New Jersey Devils Receive Bad News Heading into 2022-23
The New Jersey Devils will reportedly start the upcoming season without G Jonathan Bernier, who underwent hip surgery last season. The Devils, of course, traded for G Vitek Vanecek and signed him to a three-year deal. Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood will man the cage together, but their tertiary option will not be ready.
Bernier signed a two-year deal with New Jersey last summer, and he has only appeared in 10 games before succumbing to his hip injury. New Jersey will likely relegate his $4.125 million to LTIR, giving them some extra cap flexibility.
In net, the Devils have real impressive organizational depth. If either of their starting tandem goes down, they can call on Nico Daws -- who performed admirably after being thrown into the fire last season -- and Akira Schmid. The two of them were one of the AHL's best tandems last season, and both have had NHL exposure in their young careers, with 31 games between them.
The Devils are desperate for quality goaltending, and if they start to experience injury at the position and cannot rely on Bernier, they could be in for another rough season. Which would spell disaster for the franchise.
| POLL | ||
SEPTEMBRE 10 | 275 ANSWERS New Jersey Devils Receive Bad News Heading into 2022-23 Will the Devils make the playoffs in '22-23? | ||
| Yes | 112 | 40.7 % |
| No | 163 | 59.3 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Alex Tuch | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jirí Kulich | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||