3 Early Red Flags For Devils Despite Strong Start

After a 4-1-0 start to the 2025-26 regular season, defeating the defending Stanley Cup Champions, and runners-up, in back-to-back games, and taking down several strong opponents in the process, it’s hard to complain about the New Jersey Devils.

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The vibes are certainly high right now. The Devils are on wagon watch, sort of how they were in 2022-23 when they took the NHL by surprise. Except, this team is operating differently. Before, they were naive kids who didn’t know any better. Whereas now, the core has matured, and they’re all business.

That starts from the man who steers the ship. Head coach Sheldon Keefe has been complimentary of his teams’ performance, but has also been critical when it’s necessary.

It’s easy to get caught up in the results, and there’s no blaming you for doing so. Yet, there are some red flags for the Devils early in the new campaign.

Slow Starts

This isn’t an unfamiliar feeling for the Devils and their fans. Fortunately, it hasn’t been their boon like it’s been before, but it’s certainly a red flag, and one that New Jersey is going to want to rectify before the opposition adjusts and figures them out.

Sans the tilt against the Tampa Bay Lightning, it’s fair to say the Devils have started slow in most of their games.

Saturday against the Edmonton Oilers was no different. The Devils didn’t have a shot recorded in the first 10 minutes, and were lucky to remain scoreless in that timeframe. They turned it on after that, but the game could have quickly gone in a different direction.

“We want to start fast. We want to get out and get to your game right away,” Keefe explained after the Devils’ win over the Oilers. “But, the opponent is trying to accomplish the same thing. So, we got another early penalty kill, which is something we can’t give up. That’s opportunity for a goal or momentum to go the opposition’s way. So that kind of stuff we got to clean up.”

The difference between last season’s team and this season’s is the lack of panic. The Devils seemingly never dig themselves into a mental hole, which allows them to stay in the fight.

So whereas that mentality is impressive, they could stand to start games much stronger.

Penalties

It’s certainly easy to overlook the amount of times the Devils have been to the box when the penalty kill is as strong as it has been.

I mean, they’re 19/20 on the season killing penalties, have a 100% kill rate in their last 16 penalty kills, and a plus-two goal differential in that span. It’s enough to make you forget the penalties taken, almost like Will Smith’s Neuralyzer from Men in Black hits you.

And look, the Devils are 19th overall in the NHL with 8.4 PIMs/G. That’s nothing to worry about, right?

Well, zoom the lens in a bit closer. That doesn’t account for offsetting major or minor penalties.

Instead, what’s a bit more concerning is the Devils are 10th overall in the NHL in short-handed time on ice (35:45). They’re just about four minutes away from creeping toward the Utah Mammoth (39:17) who sit fifth overall.

The penalty kill has been great, no doubt. But, you know what’s even better?

Staying out of the box.

Of course, it’ll never be perfect. However, it could certainly be better.

Injuries

Yes, we’re having this conversation again.

The Devils’ injury bug has bitten early in the season. The Devils already knew they’d be minus the services of Johnathan Kovacevic after offseason knee surgery, but they were hit with a late summer injury to Stefan Noesen, and then more injuries piled on since then.

They’re sitting near 20 total man games lost at this point and counting.

Jacob Markstrom will still be out for several weeks, as will Evgenii Dadonov, who are two key pieces to New Jersey’s success in 2025-26.

Who knows when we’ll see Zack MacEwen again?

Noesen appears trending in the right direction, but mum’s the word on Seamus Casey and Juho Lammikko, the latter of which isn’t even on an injured list.

The bright side? None of their heavy hitters up top, such as Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, or Timo Meier have been bitten.

Injuries are unpredictable, and it’s not quite something you can measure. But the Devils certainly hope to keep their top players in the lineup on a nightly basis.