A slow offseason will eventually get every single type of reaction across the board. The New Jersey Devils did not do enough to upgrade their top-six forward group, and they have a major hole at center that needs to be filled. They still have Ondrej Palat and Nico Daws on the roster despite the consensus thinking it’s best if they are traded.
Yet, there’s an argument right now that the Devils have a bad defense. Wait… really? That’s what we’re fighting about now?
It all stemmed from a ranking by Travis Yost of TSN. He put every NHL defense in tiers, and the Devils were ranked as one of the worst. Only the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks were below the Devils.
TALENT TIERS: Grading defensive depth charts 🏒https://t.co/8OvYqX4bnO pic.twitter.com/KSopvV87B3
— Travis Yost (@travisyost) August 11, 2025
The Devils are on the same level as lottery teams like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. They are a tier below flashes in the pan like the Montreal Canadiens and Columbus Blue Jackets. Putting the Rangers ahead of the Devils is just nasty work.
These lists are often bait for the fanbases at the bottom of the list, but lets go over a few metrics that show this argument is missing teeth.
Devils defense has somehow become underrated
The Devils' defense was at times great last season. Everyone remembers how dominant they were in December (at least, they should). At one point, they went two weeks without allowing an opponent to take more than 20 shots in a game. They became the first team in NHL history to allow fewer than 20 shots in seven consecutive games. This looked like a true Stanley Cup contender, and it was on the heels of the defense.
Everything was clicking. Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce were a phenomenal pair. Jonas Siegenthaler and Johnny Kovacevic were the top shutdown pair in the league based on some metrics. Dougie Hamilton and Brenden Dillon had some interesting chemistry and played well for a stretch.
Something unclicked after Christmas, and the entire Devils team fell off the face of the Earth. The defense wasn’t suffocating, and the offense disappeared. The special teams went from great to average, and that was a problem for a team that kept getting injured.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Devils were 11th in high-danger chances against and 10th in HDCA/60. This is with Nemec and Casey being dreadful for the first month of the season. This is with Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce missing a month, Jonas Siegenthaler missing significant time, Dougie Hamilton almost getting lost for the season again, and the Devils playing a total of 11 different defensemen dressing at various points in the season. On top of that, Santeri Hatakka, who would have been one of the first call-ups, also missed most of the season.
We’ve tried to get a few answers about why the Devils would be ranked so low on this defensive ranking. We haven’t gotten any real answers.