The New Jersey Devils won a huge came in Detroit after the All-Star break, which in retrospect didn’t really do much as every team they needed to pass also won their games. In the grand scheme of things, the Devils still need to hop over Carolina, the Islanders, Florida, Toronto, and of course the team holding the last Wild Card spot Philadelphia.
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The New Jersey Devils have two games left before they have their mandatory bye week, which will allow all the other teams to catch up to them in terms of games played. The Devils have played 51 games, which ties them with Philly and Florida. Every other team they’re trying to catch have played fewer games, but as the saying goes you have to win those games for them to mean anything.
Why They Should Be Buyers
The Devils as a whole really aren’t a bad team. They’ve got a pretty solid top-six with the way Miles Wood has played. It’s their bottom-six that needs a boatload of help. The problem is that they have too many mediocre players like Smith-Pelly, Kalinin, Luke Gazdic, and Beau Bennett, who I like as a player, but has severely underperformed since being acquired from the Penguins.
Stefan Noesen has been a nice surprise scoring in both games he’s played in since being claimed off waivers from the Ducks. He, Zacha, and Josefson have developed into a nice third line for the Devils, but when it comes to Josefson, we’ll see how long that lasts as he’s had problems with consistency his entire NHL career.
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I absolutely like Vern Fiddler as a fourth line center, but the Devils just need more consistency from the fourth line, and for them to chip in with goals when it matters in games.
In general, if the Devils want to buy then I don’t expect them to go for any higher than a borderline top-six forward, which can also play in the bottom-six as well. Also just getting Andy Greene and John Moore back from IR will be like acquiring a top-four defenseman without having to give up anything.
Why They Should Be Sellers
The Devils being sellers is the much more likely scenario, and if this becomes the case they have a lot of players to throw onto the market starting with Mike Cammalleri.
Cammalleri has been awful this season and looks like he doesn’t have any confidence. Now he still has two years left on his deal at five million a year, but the more time that goes by the more Cammalleri just doesn’t fit into what this team is trying to become. A couple of years ago when the Devils needed to sign Cammalleri it was a fantastic deal, but he hasn’t been the same player since he got hurt midway through last year and is playing as if he’s hurt now.
Some other players the Devils could move are a Kyle Quincey, P.A. Parenteau, Vern Fiddler, John Moore if he returns from injury, and an extreme longshot would be captain Andy Greene, who in my opinion has had a very down season after losing his defense partner Adam Larsson, but that’s a story for another time.
If the Devils could somehow sneak into the playoffs that would be fantastic and very revitalizing for a fanbase that hasn’t seen playoff hockey since 2012. However, if they do decide to sell then we can still look forward to many good young players coming through the system, but for now, they’re still in the race and we’ll see what happens.
