The New Jersey Devils failed to reach the playoffs after starting last season considered to be a Stanley Cup contender. There are a lot of reasons that this shortcoming occurred for New Jersey.
One of the biggest reasons was their inconsistency on the back end. Lots of people rightfully blamed the goaltending but there were some defensive issues in front of the goalies which made it worse.
There will be more development for their younger guys and some injury issues have been resolved which is nice. They also went out and made some additions.
One of those additions is Brett Pesce. He has spent the first nine years of his NHL career playing for the Carolina Hurricanes. There, he became a very good defensive defenseman. He isn’t going to put up incredible offensive numbers but he will shut down the opposition at a high level.
The New Jersey Devils are going to get some great use out of Brett Pesce
Despite being new, he is the 11th most important person in the organization right now. New Jersey needed an upgrade when it came to a defensive defenseman and they are getting that with Pesce.
As mentioned before, there were injuries to key players throughout the 2023-24 season and the blue line was hit hard. They also lost players in free agency who helped them to one of the best records in the NHL a year prior. Pesce may be a great replacement for guys like that.
Few players in the league are better at defending off the rush. With the speed game that the Devils plan to play, having a defender like Pesce will make waves. The goalies are going to love him.
The preseason and training camp is going to be a great time for him to get to know the area, the systems, and how to work with specific teammates.
You'd like to think that Pesce ends up on a pair with one of the offensive defensemen that the team has. If that is the case, the depth on the blue line may be as good as it's been in a long time.
With the players that New Jersey has on their roster, it is pretty clear that they are going to score some goals. If they can defend well as a team while scoring all of those goals, they will be a great team. Pesce is going to be a big part of it.