The New Jersey Devils are known as a defensive team. Just look at their three Stanley Cup Championships in nine years. Those teams stuck to a defense-first system to go along with very good offensive teams. But something is missing from this version of the New Jersey Devils.
Remember, Sheldon Keefe was brought in to fix the defensive issues from a year ago under Lindy Ruff and Travis Green. But there is one thing he can’t fix: the maturity or immaturity of a young hockey team. It was on display last night and has been on display for close to two seasons now. The last time the New Jersey Devils made the playoffs was in 2023, and they took pride in playing defence.
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At times over the last two seasons, defense was not an issue. Goal scoring was the problem. And goal scoring is still a problem, but holding leads has suddenly become an issue, and it all goes back to what Ruff said last year about playing defense.
“We made an unbelievable effort to play good defensive hockey last year if we’re going to play like this. We’re going to be extremely tough on ourselves,” Ruff said after a loss to the Washington Capitals early into the 23-24 season.
Well, looking back on it, Ruff was right. The Devils are making life extremely difficult for themselves. As Brendan Dillon told the media post-game, every goal Calgary scored was self-inflicted. The third period has not been an issue for New Jersey all season. When holding a lead entering the third period, the Devils were 30-0-2. However, you could see there were cracks in the armour along the way, even with a healthy team.
Again, this is the same team that held teams to 20 shots or less for nine of 10 games at one point in the season. Now, the personnel was different. Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton were both in the lineup. Both men are lost for the rest of the season. While they could return in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the team is mentally preparing to play without them.
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But that is still not an excuse for blowing a 3-1 lead against the Calgary Flames on Thursday night. The Devils are not a team that can rely on their goaltenders every night. It started Monday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets when Jake Allen had to make 45 saves facing 46 shots. Columbus had a push, and the Devils let them shift after shift.
The same thing happened Thursday night against Calgary. But you can clearly see Keefe does not have confidence in the six defensemen out on the ice. He is relying too much on five defensemen, and fatigue is starting to set it. He has been relying on the same six guys all season, and it is catching up to the Devils.
“Why is it happening? I don’t know,” Keefe said. “Like I said, because it caught us off guard. I mean, there are contributing factors. I mean, we’re not the same group we’ve had all season long. Playing five defensemen for most of the games is probably wearing on us a little bit because our D does not quite look like themselves.”
The last part of the quote is telling. The Devils are playing five defensemen for the better part of games, which is an issue. The coaching staff does not believe in Simon Nemec or Seamus Casey right now. Casey is back in the AHL to continue his development. Dennis Cholowski was acquired at the trade deadline, and the last game he played was on March 11th against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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If Nemec is only going to be averaging 9:30 of ice time over the last two games, then the Devils need to make lineup changes. He needs to be averaging 13 minutes to take the load off the other guys. Especially, the guys who aren’t used to playing bigger minutes, like Johnathan Kovacevic.
If Nemec is not the answer, then the Devils need to bring someone up from the AHL to help fill the void as a seventh defenseman. The idea of not making more moves was to create internal competition with roster expansion and utilize the cap that way. Well, New Jersey has Santeri Hatakka and Colton White in the AHL with the Utica Comets.
There is a reason why the Devils probably should have done more by the deadline, even with the injuries to Jack Hughes, Hamilton, and Siegenthaler. But the plan probably all along with just depth moves. The New Jersey Devils have to figure something out.
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If opposing teams like the Calgary Flames can smell blood in the water and see you tired right away in the third period, then it is time to examine the personnel on the ice. As Jonathan Huberdeau said post-game, the Flames could sense it was coming.
“I felt like they were getting a little tired,” Huberdeau said. “I thought we had more legs; we were skating a little faster. the pressure we gave them, they were turning the puck over. We were creating more chances & we knew it was coming.”
The New Jersey Devils need to fix their defensive problem. They are not the 1995, 2000, or 2003 Devils, but they have to play like it defensively and manufacture offense, or else it could be a quick exit from the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
