The New Jersey Devils deserve a ton of credit for how they’ve played as late. Despite dealing with a plethora of devastating injuries, the club has continued to chug along, winning three consecutive games directly after dropping three straight. As of Friday, Sheldon Keefe’s group is 36-25-6 and holding onto third place in the Metropolitan Division.
That being said, it’s going to be tough sledding over the last 15 games of their regular-season. The Columbus Blue Jackets — who occupy the final wildcard berth in the Eastern Conference — are currently just eight points back with two games in hand, while the New York Rangers are in the same boat, albeit with only a single game in hand.
The schedule the rest of the way is also not easy, but it isn’t overly difficult either. Over their last 15 contests, New Jersey will play eight games against clubs currently in a playoff position, and seven against squads outside the postseason picture.
Despite racking off three straight wins, there is obvious concern in Newark exactly a week after the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline has passed. Here are a couple of key reasons why.
Devils’ Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton are irreplaceable
The most obvious and pressing concern for New Jersey the rest of the way is the fact that they’ll have to endure the stretch run without Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton. Arguably the team’s two most important players, the absences of Hughes and Hamilton will be felt deeply over the next month and change.
After losing the superstar forward to season-ending shoulder surgery shortly after the 4 Nations Face-Off, general manager Tom Fitzgerald confirmed on Wednesday that Hamilton isn’t expected to be ready to return from his lower-body injury until at least the start of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“It’ll go into the second round,” Fitzgerald said of Hamilton’s ailment during an appearance on the ‘Krackin’ Canuckleheads’ podcast. “I gotta go back and do the math. It happened this last week. There’s a possibility [he returns]. We’re not planning on it, how’s that? This is what we have.”
Hamilton left a 4-3 loss to the Dallas Stars on March 4 after colliding with Stars forward Mason Marchment in the offensive zone at 18:13 of the first period. He didn’t return to the contest and hasn’t played since. The 31-year-old could possibly return for the second-round of the postseason, but it’s clear Fitzgerald isn’t confident that will happen even if New Jersey advances to the playoffs and wins Round 1.
It’s back-to-back devastating blows for the Devils; Hughes led all forwards in points before his injury with 70 (Jesper Bratt now has 76), while Hamilton is tops on the blue line with nine goals and 40 points.
“No change in his situation, as far as the information I had from the get-go,” Keefe said on Thursday, per NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale. “That’s really it. With the nature of his injury he’ll do all he can to be ready as soon as he can and we’ll welcome him back and hope to earn the opportunity to play long enough to get him back, but it really hasn’t been on my mind.
“We kind of turned the page pretty quickly once the injury happened, so you just have to press on.”
The Devils will have no choice but to do exactly as Keefe said, but the losses of Hughes and Hamilton are irreplaceable. Even so, Fitzgerald didn’t make any significant trades that will move the needle too much ahead of last Friday’s deadline.
Trade deadline acquisitions won’t move needle too much
Along with Hughes and Hamilton, Fitzgerald announced last week that defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler will miss the rest of the season after suffering a lower-body injury in a game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 4.
To combat the various ailments, the Devils added defensemen Brian Dumoulin and Dennis Cholowski at the trade deadline, and youngsters Simon Nemec and Seamus Casey are also waiting in the wings. They also traded for Cody Glass, who has been centering the second line alongside Bratt and Erik Haula.
Those are a couple of decent additions, but none can be considered significant contributors. Luke Hughes has stepped up in a huge way in Hamilton’s absence, and he’s playing big minutes as well as quarterbacking the top powerplay unit. Still, the roster looks much worse than it did a couple of weeks ago, and that’s obviously concerning as the stretch run heats up.
New Jersey can’t afford any lapses down the stretch
Without Hughes, Hamilton and Siegenthaler, and with only a couple of depth additions to replace them at the trade deadline, this is as close to a worst-case scenario as New Jersey can get ahead of a crucial month. A week ago, when the Devils had lost three games in a row, things were looking terrible.
But, as mentioned before, this roster deserves a ton of credit for the resiliency it’s shown. Key wins over the Philadelphia Flyers (3-1), Blue Jackets (5-3) and Edmonton Oilers (3-2), respectively, have given them some breathing room in the Metro. But the way the Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes are playing — the Canes have won five in a row and the Caps are the top team in the East — it’s unlikely that New Jersey will finish anything better than third in the division.
Add that to the fact that the Blue Jackets and Rangers both have fashions on making a late push, and it’s easy to see why there is a significant amount of concern in Newark right now. The Devils need to keep stringing together wins, and hope that those two rivals stumble down the stretch.
Despite the concern, this team still controls its own destiny. With 15 games left, it goes without saying that every single one is going to be absolutely critical the rest of the way. As of Thursday, the Devils still had a 92.7 percent chance of advancing to the dance, and that increased after a huge triumph over Connor McDavid and the Oilers on home ice.
It’ll be intriguing to see if, after missing the postseason altogether in 2023-24, New Jersey will be able to overcome devastating injuries to Hughes and Hamilton and remain in a playoff spot come mid-April.
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