The 2020–21 New Jersey Devils season was the 47th season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that was established on June 11, 1974, and 39th season since the franchise relocated from Colorado prior to the 1982–83 NHL season. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 cross-border travel restrictions imposed by the Government of Canada, the Devils played a shortened 56-game regular season, which consisted of divisional play only, with the Devils being temporarily realigned from the Metropolitan Division to the East Division.

Fan attendance in home games was prohibited until March 1, 2021, per an executive order from Governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy. The Devils reopened Prudential Center to spectators on March 2.

On April 20, following a 7–6 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils were eliminated from playoff contention for the third consecutive season.

Standings

Divisional standings

Schedule and results

Regular season The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020. 2020–21 game logJanuary: 4–3–2 (Home: 2–2–1; Road: 2–1–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 Boston 3–2 New Jersey SO Blackwood 0 0–0–1 1 2 January 16 Boston 1–2 New Jersey OT Blackwood 0 1–0–1 3 3 January 19 New Jersey 4–3 NY Rangers Blackwood 0 2–0–1 5 4 January 21 New Jersey 1–4 NY Islanders Wedgewood 0 2–1–1 5 5 January 24 NY Islanders 0–2 New Jersey Wedgewood 0 3–1–1 7 6 January 26 Philadelphia 5–3 New Jersey Wedgewood 0 3–2–1 7 7 January 28 Philadelphia 3–1 New Jersey Wedgewood 0 3–3–1 7 8 January 30 New Jersey 3–4 Buffalo SO Wedgewood 0 3–3–2 8 9 January 31 New Jersey 5–3 Buffalo Comrie 0 4–3–2 10 February: 3–5–0 (Home: 0–4–0; Road: 3–1–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap — February 2 New Jersey – Pittsburgh Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to March 21 — February 4 New Jersey – Pittsburgh Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to April 20 — February 6 NY Rangers – New Jersey Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to March 4 — February 9 Pittsburgh – New Jersey Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to March 18 — February 11 New Jersey – Philadelphia Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to April 25 — February 13 New Jersey – Philadelphia Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to May 10 — February 15 New Jersey – Boston Postponed due to COVID-19 protocol; moved to March 7 10 February 16 New Jersey 5–2 NY Rangers Blackwood 0 5–3–2 12 11 February 18 New Jersey 3–2 Boston Blackwood 0 6–3–2 14 12 February 20 Buffalo 3–2 New Jersey Blackwood 0 6–4–2 14 13 February 21 New Jersey 3–4 Washington Dell 0 6–5–2 14 14 February 23 Buffalo 4–1 New Jersey Blackwood 0 6–6–2 14 15 February 25 New Jersey 4–3 Buffalo OT Blackwood 0 7–6–2 16 16 February 