The Stanley Cup Final is currently underway, and the 2024-25 New Jersey Devils were nowhere close to competing for it.
That may seem a bit harsh, but expectations were truly so high for the Devils this year. And with a stacked roster and an incredibly motivating fanbase, it's no surprise that the New Jersey franchise had a lot of eyes on them this year. But, the number of people watching them clearly didn't matter — as the Devils were eliminated much earlier than originally anticipated.
Here's a look at three of the biggest mistakes that the New Jersey Devils made this year the resulted their early elimination.
3. Treatment of Simon Nemec
Where to even begin? How about this — for the 2024-25 regular season, defenseman Simon Nemec went from being the No. 2 overall pick back in 2022 to tallying a mere four points across 27 games played.
In short, Nemec was quite simply a complete and total disaster for New Jersey this season. He was sent up and down from the NHL to the AHL. He was clearly laboring a shoulder injury that he suffered in Olympic qualifiers before the season started. Something was off with him most of the season, but the Devils never knew how to get the most out of him.
Nemec did show up for the postseason, and he proved that he is still worth investing in, but his season was a major loss overall.
2. The awful January, February stretch
After winning eight games in the month of December, the Devils finished the month in second place in the Metropolitan Division. Moral was high, especially after defeating the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Dec. 27.
But then, January struck. And after January came February. New Jersey only won five of the 13 games they played in January. In February, the Devils won three out of the seven games played that month. The losses piled up so much that there was even talk at times on whether the team would miss the playoffs entirely.
One can only wonder how much more momentum and energy the Devils would've had the rest of the year if they didn't have to battle that tought stretch of losses.
1. Defending nightmare
The Devils' most significant and most obvious struggle this entire year was seen in their play in the defensive zone. Turning the puck over. Not clearing the zone when the opportunity is present. Allowing late goals in any period. The inability to hold onto a lead and close out a game — all of these were frequent sights when watching the Devils' defensemen.
Pair this with the loss of speed you also saw from them when on the ice, and it becomes easier and easier to see why they were eliminated before the start of May.