The Devils playoff hopes are in serious jeopardy as the All Star break ends. Can the Devils get themselves back above the playoff line?
The Devils are seven points behind Detroit for the last wild card spot with three fewer games played and five points behind Philadelphia with three fewer games played. That means the Devils are far from out of the race. The Devils could still realistically earn themselves a spot in the playoffs in the last 35 games of the year, but they need some real improvements.
The Devils are starting to get healthier. Jack Hughes has returned to practice and could play this week, and Tomas Nosek is back practicing for the first time in months. Also on the injury front, Jonas Siegenthaler and Brendan Smith are apparently getting closer to making returns. Obviously Jack Hughes returning is the biggest thing the Devils need. Jack put up 45 points in the 32 games he played in before getting hurt. The Devils are 3-6-1 since Hughes got hurt and aren’t able to consistently sustain offensive zone pressure without him. Getting Jack back will be huge, but it won’t solve everything, the Devils were far dominating even when Jack was on the ice. Same can be said for the other injured guys that are nearing returns. Dougie Hamilton is out with his injury until at least the playoffs so that hurts but the Devils can overcome that.
The Devils need a new goalie. Not stating anything that hasn’t been said a million times by just about every Devils fan so far this season. Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid, and Nico Daws have not been consistently good enough this season. None of the three can be relied upon on a nightly basis to help the Devils win. If anything, the Devils need to win in spite of their goaltending on most nights.
Jusse Saros and Jacob Markstrom are both very good goalies on struggling teams. The question is how much they would cost in a trade. Markstrom is under contract through 2026 and makes 6 million dollars per season while Saros is under contract through 2025 and makes 5 million dollars per season. The Predators are currently closer to the playoffs than Calgary is but they don’t look like a serious contender at this point so it may make sense for them to get a return for Saros now instead of risking losing him for nothing in free agency in 2025. Calgary is an older team that isn’t having success now so they may want to start getting younger by dealing Markstrom. They have a promising young goalie prospect in Dustin Wolf so trading Markstrom could just clear a path for him to get more NHL playing time. I could see Calgary or Nashville having interest in Alexander Holtz or Seamus Casey as the centerpiece to a deal for their goalie. The Devils would have to throw in other prospects or picks to sweeten the deal a little more as just one of those two players wouldn’t be enough to get it done. That being said, Fitzgerad has the pieces to get a deal done with those clubs.
Speaking of Alex Holtz, he could be a big part of the Devils playoff push if he isn’t dealt for a goalie. Holtz is finally having an impact at the NHL level despite Lindy Ruff consistently playing him on the third and fourth lines. I would like to see Holtz put a line with either Hughes or Hischier and see if he can get that shot off more often after being set up one of the star centers. Holtz has 12 goals so far and hopefully he gets more playing time and can score even more than that between the end of the break and the end of the season.
The Devils also now have a hole in the bottom six. Michael McLeod has been charged with sexual assault in Canada so he is off the team at least until that legal process concludes. With him off the team for at least the rest of the year, the Devils need to find a bottom six center who is good at face-offs to fill that role.
The Devils are dangerously close to wasting a year of the window this young core has to compete for the cup. Sitting outside of the playoffs at the all star break is a bad sign but hopefully the Devils are able to finish the season strong, make the playoffs, and see what happens from there.
The Morning Skate 