New Jersey Devils: California Road Trip Might Have Defined Them

The New Jersey Devils are off to a 5-3-2 start. It isn’t a good start but it isn’t a bad start either. They just went 1-1-1 on the California road trip in which they played the Anaheim Ducks, San Jose Sharks, and Los Angeles Kings. It was the type of trip that defined the team in a lot of ways.

They lost Dougie Hamilton not long into the first game of the trip and he didn’t return in any of the three games. He isn’t going to be out for long but playing most of three games without him is tough. We all know about how Jack Hughes is out as well, so missing their best forward and best defenseman is tough. 1-1-1 is exactly what you would expect from an already mediocre team missing two players like that. If they get them both back, you will see a much better team.

The only game that was straight-up bad for the Devils was the first one against the Ducks. They were dominated in that game and the 4-0 score tells the story. Once the Ducks took the 1-0 lead, the Devils really had no chance from there.

Things weren’t great for the Devils against the Kings or Sharks either as they needed to tie it late in both games to even game a chance. The Kings won that game in overtime on Friday night but the Devils secured a shootout win over the Sharks in the Saturday game.

The New Jersey Devils showed everyone exactly who they are in California.

The best part about both of those games that they collected a point in was the fact that they didn’t give up. The Devils, especially without Hamilton and Hughes, need to outwork their opponent in order to even have a chance. It was nice to see them do what was needed to reach overtime in the second and third games of the trip.

As mentioned before, the result of this trip might define what they are as a team right now. They are an exceptionally ordinary team that is missing their two best players. We will certainly have to reevaluate things once those guys come back.

Alexander Holtz made his NHL debut in the Friday game against the Los Angeles Kings. He was dominating his way through the AHL so he finally earned the call-up. He is going to be a big part of the team going forward so it will be nice to always remember the trip that brought him into the NHL.

Things don’t get easier when they return to New Jersey from California. They have the league-leading 10-0-1 Florida Panthers coming to town. If the Devils want to win this game, they need to play their best game of the season up to this point. It is going to be difficult to play that game but this team has the competitive level to do it.