The New Jersey Devils are coming off a ho-hum season in 2024-25. They did make the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which was an important goal, but they were pretty easily beaten by the Carolina Hurricanes in five games. They had more injuries than we can count, but it was yet another season where Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier didn’t make the conference finals.
This season, everything is on the line. Tom Fitzgerald has a hot seat. It’s probably not as hot as some fans want, but it’s definitely hot. He needs a decent season from this roster to solidify his job.
The Devils absolutely need to keep making the playoffs. Most analysts believe they are a playoff team, but they didn’t make major upgrades this offseason. They added Connor Brown, Arseniy Gritsyuk, Evgenii Dadonov, and a few other bit pieces, but they still have an issue in the top six.
It might end up being much harder to make the playoffs this season than it was last year. They made it with 91 points. In 2021-22, the last Wild Card team was the Washington Capitals, who had 100 points. What’s to say this won’t be one of those great seasons like 2021-22?
The main reason for this worry is the impact coming from the Atlantic Division. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, and Tampa Bay Lightning seem like locks to make the postseason. Meanwhile, the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators both got better coming off surprise playoff appearances. Nobody would be surprised if they both improved on last season’s standings.
That’s already five teams from the Atlantic Division, and that’s not mentioning the Detroit Red Wings and Boston Bruins, who both want to make it back to the playoffs.
If the Atlantic Division gets both Wild Card spots, the Metropolitan Division would only have three playoff spots. Both the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes went in on making their rosters better. They both seem like good bets to make the playoffs.
And then there was one. That leaves one playoff spot for the rest of the Metropolitan Division. We don’t have high hopes for the Philadelphia Flyers or the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Columbus Blue Jackets didn’t make the big moves they should have this offseason. That leaves two teams for the last spot in the playoffs: the Devils and Rangers.
With everything on the line, it looks like it’s coming down to the Hudson River Rivalry to see who makes the playoffs. A recent article by Blue Line Station said the Rangers are a “lock” to make the playoffs. That seems presumptuous. Don’t get us wrong, we love/hate the hiring of Mike Sullivan for New York, but they didn’t exactly make themselves better this offseason on the roster. They really just traded Chris Kreider and K’Andre Miller. They did add Vladislav Gavrikov, but that’s not going to be the difference between the playoffs and not.
The Devils have similar issues, where the holes on the roster are very much there.
Still, both these teams have stars that should carry them to the postseason in normal times. In the past, Igor Shesterkin would be enough to get a team to the playoffs. A healthy Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier should get a team close to 100 points. These two teams have the stars. It will come down to health and which team gets the most from their supporting cast.
Looking at the schedule, the Devils-Rangers postseason opportunities might come down to three games in March. The Hudson River Rivalry is only three games this season because of the madness of the NHL Schedule Makers, and every one of those games is in March. Hopefully, the Devils can take two of those three, because it could be their playoff fate on the line.