2026-09-28
The Devils enter the off-season carrying last year's structural problems: a 3.09 goals-against average and a penalty kill that held at 79.3% — below where a playoff team needs it. The power play at 22.0% was functional but not a weapon. Sheldon Keefe inherits those numbers as baselines, not ceilings. The most recent roster move of note was claiming left wing Jeremie Poirier off waivers while placing six players — including David Rittich and Vladislav Kolyachonok — on waivers simultaneously. That is a crunch-camp culling, not a retooling signal. Seamus Casey and Nick Bjugstad are both listed out, which narrows the confirmed healthy roster heading into whatever comes next. The preseason slate ran through the Rangers and Islanders, per Inside The Rink and Blueshirt Banter coverage of those games. Watch the penalty kill deployment when the regular season opens — that 79.3% figure is the number Keefe most needs to move.