New Jersey Devils' playoff odds don't make a ton of sense

The New Jersey Devils are still riding high despite losing to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. They still sit in second place in the Metropolitan Division with 25 games under their belt. They’ve survived a ton of injuries to start the season, and they are still weathering injuries to two of their most important players, Brett Pesce and Jack Hughes. 

Still, the Devils are staying above water. Prior to their loss to the Flyers, the Devils had a three-game winning streak under their belts. They’ve been doing their best work to keep teams at bay as the Metropolitan Division is basically Mad Max to start the season.

The first-place team (the Carolina Hurricanes) has seven more points than the last-place team (the Columbus Blue Jackets). As of right now, the Metro has five teams sitting in a playoff spot, with the New York Islanders sitting right outside the playoffs with 29 points. 

We understand that the Devils are technically only four points away from being out of the playoffs, but they’ve been playing well enough to prove trust in the process. They’ve learned to win without all these pieces, and nobody is going to be out for the season.

Yet, they’ve actually seen their playoff odds plummet. Right now, MoneyPuck believes the Devils have close to a 40% chance of missing the playoffs. 

According to these numbers, the Devils have as much of a chance to make the playoffs as the Pittsburgh Penguins, who started the season with a 7.6% chance to make the playoffs. MoneyPuck completely changed how they look at the Penguins despite no changes in their roster. 

The Devils have a 62.9% chance to make the playoffs according to MoneyPuck. At the beginning of the season, it was over 80%. 

Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes, who have one more point than the Devils in the standings, have north of a 90% chance to make the playoffs. The Washington Capitals, who have Pierre-Luc Dubois missing for the season and have had their own issues all season, have a better chance of making the playoffs than the Devils. 

The Devils are getting Jack Hughes back in about 20 games. They have more home games than road games left this season, and they only have one regulation loss at home. Pesce will also return, as will Johnny Kovacevic and Evgenii Dadonov. It will all get better, and we think they should be at least where they were preseason with their playoff odds.