The New Jersey Devils had an awful season in 2023-24. Despite all of the hype around them, a collection of injuries, bad goaltending, and a myriad of other issues led to another season of no playoff hockey. The Devils completely revamped the roster this offseason, removing John Marino, Brendan Smith, and Kevin Bahl from the defense and Alexander Holtz, Tomas Nosek, and Chris Tierney from the forward group. They replaced them with Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, Paul Cotter, Stefan Noesen, Tomas Tatar, and Johnathan Kovacevic.
Of course, the most impactful addition was the one in net. The Devils replaced what was a combination of Akira Schmid and Vitek Vanecek into what will be a tandem of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen. The Devils goaltending was one of the main reasons the team couldn't recover from its bad start. The goalies couldn't make a stop. There are so many bad stats when it comes to goaltending.
Vitek Vanecek had one of the three worst save percentages in the NHL. The Devils had a .903 save percentage as a team, which was one of the five worst in the NHL. However, it's one goalie stat that's one of the five that cannot happen again.
5 statistics the New Jersey Devils cannot repeat in 2024-25.
1. Rebounds per shot
Nico Daws .07, Jake Allen .069
We all know the Devils were pretty bad at giving up rebounds, which gave opposing teams multiple chances on the opposing goalie. Yes, it was up to he defense to get the puck out of harm's way, but the goalies had to do a better job at rebound control.
Nico Daws was the worst of the Devils. His .07 rebounds per shot taken finishes sixth worst in the league (among players with at least 10 games played). That's according to MoneyPuck. Jake Allen and Akira Schmid were both right behind him with .069. The number looks small, but those rebound shots are very much the highest of dangers.
Jacob Markstrom actually finished behind Vitek Vanecek who many Devils fans thought had terrible rebound control. The Devils need to keep things in check in net to keep this season from going off the rails.