The New Jersey Devils have been fine to start the season. This is being written during the Devils-Oilers game, which the Devils came into with a 7-5-2 record. The start of the season has had its ups and downs, but it’s mostly been fine. There have been a few injuries, headlined by the current fourth line injuries to Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian, but the Devils stars are currently intact.
While the Devils start has been “fine,” there are changes that can be made that would turn this into a much bigger positive in terms of start. Two seasons ago, the Devils rode an insane November to a historic season. There’s no chance we’re seeing another 13-game winning streak, but we can see a very positive record coming out of November. As long as Sheldon Keefe makes a few changes, the Devils can thrive.
1. Break up Brenden Dillon and Dougie Hamilton
Listen, we advocated for the Devils to start the season with Brenden Dillon and Dougie Hamilton as a pair. It made sense on paper. Dillon is a big bruiser who could focus on the defensive portion of the game. Hamilton can slowly come back from his pectoral injury from last year and focus on what he does best: his offense.
It hasn’t worked, even in the slightest. After some positive signs in Prague, Dillon and Hamilton have been mostly bad. Just look at Monday night, where Dillon was on the ice for five high-danger chances against in the first period. At the same time, his team had zero such chances with him on the ice in the first.
Dillon has been much better without Hamilton on the ice, putting up about two-thirds of the high-danger chances with his linemates on the ice. With Hamilton, it’s just 57 percent, according to Natural Stat Trick. With Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce back in the lineup, the Devils can make some simple moves to pair Dillon with Johnathan Kovacevic and get Hamilton back with Siegenthaler.