Game Preview #45: New Jersey Devils at Winnipeg Jets

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (22-20-2) at the Winnipeg Jets (16-22-5).

The Time: 2:00 PM EST

The Broadcast: TV – MSGSN. Radio – Devils Hockey Radio Network

Hamilton Scratched, Kovacevic Back

That’s the big news of today, isn’t it? Tom Fitzgerald, who have been repeatedly criticized here, at other Devils blogs, by Devils beat writers, and now even by hockey writers at large for his cap and roster management of the team, is putting his money where his mouth is. Despite the Devils being the worst offensive team in hockey right now, the big joint plan between the two heads running the team is to scratch Dougie Hamilton so Johnny Kovacevic, Brett Pesce, and Simon Nemec can play on the right side.

Is there any accountability for high-paid, no-scoring forwards like Ondrej Palat? No.

Is there any accountability for failing shutdown defensemen like Jonas Siegenthaler? No.

Is there any accountability for two of the worst-performing forwards in the league in Luke Glendening and Paul Cotter? No.

Is there any accountability for Jacob Markstrom and his .878 save percentage? No.

It would be better if their statements on the matter weren’t obviously coordinated. Is this Keefe actually benching a guy to send a message, shake up the room, and get some guys back from injury into the lineup, or is this Fitzgerald trying to save one or both of their behinds by forcing Hamilton to waive his no-trade clause? Here’s part of Keefe’s statement:

And here’s Fitz’s statement to Pierre LeBrun, which itself was an uncharacteristically antagonistic response to Dougie’s agent:

“As you know, we just put Nemec back in the lineup on Thursday. He’s a young guy who we want getting his game back, where he had been easily our best defensemen before his injury. Pesce’s play speaks for itself, he isn’t going anywhere. And Kovacevic coming back, gives our roster a spark we are looking for, and he was our best defensive defenseman all of last year. And that’s what we want with our lineup now. This is simply Dougie being the odd-man out with where our right-side is- fully healthy for the first time all year. This is business. Business of our lineup!”

I might even go along with it if I didn’t just do a deep dive into what is driving the total lack of offense from the New Jersey Devils, which centers largely around non-Hamilton defensemen being utterly incapable of driving offense while the forwards not only don’t finish their chances, but do not forecheck and don’t contribute enough defensively when not scoring despiteKeefe’s ultra-conservative style of hockey, which features forwards joining defensemen at the point to shoot low-danger shot attempts rather than activating defensemen to create high-danger chances in the offensive zone. In there, I cited shot rate charts from HockeyViz, which showed that the Devils are too reliant on center-point shots, with their mid-slot shots likely being stopped because they play too straight-up to the goaltender, allowing goalies to stay squared up on their shots.

It’s worse when you remove Dougie from the equation…much worse. Go look at that article and look at the first cited shot chart. Then look below.

Considering that the young offensive defensemen in Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec have played very, very few minutes with Dougie Hamilton or each other in general this season, you might be justified in thinking that Sheldon Keefe needs to work up a system of hockey that generates offense regardless of the defensive pairing on the ice. That has not happened: the Devils only get high-danger chances when Douglas Jonathan Hamilton is on the ice and playing hockey. And while Luke Hughes continues to show promise on the power play, he has not been as good as he should be (though he scored thanks to some quick passing from Dougie on Thursday night), Simon Nemec has been their least-effective power play quarterback and is continually the guy that this coaching staff tries going back to. So, it’s not just a five-on-five issue.

Is this to say I am not excited to watch Johnny Kovacevic come back and play hockey for the New Jersey Devils? No, absolutely not. Kovacevic played great for the Devils last season.

My concerns, however:

• Hamilton hurt his knee for the second time in 2025 this season, and his scoring and physicality dropped hard after returning once Jack Hughes cut his hand at the steakhouse.
• Pesce hurt his hand blocking a shot in Colorado, and has been making mistakes left and right since suddenly coming back when the team was doing poorly in December.
• Nemec got hurt in December and had his timeline pushed back from an initial hope of before New Year’s. Upon being rushed back into the lineup off one practice last week for an incredibly solid Colton White, Nemec promptly gave up a really bad goal against to someone coming out of the box on Thursday night (while Dougie helped create a PPG).
• Kovacevic is returning from a major knee surgery, likely for his ACL (though undisclosed, exactly), which occurred in May 2025. Following a conservative timeline of ACL recovery, he would be returning to NHL play sometime between February and May. They could have given him an AHL conditioning stint to get his body used to game-level contact, but did not.

My worry is that Johnny Kovacevic comes back this afternoon and doesn’t look like himself. This is a guy with no preseason, no training camp, not even a scrimmage. He’s jumping from rehab to a full-speed game against another team treading around the basement of their conference, who are desperate for wins. I hope for the best from Kovacevic, who was an outstanding defenseman next to Jonas Siegenthaler all last season.

On a hockey level, Keefe is right that he is very effective at stopping the rush and stopping opponent offense with positioning and physicality. He is 100% right that Kovacevic is strong there. The problem is that, without Dougie, there will be no above-average play-driver on the blueline for the Devils. The Devils’ blueline even without Dougie is very highly paid, with Jonas Siegenthaler making the least money aside from Nemec (who is still on an Entry-Level Contract) at $3.4 million.

But if Kovacevic isn’t ready for the speed of an NHL game? It could get ugly.

For both of their jobs’ sakes, Keefe and Fitz better hope that the right-side of the defense looks great today, leading to a win. If not, and if they dress Kovacevic again tomorrow in a back-to-back against Minnesota, who already traded for the one guy who made sense as a replacement for Dougie Hamilton if a trade could be hammered out…look out when the Devils return to the Prudential Center next week. The Devils need to win these games for their playoff chase, but Fitzgerald practically danced on a bunch of broken glass yesterday when he made that statement to LeBrun.

Good News: Dadonov Returns. Bad News: Noesen to Surgery

In addition to Johnny Kovacevic, Evgenii Dadonov will return from his extended absence from the team. As we all remember, Dadonov got hurt at the start of the season and returned after a few weeks looking like he needed to stay out another month. Lo’ and behold, Dadonov got hurt again and had only suited up for five games before this afternoon. He will go to the top six, next to Dawson Mercer, while Stefan Noesen leaves the lineup to undergo knee surgery for a lingering issue that has bothered him for at least this season, if not since the last one, though he also got groin surgery in the late offseason. Noesen, of course, provided the moving and jumping screen that helped Luke Hughes score the power play goal off a Dougie Hamilton pass on Thursday. Hopefully, Dadonov will actually be ready for a return this time and won’t end up back on the shelf again. The Devils desperately need his speed and willingness to go to the net despite his smaller stature.

Goal For Today: Win

The Devils have no choice. A good effort isn’t good enough. They need to win for the standings and for their jobs.

Your Thoughts

What do you think of today’s game? Will the team respond to yesterday’s drama from the top positively? Or will Tom Fitzgerald emulate the mistakes across the river from Chris Drury in fracturing the group further? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.