The New Jersey Devils have spent the opening stretch of the season looking like a team stuck in neutral, but one number keeps pointing to a better road ahead.
At 4-4, the record says average. The underlying play says something else entirely.
The Devils have been piling up chances, shots and possession time at a level that suggests the goals should follow. The frustration around them is real, though.
They’ve dropped too many games in regulation, and too many of those losses have come inside the division.
Two of the four defeats have come against the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, and the Devils still haven’t even seen the Carolina Hurricanes yet. Their division wins have been more encouraging: a dominant victory over the New York Rangers and an overtime win against the Flyers, which still left a point on the table for Philadelphia.
That split has fueled the familiar early-season complaint from Devils fans. There have been too many odd-man rushes against, the goaltending hasn’t been up to the standard needed, and the team hasn’t finished enough of its own chances. For plenty of observers, it feels like the same old story.
But the process underneath the results is telling a different one.
The Devils are leading the league in xG%, and that’s not happening by accident. They have not posted this kind of underlying profile since 2022-23, according to JP Gambatese, who wrote on October 19, 2026, “Again, the #NJDevils have not had the underlying numbers they have put up early since 2022-23.
It’s why I’m so confident in the process. To compare this to the rest of Keefe’s/the core’s tenure isn’t really justified. https://t.co/nnpojrGFvy”
The wider picture shows why that confidence exists. Under new GM Sunny Mehta, the Devils are built around an analytics-heavy approach, and those numbers are backing up the idea that the roster is doing a lot of things right even when the scoreboard hasn’t caught up yet.
Their offensive-zone time jumps off the page. New Jersey ranks fourth in the league in that category, with only the Utah Mammoth, Florida Panthers and Carolina Hurricanes spending more time in the offensive end. The Devils are in the offensive zone 43.3% of the time and the defensive zone just 38.4% of the time, with the rest spent in the neutral zone.
That matters because it marks a sharp change from last season. The Devils were actually in their own end more often than they were attacking, and their struggles to get the puck out of the defensive zone undercut what they could create going the other way.
This season, that balance has flipped. New Jersey can spend more time pressing forward and still recover the puck when it needs to. That combination is why the numbers keep saying the same thing: the Devils may be sitting at .500 right now, but the foundation beneath that record looks much stronger.
In Other News...
Devils Suddenly Have A New Path To A Superstar Trade
The Devils spent the offseason doing what contenders usually do when they believe their window is open: they reshaped the roster with a mix of trades and signings, including the addition of Luke Evangelista and new deals for key returning players. It was the kind of business that signaled New Jersey is trying to keep pace now, not just later, and it has left the front office with a group that looks a little deeper and a little more flexible heading into the season.
Now another wrinkle has surfaced, and it has to do with a player who would change the conversation in a hurry. Dylan Larkin reportedly broadened the list of teams he would consider if Detroit continues to explore options, and the Devils are among the clubs now mentioned. Nothing about that makes a deal imminent, but it does give New Jersey a fresh potential avenue to chase a star-caliber upgrade if the opportunity ever turns real. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Suddenly Have Two Trade Storylines Fans Cant Ignore
Brenden Dillons absence from the Devils lineup in recent games has only added to the sense that New Jersey may be heading toward a real roster decision on the blue line. League chatter has centered on whether a defense-needy team could come calling, and Dillons contract situation matters here too, especially after his no-trade clause limited movement last season.
The other storyline is even more intriguing from a Devils perspective: Dylan Larkins 10-team trade list reportedly includes New Jersey, putting the club in the mix as talks continue around possible multi-team trade scenarios. Even if nothing is close, the fact that the Devils keep surfacing in both conversations says plenty about how active this market could become and how much the front office may still be weighing before the deadline picture sharpens. [Read more 🡒]
Avalanche Got An Early Look At A Devils Problem Already Brewing
The Devils have been trying to find some stability in the opening weeks of the 2026-27 season, and the results have reflected the unevenness Sheldon Keefe has talked around rather than through. New Jersey is 5-4-0, and the early stretch has already prompted lineup shuffling, including the decision to scratch veteran defenseman Brenden Dillon for four games as the staff tries to increase Johnathan Kovacevics workload and keep developing Declan Chisholm.
Recent returns have helped on the margins, with Luke Evangelista and Connor Brown both back in the lineup, and Evangelista made an immediate impact against the Colorado Avalanche with a goal and an assist. Even so, the larger concern for New Jersey is still hanging there: the Devils have enough talent to win games, but not yet the kind of nightly consistency that lets them settle into a rhythm, and the tweaks around the blue line suggest Keefe is still searching for the right balance. [Read more 🡒]