After a month of two major injuries, a bad trade deadline, two losing streaks, and a goalie playing his way through to recovery, the New Jersey Devils did manage to end the month at 8-7-1. This post goes over what happened, what the numbers were, and names a Devil of the Month.
The New Jersey Devils ended March on a positive note with back-to-back wins. It was enough to secure a winning month. A month where they went 8-7-1. That is 17 points earned, good for being tied with Edmonton for the 13th most earned in the NHL. The point percentage of 53.1% put them solely at 19th. An above-mid record made more mighty by the teams beneath them in the Metropolitan Division being even worse. The Devils are just about locked into third place in the division and a first round matchup with Carolina. Given how the month started, this is a positive result. As the final six games of the regular season in their April schedule begins tomorrow for the Devils, let us take one last look at March 2025.
The Games of March 2025
The Devils began the month as they ended it: on the road. The Devils played it’s first game in Salt Lake City on March 1. It went quite well. Nico Daws had a strong game and the Devils prevailed 3-1. With news of Jacob Markstrom coming back, it would be Daws’ last game with NJ for the time being. It would also be the last time the vibes were “good” around the Devils.
It would also be the last full game for The Big Deal. The Devils were in Las Vegas on March 2. They could not solve Adin Hill. The G-Knights beat Jake Allen twice. Before the end, Jack Hughes was accidentally clipped in the skates and crashed shoulder-first into the boards. That ended his season, a bigger mark than the 0-2 loss in Las Vegas. The Devils suffered further on March 4 in Dallas. Dougie Hamilton was hurt early in the game, the Devils clawed their way back into the score, only for a dumb icing yielding a super-late game winner for Thomas Harely. The Devils lost 3-4 with a gut punch. On the day of the NHL Trade Deadline, the Devils were back in Newark to host Winnipeg. They got dominated in a 1-6 loss, showing how far behind the Jets they were in terms of quality as well as goals. The Devils had a real-deal three-game losing streak with two major players out after winning on March 1. Not good!
The Devils started to turn things around in the following week. On March 9, they went to Philadelphia. Cody Glass joined the roster and made an instant impact. Enough to help the Devils win 3-1 and end their slide. On March 11, they had a huge game against Columbus, who was not far behind New Jersey in the standings. The Devils scored plenty on Elvis Merzlikins to win 5-3. That earned the Devils a huge four-point swing in the Devils’ favor and all but kept Columbus from challenging for third place in the division. On March 13, the team hosted Edmonton. They fought back from a deficit to go up 3-2 and just hung on for dear life from that point on. That worked for a third straight win. On March 15, would they make it 4? No. The Pittsburgh Penguins came out strong, the Devils battled back briefly, but the Pens rolled through to hand NJ a brutal 3-7 loss. So much for the winning streak. At least it was a winning week.
The third periods of those previous three games were not really good for the Devils were pinned back for much of it. It would get worse over the next week or so of play. On March 17, the Devils had a rematch in Columbus. Jake Allen literally stopped a game’s worth of shots and attempts in the third period alone. He was the best and only reason why the Devils won 2-1. On March 20, the Devils hosted Calgary. The team was up 3-1 after two periods, and then spent the third mostly playing defense. This cost them as they blew the lead to lose 3-5 in regulation. On March 22, the Devils’ third period was not so bad against Ottawa. The issue was that it was the second period that was awful. Ottawa put a hapless looking Devils squad down 1-3. The Devils made it 2-3 within the final minute and that’s where it stayed for a second straight loss. On March 24, the Devils hosted Vancouver. The team’s traded goals and it seemed that the Devils would hold on to a 3-2 lead. They had just under 56 seconds left to hold on. Then after a failed clearance, Conor Garland scored in the final minute to force overtime. The Devils would lose through a shootout, 3-4, with a third period failure sticking out as a cause for the loss. The Devils certainly made things harder on themselves in this stretch. Three-game winless streaks would do that.
