Against All Odds

Expect the unexpected.

Coming into the season the Devils weren’t expected to do much, maybe compete for a playoff spot but that was it. A strong push to end the year propelled New Jersey from 3rd in the division  to finishing as the 2022-2023 Metropolitan Division Champs and 2022-2023 EHE Presidents Trophy winners. In the last 20 games of the year the Devils won 16 of those games and during that time went on an 11 game winning streak.

The EHE franchise best season for the Devils was led by strong campaigns from 

Alex DeBrincat, Alex Pietrangelo and Jake Oettinger. Oettinger cementing himself at the forefront of the Vezina race and surpassing Cory Schneider’s season record 45 wins in the 15-16 season.

DeBrincat: 82 GP 35G 50A 85P

Pietrangelo: 82 GP 15G 58A 73P

Oettinger: 69 GP 48-19-2 2.51 GAA 0.917 sv%

The depth of the Devils was what truly brought this team success. 7 players with 20+ goals and 12 players with 20+ assists. Each night the scoring was coming from a different line or defensive pairing or a combination of everyone. You’ll see the 1st line of DeBrincat-Point-Mikheyev dominate one game and the next night the 3rd line of Olofsson-Strome-Dube/Fast would be taking over the game.

In the offseason GM Knedel shook the franchise and fans when he traded franchise player Mat Barzal for stars Brayden Point and Alex Pietrangelo. The risk paid off. Both players shined, being the number 2 and 3 scorers this season becoming an integral part of the team and shifting the culture in the locker room.

New Jersey is now gearing up for the playoffs for the first time since the 2015-2016 season facing a division rival in the Pittsburgh Penguins. During the season the matchup was split 2-2 seeing the Penguins capturing the first 2 matchups and the Devil's coming back to even the series.