After three good months, the New Jersey Devils had a stinker in January. They went 5-5-3 as their shooting slumped, their performances sagged, and the People Who Matter correctly got frustrated. This post goes over what happened in January 2025 before February begins.
While January, the month, will end tomorrow, the New Jersey Devils played their final game of the first month of 2025 on Wednesday night. For many, good riddance to January. The New Jersey Devils followed three good months (reminder: October, November, December) with a stinker of a month. Depending on the kind of fan you, a Person Who Matters, are, this is seen anywhere between a slump amid an 82-game season and a crisis where we need to question the team’s character, heart, and core and consider blowing everything up because they cannot possibly win anything because of this past month. Whatever your reaction to it, the fact remains: It was a Bad month for the Devils. The Devils went 5-5-3. They earned 13 points out of a possible 26. An even 50% in a league where 55% is closer to the median. They entered the month second in the Metropolitan Division and ended it in third place. Let us go over it as a shortened February awaits the Devils.
The Games of January 2025
The New Jersey Devils started the new year on January 1 in Los Angeles. Fresh off a loss in Anaheim on New Year’s Eve, the Devils went out against the Kings and got shutout 0-3. Well, there was a goal that should have counted but goaltender interference reviews being what they are in this league denied the Devils a goal. It still was not a good performance. The good news: It would be the last time the Devils were shutout in January. The bad news: the Devils were on a three-game losing streak. One that would not end in the Bay. The Devils lost it late to San Jose, 2-3. Chris was mad about the officiating. I was mad with the general performance. Four losses in a row, getting swept by California in their state, and two losses to San Jose? It was clear the Devils were slumping. And the People Who Matter were growing concerned, if not restless.
The Devils did get a win after that loss to San Jose. They went up to Seattle on January 6. They prevailed 3-2 for their first win of the month. A win buoyed by Jacob Markstrom making not just one, but two Save of the Season-worthy stops to keep the one-goal lead. Great that he did it, not so great that he had to do it, but a win was necessary. Did it lead to better things? Not really. The Devils ended their road trip in the World’s Most Overrated Arena. They were frustrating in a 2-2 game that went to overtime and literally given away by The Big Deal for what would be an overtime loser to the one team no one wants the Devils to lose to. There would be some redemption two nights later. At home against Tampa Bay, the Devils would get dragged into overtime. There, The Big Deal drew a tripping call. While a seam pass from him was broken up, Stefan Noesen took the loose puck and slammed it in the net for a 3-2 OT win. A 2-0-1 week after a winless one to start the year was a turnaround.
It would not last, though. The Devils hosted Florida on January 14. Amid a defensive struggle, the Devils embarked on a new experience for the 2024-25 season: a shootout. The Devils lost that 1-2 and subsequently the game, 1-2. Two nights later, the Devils went up to Toronto. This would not be a defensive struggle. The Devils were able to get up in the game but Toronto’s top players forced overtime. A bizarrely bad line change by Luke Hughes opened up the lane for a breakaway goal against winner for a 3-4 OT loss. A cynic would say the Devils lost 3 of their last 4. In the NHL, they got five out of a possible eight points. Which was a better result than what happened on January 18 against Philadelphia. Amid an illness going through the team, the Devils played an absolutely dreary performance at home. The Flyers pulled ahead to hand the Devils a 1-3 loss that disappointed all those who saw it. The Devils went out hard the next afternoon against Ottawa – for a period. Then they sagged and lost that one 1-2. Winless in their last four with five out of a possible twelve points earned in their last six, the cynic started to look smart.
Fortunately and thankfully, the Devils made things right on January 22. That night was for Jacques Lemaire as he was installed as the third member of the Devils’ Ring of Honor. Unlike last year’s Brylin Debacle, the Devils put Boston to the sword. After conceding first, the Devils put up five answered with three power play goals against the B’s. A very strong 5-1 win with one issue. The issue was that Jacob Markstrom left the game with an injury after being run into by Justin Brazeau, whom was watched by Mr. Deterrent and assessed a goaltender interference penalty. Either way, Markstrom would be ruled out for 4-6 weeks with a MCL sprain. Jake Allen took over the rest of the month’s games and he is expected to take over for most of the games before the 4 Nations Face-Off break in the schedule next month.
