It’s July. Most teams haven’t even completed their offseasons yet. Every single New Jersey Devils’ fan hopes that’s the case for Tom Fitzgerald. The Devils have two huge holes and multiple roster questions to solve. Yet, despite this fact, The Athletic is coming out with some “way too early” predictions. This yearly endeavor polls some of The Athletic hockey experts about their thoughts on the next season.
The Devils had some positive reviews. One person picked them to win the Eastern Conference. Two experts have the Devils winning the Presidents’ Trophy, which would be the first time that’s ever happened in history. Someone even picked Sheldon Keefe to win the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the league.
Additionally, 78% of voters predicted the Devils would make the playoffs. That’s important for a Devils team in a very important year for every decision maker in the front office.
However, it wasn’t all positive for the Devils. The most prominent stat in this article was that the Devils were considered, by far, the most likely team to be a disappointment. Around 35% of voters picked the Devils as their most likely team at the top of that list. Other teams mentioned were the Edmonton Oilers (who were closest with 21 percent of the vote) and the Carolina Hurricanes, but the Devils were the top team in this disappointing category (pun intended).
New Jersey Devils are considered the most likely NHL team to be a disappointment
The comments made it even worse. Jesse Granger said that the Devils were “the obvious pick.” He did blame the team’s inability to stay healthy, and we can’t blame him there. Everyone seemingly got hurt last season.
Shayna Goldman, who occasionally writes about the Devils for The Athletic, also picked Jersey’s Team as her choice. She mentioned their lack of additions in the top nine on offense as a major qualm with their roster. Sean Gentille also went with the Devils, calling their lineup “fragile,” which is aggressive.
We can’t really blame them for this pessimism. The Devils' offseason moves were fine, but they weren’t nearly enough. The Devils lost their entire bottom six outside of Dawson Mercer. They replaced them with Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, rookie Arseniy Gritsyuk, and the return of Cody Glass.
Those are all positive additions to the Devils’ bottom six, but none of them are expected to make an impact on Jack Hughes’ or Nico Hischier’s lines. Without an addition of a top-six forward, it’s hard to be excited about the depth of this team. Right now, Ondrej Palat is expected to be in the top six. That’s not ideal.
And if there’s an injury? The Devils are relying on young guns. Brian Halonen, Lenni Hameenaho, Juho Lammikko, Angus Crookshank, Shane Lachance, and Kurtis MacDermid are expected to be the players who check in when someone is forced out of the lineup. Is anyone on that list that exciting?
The Devils won’t have the same hype that they’ve had in years past if they don’t make a huge move before the offseason is over. It’s July 22nd, so the timing is getting weary. It’s well known that nothing really happens in August, and we’re just about a week away from the turn of the calendar.
Still, are the Devils set up to be the biggest disappointment? The fact that they are on this list likely means they won’t be the biggest disappointment. Last year, the Devils were the most popular choice for Stanley Cup runner-up. Meanwhile, the Carolina Hurricanes and Vegas Golden Knights were considered the most likely disappointments.
None of this is an exact science, and the league will have bigger disappointments every year. Not many thought the Boston Bruins would have the worst record in the Eastern Conference or that the New York Rangers would completely bottom out. There are always multiple disappointments each season. The Devils hope to stay healthy and avoid the disappointment list this season.