New Jersey Devils: 5 Things That Must Happen To Make Playoffs

The New Jersey Devils went on a shopping spree this whole offseason. Despite ending the season near the bottom of the standings for the third season in the past four, there is hope surrounding this franchise. Signing Dougie Hamilton, Jonathan Bernier, and Tomas Tatar on top of trading for Ryan Graves is putting the Devils in a different conversation. Instead of being a team that’s still rebuilding, the Devils are a team with actual expectations.

It’s not like we’re talking about the Tampa Bay Lightning or Colorado Avalanche here. The Devils’ expectations will be to not be an abomination to the sport. Devils hockey has been unwatchable at times over the last five years. Now, they can at least put together a very good roster for the next few years.

Some of the Devils’ moves are short term. Tatar and Bernier both signed two-year deals. Ryan Graves has two more years left on his deal. In fact, the Devils have exactly two NHL contracts (not counting entry-level contracts) that go beyond the 2023 offseason. Nico Hischier is signed for the next six years, and of course there is the brand new seven-year pact with Dougie Hamilton. That gives them at least the appearance that they are trying to be better sooner rather than later.

The Devils are a team on the cusp of playoff contention. They could make it as early as this year, but a few things have to go their way. They don’t need the miracle they needed last year, but they could find a way to make the postseason for just the second time in the past 10 seasons. Since the Devils made the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, it’s been failure after failure. Devils fans are ready to at least see some of these failures in the postseason before a true contender is born. Here is what has to happen for the Devils as currently constructed to make the playoffs.

2. Dougie Hamilton Needs To Lead The Defense

Dougie Hamilton has been on some stacked defensive units over his career. From Boston to Calgary to Carolina, he never had to be the star. In Carolina, they had Jaccob Slavin. In Calgary, Mark Giordano was the star, and in Boston, there was a lot of star power around him. Hamilton always had to be a really good complimentary piece.

All the stats show Hamilton should be able to excel in any role, including one where he’s the workhorse who plays on all special teams and equals a scoring threat and a shutdown one. He doesn’t know his partner yet, but it’s safe to say it will either be Ty Smith or Ryan Graves. Those are very different players, but both should be able to excel with Hamilton.

If Hamilton finally gives the Devils the number-one defenseman they’ve been looking for, then it takes a load off of Damon Severson and P.K. Subban. They can both play roles that make more sense for them. Hamilton, Subban, and Severson on the right side is one of the strongest right sides of the defense in the entire league.

The defense has been a weakness for the Devils for years. Even when they made the playoffs in 2017-18, they had Sami Vatanen leading the defense. He actually had a pretty good season, but he was always a complimentary piece. The same goes for Andy Greene. They were always playing outside their optimal role. Hamilton should be able to lead this defense on the ice.

3. Major Jumps From Nico Hischier And Jack Hughes

The New Jersey Devils need the absolute best from the two players who are saddled with leading this franchise into the next era. Former number-one overall picks Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier are the straw that stirs the drink. If they are cruising, the Devils will be in very good shape. They both have the skillset to control an entire offense by themselves. They have the ability to lift their linemates up to their level. Hughes did this last season with Janne Kuokkanen and Yegor Sharangovich.

Hughes and Hischier have to be even better this season. We’ll start with Hughes. He had some terrible shooting luck last season. Hughes was on the ice for 128 high-danger chances at 5v5. He was only on the ice for 16 high-danger goals. He was still second on the team to Miles Wood for high-danger goals on the ice, but his line needs to score around 20% of its high-danger chances.

The Devils didn’t really do anything to help Hughes’ wingers. Tatar seems like a better fit for Hischier’s wing, but that is still to be determined. There was insane chemistry between Hughes, Sharangovich, and Kuokkanen, but the line could get a lot better. The Devils still have around $13 million in cap space, so stay tuned.

Hischier had the year from hell last season. He got injured in offseason training, immediately got COVID when he was set to return, which the return took longer than most of us hoped, when he finally took the ice, P.K. Subban hit him in the face with a deflected shot, and he had to wear a cage for the rest of the season after breaking his jaw.

It literally couldn’t go worse for Hischier. It all depends on what he gets from his wingers, but he needs to build them up. Hughes needs to take another step forward. He was on his way before his own COVID diagnosis caused him to lose a lot of the muscle he built in the offseason. He just needs to make the same progress he was making last season and things will be in good shape.

4. Massive Improvements On Special Teams

The Devils special teams were the worst in the league. They had a penalty kill that was one of the worst of all time. The PK allowed a goal on 30% of all penalties against. That’s an insane number. It honestly couldn’t be worse. If the Devils put cardboard in net and a bunch of traffic cones in the way of the shooters, it might do better.

The power play wasn’t much better. Despite having a lot of young talent ready to shoot, the Devils’ power play scored on just 14.2% of its attempts. That’s good for 28th in the league. The dreaded slingshot power-play style was once again used by Marc Recchi, and it just didn’t work. More times than not, the Devils would lose the puck before establishing possession in the zone. They very rarely got a set of more than three passes together, and it was honestly just a break for the other team’s offense more than anything.

This season, the additions the Devils made should help all units. Graves was the Avalanche’s leading penalty killer in the regular season. In 177 minutes of penalty kill time, Graves’ unit allowed 20 goals. For comparison’s sake, Severson played 114 minutes on the penalty kill, and he allowed 22 goals. Graves makes the penalty kill a lot better on his own. Hamilton allowed nine goals in 79 penalty kill minutes, so he isn’t great on that unit but he’s better than some of the players the Devils were putting out there.

In terms of the power play, Hamilton was on the ice for 31 goals in 164 minutes. That’s a great ratio. Tatar was on the ice for 12 goals in 100 minutes exactly. He will help the Devils on the power play, too. Also, the Devils growing as a team will help. Sharangovich growing with Hughes will help them with the man advantage.

5. Young Player Steps Up

If the Devils don’t end up adding someone like Vladimir Tarasenko or Filip Forsberg, their current wingers are very, very young. The recent signing of Tatar is the older forward on the team. After him, it’s 27-year-old Andreas Johnsson. He hopes to have a bounce-back season, but even if he struggles, the Devils have so many young forwards to lean on.

The Devils need two young players on the wing at this point. Tatar, Sharangovich, Kuokkanen, Johnsson, Miles Wood, Jesper Bratt, and likely Pavel Zacha are the guaranteed wingers. That leaves one spot if Zacha plays wing or two if he plays center. Let’s assume he or Jesper Boqvist plays center on the third line. That means the Devils have one spot for Alexander Holtz, Dawson Mercer, Nolan Foote, Tyce Thompson, Marian Studenic, and Graeme Clarke.

One of those players needs to step up to stay in the lineup. Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if any of those players make the lineup. What the Devils need is a surprising return from one of these forwards. If they are going to make the playoffs, there need to be players who go beyond our expectations. It would be great if Bratt or Wood played beyond the Devils’ expectations, but if Holtz does it, his ceiling is crazy high.

The Devils have a lot to work on before the season starts in two months. However, if the work comes to fruition, the playoffs are absolutely a possibility.