Given the New Jersey Devils‘ tight cap situation, general manager Tom Fitzgerald did a pretty good job maneuvering free agency to find cheaper, value deals and grant the team such much needed depth scoring.
Related: Ilya Kovalchuk is Officially Off Devils’ Books
Unlike the past, he didn’t panic and throw too much money at one single player to attempt to fix a hole. As a result, while there may still be work to be done, the Devils are in a much better spot on Wednesday morning than they were 24 hours ago.
Yes, it’s only Jul. 2, but let’s take a look at a potential Opening Night lineup. These will assume that Cody Glass and Luke Hughes, both restricted free agents, have their contracts figured out by then.
Projected Line Combinations
Ondrej Palat — Jack Hughes — Jesper Bratt
Timo Meier — Nico Hischier — Stefan Noesen
Evgenii Dadonov — Dawson Mercer — Arseni Gritsyuk
Paul Cotter — Cody Glass — Connor Brown
Brenden Dillon — Dougie Hamilton
Brett Pesce — Luke Hughes
Jonas Siegenthaler — Simon Nemec
Jacob Markstrom
Jake Allen
Injured: Johnathan Kovacevic
Bubble Players/Scratched: Seamus Casey, Juho Lammikko, Kurtis MacDermid, Calen Addison, Angus Crookshank, Brian Halonen
New Jersey Devils celebrate a goal (Jess Starr/The Hockey Writers)
Explanations
Line 1: If the Devils choose to hold on to Palat, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him play next to Hughes and Bratt. Contract aside, Palat overcame a slow start last season to remain pretty serviceable and reached a different gear in the playoffs, even if the point totals didn’t quite reflect it. If the Devils want to inject more speed to that line, Palat can switch with Dadonov, or Bratt can switch to left wing so Brown can move up.
Line 2: According to MoneyPuck, 33 lines played 300+ minutes last season, and Meier with Hischier and Noesen were tied for sixth with a 57.7 expected goals percentage (xG%). Natural Stat Trick says they outchanced their opponents 188-133. This line should be good regardless, but if Noesen can get his pre-New Year even strength scoring touch back, they’ll be lethal.
Line 3: It’s hard to call this third line a sure bet, but it’s much closer to one than any trio the Devils slotted third last season. If Dadonov can remain the same 20-goal player he was last season, that’s all the Devils could ask for. Mercer is set up much better for success when he’s not in the top-six. And Gritsyuk is the wild card here, but he performed better than Yegor Sharangovich in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) before coming over. If he can just copy Sharangovich’s rookie season (~0.56 points per game), the Devils have a tremendous third line.
Line 4: This fourth line gives the Devils a scoring touch that they didn’t previously see last season. Aside from Cotter, they may not be as physical as some fourth lines, but they won’t be a liability by any stretch. Glass and Brown are two of the better defensive forwards in hockey. If Cotter and Brown can chip in ~10-15 goals as fourth liners, while everyone else stays healthy, the Devils’ depth scoring situation (on paper) shouldn’t be nearly as much of an issue. Both Cotter and Brown can move up the lineup in the event of injuries, too.
D-Pairing 1: The biggest thing here is health for two veterans in Dillon and Hamilton, but if they’re good to go, they should be able to continue to control the pace of play when they’re on the ice. The Devils will hope a healthy Hamilton can find his 2022-23 scoring touch again.
D-Pairing 2: Pesce helped the youngest Hughes brother take his game to a different level last season, and odds are Luke will only get better. This unit would probably be a top pairing on almost any team, and depending on how Luke’s offensive game looks, they may end up garnering the most minutes by season end.
D-Pairing 3: With Johnathan Kovacevic out to start the season, Nemec should get an opportunity following his superb Stanley Cup Playoffs. Siegenthaler is one of the better defensive defensemen in the game; as long as Nemec doesn’t revert back to his 2024-25 regular season self, this is probably one of the deepest third pairings in the entire league.
Moving Forward
It’s very possible that Fitzgerald opts not to make any more moves, instead waiting to see how things shake out in-season before upgrading further with such limited cap. The good news for the Devils is that they possess some prospects and picks that can fetch some pretty solid returns; it’s just a matter of how Fitzgerald wants to maneuver it all.
