We are just over a month into the 2022-2023 NHL season, and there are few teams that are off to very impressive starts. Ever since the season started, if you were to ask someone who the current best team in the league is, they would most likely say the Boston Bruins or the Vegas Golden Knights since they have been at the top of the standings almost all season. There is one team, though, that has been making a lot of noise the last couple of weeks and have even passed the Golden Knights to claim second place in the NHL standings. That team is the New Jersey Devils who have won their last eleven games, which gives them a 14-3-0 record on the year.

The Devils may be one of, if not the hottest team in the NHL but their season did not start out that way. They opened their season with two straight losses to the Philadelphia Flyers and the Detroit Red Wings, losing both games by a score of 5-2. They were able to recover from those losses and were able to get three wins in a row against the Anaheim Ducks, New York Islanders, and San Jose Sharks, putting up four goals in two of those games. Those three wins were followed up by a tough 6-3 loss to the Washington Capitals. That loss was just the first game of a back-to-back where they had to travel to Detroit for a rematch against the Red Wings the next night. Something within that team must have changed overnight because they followed up that loss with a 6-2 win in Detroit and they have not lost since. The Devils have been looking almost unstoppable during this run with wins against top teams such as the Colorado Avalanche, Edmonton Oilers, and two wins against the Calgary Flames. Their most recent win was a 3-2 win in overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs, another top team. Their powerplay has probably been their best factor as their powerplay has scored in nine out of the eleven wins and three of those lead them to wins.

Not a lot of people expected this out of the Devils this season, especially this early on. They easily have one of the best young cores in the NHL with so much great young talent such as forwards Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, and Jack Hughes. They even have great young players coming up in their system including defensemen Simon Nemec, the second overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, and Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes’ younger brother. It will be interesting to see if the Devils have truly arrived or if it is a fluke run and they have to wait a little longer. Either way, New Jersey will for sure be competing at a high level for years to come.

They are looking to get their twelfth straight Saturday afternoon against the Ottawa Senators.