New Jersey Devils: Hopefully 2020s are better than 2010s

The New Jersey Devils had their worst decade in a while in the 2010s. There were some good times but hopefully, the 2020s are much better.

The 2010s started off okay for the New Jersey Devils. They were a team that believed they can win the Stanley Cup every season led by players like Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Martin Brodeur amongst others. They even got within two wins of the Cup in 2012 before the Los Angeles Kings broke their heart in six games. The series that got them to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012 was a big victory of the New York Rangers. Adam Henrique sent them to the Final by his big overtime winning goal in game six in one of the most memorable moments in team history.

There were other great players throughout the decade like Jaromir Jagr, Taylor Hall, Michael Cammalleri, and Dainius Zubrus among other good players. They would try to salvage that 2012 team after some of their stars left. Parise left to sign a big-money deal with the Minnesota Wild while Kovalchuk retired in the middle of his contract to go home to the KHL. Those two elite players up and leaving the Devils really set them back. It set them so far back that they would eventually become a lottery level team for the next few years.

They acquired Cory Schneider via trade during the 2013 NHL Draft which kept them from being so bad that they had an actual shot at the lottery at first. When he started to fall off a cliff the Devils did even more. He lived up to being Martin Brodeur’s successor at first but it didn’t last more than a few years. The not so great play of Schneider and his teammates allowed them to win the Draft Lottery then twice in three years. They took Nico Hischier with the first overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. On the back of Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier, they made the playoffs the following year but then took a step back the year after that again.

They would then win it again in 2019. They selected Jack Hughes with the first overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft. Both Hughes and Hischier are going to be expected to be the two best players in the 2020s. You never know what is going to happen but it appears that they are in good hands going forward now. It was painful for most of the decade but it might help them become a powerhouse team in the coming years.

It hasn’t been that much fun to be a fan of this team during the 2010s, but there is hope. They are building a foundation of good young players that they just need to hit on. Hischier and Hughes are both amazing but it goes beyond them. Hopefully, the 2020s are better for this team than the 2010s were.