The New Jersey Devils’ offense has come out of the gate looking flat, and the missing piece may be Connor Brown.
Through the first stretch of the season, no Devils forward has scored at 5-on-5. Jack Hughes is the only player on the board at all, and that goal came in overtime against the Philadelphia Flyers, who are still winless through their first four games. Things got uglier on Saturday when New Jersey was routed 6-0 by the New York Islanders.
The Devils are not exactly dealing with a long injury list up front. Nick Bjugstad, Seamus Casey, and Johnny Kovacevic are out, but those absences have not been the main reason for the team’s slow start. The bigger problem is that Brown, who last season was one of Hughes’s best linemates, has been unavailable.
That development came after Sunny Mehta reshaped the roster this offseason, bringing in Anthony Mantha, Luke Evangelista, and Evan Rodrigues. Those additions pushed Brown down to the fourth line, which was already a notable shift for a player who had fit so well next to Hughes a year ago.
Brown then opened the Devils’ 2026-27 season out of the lineup with an injury that was not expected to be serious. He has now missed two games, and Stefan Noesen has filled in for him. Noesen had a strong preseason and training camp, but that hasn’t carried over once the games started to count.
On Monday, the Devils tried a different look in practice, using Jesper Boqvist in Brown’s spot. That setup appears likely to carry over when New Jersey faces the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night.
Still, the Devils don’t have the same juice without Brown. His speed and scoring touch gave the team a real edge, and that edge has been missing. With rookie Amadeus Lombardi on the other wing, the line lacks the same punch it had when Brown was in it.
The impact goes beyond the box score, too. Brown’s pace gives Hughes another weapon in transition and forces defenders to sag, opening more room for the Devils’ top players. Without that threat, the offense has looked easier to read and too dependent on Hughes to manufacture everything himself.
Brown also brings a hard forecheck that can keep plays alive in the offensive zone and create chances that don’t come from designed sets. New Jersey has talent, but it needs players who fit around its stars. Brown has already shown he can do that, and that’s why his return looms so large.
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