This has been a home run of an offseason for the New Jersey Devils.
For the third season in a row, they have added upper-echelon talent to their forward grouping. Last season, it was Taylor Hall. The year before that, it was Kyle Palmieri.
Now, it’s Marcus Johansson.
Add in first-overall pick Nico Hischier and the Devils have themselves quite the top six formulating.
Their roster is not yet complete, but the pieces are coming together. What kind of year can we expect out of Jersey’s Team?
Notable additions: Nico Hischier (draft, 1st overall, Center), Marcus Johansson (trade, Center), Brian Boyle (free agent, Center), Jimmy Hayes (FA, Winger), Mirco Mueller (trade, Defenseman), Drew Stafford (FA, Center), Will Butcher (FA, Defenseman), Brian Strait (FA, Defenseman)
Notable subtractions: Jon Merrill (expansion draft, Defenseman), Mike Cammalleri (buyout, Center), Devonte-Smith Pelly (buyout, Winger), Beau Bennett (FA, Winger)
Injuries: Travis Zajac (pectoral, 4-6 months), Brian Boyle (leukemia, timetable uncertain)
Best-Case Scenario: The Devils give it one more year before making a run at the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They give their kids a chance to develop. Hischier makes a strong Calder Trophy case. Will Butcher shows that he can be an effective puck-mover at the NHL level. Pavel Zacha collects 40 or more points as a top-six forward.
Cory Schneider returns to form. After what was undoubtedly his worst season of his career, Schneids re-asserts himself as a Top 10 goalie in the league.
Reclamation projects Jimmy Hayes and Drew Stafford rack up a few points and get flipped at the deadline for some mid-round picks to make up for the picks lost in the Johansson deal.
In the offseason, the Devils get a top-10 draft pick, acquire a top-pair defenseman in the offseason, and come back next year ready to compete.
But they still win the Tri-State Challenge with the Rangers and Islanders.
Worst-Case Scenario: The Devils are neither awful nor good. Much like the New York Knicks or the New York Jets, they are incapable of properly playing for draft picks. Too good for the basement yet not good enough to play for the second Wild Card spot, they get smothered by the Metropolitan Division.
They don’t have enough pieces to buy at the deadline and truly put the pressure on division rivals.
They sit at 83 points and drop out of the top 10 in the NHL draft. They fail to move anyone at the deadline to stockpile more picks. They fail to make the most out of their last year of rebuilding before truly making a run at contention next season.
For whatever reason, Nico Hischier and/or Pavel Zacha are not given top-six minutes because veteran stop-gaps like Drew Stafford are giving more of an immediate boost.
What Will Probably Happen: Devils play-by-play man Steve Cangilosi said that the Devils could truly surprise people this season and make some noise. The Metro Division is going to be positively brutal, but with the young and exciting talent that the Devils have up front, they should not be slept on.
This is absolutely true, and it’s impossible to convince a team that it is best for them to lose. This is not the 1983-84 Penguins we’re talking about here.
Yes, given the climate in the Metro Division and the current roster makeup, the best thing for this organization is to get younger and make one more splash next offseason.
Then again, it is impossible not to be excited about this group.
New Jersey went 5-1-1 in the preseason. Before you make any comparisons to the 2008 Detroit Lions, let’s really look at how this team performed.
Nico Hischier looked outstanding in the preseason, netting four goals and three assists in four games. Marcus Johansson had a goal and five assists. Adam Henrique tallied four assists.
Cory Schneider is a top 10 goaltender, last season aside. And re-signing Keith Kinkaid is the smart thing to do. This is a goaltending tandem that can win.
In all likelihood, Hischier will start off on the second line and eventually work his way to the top. He may even end up with 60 or more points and win himself the Calder Trophy.
Taylor Hall will be Taylor Hall. He and Kyle Palmieri will have a big responsibility on their shoulders to make whoever is their top-line center better. John Hynes will likely not put Adam Henrique on the top line and limit depth, so we may see one of Zacha or Hischier at the top. Both can be elite playmakers, but they will need the veteran leadership of Hall.
Even with young talent and last year’s first-overall pick on the roster, the most intriguing player to watch this season may be Marcus Johansson. MoJo will have to prove that he can still be a scorer on a weaker team. Nick Backstrom and Evgeny Kuznetsov are no longer feeding him pucks. He’s not passing to Justin Williams or Alex Ovechkin on the man advantage anymore.
He is now stepping out of the supporting cast and into a lead role.
The defense is weak. There’s no two ways about it, there’s Andy Greene and a whole lot of nothing. Damon Severson is rapidly improving and is growing into a formidable defender. He improved to 31 points last season (up 10 from the year prior) and had a 4.3% relative Corsi-for rating.
Compare his performance last season to that of, say, Sami Vatanen of the Anaheim Ducks:
Vatanen is highly respected as one of the toughest defenders in the Pacific Division. Last year was a down one for Vatanen, as his goal-scoring decreased and his shooting percentage plummeted. Severson has been a better shot suppressor for a couple of years now, and a comparable generator of shots.
One of the biggest question marks facing the Devils this season is whether Severson can assert himself as a bonafide top-pair defensemen in the NHL.
Will Butcher will struggle a bit, but playing on the same pair as his friend Steve Santini and learning from fellow left-side defender Andy Greene could help him out. Temper expectations, though. College defensemen take a while to stick. Just look at Justin Schultz.
There are plenty of holes still left to fill. The second pair of defense is still pretty atrocious (John Moore and Ben Lovejoy). The bottom six is unproven with youngsters like John Quenneville, Miles Wood and Stefan Noesen.
There’s still work to be done. But they are getting close. And their goaltender is on the wrong side of 30. They can’t wait too much longer.
While the “worst-case scenario” is the likely scenario, it’s hard to feel bad about winning more games. Regardless, the Devils are heading in the right direction.
Timing is simply hard.
Predicted finish: 7th in the Metro Division, miss the playoffs.
