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<\/a><\/p>\nMeanwhile, Hockey Stat Cards<\/a> had Hughes in roughly the 84th percentile in defensive value in 2024-25. And according to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>, Hughes posted the second-lowest 5-on-5 Expected Goals Against per 60 of his career, behind only the funky 2021 Covid-shortened season. If Hughes\u2019 newfound defensive ability is here to stay, then I feel comfortable putting him on Hart Trophy watch.<\/p>\n Jesper Bratt: Laying The Smackdown<\/p>\n Everyone knows the hallmarks of Bratt\u2019s game: Elite skating ability (specifically his otherworldly edgework), terrific playmaking instincts, and wonderful puck skills. But last offseason, apparently he worked hard on becoming a much angrier human. Bratt set a career-high in hits with 96, shattering his previous career-high of 66 that he set the year before. Over the last two seasons, Bratt has been playing with much more of an edge, and while no one will confuse him for Brendan Shanahan, he\u2019s proving that he knows what it takes to play the physical brand of hockey a lot of people love.<\/p>\n Timo Meier: Shooting Analytics<\/p>\n Meier was brought in to be an elite goal-scorer. Thus far in his Devils career, he\u2019s filled the net well (54 goals in his two full seasons in New Jersey), but not to the level he was expected to. After a 2023-24 that saw him battle a few different injuries, we did see some of his shooting metrics tick back up even if his raw goal total went slightly down. According to NHL Edge<\/a>, in 2023-24, Meier was in the 89th percentile in shots on goal and the 65th percentile in top shot speed. Last season, he upped those numbers to 96th and 81st respectively. I know we keep waiting for the Meier breakout and it keeps not happening, but if he can maintain these gains, I think we finally see the 40-goal season we all want from Meier.<\/p>\n Dawson Mercer: Sacrificing The Body<\/p>\n There are some players for which this exercise is easy, and some for which this is hard. Mercer is firmly in the latter camp, as he once again failed to reach the heights of his sophomore season. With two years of stagnant development, I\u2019m certainly not counting Mercer out, but the dream of him becoming a strong top-line player is fading. Even still, he\u2019s a useful player as is, and one area that Mercer put work in this past season was blocking shots. According to Natural Stat Trick, Mercer registered a Shots Blocked\/60 rate of 2.16, the highest of his career. It feels to me like Mercer should be a much stronger defensive player than he is, but while he looks the part, he\u2019s never had strong defensive impacts. But if he continues to work hard to keep pucks away from his own net, that would be a step in the right direction.<\/p>\n Ondrej Palat: The Need For Speed<\/p>\n Speaking of players for which this exercise is harder than others, say hello to Mr. Palat. He\u2019s a hard-worker and a leader, but clearly his best playing days are well behind him and most Devils fans want him gone. Still, even for someone like Palat we can find improvement in certain areas. Believe it or not, one of them is skating ability. Per NHL Edge, In 2023-24<\/a>, Palat was near the bottom quarter of the league in top skating speed. NHL Edge does not list the specific percentile for any number below 50% (probably to not embarrass the players), so I can\u2019t give you a precise percentile for this. But using the eye test, Palat appears very close to the 25th percentile, a poor number. Last season<\/a>, Palat actually took a big leap in this category. Granted, he\u2019s still listed as \u201cBelow 50th\u201d in percentile, but looking at the table, he appears very close to average, probably around the 47th or 48th percentile. It\u2019s still not great, but hey it\u2019s a notable improvement for the hard-working Palat.<\/p>\n Stefan Noesen: Pucks On Net!<\/p>\n It was a banner year for Noesen in the goal-scoring department. He set a new career-high with 22 goals, eight more than his previous career high that he set in 2023-24 with Carolina. Was this accomplished through a fluky run of good shooting luck? Not really. While his 13.3% shooting percentage was a career-best, it was not notably higher than in 2023-24 when he shot 12.6%. What made the big difference was Noesen also posting a career-high in shots on goal with 165. Noesen will never be a premier offensive player or a shot machine. But it is encouraging that he found another level as far as getting pucks on net in 2024-25.<\/p>\n Cody Glass has the potential to be an elite shutdown center<\/a>. His defensive impacts are magnificent, even if he doesn\u2019t usually take on the opposition\u2019s best players. But while he\u2019s a strong defender, one part of his game that he\u2019s struggled with is faceoffs. Obviously faceoffs are a small part of the game, but we all know there are certain draws over the course of any game that are more important than others. The first faceoff during a penalty kill, the defensive zone draw while defending a one-goal lead in the final minute of regulation\u2026you get the idea. Prior to 2024-25, Glass had never been above breakeven on faceoffs in any season of his career, averaging 46.5% at the dot. But last year, Glass finally got his head above water, winning 51.2% of his faceoffs. Sadly the Devils didn\u2019t benefit from this improvement though, as while Glass won draws at a 52.7% clip with the Penguins, he fell to 47.4% after coming over to New Jersey. Still, the season as a whole was a step forward. If Glass can continue to work on his faceoff craft, he could become a real weapon on draws.