The New Jersey Devils kicked off the 2023-24 season with high hopes of winning the Stanley Cup. Last year, after a surprise victory over the New York Rangers in the playoffs, many thought they would dominate the Eastern Conference.
However, things didn’t go as planned. General manager Tom Fitzgerald decided to bring in young players for defense to save money, but it didn’t work out well. Veterans Ryan Graves and Damon Severson left, making room for Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec to step up.
These young players had a tough time adjusting. The absence of Graves and Severson was felt more than expected, especially when Dougie Hamilton got injured. He had an amazing previous season with 22 goals and 74 points! To fix this issue, Fitzgerald signed experienced players Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce. Hamilton is back but not fully recovered yet.
Defense Adjustments:
People close to the Devils say their defense is now “solid,” helping them lead the Metropolitan Division with 16 points. But they’ve played more games than others. Pesce is getting back into shape and plays alongside Hughes on their bottom pair. Jonathan Kovacevic has been a pleasant surprise; he was supposed to be just extra help but ended up playing in top positions.
Fans might feel hopeful about these changes because competition within the team can be healthy!
While fixing their defense was crucial, last year’s biggest problem was goaltending—both literally and figuratively! Lindy Ruff lost his job partly due to this issue as they tried different goalies: Nico Dawes, Akira Schmid, and Vitek Vanecek—all struggled with low save percentages by season’s end.
Jake Allen came from Montreal Canadiens before last season’s trade deadline; he helped stabilize things slightly (.900 sv%), though it wasn’t enough then or now since his performance dipped again recently (.876 sv%). Jacob Markstrom joined during offseason bringing flexibility; despite some ups-and-downs early-on (with current .903 sv%), both him & Allen are expected improve soon given past records!
Goaltending Woes:
According Money Puck stats neither goalie ranks among top forty saving above expected per sixty minutes yet—but that should change based on their history! With record standing at 7-5-2 currently matching expectations from previous year predictions made popular choice once more representing Eastern Conference finals thanks largely revamped netminding strategy combined defensive upgrades too!
What do you think? Can they make it all way this time?
