New Jersey Devils Roster Dilemma Could Dictate Future Success

Through 41 games this season, the New Jersey Devils record sits at 15-21-5 (35 points), which is obviously not where they want to be in the standings (seventh in the division, 12th in the conference). There are a lot of reasons why they are where they are though, including injuries to key players (Jack Hughes, Mackenzie Blackwood, Miles Wood, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonathan Bernier to name a few), the fact that their division houses four current powerhouses and the fact that they are the youngest roster in the league.

I’ve said it before, I’ve written it before, and I’ll say it until I am blue in the face – it’s unfair to judge this particular group on past season’s failures because 90% of them weren’t here. But that doesn’t mean that the season hasn’t been disappointing in some ways, too. And when the team you root for hasn’t given you a whole lot to be happy about the past ten years – aside from a few lottery wins and a fairytale MVP season – silver linings and small victories aren’t what you’re looking for. Nor should you be satisfied with them.

Building Blocks

Five years from now, how many players on this roster will still be here? Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Dawson Mercer seem like locks at this point, as well as Hamilton, Jesper Bratt, and Alexander Holtz (who’s in Utica right now), right? Anyone else?

“Our guys are gonna be Nico, Jack – those guys in the middle are going to be really important players for us,” said head coach Lindy Ruff when we asked if he sees in similarity in those two as he did when he helped to develop Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn as the head coach in Dallas. “And Jesper Bratt. We’re seeing good things, but we have to be better than we were tonight.”

Let’s assume that Luke Hughes will be with New Jersey by then and that Ryan Graves and Jonas Siegenthaler are also still on the blueline. Maybe Ty Smith or Damon Severson (not both), Case McCarthy, and Reilly Walsh round out the defense group. That could be a decent defense corps in 2026-27, and it also might not look like that at all.

Devils Dilemma

Upfront, to me, is the bigger question though. Who besides Bratt will be on the wings for 86, 13, and 18? Yegor Sharangovich? Nolan Foote? Holtz? Someone not currently in the organization as of now would be a good guess, too. Perhaps they can acquire that piece to the puzzle via trade. Players like Tomas Tatar and Andreas Johnsson are solid, NHL vets who can be good wingers to play up and down the top nine on either wing right now at this stage of the roster, but they aren’t long-term solutions here either.

If we’ve learned anything else so far this season, it has to be that Pavel Zacha is not consistent enough to be an option. He started off the season great, but the production has fallen off a cliff at the halfway point of the season. He’s playing too many minutes, alongside one of the top three centers in the organization, and has only two more points than Graves and two more than Sharangovich – who was ice cold to start the season.

My suggestion would be maybe finding a team willing to take a package of no. 37 and a draft pick or prospect for a winger in the 23-26-years-old range that could blossom riding shotgun with Hughes, Hischier, or Mercer. The experiment should be over here with him and perhaps a change of scenery would be good for both parties.

Bratt-Man

The emergence of Bratt, a former sixth-round pick, has been huge for the Devils this season. You aren’t going to always find top-6 talent in the early rounds of NHL Drafts, but when you find it in the later rounds it certainly eases the blow of missing with those selections. That’s not to say a first-round pick becoming a dependable fourth-line player is a bad thing – case-and-point Michael McLeod. If he is still New Jersey’s fourth-line center, winning face-offs at a 60% clip in five years, grinding on the penalty kill, and chipping in 20-30 points for a successful 2026-27 Devils’ team – that would be decent value.

“The thing (about him) that has impressed me the most is – his confidence has always been there, when he lacked confidence at certain times – the skill is always there but he would be nervous or unsure to make certain plays,” Severson said to Pucks & Pitchforks regarding the development of the team’s leading scorer, Bratt. “You can see now, he just goes out there and says no matter what I’m going to make a play. He shows up to the rink ready to play.”

“He’s not the biggest guy, but he’s one of the fastest guys, and one of the guys who is going to battle, and work his hardest every day. He’s grown into a great player and I still think he has more to go if you’re looking for his ceiling.”

Severson grinned when we asked if he was happy that he only has to defend against the lightning-quick Bratt in practice and not in NHL games. “Absolutely, yes,” he replied. “Some of the moves he makes are incredible, and it’s on display every night. For a small guy, he can really shoot the puck – which has been on display for us the past few games. Pump his tires, cause he deserves it, and hopefully, it continues for us. When you play against the best players in practice it makes you better.”

Both Bratt and McLeod are products of the Devils 2016 draft class, so if you drafted two players who are still on the roster ten years later, that’s a pretty decent haul regardless if the player picked later outproduces the earlier pick in points. Both can be of value in different ways. But obviously, this is all based on success. Which they aren’t having their fair share of halfway through the 2021-22 campaign.

Halfway There

There have been some great moments – beating the Stanley Cup champs in their own house, boat-racing the high-flying Hurricanes, spanking the Panthers, beating the Oilers & Capitals in dramatic fashion in back-to-back games.

But it’s always the bad moments that stick with us, right? The games where it starts to get late, very early. Like in-game no. 41 against Dallas. That was over so quickly that most people in the crowd hadn’t finished their first adult beverage yet (unless they pregamed, obviously). The game against Arizona was another tough one. The goaltending hasn’t been as good as anticipated – for whatever reason – and it definitely has played a big role in the record being what it is.

“What I want to see is us just establishing our game,” said Ruff of the upcoming second half of the season. “We’ve spent a lot of time this year talking about what we’ve done with the puck, and overall – even tonight – it wasn’t that we just threw the puck into the middle of the ice and they scored. We lost the puck on a few plays (that turned into goals against). I just want us to establish our game and play it night-in and night-out. Use our speed, which I think was evident in the Carolina game. We had pockets of it against LA, but they play a style that where they have numbers back and heavy bodies – but you have to get through it.”

What the Devils (and their fans) really need is Mackenzie Blackwood to return this season and become the no. 1 goalie that the organization has entrusted him with. He hasn’t looked right far too often during the past two seasons aside from a stretch here or there. Injuries, covid, odd schedules – no question, all of it has played a factor. But that is a big question that needs to be answered before we get to the off-season – is he the guy? Can he be the guy?

To Infinity and Beyond

“Obviously it’s frustrating. You want to win every single game,” Bratt said after the loss in game no. 41 of the season. “That’s why we play hockey, you play to win. We’re not happy with where we are in the standings but we just have to focus on going forward. We want to focus on this last half of the season to set the tone for ourselves, the organization, and the rest of the league to show who we are.”

Looking at the standings in the East today, January 27, realistically the goal should be to try to finish fifth in the division (behind the Rangers, Hurricanes, Penguins, and Capitals) and I don’t think ninth place in the conference would be too much to ask. I think the fans would be in a better place mentally heading into the off-season, and it would be good for the young core in that room.

It would be a step, albeit a small one, forward. And hey, who knows maybe they luck out and get another high pick out of the Draft Lottery!