Strength of schedule
New Jersey Devils Strength of Schedule 2026-27
New Jersey Devils faces the 28th-easiest remaining schedule in the NHL: −0.78 standings points against an average slate over 75 games (opponents' points % .566). Over the next 10 days: 5 games, the 31st-easiest slate (−0.33), 2 on off-nights and 1 back-to-back.
| Window | GP | H/R | Edge | Rank | Opp P% | Opp xGF% | B2B | Rest +/− | Off-night | Travel km |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| So far | 9 | 6/3 | +0.30 | 8 | .554 | 49.7 | 1 | 3/3 | 3 | 2,232 |
| Next 10 days | 5 | 2/3 | −0.33 | 31 | .589 | 51.7 | 1 | 1/2 | 2 | 4,238 |
| Rest of season | 75 | 36/39 | −0.78 | 28 | .566 | 50.1 | 12 | 18/18 | 32 | 56,929 |
| Full season | 84 | 42/42 | −0.47 | 24 | .565 | 50.1 | 13 | 21/21 | 35 | 59,161 |
| Week 4 | 3 | 3/0 | +0.17 | 5 | .566 | 51.2 | 0 | 1/0 | 0 | 318 |
Rank: 1 = easiest of 32. Edge: standings points against an average slate of the same length.
New Jersey Devils team page · week 4 (Oct 19-25) for every team
Game-by-game calendar
Coloured by opponent strength (points % rank, blended with last season). The percentage is how often an average team wins that game at that venue. Played games are faded with the result.
- Top 6
- 7th–13th
- 14th–19th
- 20th–26th
- Bottom 6
October 2026 · 14 games
- Thu, Oct 1vs PHI 57%W 3-2 · off-night
- Sat, Oct 3@ NYI 46%L 0-6
- Tue, Oct 6vs UTA 51%L 3-5 · off-night
- Sat, Oct 10vs VAN 70%W 4-1
- Mon, Oct 12vs OTT 49%L 1-4 · off-night
- Tue, Oct 13@ DET 48%W 5-4 · B2B
- Thu, Oct 15vs NYR 55%W 7-1
- Sat, Oct 17@ WSH 46%L 2-4
- Tue, Oct 20vs COL 45%W 4-3
- Thu, Oct 22vs ANA 56%
- Sat, Oct 24vs LAK 58%
- Tue, Oct 27@ DAL 39%2,193 km
- Wed, Oct 28@ COL 38%B2B · off-night · 1,066 km
- Fri, Oct 30@ VGK 41%off-night
November 2026 · 13 games
- Tue, Nov 3vs EDM 48%3,577 km
- Thu, Nov 5vs STL 56%
- Sat, Nov 7@ NYI 46%
- Sun, Nov 8@ TOR 51%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Nov 10@ WPG 50%off-night · 1,516 km
- Thu, Nov 12vs WSH 53%2,053 km
- Sat, Nov 14@ WSH 46%
- Wed, Nov 18vs MTL 49%off-night
- Sat, Nov 21@ STL 49%1,390 km
- Mon, Nov 23vs CBJ 57%off-night · 1,390 km
- Wed, Nov 25@ CBJ 50%
- Fri, Nov 27vs CGY 63%
- Sat, Nov 28vs WPG 57%B2B
December 2026 · 14 games
- Tue, Dec 1vs SJS 56%off-night
- Thu, Dec 3@ OTT 42%
- Sat, Dec 5@ PIT 49%
- Mon, Dec 7@ NYR 48%off-night
- Wed, Dec 9vs DET 55%off-night
- Sat, Dec 12@ BOS 40%
- Tue, Dec 15vs NYR 55%
- Thu, Dec 17vs TOR 58%off-night
- Sat, Dec 19vs BOS 47%off-night
- Sun, Dec 20vs NSH 55%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Dec 22@ NYR 48%
- Sat, Dec 26@ BUF 41%
- Sun, Dec 27vs BOS 47%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Dec 29@ UTA 44%3,153 km
January 2027 · 16 games
- Fri, Jan 1@ ANA 49%off-night
- Sat, Jan 2@ LAK 51%B2B
- Mon, Jan 4@ SJS 49%off-night
- Thu, Jan 7vs CBJ 57%4,089 km
- Sat, Jan 9vs CHI 64%
- Tue, Jan 12@ BUF 41%
- Wed, Jan 13@ MTL 42%B2B · off-night
- Sat, Jan 16vs NYI 53%
- Tue, Jan 19vs DAL 46%off-night
- Thu, Jan 21vs TBL 46%
- Sat, Jan 23@ PHI 50%
- Sun, Jan 24vs WSH 53%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Jan 26vs SEA 56%
- Thu, Jan 28@ EDM 41%3,244 km
- Sat, Jan 30@ CGY 56%
- Sun, Jan 31@ SEA 49%B2B · off-night
February 2027 · 9 games
- Wed, Feb 3@ VAN 63%off-night
- Sat, Feb 13@ PHI 50%3,866 km
- Tue, Feb 16@ NSH 48%off-night · 1,097 km
- Thu, Feb 18@ FLA 47%1,269 km
- Sat, Feb 20vs BUF 48%1,717 km
- Sun, Feb 21@ CHI 57%B2B · off-night · 1,134 km
- Tue, Feb 23vs CAR 42%off-night · 1,134 km
- Fri, Feb 26@ CBJ 50%off-night
- Sun, Feb 28@ MIN 40%off-night
March 2027 · 13 games
- Tue, Mar 2vs OTT 49%off-night · 1,609 km
- Thu, Mar 4@ DET 48%off-night