<\/p>\n Paul Cotter: Defense, Defense, Defense<\/p>\n Call it the Sheldon Keefe effect, call it a change of scenery, call it sheltered deployment. Call it what you will, but Cotter had the best defensive season of his career in 2024-25. Per Natural Stat Trick<\/a>, Cotter set career-best marks in Corsi Against per 60, Shots Against per 60, Scoring Chances Against per 60, and Expected Goals Against per 60. Most of these are career-bests by a lot, too. Over the course of the season, we grew to learn Cotter\u2019s abilities and limitations, and while I certainly wouldn\u2019t call him a defensive ace, he put the work in to become a much better defensive player than he was in Vegas.<\/p>\n Dougie Hamilton: Penalties<\/p>\n Hamilton is another player that is hard to find improvement for. I cut Hamilton more slack than players like Palat and Mercer though, as he was returning from a major injury in the season prior. But it\u2019s not impossible to find areas in which Hamilton worked hard to improve, and one of them is actually pretty significant: Penalties drawn and taken. For all he does well, Hamilton unfortunately takes a lot of penalties. In 2024-25, however, Hamilton only logged 30 penalties in minutes in 64 games. In his last full season before that, 2022-23, Hamilton sat for 50 PIMs, which is more than the 82-game pace Hamilton posted this past season. And if that wasn\u2019t enough, Hamilton actually did a really good job drawing penalties too. According to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>, Hamilton registered a Penalties Drawn per 60 rate of 0.42, by FAR his best as a Devil, and third-best in his career behind 2014-15 and 2018-19. Hamilton is still an elite power play quarterback, so if he can continue to stay out of the box himself and put opposing players in the box more, that would go a long way toward setting his team up for success.<\/p>\n Jonas Siegenthaler: Returning to Form<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t so much an improvement as it is a bounce back, but after a down 2023-24, Siegenthaler worked hard to regain his status as an elite shutdown defenseman. Hockey Stat Cards<\/a> had him in the 99th percentile in defensive impact last season. Yes, 99th. Unfortunately it was another year in which Siegenthaler could not play a full schedule due to injury, but over his 55 games played, almost nobody shut down opponents better than Siegenthaler. If he can manage to stay healthy this season, the Devils will have the luxury of deploying one of the game\u2019s premier stoppers in 2025-26.<\/p>\n Luke Hughes: Spreading The Wealth<\/p>\n Putting aside his – at the time of this writing, anyway – contract standoff with the Devils\u2019 front office, I think it\u2019s safe to say Devils fans are excited to see what the youngest Hughes can do in his third full season. He\u2019s not a star defenseman yet, but the skillset and potential are there. So long as he keeps working hard to develop, he should get there eventually. One notable part of his game we did see improvement in was his ability to generate assists. In 2023-24, Hughes posted 38 assists in 82 games. Last year, he played in 11 fewer contests, but only registered one fewer assist, 37 total. According to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>, Hughes upped his Assists per 60 rate from 0.57 in 23-24 to 0.89 in 24-25. And perhaps more importantly, his Primary Assists per 60 more than doubled from 0.22 to 0.56. Again, Hughes still has things to work on to reach true stardom, and while I think most of us are focusing on his defense as an area that he has improved a lot and should continue to improve, his ability to generate offense is another part of his game that Hughes has not reached his full potential in. If he continues to grow in this regard, it\u2019s over for everybody.<\/p>\n Brett Pesce: Proving He Doesn\u2019t Need A System<\/p>\n This is perhaps a bit of a random one, but hear me out. 2024-25 was not only Pesce\u2019s first season in New Jersey, it was also his first season outside of Carolina. While he did play a couple years prior to Rod Brind\u2019Amour\u2019s arrival to coach the team, Pesce spent the majority of his career in the Hurricanes\u2019 vaunted system. For years, Pesce looked like a high-quality top-four defenseman playing under Brind\u2019Amour, but the question for any player exiting a team like that is if they really are that good, or if the system was hiding their weaknesses and propping them up. While I\u2019m not saying Pesce was a Norris Trophy candidate in his first season with the Devils, he showed he wasn\u2019t just a product of the system. He teamed with Luke Hughes to form a terrific pairing, one where Pesce served as the defensive conscience while Hughes had a little more room to roam offensively. Again, Pesce wasn\u2019t an elite defender, and his pairing with Hughes had a few issues, but it was great to see Pesce work hard to prove he wasn\u2019t just a product of Brind\u2019Amour\u2019s system in Carolina.