The New Jersey Devils shocked the hockey world last season, as the veteran Devils rebounded from a disappointing 2010-11 campaign and made it all the way to the Stanley Cup finals.
Last season under the guidance of head coach Pete DeBoer, the Devils finished sixth in the Eastern conference with a 48-28-6. Behind goalie and all-time great Marty Brodeur, New Jersey's defense limited its opponents to only 209 goals, which was good enough for third best in the NHL.
During their playoff run, the Devils defeated the Florida Panthers, the Philadelphia Flyers and perhaps their biggest rival, the upstart New York Rangers. But unfortunately, the ride stopped in the next round as the Devils fell to the Los Angeles Kings in six games in the Stanley Cup finals.
For the lockout shorten 2013 season, the ageless Broduer returns to lead the Devils as the team attempts to recapture last season's magic. But New Jersey did lose a few pieces from last year's team. The Devils lost Zach Parise to Minnesota Wild, Alexei Ponikarovsky to the Winnipeg Jets; defenseman Matt Taormina to Tampa Bay, and Eric Boulton to the New York Islanders.
Despite the subtractions, the Devils did make a few additions including, Forwards Bobby Butler of the Ottawa Senators and Krys Barch of the Florida Panthers. New Jersey is also hoping that Ilya Kovalchuk continues to be a dynamic scorer and lessen the loss of Parise.
The Devils still have enough talent to make a run at the championship and it is anybody's title to win in a strike-shortened season. So we think the Devils will go far in the playoffs.
But just to see how they would do this season, we decided to simulate the entire NHL 2013 season using EA Sports virtual hockey video game NHL '13. We simulated the season as if the lockout had never happened so all of the stats are for a full NHL season.
According to NHL '13, the Devils will not return to the NHL playoffs and will experience a serious decline from last season. The Devils will finish near the bottom of the league with Koyalchuk's total points dropping form 87 to 67 for the the 2013 season.
Here is how the game simulates the Devils' season:
Regular Season Record: 34-38-10 thirteenth in the Eastern Conference
Points: LW Ilya Koyalchuk 67 Points, C Adam Henrique 54 Points, C Patrick Elias 51 Points
Goals: LW Ilya Koyalchuk 31 Goals, C Adam Henrique 24 Goals, C Patrick Elias 23 Goals
Assist Leaders: LW Ilya Koyalchuk 36 Assist, D Henrik Tallinder 34 Assist, C Travis Zajac 32 Assist
Playoff Opponents
Round 1: Did not qualify
Round 2: Did not qualify
Eastern Conference Finals: Did not qualify
Stanley Cup: Did not qualify
NHL '13 is now available on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, and features Philadelphia Flyers forward Claude Giroux on the cover. You can read our review for the game here.
Check out our other team previews:
Los Angeles Kings
