Today finally marks the return of New Jersey Devils hockey. However, first, continuing in our series of midterm grades, next up is the Devils’ defense and goaltenders. A place of much ire and likely the root of their struggles is the defense and, more specifically, in between the pipes.

For much of the first half of the season, the Devils’ defense was playing very well. Prior to January 5, at five-on-five, the Devils were one of the best defensive teams in the league. After that, their numbers took a nosedive, likely due to the continued increase in injuries and over-reliance on players stepping into bigger roles.

Just to name specific examples, Jack Hughes and Jonas Siegenthaler were injured right around that January 5 date and Brendan Smith‘s injury occurred shortly after. Not to say that those individuals are elite defensive maestros, but it has forced sub-replacement level players into the lineup, and lower-lineup guys up the lineup.

Examples of the defensive numbers are organized below:

	Prior to Jan. 5	After Jan. 5
Corsi Against	3rd	23rd
Scoring Chances Against	3rd	26th
High-Danger Chances Against	10th	30th
Expected Goals Against	7th	29th
Shots Against	8th	25th

With all that being said, how have the defenseman and goaltenders stacked up in the season as a whole?

Below are the grades for the first half of the Devils’ defenseman and goaltenders. We will be analyzing every Devils defenseman who has played at last five games and every goaltender who has played in at least one game so far this year. Part II will be released on Wednesday.

Part I of the forwards grades can be seen here, Part II of the forwards can be seen here.

Brendan Smith

Before sustaining an injury, Brendan Smith was the ire of many Devils fans. However, he has been solid from an on-ice defensive impact standpoint. His five-on-five, defensive on-ice impacts are comfortably above average (leads Devils defenseman in total even strength defensive GAR), as evident by the chart below. What has really set him apart is how terrific he has been on the penalty kill. He leads the whole league in defensive GAR on the penalty kill.

On the flip side of all the strong defensive impacts are the poor offensive metrics. His offensive on-ice impacts rank in the league’s 26th percentile. Not to mention, Smith’s issues taking penalties are well documented. However, if you just look at what he is being asked of; defensive play and strong penalty killing, he has excelled.

Luckily, it appears Brendan Smith is nearing a return as he skated according to head coach Lindy Ruff on Sunday. He will be an underrated addition back to the lineup when the time comes.

Grade: B-minus

Colin Miller

Veteran Colin Miller was acquired in exchange for a 2025 fifth-round pick. After battling through some injury and early struggles, which saw him healthy scratched for an extended period of time, he has emerged as a decent presence on the back end. He ranks seventh on the team in Corsi-for percentage (CF%) and has been an overall net-positive when it comes to on-ice impact.

Interestingly enough, he has struggled defensively this year after being very steady in his own end for a large duration of his career. He has made it up in offensive impact, but still, an uncharacteristically weak season in his own zone when compared to his career sample.

Grade: C

Dougie Hamilton

One of the biggest underrated losses, and players, period, is defenseman Dougie Hamilton. The elite offensive defenseman was only able to appear in 20 games for the Devils before suffering a regular season-ending pectoral injury. Luckily, there is some hope he may be back for the playoffs, if the Devils get that far.

Prior to the injury, Hamilton picked up where he left off in 2022-23 from an offensive standpoint. He had 16 points across those 20 games and an offensive on-ice impact that was very strong, especially on the power play. Hamilton and his power play prowess (eight power play points) were one of the main reasons the team’s man-up unit was elite and at the top of the league for a while.

Since his absence, the Devils’ power play has dropped from second in CF% and sixth in expected goals-for percentage (xGF%) to 16th and 11th in the categories, respectively. Hamilton’s absence is a huge determinant in the power play unit’s downfall.

Defensively, he was serviceable once again. His defensive struggles will always be overblown by fans and pundit, however, throughout his career, he has profiled as an average-to-slightly-below average defender. That was no different prior to the injury, given his slightly negative defensive GAR.

Grade: B-plus

John Marino

After being fairly overrated by the fan base and pundits in 2022-23, John Marino is now unfairly on the complete other side of that spectrum this season. It is no secret, his defensive impacts have taken a step back. For comparison sake, Marino ranked in the league’s 93rd percentile in on-ice defensive impact last season. This year, that percentile has dropped to the 53rd. Still not bad, but not where he was last season.

Interestingly enough, according to GAR statistics, Marino’s total overall impact are on pace to be more positive this season than they were last year. This is strictly given how much better he has been offensively; fifth percentile in 2022-23 and the 41st percentile so far this season. So, despite a step back defensively (he still profiles as having an above average defensive impact), his stronger offensive on-ice impacts is making his total value greater than it was last season.

Regardless, Marino has been perfectly serviceable for the Devils so far this season. A large part of his perceived struggles has been due to the Devils inability to convert on their chances whenever he is on the ice and the opposition always beating the Devils’ goaltender. This is evident by Marino’s 0.962 “PDO.” For those unaware, “PDO” is a luck static consisting of team save percentage and shooting percentage, the lower the “worse” the luck. A 1.00 “PDO” is the benchmark, no “luck” nor “bad luck.”

For Marino, this figure comes in at the 16th-lowest in the league (among 218 defensemen to play at least 300 minutes of total ice time this year). The largest determining factor into this “PDO” number is a .860 save percentage while Marino’s on the ice. That ranks 217th of 218 defenseman who have played at least 300 minutes of total ice time this year.

Long story short, Marino’s on-ice metrics overall are good. However, when he’s on the ice the goaltenders behind him are posting historically bad save percentages. Thus, the unfair opinion of him is being formed.

Grade: B

Akira Schmid

After a storybook 2022-23, including a superb playoff run that ended in a Round 1 victory over the rival New York Rangers, Akira Schmid has struggled in the NHL this year ultimately leading to a demotion to the AHL. In 15 games (13 starts), Schmid posted a 5-7-1 record with an .893 save percentage and a quality start rate of only 38.5% with New Jersey.

His goals saved above expected (GSAx) of -3.01 indicates that his struggles are more due to his own play than the defensive play in front of him. On a per minute basis, the GSAx figure is one of the worst in the league this season. Unfortunately, his woes have considered since being sent down, as he owns an .889 across 11 appearances with Utica (AHL).

Grade: D-minus

All of the above statistics courtesy of Evolving Hockey and Natural Stat Trick.