How New Jersey Devils have improved their scoring

The New Jersey Devils are off to a good start so far in 2026-27. Almost six months after closing the previous campaign with a shutout loss at Boston, the Devils began the new season Thursday with a 3-2 home overtime win over longtime rival Philadelphia.

Two of New Jersey's three goals on the night came from defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Luke Hughes. That's good news for the Devils, because if they hope to improve upon last year's finish and get back to the playoffs, they will absolutely need more goals from their blueliners.

Last year, saw New Jersey finish seventh in the Metropolitan Division and 13th in the Eastern Conference overall. Several things went wrong last year in Newark, including scoring less than three goals per game, but it can help if the Devils defense can supply more primary offense. Last season, they ranked 22nd among the NHL's 32 clubs with 33 goals from their defensemen, out of 492 goals in all, or 6.7 percent of team scoring.

How the New Jersey Devils are improving their scoring

While defensemen are primarily tasked with moving opposing players away from the crease, clearing rebounds from their netminders, and feeding their forwards pucks, more goals from the point can only help the Devils improve their standing, while also taking some pressure off the players up front. Columbus led all clubs with 58 goals from the blueline last year, according to statmuse.com, but missed the 2026 playoffs. The next half-dozen teams—Buffalo, Washington, Colorado, Tampa Bay, Anaheim and eventual Stanley Cup champ Carolina—all made the postseason while getting at least 46 goals from their defensive cores.

Hughes was drafted for his ability with the puck, and although he's never had more than nine goals in an NHL season yet, he notched 17 goals in 41 games while earning All-America accolades as a freshman at the University of Michigan in 2022. Hamilton has long been a threat from long range in his NHL career, hitting double figures in goals in nine of his 15 NHL campaigns, including last year's 12-goal total. Hughes had six goals last season, while the since-departed Simon Nemec collected 11 goals—but the cupboard was pretty bare after that, with Brendon Dillon notching three goals in 82 games, and the rest of the defense contributing just one goal.

The year that Hall of Famer Scott Niedermeyer won his lone Norris Trophy (2004), he led all Devils defensemen with 14 goals in 81 games during the regular season. The year before, when the Devils captured their third and most recent Stanley Cup, he paced them with 11 goals in 81 outings. The game has obviously changed in the past quarter-century—just nine years ago, NHL teams were averaging 2.93 goals per game, while last year that total rose to 3.08. Through the first 16 games of the 2026-27 season, an admittedly small sample size, that number had increased to 3.41, per Hockey-Reference.

The days of the big slapshot from the point may have dwindled—last night's boomer by Philadelphia's Travis Sanheim notwithstanding—but teams still need long-range scoring more than ever. A goal every game or two from the blueline could certainly help New Jersey's fortunes.