Barring injury, are Devils finally primed to contend?

The past couple seasons have been a rollercoaster ride for the New Jersey Devils, one that has likely triggered more stomach sickness than thrills.

If youâ€re a Devils fan, though, itâ€s very reasonable to hope the ride is about to enter another exciting upswing.

In 2022-23, Jersey — on the strength of a monster 112-point showing that marked a 49-point leap from the previous year — made the playoffs for just the second time in 11 seasons and also claimed its first post-season series victory in that span.

The next campaign, the Devils were decimated by injuries, done in by poor goaltending and tumbled completely out of the playoff picture with 81 points. Last yearâ€s slight rebound — 91 points and a first-round exit despite more bad injury luck — was at least a half-step back in the right direction.

It may be overly simplistic to suggest this club is one healthy season away from serious success, but it just might be that simple for this talented collection of players.

Of course, the injury bug has already nipped New Jersey, taking out starter Jacob Markstrom with a lower-body injury. Not to worry, though: Jake Allen is a more-than-capable backup, as he showed during a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. The triumph was Jerseyâ€s fourth straight win after the club lost in Carolina to open the campaign and the Devils have now won three straight games with Allen in goal. Really, the cagey veteran has been rock-steady for the Devils dating back to last season. Since Jan. 18, only five goalies in the league whoâ€ve played at least 20 games have a superior save percentage to Allenâ€s .917 mark.

Up front, the chronically underrated Jesper Bratt leads the team with seven points after his two-point afternoon versus the Oilers. Seeing the likes of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier off to point-per-game starts is no surprise, but there may be an interesting development with Dawson Mercer hitting his stride on the second line with Hischier and Meier.

Mercer closed out the win over Edmonton with an ENG, giving him three tallies and five points in his past four outings. For some, Mercer always seemed destined to be trade bait in Jersey, especially when the club was trying to solve its crease issues.

Donâ€t forget, though, this guy is an 18th-overall pick with lots to offer. In particular, he plays a hard-nosed style that New Jersey could use more of to compete when it really counts, in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

On the back end, Dougie Hamilton has just a single point this year, but all Devils fans are hoping for is to see the big guy out there every night with the club. In his previous four years since arriving in Jersey as a UFA whale, Hamilton has missed nearly 35 per cent of his squadâ€s games.

When heâ€s in the lineup, thereâ€s a nice right-left balance to the defence corps, and it will certainly be interesting to see where Luke Hughes — who, naturally, was injured at the start of next year — can go now that heâ€s locked up to a monster seven-year contract.

Could his rise dovetail with that of his teamâ€s?

Buy a ticket, take the ride.

• 
• 32 Thoughts: The Podcast

  Hockey fans already know the name, but this is not the blog. From Sportsnet, 32 Thoughts: The Podcast with NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas is a weekly deep dive into the biggest news and interviews from the hockey world.

  Latest episode

• The Devils are off to a great start, but nobody in the Metropolitan Division — or entire NHL, for that matter — can top what the Carolina Hurricanes are doing out of the gate. The Canes let a 3-0 lead slip in Los Angeles Saturday, but still came away 4-3 overtime winners to keep their perfect 5-0-0 record intact. How about the start by Seth Jarvis, who has four — FOUR! — game-winning goals after potting the extra-time marker that sunk the Kings.

• The Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings were by no means in the exact same sad position, but itâ€s certainly worth noting how much better both fan bases must feel after the weekend’s action compared to where they were in the earliest days of the season. The Sabres†3-0 whitewash of the Florida Panthers on Saturday was surely a bit of a salve given that the only game it had managed to win prior to that contest was a wild 8-4 victory over Ottawa that didnâ€t exactly inspire confidence.

Detroit, meanwhile, got two home wins over the weekend, downing Tampa Bay 2-1 in overtime on Friday and Edmonton 4-2 on Sunday afternoon. The Wings have now claimed five straight victories after losing their season-opener 5-1 to Montreal on home ice. That may have been only one tick in the ‘L†column, but — for a team desperate to end a long playoff drought — it felt like a bit of a statement defeat, as the club fell flat in its first game against a division rival it hopes to supplant for a post-season berth. To see the Wings turn the page so emphatically is impressive. So, too, is the play of rookie defenceman Axel Sandin-Pellikka, who potted his first NHL goal on Friday versus the Bolts. Which brings us to…

• Last year, a defenceman — Lane Hutson of the Canadiens — led the rookie class with 66 points and claimed the Calder Trophy. After Hutson, though, the crop of freshman blue-liners was grim. The second-highest point total by a rookie D-man after Hutson was Drew Helleson of the Ducks, who had 13 in 56 games. In fact, the only rookie defenceman besides Hutson to even skate in more than 60 NHL games was Albert Johansson of the Wings.

