The New Jersey Devils are in a bad way right now. They cannot get the offense right, getting shut out by a Toronto Maple Leafs team that was missing Auston Matthews and William Nylander on Tuesday night. Despite getting Jack Hughes and Arseny Gristyuk back into the lineup, this team cannot put more than a goal on the board most games.
The Devils have lost all four games since Hughes returned to the lineup last week. Hughes scored in his return to the lineup, but it’s clear he’s still dealing with some issues with that hand. He still has a brace on it, so he can’t be the only thing driving this offense.
This team is basically skating in place. They need a wake-up call. Nico Hischier tried to do it Tuesday night when he fought the much bigger Matthew Knies, but it didn’t work. The Devils gave up a goal literally seconds later, making the punches Hischier took all for naught.
The Devils are a broken team right now. However, that can be fixed very easily. The team just needs a little motivation. They need to see that they are a contender. Something has to give here, and it can come from a few sources. Maybe it’s a firing or a major trade. Heck, it can happen with the right combination, leading to a collection of wins.
Or maybe it can happen when a team is way too focused on hitting and fighting the Devils, and it leads to a breakout.
The Columbus Blue Jackets have “circled” this date on the calendar for a month. Back on December 1st, the Devils lost to the Blue Jackets 5-3, but a series of fights and big hits took center stage. Now, players like Mathieu Oliver, who didn’t even play that night, essentially say they want to set a tone to end 2025. The Jackets even put out an insane video of Oliver practicing his boxing, and they are calling this game “Knockout New Year’s Eve.”
The New Jersey Devils season could change with one punch to the face
If the Blue Jackets want to focus on physicality, then let them. We don’t think that will come off as it does for the Carolina Hurricanes or Florida Panthers. It will more likely come in an undisciplined and frustrated fashion.
That will do two things in the Devils’ favor. It will open the ice up for Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes to make moves in the neutral zone, and it will likely change how the Blue Jackets play their game. An additional advantage is it could put Columbus in the penalty box more often than not.
The Devils have been good at hitting clean and getting teams to fight dirty when it doesn’t seem necessary. At least, they were able to do that earlier in the season. The response to the Blue Jackets game was awful. However, maybe showing they can take a punch to the face and come back and win could be the type of moment that changes the direction of this season.