Better luck next year: The Devils should be an attractive team for prospective GMs, but how good are they right now?

Are they a bad good team or a good bad team? Does it make a difference?

Welcome back to Better Luck Next Year, a series that will focus on each team as they get eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention and the Stanley Cup Playoffs. What went wrong, why it went wrong, what (if anything) went right, and what is next. We continue today with the next team to be eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention: The New Jersey Devils.

This is the fourth time in the past six years the New Jersey Devils are watching the Stanley Cup Playoffs from home, and because of that they made the decision to move on from general manager Tom Fitzgerald. This SHOULD be an attractive job because there is a solid core in place, including a bonafide superstar in the prime of his career. There are not many situations like that, and it should make it a more attractive job than, say, Nashville or Seattle, two teams that most definitely do NOT have a 24-year-old Jack Hughes to build around.

You could, in theory, win here very soon.

It’s just a question of how good the rest of the team actually is right now, and how close it can be to serious contention.

Is it a good bad team?

A bad good team?

Does it really matter if the end result is the same team in the middle of the standings?

On the good side, you have a team that is entering the final week of the regular season having won 42 games this season, which could end up being more than some teams that actually make the playoffs. If you are a Devils fans, you are probably arguing they are exhibit A as to how the NHL needs a tweak to its point system and standings.

But it is also kind of important how you win games, and almost equally important as to how you lose games.

The thing that hurt the Devils under the current point system, and what would hurt them under a 3-2-1 point system, is that A) they only won 29 games in regulation, and B) lost 36 games in regulation. Neither number is particularly good. The regulation wins are the fifth fewest in the conference. The 36 regulation losses are the third-most, ahead of only the Toronto Maple Leafs and Florida Panthers.

Not getting at least one point in nearly half of your games is a problem in the current system. Not winning more games in regulation would be a problem in a 3-2-1 system.

In games decided in regulation they were only 29-36-16, which is the fourth-worst mark in the Eastern Conference.

They made a lot of their ground in games that went beyond regulation, going 13-3 in games decided in overtime or a shootout. That includes a 4-1 record in shootouts.

If the NHL used a 3-2-1 points system the Devils would still be near the bottom of the conference.

If the NHL used its old point system where overtime losses were zero points and games going beyond overtime were simply tie games, the Devils would still be near the bottom of the conference.

They have been outscored by 20 goals in all situations, the third-worst mark in the Eastern Conference.

They have the second-worst 5-on-5 goal-differential in the entire NHL, ahead of only the Vancouver Canucks.

Their expected goal numbers, power play numbers and penalty kill numbers were all mostly middle-of-the-pack.

The only area they truly excelled in this season was in 3-on-3 situations and in the shootout. Is that the sign of a good team? Is it repeatable and consistent?

There are a LOT of flaws here, and some were more damaging than others this season.

But even with the flaws, you do not have to squint hard to see a path back to the playoffs as soon as next season, and perhaps even a sustained run of success for the foreseeable future.

Hughes is one of the best players in hockey. Jesper Bratt is a top-line scorer. Nico Hischier may not be a superstar, but he is an outstanding two-way player that has a place at the top of any good team. There is also the worst-kept secret in hockey that they are probably just one season away from adding another in-their-prime superstar in defenseman Quinn Hughes so he can join his brothers, Jack and Luke. We all know that is going to happen, right? This is an inevitable development here, correct? It is just a matter of patience. You are one year away from it.

There is still work to be done around the edges, but a lot of the hardest work is done. That is important.

Let’s talk more about all of this, including what went right this season, what went wrong this season, and what is ahead.

What Went Right This Season