Letâ€s just say thereâ€s going to be more competition for the year-end all-rookie team on the blueline this year.

We mentioned above that Sandin-Pellikka is on the board for the Wings, and heâ€s averaging nearly 20 minutes per night. Last week in this space, we highlighted hot starts by Matthew Schaefer of the Isles and the Wildâ€s Zeev Buium; Schaefer has a five-game point streak to begin his career after grabbing an apple in Saturdayâ€s comeback win over Ottawa, while Buium is still being trusted to play 20 minutes per game in Minny. Then thereâ€s Alexander Nikishin, who was kept off the scoresheet for the first time in five games during Carolinaâ€s victory in L.A., but played 20:23 in the game, which is basically three minutes more than heâ€s seen in any other contest so far.

Now throw in an impressive start by Sam Rinzel, who picked up an apple on the OT winner for the Hawks over the Ducks Sunday night, and the potential for high-pedigree guys like Rinzelâ€s Chicago teammate Artyom Levshunov and Flames wizard Zayne Parekh to eventually hit their stride, and it could be an absolutely astounding rookie D-man crew.

Red and White Power Rankings

1. Winnipeg Jets (4-1-0): What a start to the year for Mark Scheifele, who became the Jets 2.0’s all-time scoring leader with his 813th career point during a 4-1 win over Nashville on Saturday. The first guy the Jets drafted when they moved back to Winnipeg in 2011 has six goals and nine points in five October outings.

2. Vancouver Canucks (4-2-0): Make it three straight road wins for the Canucks, who beat Chicago in extra time Friday and hung on for a 4-3 victory in D.C. on Sunday afternoon. With six of a possible 10 points already collected on its current five-game sojourn, Vancouver has a chance to make this a trip to remember. That said, Filip Chytil leaving early after being hit by Washingtonâ€s Tom Wilson on Sunday was obviously an unwelcome development.

3. Toronto Maple Leafs (3-2-1): The Leafs need to get in gear for any number of reasons. One, in particular, is to take advantage of their home-heavy schedule to start the year. The Buds have played but one road game so far, and 12 of their first 16 contests this season are at Scotiabank Arena. Merely treading water through that stretch simply wonâ€t do.

4. Montreal Canadiens (4-2-0): Sam Montembeault was not at his best during Saturdayâ€s 4-3 loss to the Rangers. Montembeault has an ugly .857 save percentage so far, while backup Jakub Dobes is rocking a .940 in two games. Just sayinâ€.

5. Edmonton Oilers (2-3-1): Back-to-back Lâ€s for the Oilers in Jersey Saturday and the Motor City 24 hours later make it a three-game road skid for Edmonton. The club was 0-for-4 on the power play versus the Devils and Wings, and the Oilers PP sits in a place weâ€re not accustomed to — 20th in the league at 17.7 per cent.

6. Ottawa Senators (2-4-0): Itâ€s cold comfort right now in the midst of a rough start for the Sens, but Ottawa has the fifth-best expected goals percentage in the league (54.05 per cent) and is the best club at the dot, winning 61.5 per cent of its face-offs.

7. Calgary Flames (1-5-0): After falling 6-1 to Vegas on Saturday, the Flames own the worst goal-differential in the NHL at minus-14.

• Lots of milestone watch going on these days, with Alex Ovechkin two goals from 900, John Tavares three away from 500 and Nikita Kucherov three points shy of 1,000 for his career. Meanwhile, Adam Henrique will play career game No. 1,000 on Thursday when the Oilers host Montreal.

• On Tuesday, Brad Marchand will face the Boston Bruins for the first time as a Florida Panther. The Panthers actually visited Boston not long after the trade deadline last year, but Marchand was injured and didnâ€t play. One can safely assume the former Bâ€s captain — who spent parts of 16 seasons in Boston — will be warmly received by the New England fans.

Meanwhile, two Canadian teams hungry for a win — the Oilers and Sens — will meet in Ottawa that same night.

• Thursday brings a heavyweight tilt as the Canes and Avalanche clash in Denver. How about the work Scott Wedgewood has put in this year, posting a .938 SV% and 1.48 goals-against average while No. 1 guy Mackenzie Blackwood is sidelined.

• We get a classic QEW back-to-back with the Leafs in Buffalo on Friday before a return tilt in Toronto on Saturday.

• Sunday brings one more awesome game to close out the week, as the Avs are in New Jersey to face the Devils.

Source link