Devils have the depth to withstand injury regression

Alex Chauvancy examines why the Devils should be able to hold up if the injury bug comes their way.

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By Alex Chauvancy (@AlexC_THW)

One of the keys to sustaining success over an 82-game NHL season is staying as healthy as possible. Injuries are unavoidable and will occur, but if a team can stay healthy enough, they should be in a good spot to make the playoffs come April. 

Part of why the New Jersey Devils had such a turnaround in 2022-23 was because they stayed relatively healthy, especially compared to the previous season.

They lost only 3.75 wins above replacement in man games lost and almost half of that came due to Jonathan Bernier missing the whole season; he projected for 1.78 wins above replacement. 

Had Bernier not missed all of 2022-23 after hip surgery in Dec. 2021, the Devils would've been one of the healthiest teams in terms of man games lost this past season.

Unfortunately, that could mean some regression in injuries is on the way this coming year. But the good news is that the organization seems to have built enough depth to withstand a change in injury luck. 

Depth is there at all levels

No one wants to relive what the Devils went through in 2021-22, but injuries were a significant reason for their downfall. As mentioned, Bernier missed the remainder of the season after undergoing hip surgery. He was far from the only Devils player who missed significant time due to injuries. 

Jack Hughes may have totaled 56 points but it came in only 49 games due to two separate injuries. Dougie Hamilton took a deflected puck off the face, resulting in a broken jaw and missing 20 games. Even when he returned, he played through a broken toe that surely affected his play. 

Nico Hischier didn't miss as much time as Hughes or Hamilton, but he played in 70 games due to different nagging injuries. 

Perhaps the most devastating injury was to Mackenzie Blackwood, who was never healthy during the 2021-22 season. After having heel surgery during the summer, Blackwood tried to play through the injury. 

It clearly affected his play and the Devils didn't help matters by overworking him when he was hurt. Eventually, they shut him down in mid-January until the final two games of the regular season in late April. 

The injuries to Blackwood and Bernier were the Devils' undoing. It forced the organization to use seven different goaltenders, resulting in the team giving up about 60 goals above expected, depending on which stats site you use. 

The Devils have solid goaltending depth in the organization now but that wasn't the case a year ago. Fortunately, it led to another top-two selection in the draft, which resulted in Šimon Nemec becoming the second overall pick in the 2022 draft. 

Based on recent comments by Lindy Ruff, Nemec may start the 2023-24 season in Utica with the Comets. Ruff doesn't want to get too young too quick on the back end, and that makes even more sense after the Devils acquired Colin Miller, an experienced veteran defenseman, from the Dallas Stars. 

If Nemec is the first call-up from the Comets to start the regular season, that's certainly a good problem to have. Plus, a little more time in Utica for the 19-year-old defender can't hurt, especially if he's quarterbacking the Comets' first power-play unit. 

Nemec won't be the only defenseman in Utica who'll have a chance to play NHL games this season. Topias Vilén has played pro hockey for two years in the Finnish Liiga with Pelicans. The same is true of Daniil Misyul, who has even more pro experience than Vilén; he played in 181 games for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl in the KHL. 

The Devils' defensive depth should be in good shape this coming season, especially when you have someone like Brendan Smith, who can be a No. 5-7 blueliner, depending on what Ruff needs on any given night.