The New Jersey Devils must come into the 2025-26 season with a few changes. Last year was fine if the goal was to make the playoffs, but it was ugly at times. There was miscommunication, inconsistency, and a lack of clutch scoring. Much of this comes with a team learning a new system and dealing with the injuries the Devils dealt with.
This season, the Devils must come in with a different mentality. There needs to be an heir of desperation with this team. They have to act like this is their final chance, not like it's just another shot at the championship in a bucket of endless shots.
The Devils aren't the only team that is under serious pressure in 2025-26. The New York Rangers are facing desperation themselves. It's much different than the Devils, as the Rangers are going to either play well or flip the roster on its head for new head coach Mike Sullivan.
Just because their situations are different doesn't mean the Devils shouldn't learn the lessons their rival should have learned from their failure last season. Seeing the signs of what went wrong can help everyone. Well, they can especially help the Devils, and we hope the Rangers don't learn from their mistakes.
1. Don't rely on the power play
The New Jersey Devils had one of the best power plays in the league. At one point, they had a historic power play. It was upwards of 40% early in the season. The Devils finished with a 28.2% power play. That’s third in the entire league behind the Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets.
As you may have noticed, the Rangers didn’t appear in the top three. The Rangers finished the 2024-25 season in the top three, and that was a major reason why the Rangers were where they were in the standings. Last season, they finished 28th in power play percentage. The change accounted for a 28-goal difference from one season to the next. It's insane to ask the Rangers to find 28 goals at even strength that were once there on the power play.
The Devils scored 61 power-play goals last season. The season prior, they scored 55, so the difference is not as stark as New York’s, but the Devils need to learn how to score at all strengths.
Luckily, the only power play merchant on the team is Stefan Noesen. Eleven of Noesen’s 22 goals came on the power play. Nico Hischier was the only player with more PP goals than Noesen, but it only accounted for 40% of his goals. If the Devils enter this season understanding they need to learn how to score at all strengths, that will help them sustain their playoff spot.
2. Don't rely entirely on a goalie
Last season, the Devils spent too much time relying on Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen to make big saves in big moments. While they didn’t allow nearly as many high-danger chances as they did under Lindy Ruff (they allowed 735 high-danger chances in 23-24 against 678 last season, according to Natural Stat Trick), it was still too many two-on-ones and big saves from the Devils’ goaltenders.
Allen, Markstrom, and Nico Daws shared an .814 high-danger save percentage. It was average at best, but a drop off could really hurt the Devils here.
The Rangers had one of the best goaltending duos in the league, and their high-danger save percentage was up there with everyone, but they still allowed 92 high-danger goals at 5v5. If the Devils' defense doesn’t play at least as well as it did last season, more goals are going in.
The Devils trust their goalies, and that’s why they re-signed Allen this offseason to keep their tandem in place. But the defense is also mostly in place. As long as everyone stays healthy (outside of Kovacevic, who is already injured), and the Devils play at the same level, it should be fine.
3. Never give up
The part of the Devils' season that’s so hard to get over is how often it seems like the Devils let a bad result snowball into a terrible one. Despite all the negative headlines for the Rangers, the Rangers had some fight when the team was losing. Despite losing 17 games by at least three goals, they still scored more goals when trailing than they allowed.
Meanwhile, the Devils scored just 35 goals when they were losing. And the statistics were clear when watching the game. New Jersey just didn’t look great when they were down. They allowed a team to extend a lead 50 times last season. The Rangers allowed more goals when trailing (60), but they scored much more (62).
The Devils can’t be afraid when down by a goal. They can’t wait for the perfect moment. They are as talented a team as anyone in the league. Go for the goal. Tie the game and get the crowd going.
If they wait for the perfect moment, more often than not it will never come. Make your own moment.