Too Soon To Judge Whether These Devils Are Legit Playoff Contenders Or Another Hot Flash
Almost every year, early NHL action is rife with results that turn the standings upside down. In each of the previous two seasons, the Devils started those campaigns by going 6-3-2, giving false hope that those would be the years where the club would finally turn things around. Of course, both seasons ended with the team on the outside of the playoff cutoff, mired near the bottom of the Eastern Conference.
Those teams weren’t all that far off from New Jersey’s 7-3 mark in this season’s first ten games following their 5-2 victory in Vancouver in the opener of a three-game Western Canada swing. The Devils have won four consecutive games and seven of their last eight heading into Thursday’s showdown in Edmonton.
The question, then, is whether this time the leap is real, with New Jersey developing before our eyes into legitimate playoff contenders after one such appearance in the last decade, or is it just another illusion abetted by the generosity of the league’s schedule-makers. Only one of the seven wins came against a team that qualified for the 2022 playoffs, and though that one win was a thrilling 1-0 triumph over defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado, the Devils haven’t really been tested enough for anyone to jump to any conclusions.
What we do know is that the Devils aren’t winning these games with flukish performances. They are dominating possession, leading the league in scoring chances for percentage and expected goals for percentage at five-on-five, per NaturalStatTrick.com. Both special teams, a sore spot not that long ago, are inching up the league’s rankings, with the Devils sporting the NHL’s 16th best power play and fourth-stingiest penalty killing unit.
And when the Devils weren’t rolling over their opposition like they did against Columbus and on Long Island, they’re finally receiving just enough quality goaltending to absorb the waves. The stats still show the Devils in the bottom quartile in team save percentage and goals saved above expected, but it’s the timing and difficulty of the stops that have mattered most in securing the wins.
On Tuesday, the Canucks actually had the edge in high danger scoring chances (10-9), but goalie Mackenzie Blackwood stood tall early in the game when the Devils didn’t have their legs after their first long flight this season. Vitek Vanecek had won the three prior three contests, including pitching the shutout against the Avalanche.
Even embattled Head Coach Lindy Ruff has been pushing all the right buttons. As I wrote in my previous post, he finally moved big wing Nathan Bastian to the net front area on the Devils power play, which has converted on four of their last eight chances over the last four games, the league’s second-best success rate in that span. Rookie wing Fabian Zetterlund went from being a healthy scratch for four straight games to garnering a spot on the Devils’ top line with captain Nico Hischier and Tomas Tatar, where he has been peppering goalies with shots from all angles. And Ruff has reunited Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, the Devils’ brightest stars who own a whopping 81% expected goals for percentage when paired at all strengths.
Defensively, John Marino has been a godsend since coming over in an offseason trade with Pittsburgh for underachieving 2018 first-round pick Ty Smith, clamping down on the opposition’s top lines—he has been on the ice for just two goals against at five-on-five, per NST. I wouldn’t say that all the “puck management” gaffes in the Devils’ zone have been completely cleaned up, but they’re noticeably fewer than in recent seasons.
These are all areas that might regress to the mean against stouter competition, but they can still be plus factors as the Devils grow up into a team capable of putting the rest of the league on notice that they are for real and not just an early-season hot flash. Just don’t elevate them quite yet.