The Devils had a short three-games-in-four-nights trip after the shootout loss to Vancouver. It started in Chicago on Wednesday, March 26. The Devils ran up four goals on Spencer Knight and survived a scare of Chicago coming back earlier. They also survived another late third period goal that made it close. The Devils scored an empty netter for a 5-3 win. It may have been Chicago, but winning to end a winless streak is always a good thing. The games would get harder. They had to go to Winnipeg on March 28. There, they got schooled by the top team in the Western Conference. Defensive miscues, a lack of a functional offense, and a lot of not-smart plays by a team full of veterans led to a hideous 0-4 loss in Manitoba. The road trip ended in St. Paul the next night. Fortunately and perhaps surprisingly, the Devils bounced back. Nico Hischier scored early, Paul Cotter banged in a long, tight rebound, and the Devils never looked back. Hischier racked up a hat trick, Jacob Markstrom looked good, the offense put up over 30 shots on net for the first time since February 23, and the Devils won 5-2. It was the kind of win that makes you realize how capable this team could be. It also meant they went 2-1-0 on a three-game trip in four days. Also a positive.
March ended in Newark with a rematch against the Wild. There, we saw more of the sloppier parts of the team in the month. The offense, while present, did tail off. The finish was not always there. While they had a late lead, a veteran defenseman made a mistake to give up a late equalizer. They even had a goal in overtime taken off the board for offsides. It ended well in the shootout. Cotter and Bratt finished their shots, Markstrom did not get beat, and the 2-0 win in the shootout yielded a 3-2 win. A winning month was secured.
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.
5-on-5 Play: The People Who Matter who claimed the Devils have been more defensive look to be correct based on the 5-on-5 numbers. The People Who Matter who noticed that the offense still stunk also look to be correct based on the 5-on-5 numbers.
Natural Stat Trick
Those defensive metrics do back up the idea that the Devils looked to be more defensive in March, especially after the injuries to Hughes and Hamilton. They have done so much better in allowing attempts. They were in that 11th-22th range for all of their other against rate stats. For Corsi, shots, and scoring chances, the Devils ended up in that same range for their on-ice percentages. It is what you would expect from a team that went 8-7-1.
However, the offensive metrics back up the idea that the Devils absolutely needed help on offense and Soft Tom did not provide it no matter how hot Cody Glass started as a Devil. The Devils remained one of the least prolific teams for shooting attempts, shots, scoring chances, and high-danger chances. Combine that with a relatively low shooting percentage and there were not a lot of goals in 5-on-5. Their gross number was not bad, but a 2.06 GF/60 rate is just not good enough. The expected goals model at Natural Stat Trick saw a team that was OK defensively and poor offensively and the actual rate of goals reflected that. If only the Devils were able to generate and produce more offense in March. They could have done even better than the 8-7-1 they did. That the rates were this low show that A) the team really does miss The Big Deal and Hamilton and B) the team needed more because both The Big Deal and Hamilton were present for last month’s awful on-ice rates.
This also means that Sheldon Keefe and his staff have to get creative. The roster is what it is. He has to find some adjustments to have them in position to take more attempts, take more shots, and get into more dangerous areas for shots. This is necessary because a relatively punchless offense is something other teams can exploit and have exploited in March.
Due to changes in the lineup, there were some surprising names to have some solid 5-on-5 rates. Jonathan Kovacevic had actually positive offensive on-ice rates; likely a result of the guys in front of him. Glass made a positive impact, Nico Hischier stayed solid, and Justin Dowling was somehow not bad either. There were some surprising names that got gaved in. Jesper Bratt produced a lot of offense, but so did his opponents. Ondrej Palat was caved in the worst among regular forwards. Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce were forced to be a top defensive pairing and the results reflected how much of a struggle it was at times. (Spoiler: This is why Luke Hughes is not in the Devil of the Month section.) Least surprising was seeing the bottom-six black hole forwards continue to be black hole forwards. Shoutout to Nathan Bastian, Curtis Lazar, and Paul Cotter for being present for a SF/60 on-ice rate less than 20.
For production purposes, the 5-on-5 scoring leaders were in order: Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Luke Hughes, and Stefan Noesen. Timo Meier and Glass and Dumoulin (!) each finished with five points. Everyone got at least one except for Daniel Sprong, Hamilton, Kurtis MacDermid, and Dennis Cholowski.
Power Play Situations: The power play bounced back in a big way. Which is massive considering The Big Deal and Hamilton were out with injuries and Stefan Noesen went pointless on the power play in March.
Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
This is a great reflection on Jeremy Colliton’s gameplan. As much as I hate the slingshot pass for Luke Hughes, he has stepped into Hamilton’s role on the primary power play unit. His skating provides a more mobile threat instead of a guy who can hang back and bomb shots like Hamilton. Without Jack Hughes and Stefan Noesen going pointless, the main unit has seen Timo Meier promoted for Hughes and Noesen swapped for Dawson Mercer. As much as the Devils have leaned on one primary unit, they have been getting the job done. They are a top-ten team in everything but generating shots on net. They were a top-ten team in March when it comes to conversion rate.
