The New Jersey Devils’ loss to the Utah Mammoth made the gap obvious. Utah had skill spread through the lineup, and New Jersey spent the night looking like the less-talented team. After the 5-3 defeat, head coach Sheldon Keefe put it plainly: “That’s not an easy team to play against,”
That matchup didn’t create the problem. It exposed one that’s been sitting there for a while. The Devils have enough talent at the top to flash and win stretches, but they do not yet have the kind of skill balance needed to hang with the league’s best on a night-to-night basis.
Jack Hughes still drives the offense, Nico Hischier centers the second line, Jesper Bratt brings the finesse on the wing, and Timo Meier has been one of New Jersey’s best players so far this season after an uneven run with the club. But once you move past that top six, the offense thins out fast.
That’s where the Devils are getting burned. Hischier has no points in three games, Bratt still hasn’t found his rhythm, and when those players are quiet, the attack starts to look ordinary.
The issue gets even bigger if injuries hit, because if Hughes goes down, the top line loses its teeth and the scoring dries up with it. That hasn’t happened yet this season, but the struggles have been enough to show how fragile the setup is.
New Jersey does have depth in the sense that its third and fourth lines can defend and check. They just aren’t producing.
The Jesper Boqvist goal in the third period against Utah was the first goal from the bottom six this season. The Evan Rodrigues, Dawson Mercer, and Arseny Gritsyuk line still hasn’t recorded a point or a goal, and Keefe responded by changing things up late in the game, moving Gritsyuk for Anthony Mantha.
Afterward, he said, “Just trying to shake that up and see what it looked like,” and that could carry over into the next set of line combinations.
The Devils also used to win by outrunning teams. That edge has faded.
Speed is no longer a separator the way it once was, because more teams have it now. The Islanders, who beat New Jersey 6-0, are a fast group led by Matthew Schaefer and a young core.
Utah is built the same way, with Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, and a deep blue line helping drive the pace. Those teams can match New Jersey’s wheels and, at times, make the Devils chase.
The Flyers showed the other side of that equation on opening night. New Jersey beat Philadelphia 3-2 in overtime, and the Devils controlled the tempo against a slower team. But Philadelphia has started the season 0-4, and so far they’ve looked like a team the rest of the league can handle.
That’s the bigger picture for the Devils. The NHL has gotten faster, and the advantage New Jersey once had has narrowed.
In 2022-23, the Devils could lean on their pace. Four seasons later, that isn’t enough.
That’s why Sunny Mehta moved aggressively once he took over as general manager. He made several trades and free-agent additions over the summer with an emphasis on adding skill.
The Luke Evangelista trade stands out most, since Mehta brought in a winger who can create chances and finish them. Three games into the season, Evangelista has already been one of the Devils’ best players.
Mehta’s additions were meant to reshape the identity of the roster, and Evangelista was only part of that plan. He also brought in Amadeus Lombardi, Boqvist, Mantha, and Rodrigues, along with Declan Chisholm on defense. And with the way the early games have gone, it looks like the work is nowhere near finished.
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 🡒]