The New Jersey Devils’ season has been nothing short of a disappointment. They have an extremely young roster and no one was expecting them to compete for the Stanley Cup this season. But after a busy offseason, with the additions of Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves, and Tomas Tatar, fans were hoping to see the team make the next step to show the rebuild is progressing. Instead, the Devils are a bottom five team in the NHL again and are a lot closer to the abysmal Montreal Canadiens in the standings than they are to the Boston Bruins who currently hold the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. So, given the state of the Devils, what should give fans any hope that they will right the ship going forward?
The Current Roster
Last season, the Devils leading scorer was Pavel Zacha, who averaged .7 points per game. Zacha was one of four players on the team who averaged at least .5 points per game. In the 2021-22 season, Jesper Bratt and Jack Hughes are averaging nearly a point per game, proving that they are two young building blocks that the organization can rely on moving forward. Additionally, Nico Hischier, Andreas Johnsson, Dawson Mercer, Damon Severson, and Dougie Hamilton are all providing at least .5 points per game as well. That is nearly double the amount of players that accomplished this feat a season ago, and the average age of those seven players is just 24 years old. The continued improvement of the team’s core is crucial to the future success of the New Jersey Devils.
Utica Comets
While the Devils’ NHL season may not be going as planned, they can take some solace in the fact that their AHL affiliate is the best team in the league. It is not just career AHL’ers that are getting the job done either. Three of the top four scorers for the Comets are top Devils prospects: Alexander Holtz, Reilly Walsh, and Fabian Zetterlund. If you look back to a few years ago, the leaders in the AHL standings in the 2017-2019 season were the affiliates of the Penguins, Maple Leafs, and Panthers, who are currently three of the best teams in the NHL. This could be a good sign for the future of the New Jersey Devils.
Devils fans have every right to be frustrated with the organization. In a year that began with hope, it seems like the team cannot take a step forward without taking two steps back. But this time is different. The prospect pool has not been this deep for the Devils in decades. The success of the Utica Comets and the leading scorers for the New Jersey Devils this season is evidence of the fact that fans should still hold out hope for the future, even if it cannot come fast enough.
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