The Devils entered 2025-26 with high hopes and high expectations. The feelings will be similar when 2026-27 rolls around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expectations have been high for us (for) a few years, which is good,\u201d Hischier said. \u201cThat’s what you want. And obviously, when you’re not getting there, it sucks. And we didn’t deserve it. Like I said, we didn’t play consistent enough the whole year.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the expectation will be the same as this year, next year. I think even higher, to be honest, because nobody in here wants to have a year like (this) again. We want to come back in those playoffs, and I think that’s always a main goal for a team to have, because what you’ve seen in the past too, if you just make the playoffs, then anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
For many, the expectations are a welcomed situation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re coming back with the mindset that we\u2019re going to be a good group,\u201d Mercer said. \u201cWe have a lot to prove and a lot that we want to achieve. That\u2019s where our head is focused.\u201d<\/p>\n
All championship organizations go through growing pains before achieving greatness. The Florida Panthers missed the playoffs in six out of seven seasons from 2012-19. Then they lost in the first round (2020), lost in the first round (2021), lost in the second round (2022) and lost in the Cup Final (2023) before winning back-to-back titles. And they\u2019ll miss the playoffs this season.<\/p>\n
Vegas missed the playoffs in 2022, then won the Cup in 2023. Colorado lost in the second round three seasons in a row (2019-21) before hoisting the Cup in 2022. Since that title, they\u2019ve lost in the first round (2023), lost in the second round (2024) and lost in the first round (2025). Tampa Bay, St. Louis, Washington, Pittsburgh all went through similar ups and downs before ultimately winning championships.<\/p>\n
That isn\u2019t to say the Devils will win a Stanley Cup. That fate will ultimately be up to the players to determine. But it is to say that the road to a championship isn\u2019t a straight line. The Devils have assembled a lot of the right pieces. It\u2019s now about finding a way to put the puzzle together.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to build something sustainable here,\u201d Allen said. \u201cListen, we all know we have good players on this team. We really do, but I think the ultimate goal when you’re on a good team and a good organization, which we have here, is really about building something that’s sustainable year in, year out, and knowing that you’re going to get to the playoffs and eventually, hopefully, one of those times, you’re going to kick that can over and you’re going to win the Stanley Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it really starts with building something really sustainable and changing that narrative a little bit. Consistency is king. I’ve always preached it. It matters within our game. Consistency gets you in the playoffs, and consistency builds a really strong competitive organization for a long time. So, I think that’s one thing we really need to pride ourselves on here moving forward and obviously reflection is step one and then get back to it in September.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Hughes put it: \u201cThis not the expectation or the standard we want to set. We need to raise the bar way higher and start to take strides as an organization. It starts with the guys training in the summer and showing up to camp (next year) excited and ready to have a fun year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Devils entered 2025-26 with high hopes and high expectations. The feelings will be similar when 2026-27 rolls…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,5,576,151,5185,5184,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-553730","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-new-jersey-devils","12":"tag-newjersey","13":"tag-newjerseydevils","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116413513423400457","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}