2022-23 NHL team preview: New Jersey Devils

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LAST SEASON

The Devils were among the league’s buzziest teams entering the 2021-22 campaign. Having made the playoffs just once since 2011-12, they’d amassed a growing cache of foundational prospects, led by No. 1 overall picks Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. General manager Tom Fitzgerald saw enough in his group that he felt it was time to start aggressively adding veterans. The Devils nabbed top UFA defenseman Dougie Hamilton on a lucrative seven-year deal, traded for defenseman Ryan Graves and inked left winger Tomas Tatar and goaltender Jonathan Bernier.

But instead of showing progress, armed with all their new toys, the Devils stalled, largely because of injuries. Hamilton missed 20 games with a broken fibula. Bernier only played 10 games before having season-ending hip surgery in January. His goaltending battery mate Mackenzie Blackwood was limited to 24 starts due to a litany of ailments. Hughes, in the midst of a monster breakout season, missed 33 games thanks to a dislocated shoulder, COVID-19 and a knee sprain.

The Devils just couldn’t build any momentum or ice a healthy roster most nights. The result was a regression from a .402 points percentage to a .384 mark and a second consecutive seventh-place finish in the Metropolitan Division.

New Jersey has just one playoff birth in its past 10 seasons, but it feels like 2022-23 could bring better fortune. The Devils made a few more noteworthy additions this offseason, and their young guns are ready for larger roles. Can they finally be relevant in the Eastern Conference playoff picture again?

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions
Ondrej Palat, LW
Vitek Vanecek, G
John Marino, D
Erik Haula, C
Brendan Smith, D

Departures
Pavel Zacha, C (Bos)
Ty Smith, D (Pit)
Janne Kuokkanen, LW (Swi.)
Frederik Gauthier, C (Swi)
Chase De Leo, C (Ana)
Colton White, D (Ana)
A.J. Greer, LW (Bos)

OFFENSE

The Devils jumped from 26^th in offense two seasons ago to 19^th last year, averaging just below three goals a game during the best all-round season for league-wide scoring since 1995-96. The most exciting development was that of Hughes. After his sophomore campaign in 2020-21 suggested a lot of great scoring-chance generation in his under-the-hood numbers, it appeared he was coming off an unlucky season and due for an explosion. That’s exactly what happened. He ripped off 26 goals and 56 points in 49 games. Extrapolated over 82 games, he was on pace for a 44-goal, 94-point campaign. That would’ve made him the highest-scoring Devil since Zach Parise in 2008-09. Hughes appears ready to elevate to superstar status as early as this season.

He also has some increasingly useful support around him. Jesper Bratt broke out for a 73-point season in just 76 games. Yegor Sharangovich scored 24 goals as a sophomore. Dawson Mercer scored 17 times in his rookie season. Hischier delivered 60 points in a relatively healthy campaign. The Devils quietly graded out as an above-average team at generating chances in 5-on-5 play. Their power play dragged them down, however, ranking 28^th in the NHL at 15.6 percent. Newly signed top-six winger Ondrej Palat is more of an even-strength contributor than a power play maven, so the Devils will look to improve from within. A healthier season of Hamilton should help the power play progress.

DEFENSE

At first glance, the Devils were a defensive mess last season, allowing 3.68 goals per game, the fourth-most in the league. But that doesn’t tell an accurate story. They were only slightly below the league average at limiting shots in 5-on-5 play, they were one of the best teams at limiting high-danger chances and they actually ranked in the top half of the NHL in expected goals against per 60. They had the league’s 14^th-best penalty kill, with Graves, fellows blueliners Jonas Siegenthaler and Damon Severson and speedy fourth-line center Michael McLeod making important contributions there. With Hughes and Hischier up the middle and Palat joining the top six, not to mention Hamilton on the back end, the Devils have personnel who can tilt the ice toward the other team’s net.

So that horrible goals against per game stat? It was much more the result of the team’s goaltending than it was the defensive play.

GOALTENDING

Blackwood. Bernier. Scott Wedgewood. Nico Daws. Jon Gillies. Andrew Hammond. Akira Schmid. Those Magnificent Seven all started games for the Devils last season, combining for an .881 team save percentage, second worst in the NHL behind only Seattle. The Devils’ net was an utter disaster.

It simply can’t be as bad this year, right? Not that the Devils enter 2022-23 with true stability in the crease. Bernier remains on the shelf with hip surgery, so Blackwood and newly acquired Vitek Vanecek will patrol New Jersey’s net.

