New Jersey Devils' right-handed defenseman Brett Pesce is participating in the Shoulder Check Showcase, an annual affair aimed at boosting awareness for mental health that features more than 20 NHL players. Pesce is the only member of the Devils participating in the event.
Thursday afternoon, the 31-year-old blueliner met with media, allegedly going on record as saying he was "100 percent healthy" and that his injuries did not hold him back from his summer regimen.
For the Devils, this is huge news.
Pesce only logged 37 games in the 2025-26 campaign, missing significant time from late October until mid-December with an upper-body injury. After coming back for 28 games -- many of which he was recovering from said injury -- he suffered a lower-body injury that ended his season in March. In the games he was healthy, he played some of the worst hockey of his career, logging an expected goal share (xGF%) of just 49.6%, according to HockeyStats.
While that's barely below 50%, the reality is that that was the worst output of Pesce's entire 11-year career. In his first season with New Jersey, 2024-25, he sported an xGF% of 53.7%, a far cry from his underlying metrics this past season. He was the glue that kept Luke Hughes grounded, and while he had flashes of doing so during his latest campaign, it was crystal clear that things just weren't the same.
Pesce's injury woes were only a portion of the Devils' back-end troubles. Luke Hughes missed 14 games and Johnathan Kovacevic missed the bulk of the season while recovering from a torn ACL. There is a very strong argument for New Jersey's defensive injuries being the principal reason their end result was poor.
All three of those injuries held the Devils back substantially, but there is legitimacy to thinking that Pesce's was the most detrimental. If they want to be successful, New Jersey will be reliant on keeping No. 22 on the ice -- they need his two-way chops and they need his stabilizing presence to Hughes, who is the Devils' highest-ceiling defender. Sunny Mehta has improved the defensive depth, but the right side is still reliant on staying healthy.
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