Devils’ 5 Most Underrated Players Heading Into 2026-27 Season

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The New Jersey Devils have their core in place, but you always need role players to complement your stars.

More often than not, those complementary pieces end up being a team’s most underrated players. The Devils have a few of those entering 2026-27.

The Devils signed Connor Brown last offseason to help improve their bottom-six depth, but he showed he can be more when needed.

Brown finished last season with 18 goals and 43 points in 75 games, and he was particularly good on a line with Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt after the Olympic break.

Brown recorded eight goals and 21 points in 25 games after the break, a pace of 32 goals and 71 points over 84 games.

His shooting percentage was 17.7 percent across that stretch, above his career average of 11.2 percent, but the underlying metrics were excellent.

Bratt, Hughes, and Brown finished with an expected goals share (xG%) of 54.3 percent as a trio after the Olympics. Not only did Brown show he could play in the top six when needed, but he showed his overall versatility throughout the season.

He was a key member of the Devils’ penalty kill, and he had some success on the power play toward the end of the season.

Brown can play just about anywhere up front, and I expect Sheldon Keefe to use him wherever he needs him as the season dictates. He’s a Swiss Army Knife of sorts.

Evan Rodrigues hasn’t played a game in a Devils sweater yet, but he’s been a consistent middle-six forward for quite some time. We know what he can provide.

Acquired in the trade that sent Jacob Markström to the Florida Panthers, Rodrigues is coming off a solid season, finishing with 11 goals and 31 points in 69 games.

Like Brown, Rodrigues is a Swiss Army Knife. He can play center or wing and just about anywhere in the top nine. He’s solid defensively, but also has some offensive ability.

While you don’t want Rodrigues playing center in the top six, as that would mean the Devils are dealing with some injuries, he’s capable of playing there in a pinch if needed.

He could also get some time on special teams, specifically on the penalty kill. He’s a versatile forward who should improve the Devils’ depth and provide around 30-40 points.

Cody Glass scored a career-high 19 goals last season. While I’m skeptical he can repeat that since he shot above 18 percent, he’s still a solid bottom-six center.

He’s not a high-end offensive player, but Glass has morphed his game to become a well-rounded defensive center over the last two seasons.

He was one of the Devils’ better shot suppressors, allowing just 2.55 expected goals per 60 minutes in his five-on-five minutes. Overall, his defensive impacts were quite good:

Another area where Glass excels is in the faceoff dot. He won 54 percent of his draws last season and has won 53 percent since the start of 2023-24.

While I do understand Keefe wanting to give Nico Hischier the hard defensive minutes, I would like to see him give Glass some more of those assignments.

Hischier is a very good defensive forward, but his line faces difficult competition a bit too often. From time to time, Keefe needs to let them loose offensively.

That’s where Glass can help, and he could have well-rounded two-way forwards like Brown and Rodrigues as linemates. In theory, he should excel in a shutdown role.

I was on the fence about including Jake Allen among the Devils’ most underrated players, but I think there’s an argument for it.

He’s totaled a save percentage of .904 over the last two seasons, which is above the league average of .898 over that stretch.

Furthermore, Allen’s underlying metrics have been quite good. Per Evolving Hockey, he’s saved 41.27 goals above expected over the last two seasons.

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That ranks 14th in the NHL and is better than goaltenders such as Jakub Dobes, Darcy Kuemper, and Anthony Stolarz. That’s pretty good company to be in.

The caveat with Allen is that he’s not a workhorse. He’s capable of starting around 35-40 games a season, but don’t expect much more.

Still, you could argue that he doesn’t get enough credit as one of the more consistent netminders in the NHL.

The numbers back it up, and it’s part of why GM Sunny Mehta may be banking on David Rittich and Nico Daws to take the rest of the workload and give them just league-average netminding behind Allen.

If you’ve been subscribed here long enough, you’ll know that I’m quite high on Arseny Gritsyuk heading into next season.

His counting totals were modest. He produced at a 40-point pace over 84 games as a rookie, but his underlying metrics were terrific.

Gritsyuk finished his rookie campaign with an xG% of 53.67 percent, and his two-way impacts were excellent:

We’ll see how Keefe decides to deploy Gritsyuk next season. He could thrive on the third line with Glass and Rodrigues or Brown, but he might be ready for a top-six role, too.

Gritsyuk played well with Hischier last season; the two finished with an xG% of 53.72 percent as linemates in about a 145-minute sample.

Hischier may be the better fit for him than Hughes, and I would like to see Keefe give him a run alongside Hischier once preseason games begin in a month.

Either way, expect Gritsyuk to be one of the Devils’ most important role players next season.

Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick, except where noted