The only thing you could ask from this power play unit was to get on the ice more often. The lack of 5-on-5 offense plus some game management officiating led to just 38 chances. Opponents will foul more if forced to and the Devils really do need to work on that as part of their 5-on-5 game. If (or when) they do, though, the Devils can absolutely put some fear into the opposition. Given that they are without two ace offensive talents and the power play ended up this good, the league should be very aware of how bad being undisciplined against the Devils could be.
In terms of who did the damage, it often involved Luke Hughes and/or Jesper Bratt. Both ended March with 8 power play points, all of them assists. Hischier had the most goals with five. Dawson Mercer and Timo Meier each had three. As you would expect, Meier, Hischier, Luke, and Mercer each had over 10 shooting attempts in power play situations. Noesen was surprisingly pointless and almost attempt-less with just one all month. Which, again, should frighten the rest of the league. The Devils power play is still very much a threat.
Penalty Kill Situations: There were two big issues with the penalty kill in March. Two things that, if improved, would have led to more penalties being killed.
Natural Stat Trick and NHL.com
The first issue was the penalty killers were great at limiting attempts, shots, and scoring chances – while being awful at the high-danger chances. Those are the shooting attempts typically around the crease or in the slot. Also known as the two most common places for teams to score goals on the ice. The Devils were uniquely bad at this but very good at attempts overall and attempts from medium danger areas.
The second issue was the goaltending. It was bad! More on that in a bit.
The result is a Devils penalty kill that performed worse than it seemed. It would be one thing if the Devils were giving away HDCAs on penalty kills but the goalies were stopping them. That would have yielded a better success rate and one you would likely associate with a team that had three top-ten against rate stats. But the penalty killers did and the goalies were bad so they ended up below league median. I will credit the Devils for not taking heaps of penalties in March. That is something to continue. But it is strange to see a team that did relatively well in 5-on-5 at protecting their danger zone but falter in PK situations. It is something they should clean up as the season concludes.
Fun fact: The one shorthanded goal came from Ondrej Palat from a Jesper Bratt drop pass on a 2-on-2 rush. There could have been a second but Nathan Bastian’s shorty was taken off the board for offside.
Now let us get to the goaltending.
Goaltending: Jacob Markstrom came back in March. Hoo boy was it a rough return!
Natural Stat Trick
First, you will notice there is no Nico Daws in the chart. He played one game in March so he did not make the minutes cut-off. He was great in his one game in Utah.
Second, wow, Jacob Markstrom was seriously terrible in March! As much as I will get on Soft Tom’s case in the next section, I have a bone to pick with Sheldon Keefe, Dave Rogalski, and the staff here. I understand that Markstrom’s injury was something he was just going to have to play through to fully recover. I get that he needed to get the rust off. But, at some point, you cannot keep throwing a goalie with these numbers into the net when the team needs points. Markstrom was one of the worst goalies in the NHL in March. That is an objective fact. Terrible in 5-on-5, horrendous in all situations, and awful on high danger shots. If the goal was to put the best roster on the ice, then Jake Allen should have received way more than five appearances in March. That is a failing of the coaching staff.
To be fair, Allen was not good when it came to high danger shots either in March. But he was one of the league’s better goalies when it came to save percentage, goals saved above average, and goals allowed compared with expected goals. Allen’s performance in Columbus alone was an achievement; stopping a game’s worth of offense in one third period to hold onto a 2-1 win. His reward was getting a bad performance in front of him against Ottawa on March 22 and getting whacked by Winnipeg on March 28. Come on.
The glimmer of hope for Markstrom is his final two appearances of the month. He posted a 91.7% and 93.3% save percentages, respectively, in those two games. He prevailed in a shootout with a little help of the goal’s frame. He only let in two goals against in each of those games and they were not of the soft variety that he did allow earlier in the month. The hope is that Markstrom is back to his normal self. The Devils will absolutely need that for the playoffs. April will determine if risking and/or burning games in March with Markstrom literally playing out his recovery ended up being the right move.
