For a team that has spent years leaving goals on the table, the Devils are suddenly starting to look a lot more like themselves in the most important way: they’re finishing.
That’s been the nagging issue in New Jersey for a long time. Season after season, the Devils have hovered near the bottom of the league in turning chances into actual goals, routinely coming in well short of their expected goal totals.
Last season was the clearest example yet. The Devils finished as the league’s worst team in goals scored above expected, coming in 37.4 goals below their xG.
The gap was massive - second-worst in the league was only 23.5 goals under expected in 2025-26. New Jersey also had the second-worst shooting percentage at 9.3%.
The season before that wasn’t much better. The Devils were eighth-worst in the league in GAx at -18.8, and under Sheldon Keefe, the finishing just never really showed up.
That trend carried into this season’s opening stretch, when New Jersey again sat among the league’s worst teams at converting chances over the first few games.
But that picture is changing fast.
The Devils are now 15th in the league in GAx, sitting at -1.4 and moving closer to where the underlying numbers say they should be. Some of that comes from the kind of bounce teams eventually expect - Jack Hughes and Arseny Gritsyuk have both seen positive regression, though that may be especially true in Gritsyuk’s case. Anthony Mantha and Luke Evangelista have also helped improve the overall finishing outlook.
The big scoring nights have done plenty of the heavy lifting, too. New Jersey has already scored five or more goals four times in its first 12 games, and those outbursts have helped pull the actual production closer to the expected numbers.
And there still appears to be more room for this to keep climbing. Hughes is still due for more goals, while Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier are in line for more as well.
The power play has been a separate problem, with a bottom-three shooting percentage of 9.7% and the league’s worst GAx. With the talent on the roster, that unit also looks primed for some positive regression.
All of it points in the same direction: this surge in finishing doesn’t look like a fluke. By the time the season is over, the Devils could very well be an above-average team in this area.
In Other News...
Devils Quietly Made A Goalie Move That Signals Their Bigger Plan
The Devils made a small but telling move on the goaltending front, sending Remi Poirier to the Capitals for a 2027 seventh-round pick. Poirier never appeared in an NHL game for New Jersey after being acquired from Dallas before this season, but the trade still clears a bit of organizational clutter while giving the club another draft asset to work with down the line.
For Washington, the deal is about replenishing depth after losing Clay Stevenson on waivers, a reminder that even minor goalie transactions can ripple through an organization. For New Jersey, it fits the broader pattern of keeping the pipeline flexible and the asset base moving, even when the return is modest and the headline is easy to miss. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Hughes Has The Devils Looking More Legit By The Game
The Devils kept building on their own surge with a 5-2 win over the Golden Knights, another result that makes them look increasingly more like a team that belongs in the conversation. It came on a night when the Panthers were handling Winnipeg and Calgary was taking care of Seattle, but New Jerseys result stood out for the way it fit the larger trend around the club: steady progress, more confidence, and a roster that is starting to play with real purpose.
For a team that has spent so much of the season trying to prove it can stack good nights together, this was the kind of victory that matters beyond the standings. The Devils are getting the sort of contributions and structure that can change the way opponents approach them, and Jack Hughes remains central to that shift. The broader question now is whether this is simply a strong stretch or the point where New Jersey starts looking like something more durable. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Fast Start Has Fans Debating Who Deserves The Most Credit
The early returns have given the Devils something to talk about beyond the standings. New Jersey has opened the 2026-27 season at 9-5-0, riding a four-game win streak and winning five of its last six, with captain Nico Hischier, defenseman Luke Hughes and forward Arseny Gritsyuk all drawing notice as the clubs top performers for October.
Connor Hellebuyck has also already made his presence felt, picking up two wins on a recent road trip and giving the Devils a steadier edge in net. With so many different names contributing to the fast start, the fun debate around this team is less about whether it has looked good and more about which piece deserves the most credit for making it look this good. [Read more 🡒]