The New Jersey Devils missed the playoffs primarily because of injuries to their star players and poor performances by those filling in for them. Injuries killed the Devils’ chances in the 2013 season with two of them standing out. First, goaltender Martin Brodeur missed a dozen games with neck and back injuries. When Brodeur was healthy, Ilya Kovalchuk missed 11 games with a right shoulder injury. And that’s why the Devils limped to a .500 finish.
Team Name: New Jersey Devils
Record: 19-19-10, 5th Atlantic, No Playoffs
Player of the Season: Kovalchuk had a solid season (10-17–27 in 27 GP) going before getting hurt. When he went out with his injury, the Devils’ offense went south. And so did their season. The Devils promptly went an 0-6-4 streak after he got hurt and it cost them their season. In that run, New Jersey scored two goals or fewer in eight of those games and was blanked three times.
Breakout of the Season: Andrei Loktionov broke out with career highs in goals (8), assists (4), points (12) and power play points (3). He won’t be much of a name in drafts for this season but he could be easily clipped away as a last-round sleeper.
Disappointment of the Season: Johan Hedberg was nicknamed The Moose. Unfortunately for the Devils, Bullwinkle may have been a better choice in goal than Hedberg. His mark of 6-10-3 with a 2.76 GAA and a save percentage of .883 showed he couldn’t carry the load when he needed to the most. This is also a problem since the Devils don’t have great depth in their organization at that position.
Team Analysis: The Devils’ lack of depth really hurt them this season.
2013-2014 Story Lines: Patrick Elias is a free agent and the question is whether the Devils will bring him back to finish out his entire career with New Jersey. Who will be the goaltender for the Devils? Both Brodeur and Hedberg are over-40 netminders and it’s definitely time for the Devils to get younger in net.
2013-2014 Fantasy Guys to Have: Elias, Kovalchuk, David Clarkson, Marek Zidlicky,
Guys on the Fringe: Adam Henrique, Brodeur
| PLAYER | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | ATOI | PPG | PPA | SHG | SHA | SOG | SPCT |
| Patrik Elias, LW | 48 | 14 | 22 | 36 | 5 | 22 | 18:43 | 5 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 118 | 11.9 |
| Ilya Kovalchuk, RW | 37 | 11 | 20 | 31 | -6 | 18 | 24:44 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 123 | 8.9 |
| David Clarkson, C | 48 | 15 | 9 | 24 | -6 | 78 | 17:36 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 180 | 8.3 |
| Travis Zajac, C | 48 | 7 | 13 | 20 | -5 | 22 | 19:32 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 82 | 8.5 |
| Marek Zidlicky, D | 48 | 4 | 15 | 19 | -12 | 38 | 21:00 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 101 | 4.0 |
| Andy Greene, D | 48 | 4 | 12 | 16 | 12 | 20 | 23:02 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 6.3 |
| Adam Henrique, C | 42 | 11 | 5 | 16 | -3 | 16 | 18:19 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 78 | 14.1 |
| Steve Bernier, RW | 47 | 8 | 7 | 15 | -7 | 17 | 13:46 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 88 | 9.1 |
| Ryan Carter, C | 44 | 6 | 9 | 15 | -2 | 31 | 13:03 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 63 | 9.5 |
| Stephen Gionta, RW | 48 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 2 | 14 | 13:02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 58 | 6.9 |
| Andrei Loktionov, C | 28 | 8 | 4 | 12 | -2 | 4 | 14:15 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 47 | 17.0 |
| Dainius Zubrus, RW | 22 | 2 | 7 | 9 | -3 | 12 | 16:47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 22 | 9.1 |
| Alexei Ponikarovsky, LW† | 30 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 13:40 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 4.9 |
| Mark Fayne, D | 31 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 18:06 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 2.9 |
| Adam Larsson, D | 37 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 18:06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 30 | 0.0 |
| Steve Sullivan, C † | 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -4 | 4 | 15:16 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 15.4 |
| Anton Volchenkov, D | 37 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 37 | 16:03 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 2.6 |
| Peter Harrold, D | 23 | 2 | 3 | 5 | -8 | 6 | 17:38 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 5.6 |
| Matt D’Agostini, RW† | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | -1 | 6 | 12:51 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 14.3 |
| Henrik Tallinder, D | 25 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 10 | 17:34 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 4.5 |
| Stefan Matteau, C | 17 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 6 | 9:11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 4.5 |
| Jacob Josefson, C | 22 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -10 | 2 | 12:59 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5.0 |
| Bobby Butler, RW† | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -6 | 0 | 9:59 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7.7 |
| Bryce Salvador, D | 39 | 0 | 2 | 2 | -12 | 22 | 21:20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 0.0 |
| Tom Kostopoulos, RW | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 9:06 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7.7 |
| Mattias Tedenby, LW | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9:00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.0 |
| Matt Anderson, RW | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5:47 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Eric Gelinas, D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 15:59 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.0 |
| Alexander Urbom, D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 0 | 14:11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Harri Pesonen, LW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 9:11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.0 |
| Krys Barch, RW | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 44 | 5:51 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Tim Sestito, C | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7:52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0.0 |
| Cam Janssen, RW | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | 2 | 3:58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| PLAYER | GP | W | L | OTL | GAA | TOI | SV | SV% | SHO | TGA | TSA | PIM |
| Martin Brodeur | 29 | 13 | 9 | 7 | 2.22 | 1757:21 | 589 | .901 | 2 | 65 | 654 | 0 |
| Johan Hedberg | 19 | 6 | 10 | 3 | 2.76 | 1108:16 | 384 | .883 | 1 | 51 | 435 | 4 |
| Jeff Frazee | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 18:36 | 3 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Keith Kinkaid | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.33 | 25:45 | 12 | .923 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 0 |
