Setting the table for the New Jersey Devils' 2025 off-season

The Devils are in a better, and more certain, position than a year ago but plenty of work remains.

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The New Jersey Devils’ 2024-25 season was a mixed bag.

They were dominant for the first half of the year, looking the part of a legitimate challenger for the Presidents’ Trophy.

2025 hit and suddenly a completely different version of the team came to light. The 5v5 offense dried up, their defensive effort was inconsistent, and they also ran into a string of poor injury luck.

Add it all up and the Devils – who played like Stanley Cup contenders until Christmas – posted an 18-20-4 record in the unofficial second half of the regular season. Not great!

Given the team’s struggles down the stretch and all the injuries that happened at the worst possible time, an early playoff exit was expected.

I think management should feel good about the fight the team showed, though, and the outlook heading into next year.

As much as anything, there is a lot more certainty heading into this off-season. The Devils don’t have to find a high-end starting goaltender. They don’t have to find a new head coach. The list goes on.

There is an excellent group of core forwards to work with. The defense is in good shape in terms of talent, balance, and the collection of different skillsets assembled. The team can also feel quite good about having Jacob Markstrom to carry the load in goal.

There isn’t a ton of heavy lifting for Tom Fitzgerald. While there’s clearly work to do, it’s not as if the team has a laundry list of needs that will cost significant resources.

This summer will mostly be about supporting the core pieces already in place with better depth and adding necessary elements around them.

At the top of the list, certainly, is more secondary scoring. That was a massive problem in the 2nd half as well as in the playoffs.

Stefan Noesen was the only bottom-6 forward to chip in a goal against the Carolina Hurricanes and that didn’t come until Game 5. Enough said.

Arseni Gritsyuk’s arrival is a good start but more is needed. An established top-6/middle-6 winger would be great. A 4th line winger who can give you a little more than, say, Nathan Bastian would also be nice.

And more center depth wouldn’t hurt given a) the injury history of Jack Hughes; b) Erik Haula looked more impactful on the wing than at center and; c) Justin Dowling and Curtis Lazar are both on expirings.

The Devils also have plenty of decisions to make with guys they have on the roster right now.

Would they prefer to extend Brian Dumoulin and ship out somebody else on defense to make room? Do they want to pay Jake Allen to keep their goaltending tandem intact? What, if anything, do they want to do with Ondrej Palat?

The door will soon open on trading the latter as he must submit a 10-team trade list on July 1st.

After his $1 million bonus is paid July 1, only $8.9 million in real dollars are owed over the final two seasons of his contract.

Perhaps Tom Fitzgerald could entice a team to take that on if he feels the cap space is needed and the cost of business isn’t excruciating.

Otherwise, this is what a potential buyout would look like should the Devils go that route.

Palat is an extremely well-respected guy in the room and I know both Tom Fitzgerald and Sheldon Keefe have a lot of time for him. Heck, I like him too.

The NHL is a business, though, and $6 million is a lot to pay for 27 points, some board battles, and a locker room presence.

Fitzgerald may not have massive decisions on his plate – unless, of course, a Quinn Hughes trade possibility comes about – but there are certainly a lot of them.

It will be another busy summer for the Devils and a fun one to analyze as they navigate through it.

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info via CapWages.com and PuckPedia.com