The Devils did follow that loss by getting a win in Montreal on January 25. It was not the best as the Devils did concede two two-goal leads. They also went to overtime and prevailed when Timo Meier took a poor pass from Montreal and sprung The Big Deal for a breakaway winner, 4-3. Unfortunately, the Devils did not follow that with a good effort in Philadelphia on January 27. The Devils came out poor for the first half, went down three goals, and ended up losing 2-4. January’s schedule of games ended on January 29 at the Rock and on TNT and MAX against the Flyers. The Devils came out flat again. Then they emerged in the second period. They dropped four goals on Sam Ersson, chased him, and added a fifth goal against Ivan Fedotov. The Devils ended January with an enjoyable 5-0 win over Philadelphia. A high note in a mid month.
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. Ranks are of January 30, apologies if that night’s or Friday’s games shift the ranks a bit. Ties in rank are rounded up to the highest rank.
5-on-5 Play: This was good one way (and after adjustments). That way was not on offense. Where the shooting percentage and even just shots on net dropped to relatively low results.
Natural Stat Trick
After three straight months of decent-to-great numbers in 5-on-5, this is the most red I had to put up in the rate stats. The Devils were just not very good at shooting the puck in January. Attempts were OK relative to the league. Putting those attempts on target or in the net were not. They were also not good at generating high-danger chances. Which is a bit odd since they were a top-ten team in terms of scoring chances. Still, the Devils were not expected to score a lot in 5-on-5 play and they put up fewer actual goals. You can also point to a near-bottom-ten shooting percentage for contributing to that. That 5-0 win over Philly made this chart a little less red. Still, the team’s offensive woes were apparent in January even without knowing these on-ice rates. Or even with being shutout just once.
In terms of players, you can guess who the culprits were. Eleven players had on-ice rates less than the team’s 25.09 SF/60 and most of them are the ones you would expect. Kurtis MacDermid was a deterrent for any offense. Nathan Bastian, Curtis Lazar, and Tomas Tatar stopped at next-to-nothing and stayed there. Justin Dowling, ditto. You can forgive Jonathan Kovacevic and Jonas Siegenthaler, but the high-event play of Brenden Dillon being at this end was a shock to me. As was Brett Pesce, after two awesome months. Paul Cotter and Ondrej Palat rounded out the . It is hard to produce offense when two lines of forwards and a third to two-thirds of the defense was not really doing much of it. It is one thing to throw up attempts or get chances, but the lack of shots really stood out from this past month. Combined, again, with the team’s shooting percentage dropping, and the team’s offense was such a grind in January. By the way, those eleven players combined for six goals in 5-on-5 play all month. This added pressure to Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, Dawson Mercer, and Dougie Hamlton to produce – and they were not able to avoid the slump.
Defensively, though, the Devils were bosses in their house. They were not putting up defensive masterpieces like they did in December. Their rate of shots allowed and attempts allowed were fine overall. They were more exceptional at keeping the opposition from getting scoring chances or high danger chances. That helped the Devils from getting rolled over when their offense did not generate much. This was further buoyed by some fantastic goaltending in 5-on-5 play from Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom. More on them later. I am more sympathetic to Kovacevic, Siegenthaler, and Dillon being present for really low SF/60 rates as they were also present (and responsible) for low SA/60 rates too. Some of those bottom-six forwards can claim too that, but I am not convinced that Bastian or Cotter were just defensive monsters for a month. The point remains: the Devils were not so much bad in 5-on-5 in January but they were one-sided. Which is bad in of itself.
Power Play Situations: Similar to the 5-on-5 play, only with one additional downside.
Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
The Devils results on the surface were quite good for the power play. Top-ten in PPGs, surprisingly just inside the top-ten in situations (the Devils got, um, disrespected on some nights from the stripes), and a 25% success rate is above decent. The issue is that the power play goals came in bunches. One conversion against San Jose was followed by two games without a PPG (and no power plays against Seattle). One conversion against Tampa Bay in overtime was followed by nothing against Florida. One conversion against Toronto was followed by two games with no conversions. Three PPGs to bury Boston was followed by two games with no conversions. The month ended with a boost to the power play numbers as the Devils went 2-for-3 against Philly. One can only hope the next power play goal does not take a couple of games into February.
