, no other forward has taken a significant enough injury to be out of the lineup. Any decisions like dressing Lazar were coaching decisions.
Amid all of this, the Devils did give some call ups to others during the break to fill out the roster for practice. Such as Tyler Brennan filling in the net before the season resumed and Chase Stillman getting some practice shifts. Casey was called up around this time period too but the intention and result was for him to stay with the Devils. Which he is as of this writing.
Devil of the Month
Despite the month being short and not a good one – see the By the Numbers section – the stand out Devils were easy to identify.
The honorable mention is going to be first ever dual pick: the goaltenders. Daws was utterly fantastic in his two starts. Jake Allen, even with a heavy 1-5 defeat to close the month, posted a 91.9% even strength save percentage and a 90.8% overall save percentage in five appearances. The Devils’ goaltenders combined for the fifth best overall save percentage in the league for February at 92.04%. Allen and Daws showed up. They did their jobs and did them as well as they could. Say what you want about the record in February but it was not as if this duo was letting them down. The goalies gave the Devils chances to perform. It was a lot of the skaters that let them down. As a small consolation, I name Jake Allen and Nico Daws as co-honorable mentions for Devil of the Month in February 2025.
The Devil of the Month is Jack Hughes. The critics, the haters, and so forth all need to understand this simple fact from February. This is inspired by a fact Dimitri Filipovic brought up from the Hockey PDOcast episode that dropped at the end of the month. He noted that Jack Hughes has been on the ice for 20 of the Devils’ 25 goals scored in their last nine games. I decided to filter it for the month. The Devils scored just 18 goals in all situations in February. That is not a lot of goals; 21 teams have scored more than that in this past month. Jack Hughes was on the ice for 14 of those 18 goals. He had points on 9 of those 14 goals. And he scored 7 of those 14 goals himself. In fact, here is a list of the NHL players who scored more than 7 goals in February: Leon Draisaitl with 8. That’s it. The Devils’ offense has been living in the valley of the blind in February. Buried by their defensive woes. The Big Deal is the man with one eye. And so he led them he is the All About the Jersey Devil of the Month for February 2025. I do not need to make a further argument. Other than that General Manager Tom Fitzgerald needs to give Hughes (and Jesper Bratt!) some help. Not the other way around.
Concluding Thoughts & Your Take
I really mean that last point. Jack Hughes is a top-ten scorer in this league on a team-friendly contract and Jesper Bratt is also producing like him with assists on par with Connor McDavid this season. Hischier’s team-friendly deal is still ongoing. The window to win with this core at their contracts is now. Yet, Tom Fitzgerald remains steady in place, watching a Devils team flop to a 3-4-0 run in February.
To be fair, the NHL Trade Deadline is at 3 PM ET on March 7. Trades require partners and they are not easy moves to make. A lot has to be considered and Fitzgerald cannot afford to be shortsighted in the face of some recent losses. That said, the job of being a GM is not easy and if Fitzgerald is truly deserving, then he knows he has to rise to the challenge and give this team what it needs: a scorer and another center. This has been known for over a month now. Even back when the team was more successful, this was known. Yet, the needs remain unaddressed by management. Even when it has been clear something has to got to give. Jake Allen storming off after the goal by Logan O’Connor on Wednesday was a very clear sign that things are not going well for New Jersey. Clearer than a month where they went 3-4-0. Clearer than winning just eight games since the turn of the calendar even.
I worry as to how much ego is involved with this inaction. After all, Tom Fitzgerald intentionally made moves to change this team’s makeup and identity ahead of this season. He moved Alex Holtz and Akira Schmid for hit machine Paul Cotter. He drafted Anton Silayev. He signed Brenden Dillon, Brett Pesce, and Stefan Noesen to significant contracts. He bizarrely gave a seven-figure contract to Kurtis MacDermid. He added Tomas Tatar for depth. And when Haula went down, Justin Dowling’s position in the lineup was cemented. It was clear from Fitzgerald. He wanted a bigger, “tougher,” and more experienced roster. The squad has just six players under the age of 25 on it and that includes three call ups in Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey, and Nico Daws. I questioned back in July whether this approach made the Devils better. Some of the People Who Matter felt it was out of line to question that. I was proven that it was better back in the Fall and Winter of 2024. Now, I have to revisit the question – especially the defensive part given how bad the defense was in February – knowing that changing course now would mean Fitzgerald has to admit he erred. And who wants to admit they they could be wrong?
The harsh reality is that the Devils went 3-4-0 in February and 5-5-3 in January in large part of the team having too many passengers among that bigger, “tougher,” and more experienced. The offense for the last two months has been driven by Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, the power play, and whatever fortune is found elsewhere. Which has not been the case for most of the past seven games. The bottom six has been a black hole for offense outside of a rare flash from Paul Cotter who had a whopping three goals in February, one of which was given by the video review team in Toronto. Which is still a huge improvement over the others that made the Devils bigger, “tougher,” and more experienced. Nathan Bastian, Dowling, Lazar, and Haula combined for one (1) assist in February. Tomas Tatar had one goal, one assist, and seven shots between being bounced from the bottom end to a top end of the lineup. Sheldon Keefe has either tried to get things going by have Timo Meier lead one of those lines. That has not worked out at all. Just as much as having Dawson Mercer with them has also not worked.
What about outside of the bottom six? Ondrej Palat continues to be dragged around by Bratt and Hughes and even with all of those minutes with #63 and #86, #18 just ended February with two goals, an assist, and 9 shots on net. Meier and Mercer did get opportunities to play on a top line and both have added very little with just an assist from each of them in February. Are the People Who Matter frustrated with Meier and Mercer? Absolutely. Should they be? Yes. In part because asking for offense from others is either already happening by a precious few or a fool’s game because the others beneath them won’t do it. Oh, what about Stefan Noesen? He continues to be a fine fit on the primary power play unit. Out of the adds, Noesen has not really been an major issue. Or a major asset since his power play goal in Nashville was his only goal of the month and he added just one assist to go with 11 shots. Outside of that primary power play unit – which did not have a great February! – he has been just there for the month. Another passenger.
