The Devils’ defensive problems have moved from annoying to impossible to ignore.
A 4-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday afternoon was the latest example, and it followed a familiar script. New Jersey surrendered three goals in the second period, lost control of the game, and never recovered.
The Devils have now allowed 3.37 goals per game, and that number doesn’t fully capture how often the back end has let them down. They’ve given up four goals or more in five of their eight games, and four of those nights ended in losses.
The Capitals game had all the usual warning signs. Ryan Leonard cut past Luke Hughes with little resistance for a highlight-reel goal.
Ilya Protas finished a play set up by Alexander Ovechkin, who threaded a centering pass through traffic. Later, Dylan Strome and Boone Jenner each drove hard to the net front and buried similar goals, the kind New Jersey has been giving up too frequently already this season.
Eight games into the year, the Devils are starting to look like a team with a clear identity in some areas and a glaring hole in another. The forwards can still swing a game, as they did against the New York Rangers.
The goaltending is not the problem, but it also isn’t carrying the load. The defense, meanwhile, has been the common thread in every loss.
That’s the part that should have the Devils’ new front office watching closely. New Jersey is 3-0 when it keeps opponents to three goals or fewer.
The issue is that it hasn’t done that often enough. The unit has been beaten by individual breakdowns, especially from Hughes, whose defensive struggles are not surprising for a young scoring defenseman but have still led directly to goals against.
And beyond that, the shutdown options haven’t steadied things, with some of them already showing age-related decline.
The hope is that the answer is internal. There is enough talent on the roster to build a decent defense, but the group has looked disjointed on too many shifts. Some of that should improve with time and coaching, and the Devils are still early enough in the season that chemistry can tighten up with a few more weeks of work.
Declan Chisholm is part of that picture. Acquired this summer, he has already been a steady third-pair option as injuries have piled up. The expectation is that he can grow into a reliable second-pair defenseman by the end of the season.
Still, the bigger question is whether general manager Mehta eventually has to step in from outside the organization. A trade for a depth defenseman would be the cleaner, cheaper route if the Devils are sitting in the middle of the Eastern Conference. That kind of move could turn a good team into a playoff-caliber one if the blue line is the only thing standing in the way.
There is also the possibility of a coaching change if the defense keeps dragging the team down and the message stops landing. But that would not come simply because the Devils are sloppy on the back end.
For Mehta to make that kind of move, the whole team would have to look bad and disengaged, and that has not happened yet. He is not expected to act impulsively, either.
If anything drastic comes, it would more likely be because the Devils are unraveling later in the season or after a disappointing finish.
For now, this is a problem being monitored, not one that is about to trigger a reaction. Mehta is watching the same thing everyone else is watching: a team that still has enough talent to reach the playoffs, but may also need a reset if the defensive breakdowns keep piling up.
In Other News...
Devils Loss Exposed An Early Problem They Still Havent Fixed
The Devils left Washington with another reminder that their start still carries some familiar flaws, even as Arseny Gritsyuk and Timo Meier gave them offense in a 4-2 loss to the Capitals at Capital One Arena. New Jersey has settled into a .500 rhythm at 4-4-0, and Jake Allens 21 saves on 25 shots were not enough to keep the game from getting away as Washington found four goals from a balanced attack that included Ilya Protas and Dylan Strome.
For a team trying to establish itself early, the frustration is less about one bad night than the pattern it exposed. The Devils have shown they can score in spurts, but the bigger issue remains whether they can consistently close down the spaces that opponents keep finding, especially against a Capitals group that stayed patient and made Logan Thompsons win look fairly straightforward by the end. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Just Exposed A Massive Rangers Problem In The Playoff Race
Igor Shesterkins season-ending injury has left the Rangers scrambling at the one spot they could least afford to lose. Dylan Garand, who entered the picture third on the depth chart, has been thrust into the starting role after a stretch of mixed results, and now the margin for error in the playoff race looks a lot thinner than it did just a few days ago.
Mike Sullivan and the teams leaders have tried to keep the focus on structure and identity, stressing that the response has to come from the group as a whole. For a Rangers team still trying to hang on to its postseason hopes, the challenge now is not just surviving without its No. 1 goalie, but finding some stability before the standings start to slip away. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Hughes Criticism Is Missing The Devils Real Problem
The Devils were right where they wanted to be early against Washington, with a fast start and a chance to make the game feel manageable before it slipped away in the second period. Timo Meier finally got on the board with his first goal of the season, a small but important sign for a lineup still searching for more consistent finishing, while the 4-2 loss again left New Jersey with the same familiar frustration: good stretches, not enough payoff.
Jack Hughes ended up taking some heat for a quick shot during a scoring chance, apparently trying to avoid contact from Tom Wilson, but the larger issue around this team is hard to ignore. The Devils are still wrestling with their scoring issues and a power play that has not done enough to tilt games their way, which is why one split-second decision by Hughes feels like a sideshow compared with the bigger offensive problems hanging over the group. [Read more 🡒]