Vanecek will likely get the first look at a starter or 1A role given they Devils are paying him a $3.4 million AAV on a three-year deal. He started 75 games and made 79 appearances in the Washington Capitals net in his first two NHL seasons, consistently pushing the more-hyped prospect Ilya Samsonov for work. Vanecek posted an acceptable .908 SV% over his first two seasons. Last season, among 55 goalies who logged at least 1,000 minutes at 5-on-5, he quietly ranked 10^th in goals saved above average per 60, right behind Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Ranking 54^th out of 55^th in that same stat? Blackwood. It’s hard to believe he was being talked up as a candidate for a Canadian Olympic roster spot just a year ago. His star has fallen significantly. But if he can find a way to stay healthy this season, maybe he gets back into a rhythm and begins to flash the star-caliber upside he showed a couple years back. For now, he’s likely the 1B who will have to outplay Vanecek to earn a larger piece of the pie.

It remains to be seen if the Devils have even league-average goaltending for 2022-23, but if they can get anything close to that, they could improve significantly in the standings.

COACHING

Lindy Ruff enters his third season behind the Devils’ bench still looking for his first playoff berth with the team. He’s one of the most experienced coaches in NHL history, tied with Al Arbour for fifth on the all-time wins list at 782. Ruff, however, may be on the hot seat entering this season, judging by the high-profile additions Fitzgerald made to the coaching staff. He added Andrew Brunette, fresh off being a Jack Adams Award finalist with the Florida Panthers, not to mention Ryan McGill, an assistant for the Vegas Golden Knights through their first five seasons, and promoted Sergei Brylin, who has spent close to a decade coaching in the Devils’ farm system.

Brunette in particular would be ready to step in as head coach on the spot given his recent experience helming a Presidents’ Trophy-winning club for most of last season. He should at least help improve New Jersey’s woeful power play.

ROOKIES

Mercer broke through last season and the Devils might get a big contribution from another rookie forward this season. Alexander Holtz, drafted seventh overall in 2020, has the skill set they need most. He’s a pure shooter who could become their primary long-term trigger man on the top power play unit someday. He buried 26 goals in 52 AHL games last season and got a nine-game look at the NHL level. He deserves mention among Calder Trophy sleeper candidates…if he makes the team. It’s not a guarantee. The Devils are quietly very deep on the wings right now. Palat, Bratt, Sharangovich and Mercer likely make up the four winger spots in the top six, and in the bottom six, there are four spots available for Tatar, Jesper Boqvist, Miles Wood, Andreas Johnsson, Nathan Bastian and Holtz to compete for. Holtz will not have a job handed to him. He’ll have to earn it on merit. Tyce Thompson, brother of Tage, showed well in the AHL last year, too, but he faces the same competition problem as Holtz.

The Devils have two top-drawer blueline prospects to watch in Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, chosen fourth and second overall in the past two drafts, respectively. Hughes will play another season at NCAA Michigan. Nemec has already signed his entry-level deal, but it will take a jaw-dropping camp for him to make the NHL at 18.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. How legit was Jesper Bratt’s breakout? Given Hughes’ pedigree, it wasn’t a surprise to see his play leap forward, but few expected Bratt’s game to take off as it did in his fifth NHL season. Given there was no noticeable increase in ‘puck luck’ and he genuinely generated more chances than ever last season, it’s likely Bratt is for real.

2. Will Ondrej Palat move the needle? We’ve long known Palat as a cog in the Tampa Bay Lightning machine, one of the best playoff performers in the game. But will he justify a $6 million AAV for the next five seasons in New Jersey? His supporting cast won’t be as strong, but he should be counted on for increased minutes on his new team, so career-best numbers wouldn’t be a surprise.

3. Are Lindy Ruff’s days as head coach numbered? Ruff gets a bit more rope because injuries and bad goaltending were not in his control last season, but if New Jersey struggles early in 2022-23, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Fitzgerald pivot to Brunette to stop the bleeding.

PREDICTION

This is the deepest and most dynamic-looking roster the Devils have iced in the Hischier/Hughes era, and there’s room to improve over last year even just with better luck in the health and goaltending departments. The Devils remain a long shot to make the playoffs, but they could compete on the periphery for much of 2022-23, especially with the Metro Division featuring several of the league’s oldest teams.

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