Last night’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche wasn’t pretty. The New Jersey Devils’ eight-game win streak was snapped in unspectacular fashion after they surrendered eight goals at Ball Arena. However, it’s just their second loss of the season, and there’s no reason to be alarmed yet. Losses happen, and the Devils can, and will, do a lot of damage this season. On one condition, however.
The Devils’ near 90% win-rate before Tuesday was never going to be sustainable. However, New Jersey has all the makings of a deep roster thanks to some reinforcements in the offseason by GM Tom Fitzgerald.
The goaltending is solid, the blueline is deep, and now the forward group has plenty of depth. Yet, the same narrative that’s surrounded the Devils for the last few years remains.
They need to stay healthy.
“Is winning six of seven [games] sustainable the rest of the season? Probably not,” Pagnotta said on Friday before the Devils’ grinding 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks. “But, they look good. They look really, really good. From the opposite side of the spectrum, I look at the Maple Leafs and ask, ‘Man, what the hell were they doing that night?’ I don’t think they’re as bad as they performed. I don’t know if New Jersey is as good as they performed that night because they really controlled the pace of play for a chunk of that game. But, I think that for the most part, that style of play is pretty sustainable. Stay healthy, and this team is dangerous. I think they’ve proven that.”
New Jersey’s already been hit with an abundance of injuries. For starters, Johnathan Kovacevic, a key defenseman in 2024-25, remains out after knee surgery in the summer. Brett Pesce, perhaps their best defensive defenseman, is now out at least a month. Jacob Markstrom just returned after missing a few weeks. Stefan Noesen missed time, and is now just getting in the groove. Evgenii Dadonov is still out, with no real timeline for his return. And the Devils got just one game out of Zack MacEwen before he was shelved.
The Devils have, thus far, overcome that adversity. However, the injury bug is certainly present.
“The setbacks? You don’t want to use injuries as an excuse, but sometimes it’s the reality of the situation,” Pagnotta continued. “I had them in the Cup final last year and Jack had to get hurt. That ruined a lot of things for a lot of people. If this team stays healthy, they can do a lot of damage. I like what they bring, I like the pace of play. At certain points of the game, they can put pedal to the metal and just be resilient with that. It almost catches teams a little off-guard, at least so far. It’s just non-stop, go, go, go. And then they kind of ease up a little bit, and they do it again.”
The parts are all there. The Devils’ makeup is that of a contender. They just need to prove they can stay healthy enough, and remain consistent, to go on a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“The skill level on this team coupled with their speed is going to make this team very dangerous,” Pagnotta concluded. “How sustainable is it? We all know that in the second half of the season, things get a lot tighter and more physical. So, let’s see how things adjust from that perspective. Maybe Fitzgerald brings in some help in that area in the second half of the season, we’ll see. But, overall, so far, so good. I’m liking what I’m seeing.”
