Devils’ Questions To Be Answered During Training Camp
The Devils reported to training camp on Wednesday with one big question to answer: Was last season’s disappointment an outlier in an otherwise visible route towards becoming a sustainable winning program; or was the previous 2022-23 record-setting campaign that saw the franchise earn a playoff series victory for the first time in over a decade the fluke?
A lot will come down to the competencies of their new Head Coach and goalie, as the Devils hope that Sheldon Keefe’s regular season success in Toronto can be replicated in New Jersey and that Jacob Markstrom, at 34, still has the high danger save capability he displayed in Calgary for much of the last four seasons.
Outside of those two major X factors, what else must the Devils sort out in camp before they head to Prague for two games against Buffalo as part of the 2024 NHL Global Series on October 4-5? Here are three things that you might want to pay attention to:
1) Defensemen health
The Devils already announced that Luke Hughes, coming off a third-place vote for the Calder Trophy in his rookie season, will be out until sometime in November with a shoulder injury. The 2021 No. 4 overall pick is the team’s most explosive puck mover out of the back end. Hughes’ righthanded shot complement whom the Devils took with was the No. 2 overall pick a year later, Simon Nemec, suffered an upper body injury from a tumble into the boards during Team Slovakia’s Olympic qualifying contest on August 30. As of this writing, the Devils have yet to disclose whether it will affect his camp participation and, if so, a timeline for his return.
And then there are those d-men who were hurting at the end of last season’s campaign: Dougie Hamilton required surgery to fix a torn pectoral muscle after playing just 20 games—his and his booming shot’s absence sent the Devils’ power play efficiency plummeting. Has he fully recovered? Jonas Siegenthaler, Hamilton’s most-used partner, missed 25 games due to multiple injuries and looked less than 100% as the Devils stumbled to the finish line. Trade acquisition Brendan Dillon, who is normally a durable workhorse, was cut by a skate blade during Game 3 of Winnipeg’s first-round loss to Colorado—it is assumed he is healed. Brett Pesce, whom the Devils signed to a 6-year, $33 million contract in free agency this offseason, was similarly done for the year early in the playoffs after trying to play through a reported fractured fibula near his ankle.
Like with any team, you don’t want to have to dig too far down into the depth chart, where trade acquisition Jonathan Kovacevic, Nick DeSimone, and Santeri Hatakka are the next men up. 2022 second-round pick Seamus Casey showcased exceptional skating during last weekend’s Prospects Challenge in Buffalo, but he’s not ready for the physicality of the NHL.
Better put all the available Devils defensemen in bubble wrap for the next two weeks.
2) Bottom six forward combinations
In his bid to make his club “harder to play against”, Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald accumulated a bunch of lunch pail forwards this offseason. While New Jersey’s top two lines should be loaded with skill with some combination of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat, and, assuming he and Fitzgerald will eventually come to terms on a restricted free agency contract extension, Dawson Mercer. Maybe Tomas Tatar shows something to move into the top six in place of the underachieving Palat. The configuration of the bottom six lines, however, is up for grabs. Erik Haula will certainly center a third line alongside Tatar/Palat. Will it be Stefan Noesen, returning to New Jersey after four seasons away on four other teams, riding shotgun on the right side? Or will Fitzgerald’s bet on Paul Cotter, whom he acquired in the trade of former first-round pick Alexander Holtz to Vegas, be rewarded?
The loser goes to the fourth line, expected to be centered by Curtis Lazar, another mucker who is less than fleet on the ice and has never scored more than 8 goals in any of his 10 NHL seasons. His other winger will likely be cast from among Nathan Bastian, goon Kurtis MacDermid, and, if he can stay healthy, one-time top prospect Nolan Foote. If you’re looking for a long shot, Chase Stillman has always been the apple of Fitzgerald’s eye since he reached to take him in the first round (No. 29 overall) in the 2021 NHL Draft. Stillman and Xavier Parent, who is destined for AHL Utica, were the Devils best players at the Prospects Challenge.
Bottom of the NHL roster decisions are often interesting since players’ waiver exemption statuses must be taken into account. For instance, what if Foote isn’t deserving? Will the Devils risk putting him on waivers, where teams looking for a 6-foot 3 power forward with upside could sweep him up? Going back to the defense discussion, I’d hate to see New Jersey lose Hatakka, who showed a steadiness when thrust into action last season. These things will sort themselves out in training camp.
3) The power play
Over their last 62 games, the Devils ranked 28th among the 32 teams with a 17% power play conversion rate. That was inexcusable given the talent on the ice. A chunk of the problem was that the pieces didn’t fit. Without Hamilton, opposing penalty killers didn’t have the same respect for Luke Hughes’ point shots, so they could squeeze the middle of the ice to guard against New Jersey’s deadly seam passes. In addition, the Devils, in my opinion, didn’t have an adequate net front presence, whose responsibilities included screening the goalie and cleaning up rebound garbage in the blue paint.
As such, the mystery for this season is whether Keefe’s philosophy is to “load up” with his most skilled players on PP1, or does he, for instance, like to add a sturdier net-front guy like Noesen to that mix? Keefe might think that a Jack Hughes, Hischier, Bratt, Meier, and Hamilton (even after Luke Hughes returns, I’d have Hamilton quarterback PP1) grouping might be too perimeter oriented, and I’d agree.
In addition, the top unit often comes off after a minute, so do the Devils really want nearly half their time with a man advantage to go to a group of lesser players? Better to have Bratt and Luke Hughes carry pucks through the neutral zone to set up PP2 and act as triggermen with guys like Haula and Mercer creating havoc near the goal.
Few coaches these days reinvent the wheel—the neutral zone drop pass and the diamond formation seem to be ubiquitous on power plays around the league—but can Keefe unlock someone like Meier with better designs? Not to compare him to Auston Matthews, but maybe Meier can be put in positions that take advantage of his heavy shot the way the Leafs star found openings to score 18 power play goals last season.
With the overseas trip, the Devils have less time to get in the work necessary to make these decisions than in past seasons. They’ll open their seven-game preseason schedule on Sunday versus the Islanders, with five more games over the next week. Given the travel demands, I have to imagine that the last two contests will contain minor league lineups.
That means it won’t be long for the questions to be answered, one way or another.