Brett Pesce
Age: 31 Position: Defense
Statistics: one goal, six assists, seven points (37 games)
Contract: Six years, $33 million (four years remaining)
Grade: C+
2025-26 Review
It was an injury-riddled season for the New Jersey Devils’ defensive defenseman. Brett Pesce only played 37 games, a career-low for the American who had played in at least 70 games each of the past four seasons. Pesce sustained an injury after blocking a shot in October and did not suit up again until December. Then, he suffered a lower-body injury in March that spelled the end of his season.
In the time he did play, Pesce was, as usual, a defensive stalwart. His on-ice defensive metrics, according to Evolving Hockey’s goals above replacement (GAR) statistics, ranked in the league’s 72nd percentile. He excelled both at even strength and on the penalty kill, as well as drawing and not taking penalties.Among his teammates, Pesce’s defensive GAR ranked third on the team and his defensive expected GAR (xGAR) ranked second. Each of the players ranked ahead of him (Dougie Hamilton and Cody Glass) played more than 70 games.
Lastly, Pesce’s 80 blocked shots still ranked fourth on the team. This despite only playing in the 37 games.
Similarly to Jonas Siegenthaler, Pesce’s downfall, outside injuries, was how poor his offensive impacts were. A defensive defenseman cannot be expected to rack up the points. However, there is a breaking point when the offensive impacts are so bad a players overall value takes a hit.
Pesce’s was not as extreme as Siegenthaler’s, and he also did have a more impressive defensive season as him, but his offensive on-ice metrics ranked in the league’s 10th percentile. Specifically, his offensive GAR ranked 338 among 353 defenseman to play this season. With that being said, his xGAR offensive numbers were slightly better as the Devils only shot 6.01% with Pesce on the ice; a figure that ranked 26th among 33 Devils to play at least two games.
Regardless, despite that 72nd percentile defensive rating, Pesce’s overall on-ice impacts were only in the 42nd percentile due to how poor offensively he was. Still not a terrible mark, but one that was extremely compromised by woeful play in the offensive zone.
2026-27 Outlook
Pesce has a full no-movement clause until it becomes a 15-team no-trade list in 2027-28. The right-handed defenseman is on the side where the organization has more depth. Dougie Hamilton, Johnathan Kovacevic, and Simon Nemec plus Seamus Casey are all current options for that right side that find themselves currently within the organization.
Pesce will surely be on the right side with the club to begin the season in 2026-27. Getting back to full health should be paramount and when he does he will likely be that shutdown defenseman the organization knew they were getting when they acquired him.