Devils Stock Up/Stock Down: One Issue Fixed, Another One Breaks

The New Jersey Devils entered the holiday break on a roll, having just toppled the New York Rangers, winners of five of the last six, and atop the Eastern Conference.

The post-holiday break run of games has yet to be as kind. Since our last stock up/stock down, the Devils split a home-and-home against the Carolina Hurricanes before dropping the first two games of their California road trip to the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings.

With three more games left on the road trip, the Devils will look to right the ship and get back to winning ways, starting with the San Jose Sharks.

Devils Stock Up/Stock Down

Stock Up

Organizational Goaltending

What was once the bane of the organization’s existence has now become an overwhelming strength. From top to bottom, the Devils organization has had stellar goaltending recently. At the NHL level, Jacob Markstrom was recently named the NHL’s Third Star of the Month while boasting a top-10 Goal Saves Above Expected. Meanwhile, the Devils top two goalie prospects continue to shine. Jakub Malek continues to impress playing in Finland, developing into one of the best goalies in Liiga. This season, Malek (11-8-2) is in the top three in GAA (2.10, 1st), Save % (91.4%, 2nd), and Shutouts (3, 1st). Elsewhere, 2024 second-round pick Mikhail Yegorov put on a ridiculous performance, making 66 saves in a loss to 4-1 loss. Yegorov has a 3.35 GAA and a 0.909 SV% on the worst team in the USHL.

Nathan MacKinnon, Leon Draisaitl and Jacob Markstrom have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the month of December presented by GEICO.#NHLStats: https://t.co/AsX6dZZWOd pic.twitter.com/b5ukVKplbh

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 1, 2025

Stock Down

Corporate Greed

I don’t mean to get too political here, but what’s happening between MSG Network and Optimum is nothing short of a disgrace. Corporate greediness between the networks and cable companies has left Devils fans as the biggest losers. Optimum users were informed just a few hours before the clock hit midnight on New Year’s Eve that they’d be losing MSG Network and would need to either sign up for MSG’s streaming service or join an entirely new streaming service altogether. The frustration and hopelessness have been spread all over social media, and with no resolution between the two companies, many fans have been left scrambling to watch Devils games.

pic.twitter.com/1wGF0Z3yf9

— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) January 1, 2025

Stock Up

Top Prospects

Outside of goaltending, the Devils’ top prospects ended out 2025 on a roll. After a lull in November, Arseni Gritsyuk is back to being a dominating force in the KHL. He has five points in the last four games, including goals in four straight games. Over in Finland, 2023 second-round pick Lenni Hameenaho is now on a 50-point pace and scored five points in his last five games. Finally, 2024 third-round pick Herman Traff found himself on the scoresheet twice for Team Sweden. The Devil’s lone World Junior Championship representative scored his first two goals (and points) of the tournament so far against Czechia.

RELATED: New Jersey Devils’ 2024 Draft Class Showing Signs of Potential

MAKE THAT 2 for HERMAN TRAFF!!!!!!!

SWE 2-0 CZE#WorldJuniors pic.twitter.com/xmZpH267vC

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 31, 2024

Stock Down

Depth Scoring

We hate to be repetitive, but the lack of scoring from the Devils bottom-six has gone from worrisome to frustrating to now officially a major problem. Paul Cotter finally found the back of the net against Carolina after going scoreless in over a month, but it’s not enough. As we’ve seen in recent games, when the Devils top-six gets neutralized, they have no chance of winning games. Between Dawson Mercer, Erik Haula, Tomas Tatar, Curtis Lazar, Nathan Bastian, and Cotter, the bottom six have combined for an astonishingly low nine points over the past month. Surely, General Manager Tom Fitzgerald is working the phones behind the scenes, but don’t expect anyone to walk through those doors and save them. Simply put, they need to be better.

READ: NJHN Mailbag: Devils New Year’s Resolutions; Depth Trade Targets; Kovacevic Extension?

The Devils Bottom 6 since November 27th:

Dawson Mercer – 6 PTS in 17 GP
Erik Haula – 0 PTS in 17 GP
Paul Cotter – 2 PTS in 17 GP
Tomas Tatar – 1 PT in 12 GP
Curtis Lazar – 0 PTS in 4 GP
Nathan Bastian – 0 PTS in 11 GP

Is a trade needed?!

— Devils Fanatics (@devilsfanatics) January 2, 2025

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