With the regular NHL season wrapping up, NHL teams from all over the place look to advance further in each of their divisions with big goals anticipated, such as winning the Stanley Cup. Currently, the New Jersey Devils are third in the Eastern Metropolitan Division, looking to advance further, their record now being 41-30-7 with those numbers changing frequently as the team achieves more wins or losses.
Having such key, strong, young, talented players like Jack Hughes, his brother Luke Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, etc there are plenty of opportunities available. Struggles and downfalls are bound to occur, which can go for any sports team, and those things have come up for the Devils. This tends to be a repeating pattern that happens almost every season for the Devils. This season, there have been uncountable injuries, making it hard for the Devils to work around and adjust to not having some of their key talent. With Jack Hughes out of commission, after taking a hit by Jack Eichel, on the Vegas Golden Knights and suffering a bad shoulder injury from being slammed into the boards, officials say he will now be out for the remainder of the Devils season. Devils Coach, Sheldon Keefee who joined the Devils after spending the past five seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs as head coach from 2019-20 through 2023-2024. Sheldon tends to like to switch things up changing the aspect of the team giving other people more opportunities. Their first line as of March 26, 2025, consisted of Erik Haula, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier. Erik Haula at Left Wing, Nico Hischier at Center, and Timo Meier at Right Wing. Goaltending is a necessity to have a strong team, Devils goaltending consists of key guys like Jake Allen and Jacob Markstorm, without having good goaltending there’s no chance in winning, goaltenders play a huge role in each and every Hockey Game. Defensemen and offensive players each also have their own roles. A big defensemen, Johnohthan Kovacevic is a 2017, WPG (74th overall), 3rd round, 12th pick in the National Hockey League draft, who often makes smart plays contributing to huge wins.
The Devils have a strong chance of advancing to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with their playoff odds at over 99% according to Money Puck, and they are likely to finish third in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils have 85 points with only a few more games left on the schedule. Their point possibilities then fall within that. They will finish the season with somewhere between their current 85 points and their best possible finish is 99 points. Both 85 and 99 points are extremely unlikely, but when it comes to clinching a spot in the playoffs it will all really depend on the smart moves made during each game to inch closer and closer to winning it all.
Update: As of April 9, the Devils clinched a spot to the playoffs because of the Rangers 8-5 loss to the Flyers. This bumped the Devils up, giving them their entry to the playoffs. Their first playoff game will be on Saturday April 19 against the Carolina Hurricanes.
