The New Jersey Devils’ season ended on Tuesday night with a rather sad loss to the Boston Bruins. Since then, the Devils hired a new General Manager in Sunny Mehta, while playoff teams have begun to match up in pursuit of the Stanley Cup. Given this disappointing result for the team, picking award winners for them was a bit difficult at times. Per All About the Jersey tradition, there are three categories of awards. First are the major awards, which cover the best players in positional categories this season. Second are the minor awards, which are just a bit lesser in nature. And the superlative category is an AATJ tradition that gives the writers a chance to share something offbeat about their observations this season.
Voting for these awards closed shortly after the Devils’ season ended on Tuesday night. Big thanks to James, Matt, Jared, Jackson, Tim, and Kelly for participating in this year’s award vote, as well as to Gerard and Nate for their continued writing for all of you this Devils season.
Despite missing a quarter of the season, Jack Hughes led the New Jersey Devils in scoring by six points over Jesper Bratt. Simply put, Jack was a monster after the Olympic break, when he scored the Golden Goal for Team USA. Jack had 12 goals and 36 points in 36 games prior to the Olympic break, followed by 15 goals and 41 points in 25 games afterwards. The Devils were also far better with Jack in the lineup than without, going 34-24-3 with him on the ice. So, the team was 8-13-0 without him. That says it all right there, doesn’t it? Still, some may knock Jack for not being on the ice the whole season yet again, but it is not like he had his head down on the ice and got knocked out for a quarter of the season. A steakhouse incident is, I would hope, a once-in-a-quarter-century accident. And, ultimately, if the Devils had gone 12-8-1 without Jack to get the team into the playoffs, I personally would have voted for someone else. But they did not, and showed that Jack simply had the best season, by far among skaters on the team.
Voting Commentary: Four voted for Jack Hughes, two voted for Nico Hischier, and one writer voted for Connor Brown.
For the third year running, Jake Allen has been voted the Best Goalie by the All About the Jersey staff. This is certainly a problem for the team, as Allen is not the number one goalie by games played and only came particularly close to Jacob Markstrom’s total games played because of the latter’s October injury. But this was Allen’s third-straight season in which he posted a save percentage over .900, at .903, and his 37 games is the most he has suited up for since the 2022-23 season, when he played 42 for Montreal. Somewhat disappointingly, though, Allen’s best performances came early in the season. He was excellent in October and November, going 8-4-0 in 13 games with a .919 save percentage. After that, he went 9-13-2 with his save percentage dropping to .895. Perhaps if Nico Daws (2-1-0, .908 SV%) played more games, Allen might have been challenged here, but Allen handling 37 games and having a save percentage .020 higher than Jacob Markstrom gives him the easy win here.
Well, Mr. Douglas Jonathan Hamilton is still a New Jersey Devil, and they rather needed him at the top of his game down the stretch this season. Things were rough, though, when Sheldon Keefe had Hamilton in a more defensive role from the time of Brett Pesce’s October injury to the return of Johnny Kovacevic in January. This led to a whopping 17-game pointless streak for Dougie from November 28 thorugh December 31, when the Devils’ offense dried up to a crisp. After that, though, Dougie started lighting the world on fire again. He was scratched on January 11 against the Jets in a critical game where Tom Fitzgerald’s supposed replacements for him lost it for the team. But after that game, Dougie put up 11 points in nine games, and his assist on the lone goal in the game prior to his scratching made it a personal 10-game point streak for him. In total, Dougie had seven goals and 21 assists in 37 games from the time of his scratching to the end of the season. That kind of production would put him on a 15-16 goal, 62 point pace over a full season, which should ease some concerns that age was catching up to him.
Usage matters. And Hamilton was also one of the best special teams defensemen for the Devils this year. The team’s 9.36 goals per 60 power play minutes had him over double the rate the team had with Simon Nemec on the ice, though his results were only slightly better on a per-minute basis than Luke Hughes (+8.24 net G/60 vs. +7.40 net G/60). Dougie also logged the third-most minutes among Devils defensemen on the penalty kill, and was by far their best blueliner in that situation as well. With Dougie on the ice, the Devils’ penalty kill only allowed 6.46 goals against per 60 (first) while scoring 1.62 shorthanded per 60 (first). But that 20.00 goals for percentage was actually a bit worse than the 20.31 expected goals percentage Dougie had (first) for the team on the kill.
Voting Commentary: This was a split decision. Three voted for Dougie Hamilton and two voted for Brett Pesce, while both of Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon received one vote.
Given the Team MVP award, this one was a pretty easy vote. Even if writers knocked Jack for his availability, or gave the nod to someone else for an all-around impact, leading the team in points is an undeniable position. And watching Jack Hughes play, it looks like the offensive game just comes easier to him than everyone else on the ice a lot of the time. He does not need to be in a perfect position to score. He can set a teammate up for a goal from pretty much anywhere on the ice. He is the engine that makes the offense run, especially when Nico Hischier is off the ice. Jack is a matchup nightmare, and can flip momentum on its head when he uses his speed and skill to put opposing defenses on their heels. It’s beautiful to watch.