27 Washington 5–2 New Jersey Blackwood 0 7–7–2 16 17 February 28 Washington 3–2 New Jersey Blackwood 0 7–8–2 16 March: 6–8–3 (Home: 2–5–1; Road: 4–3–2) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 18 March 2 NY Islanders 2–1 New Jersey Dell 1,800 7–9–2 16 19 March 4 NY Rangers 6–1 New Jersey Blackwood 1,800 7–10–2 16 20 March 6 NY Rangers 6–3 New Jersey Blackwood 1,800 7–11–2 16 21 March 7 New Jersey 1–0 Boston Wedgewood 0 8–11–2 18 22 March 9 New Jersey 4–5 Washington OT Wedgewood 0 8–11–3 19 23 March 11 New Jersey 3–5 NY Islanders Blackwood 1,000 8–12–3 19 24 March 13 NY Islanders 3–2 New Jersey Blackwood 1,800 8–13–3 19 25 March 14 NY Islanders 3–2 New Jersey SO Wedgewood 1,800 8–13–4 20 26 March 16 Buffalo 2–3 New Jersey Blackwood 1,800 9–13–4 22 27 March 18 Pittsburgh 2–3 New Jersey Wedgewood 1,800 10–13–4 24 28 March 20 Pittsburgh 3–1 New Jersey Wedgewood 1,800 10–14–4 24 29 March 21 New Jersey 2–1 Pittsburgh OT Blackwood 2,800 11–14–4 26 30 March 23 New Jersey 4–3 Philadelphia Blackwood 2,882 12–14–4 28 31 March 25 New Jersey 3–4 Washington Blackwood 0 12–15–4 28 32 March 26 New Jersey 0–4 Washington Wedgewood 0 12–16–4 28 33 March 28 New Jersey 1–0 Boston Blackwood 2,191 13–16–4 30 34 March 30 New Jersey 4–5 Boston SO Blackwood 2,191 13–16–5 31 April: 3–11–2 (Home: 2–6–1; Road: 1–5–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 35 April 2 Washington 2–1 New Jersey OT Blackwood 3,600 13–16–6 32 36 April 4 Washington 5–4 New Jersey Blackwood 3,600 13–17–6 32 37 April 6 Buffalo 5–3 New Jersey Wedgewood 3,600 13–18–6 32 38 April 8 New Jersey 6–3 Buffalo Dell 0 14–18–6 34 39 April 9 Pittsburgh 6–4 New Jersey Blackwood 3,600 14–19–6 34 40 April 11 Pittsburgh 5–2 New Jersey Blackwood 3,600 14–20–6 34 41 April 13 NY Rangers 3–0 New Jersey Blackwood 3,600 14–21–6 34 42 April 15 New Jersey 0–4 NY Rangers Blackwood 1,688 14–22–6 34 43 April 17 New Jersey 3–6 NY Rangers Dell 1,800 14–23–6 34 44 April 18 NY Rangers 5–3 New Jersey Blackwood 3,500 14–24–6 34 45 April 20 New Jersey 6–7 Pittsburgh Dell 4,672 14–25–6 34 46 April 22 New Jersey 1–5 Pittsburgh Dell 4,672 14–26–6 34 47 April 24 New Jersey 2–4 Pittsburgh Blackwood 4,672 14–27–6 34 48 April 25 New Jersey 3–4 Philadelphia SO Blackwood 3,651 14–27–7 35 49 April 27 Philadelphia 4–6 New Jersey Blackwood 3,600 15–27–7 37 50 April 29 Philadelphia 3–5 New Jersey Blackwood 3,600 16–27–7 39 May: 3–3–0 (Home: 1–1–0; Road: 2–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 51 May 1 New Jersey 4–1 Philadelphia Blackwood 2,683 17–27–7 41 52 May 3 Boston 3–0 New Jersey Wedgewood 3,600 17–28–7 41 53 May 4 Boston 3–4 New Jersey OT Blackwood 3,600 18–28–7 43 54 May 6 New Jersey 2–1 NY Islanders Blackwood 1,400 19–28–7 45 55 May 8 New Jersey 1–5 NY Islanders Blackwood — 19–29–7 45 56 May 10 New Jersey 2–4 Philadelphia Wedgewood 3,882 19–30–7 45 Legend:

