The Devils did the easy part this summer. They added offense, gave Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt some real support, and made the forward group look a lot deeper than it did a year ago.
The harder question is the one hanging over everything in New Jersey: who is going to hold up the net?
That issue could end up shaping the 2026-27 season more than any of the moves that grabbed the most attention. The Devils finished 42-37-3 last season and missed the playoffs for the second time in three years.
Injuries played a big part, but they did not explain all of it, and new general manager Sunny Mehta acted like he understood that. He did not simply run it back and hope for better luck.
Instead, he changed the roster.
New Jersey brought in Evan Rodrigues, Jesper Boqvist and prospect Ben Steeves from the Florida Panthers. Rodrigues gives the Devils flexibility because he can fill multiple roles, while Boqvist returns to a team he already knows. Neither one has to be a star for the deal to matter.
The Devils also added Anthony Mantha on a two-year, $9.5 million contract. Mantha scored a career-high 33 goals and finished with 64 points for Pittsburgh last season. At 6-foot-5, he brings size, finishing ability and a different kind of forward than New Jersey had before.
There was a clear idea behind the work. The Devils needed more secondary scoring, and they got it. Mehta also locked up Hischier with a five-year extension, keeping the captain from becoming a future contract headache.
So the roster improved. No question there.
But the goaltending? That is where things get shaky.
Jacob Markstrom was dealt to Florida with Angus Crookshank in the trade that brought Rodrigues, Boqvist and Steeves to New Jersey. And to be fair, moving on from Markstrom made sense. He finished last season with a .883 save percentage and did not look like the solution the Devils thought they had acquired.
The problem is what came next.
New Jersey is moving forward with Nico Daws and David Rittich, and that is where the gamble starts to show its teeth. Daws is 25 and still has a chance to become a legitimate NHL starter.
He has done enough to earn a longer look. But the Devils are not in a phase where “let’s see what the kid can do” is a satisfying answer.
This team expects to make the playoffs.
Rittich brings experience, but he is the kind of goalie you want backing up the situation, not trying to save it. If Daws stumbles, asking Rittich to carry the load would be asking too much.
There is a version of this where Mehta looks smart. Daws could seize the job, settle in, and give New Jersey a young, affordable starter behind a much stronger group of skaters. That would make the offseason look even better.
There is also the version that should make Devils fans uneasy. Plenty of offense, plenty of 5-4 games, and a frantic search for help in goal after Thanksgiving. Once teams get desperate, they pay for it.
Mehta deserves credit for not standing still. He improved the roster and gave the Devils more punch up front. But all of that will only go so far if New Jersey cannot get a routine save when it matters most.
The Devils do not need Nico Daws to become Martin Brodeur. They just need him to show that this was not a playoff roster built in front of a massive question mark.
In Other News...
Devils Are Suddenly Positioned For The Hughes Move Fans Keep Talking About
Quinn Hughes summer has already turned into one of those familiar hockey whispers that never quite goes away, and his ties to New Jersey are only making the chatter louder. He has spent much of the offseason in the state with his family and his brothers, who are already with the Devils, which is enough to keep fans and speculation spinning while the clubs front office looks at a roster that suddenly has more flexibility to work with.
From New Jerseys perspective, the timing is what makes the idea linger. The Devils are in a better spot with cap room and trade assets than they were before, and that has naturally put them in the conversation for a move that would have seemed far-fetched not long ago. Nothing official has materialized, but when a star is connected to the area and a team is better positioned than expected, the rumor mill tends to do the rest. [Read more 🡒]