The New Jersey Devils had another dissapointing season after failing to make the playoffs for the second year in a row. It was a year that was dominated by them having no shootout wins despite going to over 20 of them and potentially Martin Brodeur's last season in the NHL. They ended up finishing fifth in the Metropolitan division and just six points out of a playoff spot. If the Devils are to return to the playoffs this season, they're going to have to have a much better regular season than they have had the previous two seasons. Without further adue, let's preview the Devils this coming season.
Offense
The Devils don't have the offense they used to when they had Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk but they still have some forwards who can put up some good numbers. Jaromir Jagr was arguably their best player last season where he had 24 goals and 43 assists and led the team with 67 points. Patrik Elias may be getting older but he has shown no signs of old age as he was second on the team with 53 points. Travis Zajac is also good when healthy and Adam Henrique as well who I think is very underrated. New Jersey went out during free agency and got some scoring help in Mike Cammalari and Martin Havlat who have both put up good numbers during their career. Expect New Jersey to have their best offensive year since they went to the Cup final in 2012.
Defense
New Jersey's defense isn't that bad and wasn't bad last year. Marek Zidlicky had a very good year with 42 points and it was a very good decision for the Devils to prevent him from being a UFA. He should be paired with their second best defenseman Andy Greene who also had a nice year last year. Adam Larsson and Eric Gelinas make a decent second pairing for the Devils going into this season if that's what they choose to do and their third pairing could be Bryce Salvador and Jon Merrill which isn't bad either. Look for the Devils to have a good defense this coming season.
Goaltending
The Devils don't have Martin Brodeur this season and that's not going to matter one bit since he really was not good last season. Cory Schneider is one of the most underrated goaltenders in the league and had a very good season for the Devils last season. New Jersey was smart to extend him another seven years to be their franchise goaltender. As long as he's their goaltender, they have a chance to make the playoffs every season. Backing Schneider up will be Scott Clemmensen who like Brodeur, is an aging goaltender with his best years behind him. He won't get too many starts.
Special Teams
New Jersey had the 9th ranked power play last season which really isn't bad at all. They're still going to need to imrpove on the power play if they are to win games night in and night out but a top ten finish is very good. As for the penalty kill, the Devils were the best penalty killing team in all of the NHL last year which is amazing. They killed off 86.4 percent of penalties the whole season. If that can continue into next season, they should have no problem winning games.
Outlook for season
The Devils come into this season missing the playoffs for the last two seasons as I stated above and it could turn costly if they miss them again. I don't think the Devils make in the playoffs this season due to how many playoff bubble teams that are in the Metropolitan division but they will finish in the top five.