Still, the Devils’ power play performance was still excellent. They created loads of attempts. Unlike 5-on-5 play, they put a high rate of shots on net. They went to the difficult areas often for attempts and shots. The Devils coaching staff only changed the makeup of the power play units when they had to do so due to injuries and illness. As much as I do not need to see Dougie Hamilton doing drop passes on breakouts (he did this in the Philadelphia win), the Devils man advantage units made things work. Only the shooting percentage was a bummer, which was saved from the red zone by that same win over Philadelphia. This is very encouraging. The game plan and general system continues to be effective. The shooting percentage not being in a slump should see the power play boost back up in coming weeks. That may mean more consistent conversions from the power play units.
In terms of who did the damage on the power play, three Devils stood out in January: Nico Hischier (4 G, 2 A), The Big Deal (6 A), and Jesper Bratt (5 A). Stefan Noesen scored two and one each was provided by Hamilton, Palat, and Bastian.
Penalty Kill Situations: The Devils penalty kill was successful for the most part in January. It was not all good under the surface, though.
Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
The Devils should be pleased with the results of the PK in this past month. A top-ten success rate and conceding just six goals is quite good. The Devils were fantastic in limiting rates of shot attempts and shots on net when shorthanded. That definitely led to a good rate of goals allowed. What was far from fantastic was defending the slot and crease. The Devils gave up a high rate of high danger chances in January. The goaltenders, which were great in 5-on-5, were not as strong when in a 4-on-5 or 3-on-5 or 3-on-4 situation. The relative lack of attempts and shots did help stem the damage that could come from a bottom-ten save percentage and bottom-ten HDCA/60 rate. The system may need some tweaking to help the high-danger rate in the future. But there were more positives on the PK than negatives in January.
In terms of who performed the best, Jonas Siegenthaler was a monster in shorthanded situations. His on-ice rates were amazing in January. Some of them were so low as 5-on-5 on-ice rates for some players. Brett Pesce, Jesper Bratt, and Jack Hughes were also quite good. The team leaned a bit more on Hischier, Dillon, Mercer, and Kovacevic and they were fine. It was just that Siegenthaler was exceptional in shorthanded situations.
Goaltending: The goaltending in January was quite good.
Natural Stat Trick
Goaltending was far from a problem. With the scoring and the offense drying up, Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen often kept the Devils in games. They were not perfect. But they did help the Devils drag some games into overtime and keep games competitive or winnable. Markstrom arguably made two out-of-this-world stops against Seattle as high point. When he went down in the Boston game, Allen came in and was inch-perfect. It would have been his high point, but he put up a 5-0 shutout where he goalied the Flyers on January 29.
The ranks may be fuzzy given it includes starters and back-ups and some #3 guys getting some extra looks. Still, the Devils goalies ranked quite well among the league’s goalies in January. Markstrom and Allen finished outside the top ten in 5-on-5 save percentage, Allen finished inside it in all situations, and a 91% in all situations for Markstrom is not shabby. Both goalies either met or exceeded the expected goals model at Natural Stat Trick. Their high danger save percentages were fantastic in January. As much as I have been critical of Dave Rogalski, the goalies have done the job quite well even when the skaters left something to be desired.
Additions and Subtractions
Injuries and illnesses were contributing causes to this team’s poor month. No, not root causes, but contributing factors.
- Erik Haula picked up an ankle injury in the loss to San Jose on January 4. He would be out for the remainder of the month. The Devils formally put him on injured reserve retroactive to the fourth with ankle sprain on January 17. This ensured Justin Dowling and Curtis Lazar would stay in the lineup as centers.
- Markstrom would get run into by Justin Brazeau on January 22. He left that game with an injury. The team reported two days later that it was a MCL sprain. While he would not need surgery, he would be out for 4-6 weeks. This news led to Isaac Poulter being called up to backup Jake Allen. Poulter has not seen any minutes in New Jersey. He was sent down on January 30. It is expected that Nico Daws will be called up ahead of the February 2 game in Buffalo. The injury also means Markstrom will not represent Sweden in February’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Philadelphia goaltender Sam Ersson was announced on January 29 as his replacement.
- Nico Hischier was injured in the overtime loss to Montreal. A cross-check to his hip/ribs by Nick Suzuki not only led to a bad pass that led to a rush for a goal against. It took him out of the game. The Devils announced on January 29 that he would be “week-to-week.” Hischier is sorely missed. He was a critical part of the team, playing in all situations, and playing very well in all situations. This injury brought Brian Halonen back to the lineup for his second call-up of the month. He has played one game in that second call up, the second loss to Philadelphia.