- Fri, Mar 5vs VGK 48%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Mar 9@ FLA 47%1,717 km
- Thu, Mar 11@ TBL 39%
- Sat, Mar 13@ CAR 36%
- Thu, Mar 18vs PIT 56%
- Sat, Mar 20vs TOR 58%
- Tue, Mar 23vs PHI 57%
- Thu, Mar 25@ PIT 49%
- Sat, Mar 27@ MTL 42%
- Mon, Mar 29vs CAR 42%off-night
- Wed, Mar 31vs MIN 47%off-night
April 2027 · 5 games
- Sat, Apr 3@ CAR 36%
- Sun, Apr 4vs FLA 54%B2B · off-night
- Tue, Apr 6vs TBL 46%
- Thu, Apr 8vs NYI 53%off-night
- Sat, Apr 10vs PIT 56%
How opponents see New Jersey Devils
The rating other teams' schedules use for New Jersey Devils after 9 games (17th of 32 by blended points %). Prior: last season pulled 40% toward the league average.
| Stat | This season | Prior | Weight | Used |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Points % | .556 | .543 | 18% | .545 |
| 5v5 xGF% | 61.8 | 49.1 | 31% | 53.1 |
| Goals for / GP | 3.22 | 2.89 | 23% | 2.96 |
| Goals against / GP | 3.33 | 3.08 | 23% | 3.14 |
| Shots against / GP | 26.0 | 27.6 | 47% | 26.8 |
| Pts allowed to C / GP | 3.11 | 2.99 | 18% | 3.01 |
| Pts allowed to W / GP | 3.33 | 3.16 | 18% | 3.19 |
| Pts allowed to D / GP | 3.00 | 2.07 | 18% | 2.24 |
How much does schedule matter?
Not much over a season, more over a week. With perfect hindsight about every opponent, a normal 82-game NHL schedule moved a team by at most about 2.0 standings points from an average one (2018-19 to 2025-26; the 2020-21 divisional season was the exception at a standard deviation of 1.9).
Forecasting test: we trained on 2018-19 to 2022-23 and tested on 2023-24 to 2025-26 (96 team-seasons). At game 41, adding the remaining schedule to a team's own blended rating left the error of its rest-of-season points % unchanged (0.0810 without, 0.0810 with). A one-standard-deviation tougher remaining schedule is worth about 0.7 standings points over 41 games. That is noise next to a team's own quality, so we do not treat season SOS as a betting or futures edge.
Single games are different: a team facing an opponent one standard deviation weaker in goals against scores about 0.23 more goals that night (holdout 2023-24 to 2025-26, 7,872 team-games). Game lines already price the opponent, so this helps fantasy lineups, not bets.
How strength of schedule is measured
For every game we take the opponent's rating and ask how many standings points an average NHL team would expect against it, at that venue. Adding those up over a window and comparing with an average slate of the same length gives the schedule edge in standings points: positive means easier. The opponent rating is points %, blended with last season early in the year. Opponent xGF%, goals and shots per game are shown beside it.
Opponent ratings this early carry a lot of last season: on Oct 21 the typical team has played 9 games, so its rating is 18% this season and the rest last season. Over a full season even perfect knowledge of every opponent moves a team only about ±2 standings points.
For fantasy, short windows matter most: the next 10 days and the fantasy week, where off-nights, back-to-backs and weak opponents stack up. For standings or futures, treat the season numbers as a tiebreaker, not a forecast.
Metropolitan Division schedules
Frequently asked questions
Does New Jersey Devils have an easy schedule in 2026-27?
New Jersey Devils faces the 28th-easiest remaining schedule in the NHL: −0.78 standings points against an average slate over 75 games (opponents' points % .566). Over the next 10 days: 5 games, the 31st-easiest slate (−0.33), 2 on off-nights and 1 back-to-back.
How many back-to-backs does New Jersey Devils have left?
12 of its remaining 75 games are the second night of a back-to-back, with 56,929 km of travel still to come.