Washington Capitals: July Metropolitan Division Power Rankings

Number Eight: New Jersey Devils

Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

The New Jersey Devils had high hopes at the beginning of last season. Those high hopes quickly turned into horrible nightmares as the Washington Capitals foe from just up I-95 finished in seventh place with an abysmal 32-36-14 record. It’s so weird seeing the Devils be this awful of a team. It’s hard to imagine that just four years ago, the Devils were in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The scary part? The Devils could have been a lot worse last season. The only thing that kept them from having a very good chance of getting Connor McDavid was star goaltender Corey Schneider. Ignore his 26-31-9 record, that doesn’t begin to tell the story of how stellar he was in net. He finished second place in goaltender point shares with 14.5. He had the fifth highest save percentage (92.5%) despite facing the third most shots among all NHL goaltenders (1,982).

Unlike the Washington Capitals, the Devils are lacking severely in the forward department. Their three highest scorers last year were Adam Henrique (43 points), Mike Cammalleri (42 points) and Patrik Elias (34 points). They desperately need more offensive from their blue line too.

They haven’t really done anything to improve their roster. The only move they’ve made to improve their roster? Signing depth defenseman John Moore. He’s a nice third pairing option and I think he might even have top four potential, but when he’s your only major addition, that’s not a good thing.

Looks like it’s going to be a long season for the Springsteen fans.

Next: #7 Sweet Carolina (BA BA BAAAAA)