Four seasons ago, in 2022-23, the New Jersey Devils looked like the next big thing: A 112-point powerhouse brimming with electric youth ready to take over the league for the coming decade.Instead, the three seasons that followed have been a middling mess — one playoff berth as a 91-point minnow sandwiched by two extremely disappointing finishes outside the playoffs. Woof.A lot of things have factored into that. Untimely injuries, namely to team MVP Jack Hughes, have been brutal. So too has consistently inconsistent goaltending combined with an altered identity that didn’t fit the team’s dynamic. Add some stalled progression and a weak vision up top and it’s no wonder the Devils have fallen off course.All of that puts the team behind the eight ball in terms of contention, with new GM Sunny Mehta having his work cut out for him. The Devils have a lot of pieces in place, but also some major holes to reconcile.Here’s where the Devils stand going into the 2026-27 season. All projected values are age-adjusted based on each player’s profile of comparable peers. Here’s a primer on the Cup Checklist.What the Devils haveIt all starts with New Jersey’s elite one-two punch up the middle: Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. The duo complements each other extremely well, with Hughes as the dynamic offensive superstar and Hischier the stable 200-foot workhorse.Having both players operating at their peaks is a top-six cheat code and we got a glimpse of that after the Olympics last season. From that point on, Hughes scored 41 points in 25 games, a 134-point pace matched only by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. As for Hischier, his expected-goals rate shot up to 56 percent with only 2.38 xGA/60 allowed, both close to the team lead while facing tough competition. If the Devils can get an Art Ross Trophy level of offensive production out of Hughes and a Selke Trophy level of two-way play out of Hischier, it creates a nucleus that’s very difficult to beat.Jesper Bratt (98-point pace) and Timo Meier (58 percent xG) were both along for those rides, and if they can also keep those levels up, that adds to the top six core.The post-Olympic glow-up is a key period for the Devils because it visually felt like the team stopped trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. It was a New Jersey team that played to its strengths and finished the year 14-10-2, a 95-point pace in which its xG rate increased from 47.5 percent to 50.4 percent. That’s not contender-worthy, but it’s not nothing.On defense, the Devils have a couple of sturdy defensive defenders in Brett Pesce and Jonas Siegenthaler, and a trio of offensive types who can fill the scoring defenseman role well. What remains is a pretty massive hole above them.What the Devils need There are two elephants in the Devils’ room: A lack of a true Cup-caliber No. 1 defenseman and a goalie who won’t annually sink the team.