New Jersey Devils 24-25 Season Preview/Offseason Recap

After a heartbreaking Game 7 loss to Buffalo in last year's playoffs the Devils look to come back again to make another strong playoff run and hopefully a run at the Stanley Cup. New Jersey finished the 2023-2024 regular season 5th in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 49-27-6 totaling 104 points. Despite finishing 5th in the division the Devils were 7th best team in the EHE.

During the offseason the NHL roster needed little maintenance, whereas the Utica Comets needed an overhaul. Many players were lost to contracts overseas or free agency. 2 seasons removed from winning the Calder Cup the Comets were in need of a desperate retool.

Offseason Additions

• Mats Zuccarello - UFA signed 2 year $8,000,000 AAV

• Sam Gagner - UFA signed 2 year $1,250,000 AAV

• Matt Benning - UFA signed 2 year $1,500,000 AAV

• Alex Nedeljkovic (G) - Trade via Winnipeg Jets

AHL

• Marcus Bjork (D) - Trade via New York Rangers

• Pierrick Dube (RW) - Trade via Ottawa Senators

• Aidan McDonough (LW) - Trade via Vegas Golden Knights

• Tyler Pitlick - UFA signed 3 year $1,500,000 AAV

• Colin White - UFA signed 3 year $1,500,000 AAV

• Sam Morton - UFA signed 3 year $775,000 AAV

• Gavin Hain - UFA signed 3 year $775,000 AAV

• Aaron Dell - UFA signed 1 year $800.000 AAV

Offseason Subtractions

• Jonathan Huberdeau (LW/RW) - UFA signed w/ Columbus Blue Jackets

• Connor Brown (RW) - UFA signed w/ Buffalo Sabres

• Victor Olofsson (LW/RW) - Trade to Vegas Golden Knights

• Tyler Wotherspoon - UFA signed w/ Colorado Avalanche 

AHL

• Aaron Ness - UFA signed w/ Toronto Maple Leafs

• Bobby Trivingo - Deactivated Overseas

• Brett Sutter - Retired

• Dennis Cholowski - Waiver Claim by San Jose Sharks

• Nicolas Beaudin - Deactivated Overseas

• Scott Sabourin - UFA signed w/ Toronto Maple Leafs

• Viktor Lodin - Deactivated Overseas

• Calvin Pickard - UFA signed w/ Washington Capitals

The biggest addition in the offseason was the signing of Mats Zuccarello. GM Knedel knew that this team needed a high end addition to the RW position. Especially since Jonathan Huberdeau didn’t want to extend his time in New Jersey. After the signing Knedel had this to say, “We’re really excited to add a player of his caliber and experience. Zuc will bring valuable leadership to this young team and we hope he can push our goal scorers to the next level. His passing ability is exceptional and that was an area we needed to improve in.” Players have been known to have career years while with this team and Knedel is hoping Zuccarello will be the next one on that list.

There is also another new addition to the NHL roster but not a new face to the Devils organization in Pavel Dorofeyev. He made the jump to the NHL after playing 3 seasons in the AHL. Big things are expected from him this year but the team believes he can take his game to the next level with this opportunity.

Behind the bench there is also a new face. The New Jersey Devils signed Peter DeBoer to a 3 year deal. David Quinn was able to come in and steady the ship and get this team to the playoffs but it seemed that there needed to be a new voice in the locker room. After the first round exit from the playoffs there were rumors starting to swirl that the Devils wanted to move on from Quinn believing he couldn't get them to take that next step and win the Cup. In comes the reigning Stanley Cup winning coach from Buffalo. When the news came out that Buffalo was not retaining his services the Devils knew exactly who they wanted to bring in the building to lead this team.

Looking forward to the upcoming season it appears to be another tough one for the teams in the Metro Division. Every point will be valuable and there’s no opportunity to slip up over this long season. GM Knedel believes this team is up there with the best teams in the league and is excited for the team to go out and show that ability. Now only time will tell if this team is up for the challenge.