Additions and Subtractions
You know what the biggest injuries were in March. The Devils lost their most talented player in Jack Hughes and their most productive (and high-event) defenseman in Dougie Hamilton by the third game of the month. Both were announced to be out for the season. The Big Deal had shoulder surgery and was placed on LTIR. Jack Hughes is not coming back. Hamilton was classified as week to week but it was announced in mid-March that he was done for the regular season and the first round of the playoffs. (Aside: The GM decided to reveal this on a Vancouver-based podcast.) Their absences loom large on a team that needed offensive help for two months running. There was a positive sign at the end of March and start of April. Hamilton has begun to skate and, per Pierre LeBrun, he could return earlier than anticipated.
There were some additional injuries. Cody Glass missed the road trip at the end of the month as well as the month’s final game against Minnesota. He could return soon, which is a positive. Luke Hughes was held out for precautionary reasons from the Winnipeg game. He would return for the win in Minnesota. Ondrej Palat being out was apparently due to something as opposed to a healthy scratch. Ditto Curtis Lazar for a game.
The biggest addition in terms of players coming back from injury was Jacob Markstrom. He was activated on March 2 (Nico Daws was returned to Utica on the same day) and returned to the net against Las Vegas. While that game went well enough, it remains as his only game in March where he posted a 90% save percentage or better until the two wins over Minnesota. Markstrom has had really bad nights and allowed some really soft goals in between. Some of the People Who Matter questioned if he was really 100%. Markstrom did admit to TNT after the win in Chicago that he’s still getting used to playing after the injury. The plan seems to be for him to play until his performances return to normalcy. Markstrom did post up good numbers in the last two games of the month. Hopefully he can maintain that all the way through April 16 and beyond.
With the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7, the Devils ended up doing some things to their roster. The final results:
1. Retaining 25% of Trent Frederic’s salary and getting the rights to Shane Lachance (a center at Boston University) as Boston traded Frederic to Edmonton. This happened on March 4.
2. On the day before the deadline, the Devils sent Anaheim a conditional second round pick (the better of Edmonton’s or Winnipeg’s pick) and Herman Tråff for Brian Dumoulin with 50% retained salary by the Ducks.
3. The Devils sent Adam Beckman to the Islanders for Dennis Cholowski.
4. The Devils acquired Cody Glass and Jonathan Gruden from Pittsburgh for Chase Stillman, Max Graham, and a 2027 third round pick.
5. The Devils acquired Daniel Sprong from Seattle for a 2026 seventh round pick.
6. The Devils acquired Marc McLaughlin from Boston for Daniil Misyul.
All that, a demotion for Seamus Casey to make room for the active roster, and an announcement of a five-season, $20 million contract extension for Jonathan Kovacevic. My reaction to the moves by the deadline was quite negative and it remains that way. Even with the Devils winning their last two games of the month to go 8-7-1.
I called GM Tom Fitzgerald soft – to a point where he is now Soft Tom, Soft Tommy, Soft Fitzgerald, STF, etc. – because he had months to improve the team’s glaring needs for offense and at center and he was not even willing to get creative or take a chance beyond making low stakes moves. Instead of swinging big and using a boatload of LTIR space he made available for himself (two seasons running now!) and picks in draft years where the Devils should not be a lottery team, his biggest adds were Cody Glass and Brian Dumoulin. Has Fitzgerald watched this team since Christmas 2024? He settled for depth when the team needed more than these kind of moves?
Yes, the deadline was a seller’s market with high prices. One that did not stop him from adding a defensive minded defenseman over the age of 30 that is not quick with an expiring contract for a fairly high price considering all of that. Or other teams from making more significant moves that made dangerous teams even more threatening. Even with Hughes and Hamilton healthy, the Devils offense has been (and is! Read the By the Numbers section again!) a black hole beyond certain players. That was not remotely addressed. You may argue the Devils are not real contenders. I disagree. The Devils are a cap ceiling team with core players in prime years and, oh yeah, being a top team for three months in this very season. Their window is open now. It has been open since 2023 if we are being honest with the Devils. But the front office does not want to even look outside of it and wonder what could be.
Fitzgerald even admitted in a post-deadline press conference that he came in second on some deals and he did not have enough assets. (Aside: The conference was revealing in how weak Fitzgerald looked going over what he did and answering the media’s questions.) All those people in the Front Office (it’s not just Soft Tom. There’s: Dan MacKinnon! Kate Madigan! Chuck Fletcher! Martin Brodeur! Matt Cane! And more!) and those were the reasons for these middling moves. Moves that have yet to move the needle for the Devils as evident by their March record. Moves that did not really help the Devils at what they needed as evident by their record and the 5-on-5 subsection of the By the Numbers section. Moves that turned a Devils team with not much hope into a Devils team with not much confidence for a run. Moves consistent with an 200 Hockey People mentality instead of someone more ruthless or creative at making their team better. Moves made by people who want to shoot their shot instead of finding every reason to not even try and lament. Let me spell it out for some of the People Who Matter at what those moves made Fitzgerald and his front office look: S-A-W-F-T.