- Stefan Noesen and Ondrej Palat were out for a short time in the middle of January with illness. Noesen missed the Florida and Toronto games. Palat missed the win over Boston on Lemaire night. Other Devils certainly were sick in the middle of the month and played through it for better or, in the case of that Philadelphia-Ottawa weekend, notably worse.
- While he played through it, The Big Deal had a cut on his finger that required stiches against Boston. That has been resolved by the 5-0 win over Philadelphia.
- Nathan Bastian did get knocked out of the January 27 game in Philadelphia from a high, uncalled Rule 48-worthy hit by Nick Seeler. Bastian did return to skate on Wednesday morning, and did play in Wednesday’s game. He even scored a goal. Good for him.
The Devils were not the only team to suffer injuries or illness in January or in this season. Plenty of teams have suffered as well. Some more than others. Again, these were contributing factors to the team’s performance in the month. Not a key reason for the record and certainly not an excuse. Still, the center depth was exposed and, curiously, the Devils did not call up a center in light of Haula’s or Hischier’s injuries. The team opted to move Dawson Mercer to center after Hischier’s injury with Dowling and Lazar remaining as the team’s bottom six centers.
While the Devils remained healthy on defense, the primary changes at forward were internal. Read: Kurtis MacDermid played five games this month. The call-ups made in January were for two appearances of Brian Halonen, coverage for Allen in Poulter, and coverage for the defense that was not needed from Nick DeSimone or Colton White. The Devils did lose DeSimone to waivers on January 4; Utah claimed him. He has dressed in 7 games for Utah HC and has three assists. Good for him to have a place to play.
Are there signs of anyone returning? The month ended with Santeri Hatakka skating with the team. He has been on injured reserve since the start of the season. I would think he will get a conditioning loan to Utica before returning as a spare defenseman. He does not play center or finish pucks so he is not exactly what the Devils need now. Still, it is good to see someone returning from injury.
One final note. St. Louis placed Brandon Saad on unconditional waivers for the purpose of terminating his contract. He will be a free agent on the final day of the month. Per Frank Seravalli, the Devils may be interested in signing him to a contract. I am not going to analyze the idea or claim it is good, bad, or whatever. But it is a potential late addition for the month.
Devil of the Month
In a mostly negative month, it is not easy to pick a Devil of the Month. The award is meant to highlight who has excelled throughout the month. Not easy to do after a month like this one for the Devils. Anyone I pick is going to come with someone providing a snarky response about “what about his giveaway” or “what about this soft goal allowed” or “what about this penalty” and so forth. Then again, I literally cannot please everyone so here are my choices anyway. Feel free to disagree and make a better case for someone else in the comments.
For an honorable mention, I am going to go recent and credit Jake Allen. Jacob Markstrom had a good January. Even a great January in spots. Allen did not play much in December or play all that well. But Allen did well in spot duty with stopping 21 out of 23 against Los Angeles on January 1 and keeping Philly to two goals on January 18. When Markstrom went down against Boston, Allen stepped in and was wonderful. He shutout the Bruins in his relief duty. He was not perfect but far from terrible in Montreal or Philadelphia. He ended January with a near-perfect performance in a second game against Philly (Hamilton and a post each saved a goal). It was not what Allen or the Devils planned on but he stepped into a difficult situation and kept a slumping team from spiraling out. The overall numbers for January show that Allen stopped seven goals fewer than expected in all situations and four in 5-on-5 play. His high-danger save percentage in six appearances was among the league’s best. I could credit The Big Deal for being the only thing close to a consistent producer in a dreary offensive month or point to another defenseman (spoiler). I will give some shine to Jake Allen – the honorable mention for the Devil of the Month for January 2025.
The actual Devil of the month, again, is someone I look for someone who performs well throughout it. He was last month’s honorable mention and I might as well give it to him because Jonas Siegenthaler has been the furthest thing from a problem on the squad. Yes, not a lot of offense happens when he takes to the ice. In January, though, his on-ice rates for offense were notably higher than his usual partner, Jonathan Kovacevic. This is combined with his already amazing defensive rates in 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill. Which were also a team-low for both expected goals against and actual goals against in 5-on-5. The defense finally got a different look by the final game of January. That was more of a function of a Luke Hughes-Brett Pesce spiraling out of strong play in January and the continued high-event play of Hamilton-Brenden Dillon. Siegenthaler-Kovacevic were as rock-solid as you could be as a defensive pairing over the whole month. Siegenthaler had the better on-ice rates. The only mark against him would be 12 PIM in January and even that has subsisted with four penalty-free games to close out the month. Therefore, I declare Jonas Siegenthaler to be the All About the Jersey Devil of the Month for January 2025.
