Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News examines the team's current state and sees how they compare to last season's record-breaking performance.

The NHL All-Star Weekend is fast approaching, and the New Jersey Devils are officially on their bye-week. 

With two players taking indefinite leave of absence and two losses in their last two outings — with captain Nico Hischier calling his club's last loss an embarrassment — it’s been a rocky last couple of days. 

It is the perfect time to examine the team's current state and see how they compare to last season's record-breaking performance.

Below is a graphic provided by MSG Networks comparing key statistics, including goalie save percentage and goals per game, from this time last season to where they currently stand in the season. 

Goals against per game have significantly increased this season. 

At the time of publication, New Jersey has allowed the fourth-most goals against per game, with only the San Jose Sharks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Ottawa Senators giving up more.

Thanks to injuries to Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Brendan Smith, the Devils deployed a blue line that was an average of 23 years old in their last two games.

Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes are getting their first taste of the NHL grind, and Kevin Bahl is playing a more prominent role and has more responsibility. 

To round out the team's third defensive pair over the past few games was Santeri Hatakka, age 23.

Over the summer, head coach Lindy Ruff spoke about having both Hughes and Nemec on the blue line specifically and the risk of having too many young defensemen in the lineup.

"It's pretty hard to have two of them," Ruff said. "You've got to be careful of getting too young too fast, especially on the back end."

The young and inexperienced defense would not be as much of a concern if the goaltending did not regress this season.

Vitek Vanecek has not been able to replicate last season's performance.

Akira Schmid has spent the last month with the Utica Comets in the American Hockey League, and young Nico Daws has a goals-against average of 3.43.

"I'm not going to say I'm cool with (the goaltending situation)," Fitzgerald said in a press conference on Jan. 23. "I want our goalies to play better, no doubt. But we want our players to play better in front of them. We still have some areas of the game that need cleaned up."

"That's a daily process with players and teams. Hockey is a game of mistakes," he continued. "If we can minimize the mistakes that turn into big chances, then we're getting better. We have some work to do there."

The Devils goaltenders have been unable to mask the mistakes that young defensemen are expected to make, and the overall defense has not played strong enough in front of their goaltenders over the past four months. 

Suppose New Jersey can improve their play in its own zone, whether it be an acquisition via a trade or waiting for healthy reinforcements. 

In that case, the team still has a chance to secure a wild-card spot and make their second straight postseason appearance because, as the above graphic shows, when healthy, offense is not a problem for the Devils.