Anyway. The milk cannot be unspilled. How have those new players performed in New Jersey? Glass has been a pleasant surprise since joining the roster. An instant upgrade over Curtis Lazar, Justin Dowling, and whatever Erik Haula has been since his return from injury. It is to a point where Glass is missed to a small degree. It has also helped that Haula has also seemingly sorted some of his game out too. That has worked out. Dumoulin has been playing as expected: a slow defensive minded defenseman. Not an anchor, but basically a worse, older version of Kovacevic. Sprong has been just a guy and not even a regular guy. He was available for free but management decided to pay a little something regardless to find out why he was available for free twice this season. Cholowski may be the slowest defenseman on the team and has been switched in and out for Simon Nemec despite the youngster’s struggles. The 25% retained salary on Frederic remains unhelpful as money cannot play. Shane Lachance, he’s doing OK with BU. Which does not help NJ. And the team as a whole is still highly reliant on a few players making things happen and hoping the goaltending bails out a defense that continues to get gashed. That is not good!
The one thing Soft Tom did get right from his post deadline presser is that the additions would force competition in the lineup. Weird to do that in March of a season. Yet, it has happened with just 9 Devils staying in the lineup since the deadline. Either held out with a scratch or a minor injury, the likes of even Ondrej Palat, Erik Haula, and Paul Cotter had nights off. Some of it sparked a brief contribution, such as Cotter scoring after his return or Haula finding the scoresheet multiple times since said night off. Others have yet to establish themselves like Cholowski and Nemec. Nolan Foote was called up on March 21 and has been involved in this rotation situation. At least he got one assist in Minnesota.
The Devils did take care of some other business after March 7. They did sign Xavier Parent to a one-season entry level contract for next season. Parent has been grinding in Utica for a few seasons. This is likely a reward for his efforts similar to Isaac Poulter and Samuel Laberge getting NHL deals in recent history. With Michigan’s season done, defenseman Ethan Edwards was signed to a two-season ELC starting next year. Edwards has joined Utica on an ATO to jump right into pro hockey.
Utica has made some moves by their deadline too. Most surprising, assistant GM and Utica GM Dan MacKinnon agreed to trade his son Will to Cleveland for Future Considerations. Which is nothing. I’m sure the next family dinner will discuss that a bit. The Devils also picked up defenseman Tory Dello from Detroit for Future Considerations. This move was made for Utica but because he had a NHL contract, the deal had to be made with the parent teams and not the AHL affiliates. Utica’s season is all but over but they did involve the roster’s periphery.
Devil of the Month
With the team still mid-ing their way to the end combined with injuries to The Big Deal and Dougie Hamilton, core players are being leaned on more than before to carry the team. Two have definitely done it. Take Jesper Bratt. Yes, his 5v5 on-ice rates were not good in March. Yes, he did not shoot a ton with just 30 shots in 16 games. But he has created and produced so much that you cannot ignore it. Bratt has been on the ice for 22 goals in March and he had a point on 18 of them. Bratt set a franchise record for assists in a season with 61 and he is currently at 66. I can write odd but truthful sentences like: Bratt won a board battle to set up Cody Glass for an open shot in the left circle that became a goal. And: Bratt led a 2v2 rush and dropped a pass to Ondrej Palat for a shorthanded blast. Also: Jet Greaves mishandled a puck and Bratt made him pay. Bratt has been a point machine in March with 18 of them. Only 12 players in the entire NHL put up more points than Bratt in March. An important accomplishment given the lack of offense on the Devils. Similar to The Big Deal last month; the men with one eye can rule the valley of the blind. Bratt has an eye. Enough for me to credit Jesper Bratt as the Honorable Mention for the Devil of the Month.
