The Devils came into the season with thin margin for error in goal, so the pressure on the blue line was obvious from the start. Jake Allen was asked to carry a lot despite spending much of his career as a high-leverage backup, Nico Daws brought AHL numbers that don’t exactly inspire confidence, and even with David Rittich signed and Remi Poirier added on waivers, New Jersey still doesn’t have the kind of crease certainty other teams can lean on.
That means the defense has to be cleaner. It has to make life easier, not harder.
For one night against the Flyers, that blueprint actually held up. The Devils buried Philadelphia in chances, piling up 95 to the Flyers’ 41 by Natural Stat Trick, and they owned the high-danger edge too, 14-5.
Joseph Woll stood on his head, but Allen made the timely stops New Jersey needed in an overtime win.
That version of the Devils, though, didn’t stick. Against the Islanders and Mammoth, the structure cracked, Allen and Daws buckled, and the whole setup started to show its flaws.
At the center of that problem has been Brenden Dillon. He has not given New Jersey nearly enough on the back end, and while his partner Declan Chisholm has also struggled in his first games with the Devils, Dillon has arguably been worse.
The numbers are blunt: he’s been on the ice for four goals against and none for. Three of those goals against came on the penalty kill, where he’s been especially troublesome, but the issues aren’t limited to special teams.
His 5-on-5 work has been shaky too.
Dougie Hamilton is likely to get his share of scrutiny as well, though the raw totals can be misleading there. He’s been on the ice for seven goals against, but that has come across just 17 high-danger chances.
Dillon still brings some things New Jersey clearly wants. He blocks shots, finishes checks, fights when the moment calls for it, and gives opponents a reason to notice him.
But all of that gets wiped out if he can’t help the Devils move play the other way. Right now, he’s becoming an offensive dead end.
What makes that even more surprising is where his shifts have started. Once on-the-fly starts are removed, Dillon has opened most of his shifts in the offensive zone. Even with that advantage, the results have been ugly, and his line is still getting pushed around.
There’s also the fighting piece, and Dillon needs to show better judgment there. On Tuesday night, he stepped in after Jonas Siegenthaler took a bad hit into the boards and ended up in a solid fight with Jack McBain.
The problem was the timing and the roster math. Siegenthaler is a left-handed defenseman, and Dillon is a left-handed defenseman too, which left the Devils with only one left-handed blueliner available for more than five minutes in the third period while they were chasing two goals.
Luke Hughes was the guy New Jersey wanted on the ice as much as possible, but he can’t log a five-plus-minute shift by himself. So the Devils had to use Declan Chisholm on the left side, pairing him with Dougie Hamilton, who was already fighting his own defensive issues.
That’s the real weight of Dillon’s slow start. He may look like a third-line defenseman on paper, but the role is bigger than that for this team. New Jersey is counting on him, and when he’s off, the Devils tend to lose.
In Other News...
Devils GM Finally Addressed The Quinn Hughes Buzz Around New Jersey
The chatter around Quinn Hughes has lingered in New Jersey for a while, and Devils general manager Sunny Mehta finally gave it a little public oxygen by addressing the noise around the Vancouver defenseman. His stance was simple enough: rumors involving players on other teams are part of the job, and he does not spend much time getting worked up over them, even when they inevitably follow a team like the Devils.
It is another reminder of how quickly the speculation cycle can spin in the NHL, especially when big-name players and massive contract figures start entering the conversation. Stefan Rosner recently noted on The Sheet with Jeff Marek that Matthew Schaefers next deal could climb well past $20 million, a sign of just how aggressive the market can get, while New Jersey continues to live in that same rumor-heavy space as chatter around other players keeps swirling. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Trade Return Looks Different As Calgary Faces Another Tough Call
Maxim Tsyplakovs move to Calgary has quickly become one of the more complicated parts of the Simon Nemec deal, and the early returns have done little to settle the picture. The winger was part of the package that sent Nemec to the Flames and brought multiple draft picks and prospect Etienne Morin back to New Jersey, but Tsyplakov has had a hard time finding traction since arriving in Calgary.
His struggles have carried over from last season into the preseason and the opening stretch of 2026-27, with the Flames managing just three goals in three games as the offense sputters. In a rebuilding phase, Calgary is weighing how many minutes to keep handing to veteran pieces versus giving younger players a longer look, which leaves Tsyplakovs roster spot looking far less secure than it did when the trade was made. [Read more 🡒]
ESPN Just Gave Devils Fans Another Reason To Defend Nico Hischier
ESPNs latest top-100 NHL players list for the 2026-27 season gave Devils fans plenty to chew on, and not in a flattering way. Nico Hischier landed 54th, a sharp slide from where he was ranked previously, even as the Devils captain continues to be viewed as one of the leagues most reliable two-way centers and a cornerstone for New Jerseys present and future.
The real frustration is less about the number itself than the company Hischier was kept in. Aleksander Barkov, who missed the entire prior season, came in ahead of him, and Connor Bedard was slotted higher too despite the expectation of an early-season injury absence. For Devils fans, it is another reminder that Hischiers value does not always seem to translate cleanly in outside rankings, even when his importance to New Jersey is obvious. [Read more 🡒]