<\/p>\n Johnny Kovacevic: The Big Breakout<\/p>\n This one is difficult and easy all at once. It\u2019s difficult in the sense that it\u2019s hard to pinpoint one specific thing Kovacevic improved on the most. But it\u2019s easy in that\u2026he improved in just about EVERY aspect, enjoying a true breakout campaign. Of all the players on New Jersey\u2019s roster last season, I would argue that Kovacevic was the biggest surprise. The only player I can see challenging him for that title is Noesen, but I would still give the nod to Kovacevic. Coming over in an afterthought of a trade with Montreal in the summer of 2024, Kovacevic was penciled in as the seventh (or lower) defenseman in the organization. But offseason injuries to Pesce and Hughes opened the door to playing time, and Kovacevic never looked back. He teamed with Siegenthaler to form arguably the best shutdown pairing in the entire league. According to Moneypuck<\/a>, among defense pairings with at least 500 minutes together, Kovacevic and Siegenthaler had the lowest xGA\/60 of any pair, smothering opponents to the tune of 1.82 xGA\/60. Yes a lot of that is because of Siegenthaler, but Kovacevic deserves plenty of credit too. If he can prove last year\u2019s breakout wasn\u2019t a fluke, Tom Fitzgerald can be proud that he unearthed another gem.<\/p>\n Brenden Dillon: Establishing a Culture<\/p>\n Maybe you think I\u2019m reaching with this one, and it\u2019s true that Dillon did not have the best year on the ice for New Jersey, so it\u2019s difficult to find improvements. But from everything we hear about the man, Dillon is a locker room leader and an overall good dude. I know we can say the same thing about Palat and we all want him gone, but Dillon\u2019s contract isn\u2019t nearly as egregious so we can give him a little bit of a pass. In any case, establishing yourself as a leader and inspiring your teammates to follow you is hard to do for anybody, let alone someone in their first season with a new club. Dillon quickly helped establish a culture of hard work and playing \u201cthe right way\u201d. Even though I personally am a big believer in analytics, and Dillon\u2019s analytical profile left a lot to be desired in 2024-25, I appreciate what he seemingly did for the team off the ice. Heck, even on the ice he was known for playing extremely hard and serving as an intimidating presence, so it\u2019s not like it was all doom and gloom when the games were actually played either. Dillon worked hard to help his teammates buy into a hard-working, team-first culture. Salute to him for that.<\/p>\n Simon Nemec: Overcoming Adversity<\/p>\n We\u2019ve talked about Nemec\u2019s 2024-25 season to death in these parts, so I won\u2019t belabor the point. I\u2019ll just say that through all the trials and tribulations, through all the injuries and on-ice struggles and crises of confidence, Nemec overcame all of that in the end and finished the year with his best work yet. His overtime goal in game three against Carolina was arguably the best part of the entire New Jersey Devils season. Even beyond that goal, Nemec stepped into the lineup after the raft of injuries to the blueline and not only survived, he thrived. It was a grind of a season for Nemec, but he worked hard to regain his form. Here\u2019s hoping the end of his campaign is indicative of what his 2025-26 will bring.<\/p>\n Seamus Casey: American Sniper<\/p>\n Like Hischier, Casey also enjoyed a terrific season shooting the puck. Granted, Casey only played in 14 games, but his 33.3% shooting percentage was out of this world. Yes I know, it was fluky and unsustainable. But Casey clearly has a good shot, even if he\u2019s not going to turn into the modern day Paul Coffey. If he continues to work hard on his shot, he could still develop into an offensive weapon from the blue line.<\/p>\n Jacob Markstrom: Giving His Team A Chance To Win<\/p>\n After years and years of poor goalie play outside of 2022-23, Markstrom helped stabilize the crease for New Jersey last season. He started very strong, but then suffered an injury in January and upon his return in March, he struggled for a while before regaining his form toward the end of the regular season and into the playoffs. But even with that poor stretch beginning in March, Markstrom usually gave his team a chance to win. Hockey Reference has a goalie stat called Quality Starts. Sort of like the baseball equivalent of the stat, it measures how often a goalie puts up, well, a quality start, at least in the way Hockey Reference defines \u201cquality\u201d. According to the website, the league average goalie has a Quality Start rate of 53%. Markstrom came in at 59.2%<\/a>, well above average. This was an improvement over his past two seasons in Calgary as well, so Markstrom took a step forward in this regard. He\u2019s getting up there in years, but hopefully Markstrom has at least one more quality season to provide.<\/p>\n Jake Allen: \u2026Everything<\/p>\n Much like Kovacevic, Allen just gave us a season in which he improved in just about every facet of his game. He was everything New Jersey could have asked for in a backup goalie, posting a .906 save percentage and recording four shutouts in 31 games played, a terrific rate. According to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>, Allen\u2019s 5.10 Goals Saved Above Expected was the 24th-highest in the league. Markstrom was the starter, but Allen was a terrific 1B for the Devils in 2024-25. Now that he\u2019s signed long-term, hopefully we can look forward to more quality goalie play from Allen for years to come.<\/p>\n This was a fun exercise to do. As I mentioned in a couple sections up top, some of these players made it easy, and some made it difficult. But as you can see, we can find areas where hard work led to improvement for every player on the roster. Hopefully next year brings another wave of improvements for the Devils as well.<\/p>\n What do you make of these improvements? Did any of these surprise you? Can you think of other areas of improvement for any player? What do you want to see improved on the most from certain players? As always, thanks for reading!<\/p>\n