Devils: Big-Picture Problems on Full Display

The New Jersey Devils have scored five goals in their last four games. The offense is hapless, and Jack Hughes is back in the lineup. Usually, the team comes and goes with him but even with Hughes, the offense isn’t better and is arguably worse. The 4-0 road shutout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs is an exclamation point as they now sit two points out of last place in the Metropolitan Division.

A lot of scouts and hockey minds have expressed concerns about the Devils. The way they are built, who is leading them, and their underlying issues prevent them from being a true Cup contender. Even early on in the season, many noted that they are a great regular-season team but not a team that can make a deep playoff run. Now that they’ve fallen apart, the big issues are coming to a head. 

Devils Have a Core Without Much Variety

The Devils have their star players to build around, and with their three forwards in their prime, while two defensemen are on the rise. The problem with their top six is that Hughes and Jesper Bratt provide the same skills and attributes on the ice. 

It’s helped them form a strong chemistry since they gash opponents with speed and make the most of open ice. However, when teams are prepared to limit their speed, which has been the case in recent seasons with the way defenses are built, they struggled. The Devils need that power forward presence to play alongside Hughes, and don’t have one. 

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Nico Hischier is the star who is a change of pace. He’s a two-way center who plays a heavier game. His problems are that, like Hughes, he centers a line, making it difficult for the Devils to put them together, plus he’s not the game-changer offensively. Unlike Hughes, Hischier doesn’t take over games, certainly not to the point that he can cover up some of the other issues on the Devils. 

When the Devils are rebuilding, they lean into the speed and skill in their farm system. It helped them develop Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and Pavel Zacha (who was traded in the Erik Haula deal). Now, the Devils have a team with speed and skill but not the other aspects. Specifically, their top six is built that way, and teams have caught up to them. 

The Devils Have Gotten Stale

Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, and even Luke Hughes on the backend are the core players in their prime years. Yet, they’ve been around for a while. The Devils have had the same core since they started the rebuild, and they’ve entered the fourth or even the fifth season with this group. 

Like many teams with a similar core, things have gotten stale, and they’ve stagnated. At some point, every team must mix things up or find a way to add another star to the mix. The Colorado Avalanche did it when they made the bold move to trade Mikko Rantanen, and the Tampa Bay Lightning kept their window open when they signed Jake Guentzel. Speaking of Guentzel, he opened up the Pittsburgh Penguins’ contention window and helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2017. 

Ideally, the Devils find a prospect who does that. The problem is they don’t have one walking through the door anytime soon. Simon Nemec, the young defenseman, was that player earlier in the season but now that he’s a regular with the Devils, they don’t have anyone left in the pipeline. 

It’s why rebuilds are only as effective as the team’s ability to draft and develop. Once a team stops doing both, their farm system dries up, and there’s only so much they can do. The Devils are now a team without options because they haven’t drafted well in years. 

Tom Fitzgerald’s Swings & Misses 

In 2022-23, the Devils ended the season with the season-best record in the Metropolitan Division, and it was clear that their window to contend was open. The next question was whether they should go all in or sit back and let the star players keep that window open for years to come. 

Their general manager (GM), Tom Fitzgerald, took a middle path by taking a few swings without risking it all. He signed Ondrej Palat and acquired Haula for Zacha in the 2022 offseason. He made the move to get Timo Meier at the 2023 trade deadline and took a swing when he acquired Tyler Toffoli in the 2023 offseason. 

Fitzgerald made the trades that were supposed to get the Devils over the hump. They all flopped. Palat has been a disappointment, and Haula, whom they got in the Zacha trade, is no longer on the team (ironically, they can use a skilled player like Zacha). Meier is a good but not great winger and certainly doesn’t take the offense to the next level. Toffoli, meanwhile, never fit in with the Devils and was flipped at the 2024 trade deadline to cover up some of the losses. 

All these moves have Fitzgerald operating with caution. He doesn’t want to take another swing and miss, which explains why he’s been silent in recent months while other teams have made big trades. Ironically, his tenure will be defined by silence at the end, where the lack of moves was his undoing. It’s similar to the Kevyn Adams tenure with the Buffalo Sabres, which started out with big trades (like Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart) but ended with the inability to make any. For Fitzgerald, his silence is only making things worse as the clock ticks on his tenure.