As for the defensemen, the Siegenthaler injury plus the performances finally forced Keefe to change up the pairings. He is missed but hoo boy did this blueline get cooked in February. Dougie Hamilton has been providing results with a goal and five assists to go with 23 shots. But opponents still rack up the events against the Devils as much as the Devils generate them. Dillon, well, he went pointless, added four shots, and his one penalty was that rock-stupid punch on Lian Bischel that Dallas scored on. He has not been good in his own end and opponents have lit him up in February. Jonathan Kovacevic misses Siegenthaler the most and he has been trying to find his way to be effective. Pesce has been relatively fine but he has been victimized at times, especially when the lackluster forwards have to defend and they do not do a good enough job. Not much has been expected of the blueline for offense and they have not provided much as expected. Knowing that the Devils got pinned back and conceded a lot of attempts, shots, and chances, you cannot even appreciate their defensive play. Missing Siegenthaler and throwing in limited minutes to Seamus Casey or Simon Nemec did not cause that. Again, the bigger, “tougher,” and more experienced movement failed here too.
So this is what we are left with: a team that was intentionally made to be more experienced yet do not play up to a standard you would expect from experienced players. The poor penalties, the poor starts to games, the inconsistent responses to goals, and poor defensive efforts from February all speak to that. A team that was made bigger and “tougher” to not get “pushed around” and throw lots more hits (189 in February!) – all of which has not helped this team one iota to win any game since New Year’s Day. Which has been just eight times as I have been told so many times over the past few weeks. I dare suggest that being pushed around was not a real problem compared with giving up too many opportunities and not generating enough of them. Two major issues in February.
Fitzgerald’s change to the team’s makeup and identity had other effects. With getting older, the Devils got slower, too. Which sure hurt them against Las Vegas and Colorado! Other contending teams that know that speed and controlling it is important in today’s NHL. The Devils going in the other direction has not helped them and that has been apparent since New Year’s Day. With getting more experienced, it makes it harder to make adjustments when things do not work. A lot of them are what-you-see-is-what-you-get players. Asking the defensemen to attack more to boost the offense is one thing. Knowing that means Dillon or Kovacevic has to pinch means the adjustment will have more risk than reward since they will likely be caught in pinches. So it cannot really be made. Asking the lines with Cotter, Haula, Bastian, or Dowling to carry-in more and dump-and-chase less is another thing that really cannot be done because those guys really cannot do that well. That limits the coaches as well as the team. This also means when they get pinned back and their gameplan is beaten, it is harder to counteract that.
This is maddening to a degree. Last season, the team needed goaltending help. Fitzgerald got the goaltending help and has received really good goaltending performances. They still went 3-4-0 in this past month. Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt have been top scorers in the league for this month and this season. They still went 3-4-0 in this past month. The issue is not with those two not doing more anymore than it is with the two goalies not being better than really good. It is with the remainder of the lineup, filled with the guys Fitzgerald has brought in to make them bigger, “tougher,” and more experienced. I do not know how many more games have to be lost to prove the roster construction is a root of the team’s current woes. Can’t I just show the “defense” and “effort” of Haula and Palat on the Matt Duchene goal against on February 22 after Jack Hughes scored to make it 1-2?
What about Sheldon Keefe? Should I not blame him for some of this? OK. Here I go. Of course he deserves some blame for this. He is the head coach. That the Devils struggle to start games well is a problem. That it takes a period for them to get going is a problem. That they do not respond well to a loss or even a win in their next game is a problem. That they do not always play to the score is a problem. That it took until late January to tinker with lines and pairings is not ideal. And the awful 5-on-5 numbers is a reflection of how badly his tactics and his staff’s tactics got ripped apart in February. That all said, Keefe has this slower, older, less-offensive team not lean on rush offense as much and that has been appropriate. He has let the lesser players dump-and-chase the way Ken Daneyko would like it. He has tried to make a lot of chicken salad out of the chicken excrement that Fitzgerald and his staff put together. Changing the coach will not suddenly make Haula, Lazar, Bastian, or Dowling (among others) play like they belong in today’s NHL. (And, yes, that’s a third of the team’s forwards.)
Something has to change and it has to be a lot more than bringing in a Jake Evans or a Ryan Donato or some other player who plays kind of like Tom Fitzgerald did as a player. The team has shown it can be very effective. The first three months are not a myth and the game did not change on January 1, 2025. The goaltending is a strength. The team has two top-ten scorers. The power play, even if it was colder in February, is still a major threat to most teams. The blueline can be a positive force with some adjusting (and a returning Siegenthaler). There is too much good here to throw this season away. The min-max, all-or-nothing contingent of the People Who Matter are wrong about throwing it all away. For the Devils to contend, they have to drop a loser mentality of assuming they will lose a playoff series or struggle against certain opponents. They can regain some confidence with a positive March. To bounce back from this bad February and January. For that to happen, that means Tom Fitzgerald has to do something by March 7. It might even take admitting that he was mistaken about of some of his moves. If the saying that a big man knows when he’s wrong, then we need to see how big Fitzgerald really is. Don’t be soft like Haula’s game in February, Tom.
Now that you know what I think about this past month, I want to know what you think of how the team performed in February. What were your highs and lows about this past month? What do you think the Devils need to do to win more games in March? What would you do to improve how the team played in 5-on-5 given how awful they were in February? Will Fitzgerald do something? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the past month of Devils hockey in the comments. Thank you for reading.