New Jersey Devils season preview
After making a ton of noise in the 2022-23 season, the New Jersey Devils were one of the most talked about teams this past summer, and they enter the 2023-24 campaign with very high aspirations. If there was a winner of the offseason, it would be the Devils considering they re-signed Timo Meier, and added Tyler Toffoli. The Devils are going to be a very fun team to watch.
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Offense
New Jersey has such a dynamic offensive team and to make matters worse for their opponents, they should be even better this season. Jack Hughes emerged as an NHL superstar last season, skating to a new career-high 99 points, while Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and now Meier along with Toffoli help form a very strong top-six group of forwards. The Devils had the fifth-best goals per game (3.52) and the league’s second-best expected goals percentage (56.30). This team is incredibly deep offensively.
Defense
New Jersey’s blue line lost a couple of important players like Damon Severson and Ryan Graves, but their departures shouldn’t impact the group in such a drastic way. The Devils finished as a top-10 defensive group in 2022-23, only allowing 2.71 goals against per game while having the fourth-best penalty kill (82.6%) and also the best team at limiting high-danger chances against per 60 (10.92). Their defensive success was no fluke, and I expect them to defend well in their own end again this season.