5 Options For New Jersey Devils Out Of League Suspension

The New Jersey Devils will not be playing games for at least the next few weeks, possibly months. What are some of the options coming out of this suspension of play?

It’s a sad time in the sports world, and the world in general as we deal with a global pandemic called the Coronavirus, also known by the name COVID-19. Instead of looking back, we’d like to look ahead at what could be when the New Jersey Devils come back.

Of course, we have no idea what the options even are. There probably hasn’t even been longstanding conversations in upper management because there’s no point right now. There are so many variables, but we want to dive in to those possible variables.

There are some interesting storylines surrounding the Devils right now. There’s the rise to starter-level goalie of Mackenzie Blackwood. On top of that, his contract is due at the end of the season. Speaking of contracts due at the end of the season, Jesper Bratt has been much better in 2020. He’s been playing out of his mind and he’s due to get paid this offseason.

There’s also the much better play of P.K. Subban. We say much better as in still not up to his $9 million salary, but he’s been much closer to the top-line defenseman the Devils traded for. Honestly, anything is better than the rough start.

There’s Cory Schneider trying to resurrect his career. Nico Hischier is trying to become a team leader. Jack Hughes wants to end his rookie season on a positive note. Nikita Gusev wants to show he’s much more than just a Russian standout. Kyle Palmieri is working on a 30-goal season. Will we ever see this play out? It depends on the options that end up happening.

The Regular Season Ends Now, The Playoffs Begin Immediately As Is

Again, the point percentage thing makes this quite complicated. We feel like either they must have play-in games for the playoffs with the teams on the outside, or they have to go by point percentage. To make it easier, let’s say the league decided to go with point percentage and just leave it at that. That would give the Devils their third 1st-round pick of 2020.

This also lets the postseason play itself out. It would give other teams time to make long-term decisions on their personnel, and would give the Devils an opportunity to scout while everyone else is out there fighting for the Stanley Cup.

This one probably changes the impacts to the Devils the least. The Devils would still go into the offseason at around the same time. They’d still have the same amount of needs, and the draft picks would look like we hoped at the NHL Trade Deadline.

The Devils would watch as the rest of the league fights for what they one day want. It’s obviously bittersweet for many of us, but at least we’d have hockey back.

Again, the impacts on the Devils here are minimal. This is about as normal as it can get for the Devils, besides starting the season back up, like, tomorrow.

The Regular Season Continues When Hockey Returns

The New Jersey Devils currently have 13 games theoretically left in the season. In 69 games, they have 68 points. The thought of possible playoff berth is basically out of the question, so they’d be basically playing out the string. It’s one thing to play out the string when the season has been ongoing and there’s no time to think about it. It’s a completely different thing when a team has to wait for weeks, then out of nowhere reset themselves to play a full docket of games.

In all likelihood, the Devils would be playing an accelerated schedule. It would look a lot like the schedule the Devils played in 2013. Of course, that was a much different situation. The Devils were the defending Eastern Conference Champions. They had points in the first six games until the schedule became too much for an older team.

This time around, the Devils would be jumping in with nothing to play for. Honestly, they’d have to consider what is actually worth it.

On top of all that, the league would have to figure out all the minor leagues. Are the Binghamton Devils playing? Would it make sense to restart all of the hockey leagues? What about Juniors and NCAA hockey? We don’t think they are coming back. Should the Devils add Reilly Walsh and Ty Smith to the roster? How should they go about the season?

If it’s just an NHL season that is starting, then they might go all hands on deck with the prospects. Kevin Bahl? Sure, come on down. Graeme Clarke? He’s not NHL ready, but none of this makes sense. Aarne Talvitie? Who knows at this point. It could be fun, though.

This Season Extends, And Next Season Is Delayed

This one kind of stinks, but of course in the grand scheme of things it’s just hockey. It actually feels like the most likely possibility. So, let’s say the NHL returns May 1st and attempts to play all of the games. That would mean the regular season ends around June 1st. The normal NHL schedule has Stanley Cup Finals games in the middle of June. That would mean this schedule would likely have games going, even on an accelerated schedule, through at least the beginning of August.

There’s no way the NHL Player’s Association would allow the players to come back in two or three weeks and just jump right in to a full 82-game regular season. And honestly, that’s not a fair ask of the players, coaches, or anyone else associated with the NHL.

So, it’s likely we’d have to wait until November at the earliest before the regular season starts. Then, we’d either have fewer games, or more likely another accelerated schedule. That means we have to wait another month before we see competitive Devils hockey.

This offseason, it felt like forever between the offseason activities and actual competitive hockey. Now, we might have to add another month to that wait.

Everyone Makes The Playoffs

We have heard this brought up multiple times at this point. Instead of playing out the regular season, the NHL would start some kind of playoff format. There are so many ways they can do this, but one specific way is to let every single team in, including Detroit. Another ways is to do it without Detroit since the Red Wings were already eliminated from the playoffs.

There are probably going to be bye scenarios no matter what they do. If the Devils were to play the 31 team scenario, they’d be going up against the Pittsburgh Penguins for the “first round”. Would the first round be one game, three games, five games or seven games? That’s also without the top teams getting byes. The NHL would hate this scenario since the Devils have had a good past against the Penguins. However, it would be ironic because the last game the Devils played they were undressed by the Pens.

If it’s a 30-team scenario, they would take on the Capitals. If we gave all the division leaders bye weeks, then they’d be facing the Hurricanes? That starts to make things complicated, but the point is the Devils may inexplicably make the playoffs this season.