I will argue that the team’s captain, Nico Hischier, has been even better. He is one of the few big-minute Devils skaters to come out ahead in 5-on-5 play while still playing on both sides of special teams in this past month. That is great because the Devils have absolutely lacked players who do well in 5-on-5 play in March. Even with additional attention paid to him, the Devils have been coming out ahead with Hischier on the ice more often than not. This is made more impressive by Hischier’s production. In March’s games, Hischier finished second on the team in shots with 38, second to Timo Meier’s 56. Hischier finished second to Bratt in points with 17. Hischier led the whole team with 10 goals, which included a hat trick on March 29 in Minnesota that was arguably the apex of his performances in March. Hischier even led the Devils with high danger chances with 28 in all situations. The captain has been a leader and a force for good in all aspects of the game. A force more necessary than before with The Big Deal on the shelf. That is more than good enough for Nico Hischier to be the All About the Jersey Devil of the Month for March 2025.
General Thoughts and Your Take
It is not so much that I want to be negative. I certainly do not get anything more (or less) about how I write about the 2024-25 Devils. I do write as I see it and I see that Soft Tom’s roster did get exposed yet again for their flaws in March.
Even before the two major injuries, the Devils’ on-ice rates were real bad in February and they were only somewhat better in January. The lack of offensive push really showed in several games in March. Whether it was going several minutes without a puck getting on target or “turtling” a late lead, it was on display again. Once again: the Devils put up more than 30 shots in just one game in March and it was on March 29 and the first time they did so since beating up a really awful Nashville team on February 23. If any team needed a spark with their offense, then it was this one. Soft Tom did not provide it.
And for all of the experience brought in along with a defensive mindset, the Devils in March demonstrated how dumb they can be. There were points absolutely left on the table that could have New Jersey enter April with a faint shot – but a shot nonethless! – at Carolina’s second place in the division. Take your pick. Off the top of my head, you have Jonathan Kovacevic not getting to the red line for a dump in that Dallas turned into a stunning game winner. Brett Pesce failing to make a zone exit and Ondrej Palat not able to pressure an exhausted Quinn Hughes that ended up with Vancouver forcing overtime within the final minute. Kovacevic giving away a puck to Jonathan Huberdeau to lose to Calgary after entering the third with a 3-1 lead. (I blame the whole team for just sleepwalking through that third period.) Brenden Dillon and Stefan Noesen not making the right moves against Minnesota within the final minutes of that one. That’s five points and three regulation wins botched due to players who have been in this league in a long time. Do not blow those and March looks even better on paper.
The good news is that the Devils did earn some of their accomplishments. They did not luck their way into an 8-7-1 record for the month. Despite how hideous the second game was, the Devils helped themselves big time with two wins over Columbus to effectively ice their chances of sniping the Devils’ third place spot in the division. They bounced back from a three-game losing streak to win three in a row once. They bounced back from a second three-game losing streak to go 2-1-0 in a three-game-in-four-night stretch. Their first win over Minnesota showed that this team, for all of its issues, can put together a solid effort, an effective game plan, and a decisive victory. One would expect a team with just three players under of the age of 25 to be able to know that. One would hope that team loaded with veterans would appreciate paying attention to detail and understanding game situations. In most of their eight wins, they showed that it is possible for this team to be good. As good as they looked on, say, December 23? No. But good nonetheless. And they did this while Jacob Markstrom returned and had to play his way back into a good form. Which I hope he did against the Wild because he was hideously bad before that one.
Ultimately, this season will be marred by what-ifs. What if Jack Hughes did not careen into the endboards in Las Vegas? What if Dougie Hamilton’s leg did not turn awkwardly in Dallas? What if Soft Tom Fitzgerald swung for some offensive talent instead of depth guys and a Dumoulin he used to know? What if those bad plays that cost the team points did not happen? Or bad nights from earlier in the season? And so forth? What if the coaching staff gave more starts to Jake Allen as Markstrom. Undoubtedly, this will continue to weigh on the People Who Matter’s minds as the playoffs begin later in April.
To repeat myself from the Additions and Substractions: You cannot unspill the milk. The Devils need to sort their game out to have more performances like the ones they had in Salt Lake City and St. Paul and not ones that require goaltender superheroics (like in Columbus) or choking (see: Calgary) or getting wrecked (like the two against the Jets). They need to figure out what they can do, what they can do well, and play up to their potential ahead of a postseason where anything can (and sometimes does) happen. How they ended March shows it is possible. I just want to see it more often. As do many of the People Who Matter. And so hope can grow as the playoffs begins in a matter of weeks.
Now that you know what I think about this past month, I want to know what you think of how the team performed in March. What were your highs and lows about this past month? What do you think the Devils need to do end their season on a high note? What would you want to see be better in April compared to what we just saw in March? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the past month of Devils hockey in the comments. Thank you for reading.