Player statistics As of May 11, 2021

Skaters Regular season Player 50 17 18 35 10 56 11 20 31 16 54 16 14 30 4 46 7 23 30 +4 8 55 17 8 25 29 50 8 17 25 14 48 2 21 23 22 56 3 18 21 29 44 5 14 19 26‡ 33 7 11 18 0 6‡ 34 8 9 17 18 52 9 6 15 42 48 0 14 14 +3 8 21 6 5 11 4 50 5 6 11 12 23 1 10 11 2 41 3 7 10 0 21 27 2 8 10 7 33 6 3 9 4 28 4 3 7 2 30 2 4 6 +2 18 20 2 3 5 0 21 1 2 3 0 2 8 1 1 2 4 6 1 1 2 0 11 1 1 2 5‡ 38 0 2 2 26 7 0 2 2 0 0 7 0 1 1 0† 8 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 0† 1 0 0 0 0 7

Goaltenders Regular season Player 35 35 2,090:37 14 17 4 106 3.04 1,081 .902 1 0 0 0 16 15 888:02 3 8 3 46 3.11 458 .900 2 0 0 0 1 1 60:00 1 0 0 3 3.00 33 .909 0 0 0 0 7 5 319:10 1 5 0 22 4.14 154 .857 0 0 0 0

Transactions The Devils have been involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Trades Date Details Ref To Arizona Coyotes7th-round pick in 2020To New Jersey Devils7th-round pick in 2021 To Columbus Blue Jackets5th-round pick in 2021To New Jersey DevilsRyan Murray To Toronto Maple LeafsJoey AndersonTo New Jersey DevilsAndreas Johnsson To New York IslandersKyle PalmieriTravis ZajacTo New Jersey DevilsA. J. GreerMason Jobst1st-round pick in 2021Conditional 4th-round pick in 2022 To Washington CapitalsConditional 3rd-round pick in 2021To New Jersey DevilsJonas Siegenthaler To Edmonton OilersDmitri KulikovTo New Jersey DevilsConditional 4th-round pick in 2022

Free agents Date Player Team Contract term Ref Brandon Baddock to Montreal Canadiens 1-year Corey Crawford from Chicago Blackhawks 2-year John Hayden to Arizona Coyotes 1-year Dakota Mermis to Minnesota Wild 1-year Kevin Rooney to New York Rangers 2-year Scott Wedgewood from Tampa Bay Lightning 1-year Dmitry Kulikov from Winnipeg Jets 1-year Zane McIntyre to Dinamo Riga (KHL) 1-year Sami Vatanen from Carolina Hurricanes 1-year Fredrik Claesson to San Jose Sharks 1-year Mirco Müller to Leksands IF (SHL) 1-year Gilles Senn to HC Davos (NL) 3-year

Waivers Date Player Team Ref Eric Comrie from Winnipeg Jets Aaron Dell from Toronto Maple Leafs Eric Comrie to Winnipeg Jets Sami Vatanen to Dallas Stars

Contract terminations Date Player Via Ref Cory Schneider Buyout Nikita Gusev Mutual termination

Retirement Date Player Ref Corey Crawford

Signings Date Player Contract term Ref Josh Jacobs 1-year Brett Seney 1-year Ben Street 1-year Nick Merkley 1-year Colton White 1-year Mackenzie Blackwood 3-year Dawson Mercer 3-year Jesper Bratt 2-year Graeme Clarke 3-year Michael Vukojevic 3-year Tyce Thompson 2-year Aarne Talvitie 2-year Alexander Holtz 3-year Nico Daws 3-year Akira Schmid 3-year Nathan Bastian 2-year Scott Wedgewood 1-year

Draft picks

Below are the New Jersey Devils' selections at the 2020 NHL entry draft, which was held on October 6 and 7, 2020, in a remote format, with teams convening via videoconferencing, and Commissioner Gary Bettman announcing selections from the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, New Jersey. It was originally scheduled to be held on June 26–27, 2020, at the Bell Centre in Montreal, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the conclusion of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Round # Player Pos Nationality College/junior/club team17 Alexander Holtz RW Djurgårdens IF (SHL)1181 Dawson Mercer C Chicoutimi Saguenéens (QMJHL)1202 Shakir Mukhamadullin D Salavat Yulaev Ufa (KHL)3843 Nico Daws G Guelph Storm (OHL)499 Jaromír Pytlík C Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)41204 Ethan Edwards D Spruce Grove Saints (AJHL)5130 Artem Shlaine C Shattuck-St. Mary's High School (Minnesota)6161 Benjamin Baumgartner C HC Davos (NL) The Arizona Coyotes' first-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on December 16, 2019, that sent Taylor Hall and Blake Speers to Arizona in exchange for Nick Merkley, Kevin Bahl, Nate Schnarr, a conditional third-round pick in 2021 and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The Vancouver Canucks' first-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on February 16, 2020, that sent Blake Coleman to Tampa Bay in exchange for Nolan Foote and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The Carolina Hurricanes' third-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on February 24, 2020, that sent Sami Vatanen to Carolina in exchange for Fredrik Claesson, Janne Kuokkanen and this pick (being conditional at the time of the trade). The Boston Bruins' fourth-round pick went to the New Jersey Devils as the result of a trade on February 25, 2019, that sent Marcus Johansson to Boston in exchange for a second-round pick in 2019 and this pick.

Notes

References