For the second year running, Nico Hischier is the winner of Best Defensive forward. Personally, I have argued on several occasions that using Hischier in a shutdown matchup sort of role is a misuse of his skills. But Nico handles it while still putting up pretty strong offensive production. His 66 points were a bit of a down year for him, but most teams would not complain about the guy who wins 1,000 faceoffs in a single season, leads the team’s forwards in shorthanded minutes, and is second on the the team in expected goals for percentage (0.43 behind Jesper Bratt) despite taking the toughest matchups on a night in, night out basis. He led the team in defensive zone faceoffs per 60 minutes at five-on-five (23.57) and was third in defensive zone starts per 60 (12.48), behind only Luke Glendening (12.75) and Lenni Hameenaho (12.94). Of all the players on the Devils, Nico Hischier is the most willing to engage physically on the boards and battle for the puck, and he is among the best in the league at winning the puck in those situations. I do not think he deserves a Selke, but he makes it so much of the rest of the team has far easier matchups and situations to deal with. What use are most of them making of it?
Voting Commentary: This one was pretty close. Four voted for Nico Hischier, two voted for Cody Glass, and one writer voted for Jack Hughes.
Like last year, the New Jersey Devils did not really have a ton of rookies on their roster. Only two, Arseny Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho, played a significant number of games for the New Jersey Devils. But the now 25-year old Gritsyuk put up nearly as many points as Lenni Hameenaho had games played. Gritsyuk’s 13 goals and 18 assists in 66 games made national broadcasters and other teams take notice, and he was able to play on any line for the team. Can you believe Sheldon Keefe really started him on the fourth line? But whether he was on the fourth, first, or third, Gritsyuk was impacting the game like few in the league can. He’s fast, he has a wicked shot, and he is rather willing to get physical. This should only be a glimpse of what he can be.
Connor Brown was truly one of the only bright spots of this season. If not for a short-term injury early in the season, he likely would have reached 20 goals, and his 18 goals and 25 assists in 75 games marked a tied career high in points for the quick winger. Brown was also solid on the penalty kill and helped stabilize the power play towards the end of the season, scoring four goals and four assists on the power play in addition to his winger-leading 139:03 of penalty killing time, during which he also chipped in a couple shorthanded goals. We will see if Brown will continue to play in the top six for the Devils, but he is a welcome member of any line because of his ability to do a little bit of everything.
Voting Commentary: Four voted for Brown, while Dawson Mercer, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt each received one vote.
For the second year running, Dougie Hamilton wins this category. As mentioned earlier, he had a rather tough time in the early to middle part of this season. After sustaining a knee injury, which may have been a repeat of the knee injury he played through in the 2025 Playoffs, Dougie struggled in a defense-first role for the team. Then, when he was scratched, it looked like his Devils career was really coming to an end. But it did not, and Dougie Hamilton, despite what a select few people say online, played his hardest in response to the benching that the Devils gave him to try and prop up Kovacevic and Nemec. He ended up having the best season of any defenseman, whether you look at production, all-situations results, five-on-five play, or any analytic breakdown of the Devils’ blueline group. For a guy who once looked like age and bothersome knee injuries were catching up to him this year, he sure turned it around.
Voting Commentary: Three voted for Dougie Hamilton, just beating Cody Glass, who received two votes. Jack Hughes, and Brenden Dillon each received a vote.
The long ordeal is over. After watching Ondrej Palat stuff scoring chance after scoring chance into pads while playing subpar defense for a player of reputation for a couple years, Tom Fitzgerald finally found an out for the worst contract he signed during his tenure as Devils General Manager. When Mathieu Darche foolishly took on Palat’s contract in exchange for a draft pick and Maxim Tsyplakov, many Devils fans were relieved to see the Palat era end. We will always remember his plays in the First Round in the 2023 Playoffs, but this one never really worked out the way Fitzgerald intended it to.
Voting Commentary: This was a strong majority, with two votes going to the firing of Tom Fitzgerald.
Because Tom Fitzgerald struggled to learn from his mistakes, he gave out another $6 million contract to Jacob Markstrom in October, when the then-35 year old Markstrom was struggling to even save basic shots after sustaining an injury in the first week of the regular season. Now, if he actually plays out this contract under Sunny Mehta, Jacob Markstrom will be 38 at the end of the deal. Prior to his Halloween extension, Markstrom had an .830 save percentage in four games for the Devils. The rest of the season was better, technically, at an .888 save percentage in 40 games. Markstrom was eventually shut down for the final three games of the season, but says he is not going to surgery. I struggle to believe that he can bounce back, but I would believe that he was playing through an injury for most or all of the season. That makes it even more confusing that Fitzgerald did this, though, as Markstrom certainly would not have commanded this type of money if they let the season play out.
Voting Commentary: This was a near-unanimous vote. One voted for taking on Maxim Tsyplakov in the Palat trade.