Mature.
That’s the word that’s been thrown around regarding the New Jersey Devils and their evolution through the first five games of the 2025-26 regular season. However, head coach Sheldon Keefe is treading lightly when it comes to any proclamations thus far.
READ MORE: 3 Early Red Flags For Devils Despite Strong Start
By no means has it been a perfect start to the season. I mean, how could it be? The Devils lost their first game of the year to the Carolina Hurricanes on the road. Yet, considering their one and only loss was 12 days ago to this point, they’ve certainly performed well since then.
After the Devils defeated the Florida Panthers last week, Keefe was asked about what he sees in terms of newfound maturity.
“We’re seeing signs of it. We’re not there yet, but we’re seeing signs of it, we’re growing. And Jack [Hughes] is the leader of the growth,” Keefe explained. “I think it kind of trickles down from there. Obviously adding more and more veterans, experienced players that have been around the league and played deep in the playoffs, all that kind of stuff helps it. Rubbing shoulders with those guys every day helps the young guys grow. That’s what we talk about every single day. That’s what we talked about the in day one of training camp. So that’s really positive, and that’s what you need to do.”
In short, Keefe said the signs are there. But, there’s still work to be done in order to become a true contender.
We’ve gone over some red flags. Slow starts, A LOT of penalties taken, and just overall structure that can sometimes elude the Devils.
That’s not out of the ordinary for any team. However, there are certain clubs, such as the Carolina Hurricanes who get away from their structure far less often.
After the Devils defeated the Edmonton Oilers, the narrative only grew stronger. Defeating both teams that were featured in last season’s Stanley Cup Final is certainly an impressive feat early in the season.
Yet, asked about the maturity once more following Saturday’s game, and Keefe was still remained hesitant to make any sort of declarations.
“I don’t know. I mean, we’ve been talking about this a lot,” Keefe explained. “Media has stuff to talk about and ask me about, [but] we’ve played five games here. I think you can’t make any proclamations, positive, negative, any of this kind of stuff. It’s way too early. I like how we’ve handled different situations that have come up in games. Whether it’s the early penalty kills, you need them, not letting the other team get life, whether it’s scoring early and getting the lead and taking care of it. Or getting behind, but not panicking and finding your way back. All of those things are good and positive signs.”
In fact, despite the win over Connor McDavid and the Oilers, Keefe isn’t as high on the Devils’ performance as the rest of us are.
“There’s 77 of these [games] left here. We watched the game back from the other day. We didn’t play very well against the Oilers, quite frankly. There’s so many things that we can do way better, and we need to do way better. It’s one thing to win games in the early goings in October, while teams are trying to find themselves, but we’re trying to build something sustainable here. In order to do that, we have to play a lot better.”
So, what are the areas of the Devils’ game Keefe wants to see improved?
“Our overall structure, our checking habits, our details defensively,” Keefe listed. “We talk about the maturity and such, but you give up a goal to [the Oilers and] give up a 2-0 lead going into the third period. That’s a real bad moment. So just little things like that, you know, we just got to do better.”
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It’s not like Keefe is down on his team. His expectations are reasonable. The Devils are playing well, but he knows his group can be better.
At this point, it’s about sharpening and maintaining the already implemented structure.
“That’s the good news, that’s positive because we’re doing enough things to win and put ourselves in a good spot here,” Keefe said. “We get past that threshold to win four games in a row and get that taken care of early in the season. Like it’s all really good and positive, but we’re trying to build something sustainable here. In order to do so, we just got to keep pushing, stay humble and hungry and all those kinds of things. And that was really the message for our guys here today. Let’s keep working and be excited about what we’ve done to this point, and it speaks to the potential of our team, but the way we’ve played to this point is not going to be good enough to sustain our level of play over the course of the season, and you wouldn’t expect it to.”
Keefe just wants to see his team progress, as opposed to take steps backwards.
“It’s only five games. So that’s why we don’t think things over, analyze things too much to the point we get too excited or too down,” Keefe concluded. “You know, some teams are real happy and excited right now, and some teams are really down on themselves, and a good portion of those teams are going to feel the opposite in the not too distant future. So let’s hope that we’re one that can just keep moving.”