Concluding Thoughts & Your Take
One my ongoing Quixotic battles is to insist that mediocre, average, and even “mid” really mean doing OK. When a team is doing poorly, below mediocre, and so forth, the correct term is to call them bad. Average gets a team into the playoff picture in this league. Were the New Jersey Devils good in January? Certainly not. Were they the worst? No. But they were bad. This is easy to determine in January 2025. The Devils went 5-5-3. Their record of meant the Devils earned less than 55% of the points available. 55% is about average for a team in terms of earning points. They did not meet that mark. They were not good. It was bad. Maybe a little bad to put a Daneyko spin on it.
Why, I think, they were bad is laid out all over this post. The team’s shooting percentage dropped like a stone. The offense from the bottom six really dried up, and the top six getting cold led to a really lackluster offensive performance over the month. Outside of scoring chances, somehow. The defensive performances were good over all at least, but a lack of offense only added more pressure to the back end. Special teams were successful overall, but the power play worked in bunches and the PK was the one area where the goaltenders or protecting the slot and crease was not so good. With fewer goals scored by the Devils, games were more on the edge of a knife where a mistake – small or glaringly large – can make a difference. The opponents were never not in the game with the Devils. Even with Markstrom playing well and Allen holding his own, the record speaks for itself.
The Devils did well to at least get beyond regulation for three of those losses. You may call them losses. In the NHL, they count for points in the standings and it is why the Devils were not left totally in the dust by Carolina (although if they keep winning, they might) and why they are not really in danger at falling to fourth place. This does not mean the month was not disappointing or even that it was acceptable. Just that the damage done by it is not as severe as it could. It also helped, tremendously, the Devils won two overtimes as well.
As January wore on, it was clear that some change was needed. It was not until the Boston game where Sheldon Keefe made some significant changes to the lineup. With the injury to Hischier, further needed to be done. The blueline got a new look for its last game against Philly. These may help. As would the team getting hotter at putting pucks in the net. Of course, if you or I had a real answer to making that happen, then we would be employed by a team and quite rich from all of the success the team would have. We at least the answer is not the oft-repeated decree from Ken Daneyko for the Devils to just fire pucks on net and get something “greasy.” If anything, the Devils could stand to be fancier, cuter, and other adjectives old hockey fans use to deride actual skill on display in the game. I would argue that even after their month-ending 5-0 win.
It remains to be seen if further changes will be made. The NHL Trade Deadline is on March 7. With the 4 Nations Face-Off giving most of the Devils and the NHL a two-week break, that deadline is just ten games away. A center and some help scoring are glaring needs both on paper and from the performances seen in this past month. Whether Tom Fitzgerald makes that happen is up to him, the market, and how he engages with that market. Fair or not, Carolina’s massive deal for Mikko Rantanen and Taylor Hall has increased the pressure on teams like New Jersey to do something. As has been a slumping January.
Which I think is the main theme of this past month. I highly doubt the Devils were riding high and just managed to fool an entire league for 40 games. They had excellent numbers, both on the surface and underlying, over the first half of their season. This past month was bad. It does not invalidate or erase the three good months before it. They hit a slump. It was magnified by poor performances surrounding that slump. There are some signs they could leave it soon. They did end the month winning three out of their last four. They scored more than three goals in those three wins too. We should hope they do get away their slump! Ideally in this coming next week for a four-game run of games before the break. Should they do so, then this month will correctly be seen as that as opposed to some harbinger of doom.
Now that you know what I think about this past month, I want to know what you think of how the team performed in January. What were your highs and lows about this past month? What do you think the Devils need to do to win more games in February? What does a successful February look like to you given what just happened in January? What does a successful December look like to you? Would you agree that Jonas Siegenthaler is the Devil of the Month? If not, who would you pick and why? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the past month of Devils hockey in the comments. Thank you for reading.