The Devils are back home this week with a chance to steady themselves after an uneven first eight games. New Jersey sits at 4-4-0 after showing plenty of offensive pop but not nearly enough consistency, and the next stretch starts Tuesday night with a three-game homestand that opens against the Colorado Avalanche.
That meeting with Colorado headlines a week that should tell us a lot about where this group is headed early in 2026-27. The Devils have already put together a couple of eye-catching results - a 5-4 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings, then a 7-1 blowout of the New York Rangers - but they’ve also had trouble scoring first and finishing at 5-on-5. If they want to climb above .500, this is the kind of homestand that has to start producing answers.
One area worth watching is the top six, which has already shifted from the group the Devils rolled out to open the season. Luke Evangelista has been out with illness, and in his place New Jersey has gone back to the Meier-Hischier-Mercer line for the last three games. That combination was a major part of the offense a season ago, and the Devils seem to be leaning on that familiarity again.
Dawson Mercer’s ability to move around the lineup has been a real asset, and Sheldon Keefe highlighted that before Saturday afternoon’s game against the Washington Capitals. “I think he’s just a smart player with a good stick and has good instincts,” he told the media.
Another look that could stick is Arseny Gritsyuk on the second line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt. In five games, that Bratt-Hughes-Gritsyuk trio has produced two goals and 23 shots at 5-on-5, along with 4.89 expected goals per 60 minutes, according to MoneyPuck.
The bigger picture on offense is encouraging even if the goals haven’t always come in bunches. New Jersey has actually out-shot and out-attempted every opponent it has faced so far, and if that edge keeps showing up, the scoring results should follow.
Luke Hughes has been one of the clearest bright spots in all of it. After signing a seven-year, $63 million contract last October, he came into this season with bigger expectations, and he’s meeting them early. He’s averaging 24:01 per game, which leads the team, and he’s already posted three goals and one assist.
He’s also tied with Dougie Hamilton for third on the Devils in shots on goal with 24, and his most explosive night came against the Rangers, when he earned first star honors with two goals. Eighteen seconds into the second period, Hughes snapped a shot past Dylan Garand to push New Jersey ahead by two. Later in the period, he made it 5-0 with help from Brett Pesce and Amadeus Lombardi.
The Hughes-Pesce pair has become a major driver on the back end as well. The two are producing an average of 80.49 shot attempts every 60 minutes at 5-on-5, giving the Devils a blue-line pairing that can move the puck and tilt the ice. Outside of the occasional breakdown, they’ve been New Jersey’s most dynamic duo on defense.
Goaltending remains the one area that still feels unresolved. The Devils started the season planning to use Jake Allen, Nico Daws and David Rittich in a three-goalie setup, but that changed when they claimed Remi Poirier on waivers and sent Rittich to the Utica Comets. Even in a small sample, the numbers have not been kind.
Allen is 3-2-0 with an .876 save percentage and a 3.18 goals-against average. Daws has struggled more, posting an .857 save percentage and a 3.38 goals-against average. Keefe has continued to describe the situation as a 1A/1B arrangement between Allen and Daws, but the results have been uneven.
New Jersey has allowed at least three goals in five of its first eight games, including a 6-0 loss to the New York Islanders and a 4-2 loss to the Capitals. The numbers are part of the story, but not the whole thing.
The Devils have been loose in front of their own net, and those breakdowns have led to turnovers and high-danger chances that have piled up on them. In all four of their losses, they’ve scored three or more goals just once.
Even so, it’s still early enough for this to turn quickly. If the Devils tighten up around their net and give their goaltenders a cleaner look, the rest of their game should have a chance to settle in. That’s the formula they’ll be trying to find over the next few days, starting with Colorado on Tuesday night.
The rest of the week keeps them busy at Prudential Center. On Thursday, they host the Anaheim Ducks in their first-ever K-Pop night, complete with in-game content, merch, and more. Then on Saturday afternoon, the Los Angeles Kings come to town for a long-awaited matchup after the Devils swept them last season.
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 🡒]