Blame Expansion!

Four More Games!

This is the rallying cry of the NJ Devils fans. If not for the Expansion Draft, it would be Hutchinson and not Craig Anderson backing up for Oettinger. Anderson has led the NJ on a plummeting, explosive failure of a run over the last number of games. In his six games started for NJ, Anderson is 1-5 with 5.31 GAA and a .855 save percentage. Not even Colorado would win games with this type of goaltending.

It is a bit bittersweet as this came shortly after NJ loaded up the roster for a push for the playoffs. Just four more games of Anderson and then we will see what NJ can truly do behind Oettinger-Hutchinson goaltending. It just may be too little too late at that point. However, next season is full of potential with the development of the current roster. Rantanen, Larkin, Tarasenko, Bennett, Tuch, Gourde, and Necas is seven top six forwards. The defense contains Karlsson, Bouchard, Klingberg, Oleksiak, Boqvist, De Haan. The goaltending behind Oettinger playing 60 games will be reliable. If the Devils miss the playoffs next year, we will be extremely surprised. The bad news is we thought the same about NJ this season after emptying the reserves of prospects and draft picks. The Devils are down to just 2 7^th round picks in the upcoming draft! Fortunately we have heard 2022 is a weaker than normal draft.

Good luck everyone for the rest of the season! Keep seeing Rantanen in your nightmares with his 41 goals in 52 games and +22!