New Jersey Devils preview: Taylor Hall must lead the way again

Due to a suspiciously quiet summer, it will be up to Taylor Hall and an improving young core to carry the New Jersey Devils back to the postseason. 

The New Jersey Devils were by a wide margin the most surprising team in the Eastern Conference last season. They were projected by many to finish towards the bottom of the standings, but wound up making the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Though the Devils lost in the first round to the Tampa Bay Lightning, the 2017-18 season was undeniably a successful one for them, especially for Taylor Hall, who won the Hart Trophy.

However, after not making any major offseason moves, New Jersey should find it very difficult to make the playoffs again. The Devils still have major issues and this summer saw none of them get corrected.

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That said, New Jersey has some reasons for optimism. First of all, Hall has emerged as a true superstar. He’s an elite talent who can carry the Devils, as he proved last season. Secondly, New Jersey has a surprising young core. Led by 2017 first overall pick Nico Hischier and 2017 Hobey Baker-winning defenseman Will Butcher, the Devils have enough talent to make a return to the postseason plausible.

Offseason Recap

Additions: D Eric Gryba, D John Ramage, F Kurtis Gabriel, F Eric Tangradi, F Drew Stafford (PTO)

Departures: F Brian Gibbons, F Michael Grabner, F Jimmy Hayes, F Patrick Maroon, D John Moore, G Ken Appleby

It’s telling the most meaningful addition the Devils made this summer is someone on a PTO. Stafford put up 15 points in 59 games last season, so don’t expect much from him. He was a healthy scratch down the stretch as well. Gryba is a serviceable extra defenseman, but when he’s arguably the second-best addition you’ve made, that’s not a good sign.

Maroon is someone the Devils will definitely miss. He’s a solid top-six forward and did well with them after the trade deadline. Moore is someone who shouldn’t be missed, but given the state of the Devils blueline, he might be.

Projected Lineup

How will the New Jersey Devils look this season? Trios and pairings were used with the help of the line tool from Corsica.

Forwards

Taylor Hall – Nico Hischier – Kyle Palmieri

Marcus Johansson – Pavel Zacha – Jesper Bratt

Blake Coleman – Travis Zajac – Stefan Noesen

Miles Wood* – Brian Boyle – Drew Stafford

*currently unsigned

Extra forward: John Quenneville

The Devils, much like last season, will have an amazing top line. It’ll easily be one of the best in the NHL if they replicate their success from last season. Bratt and Palmieri could swap places, but I’m not sure the Devils can afford to not have the latter on the top line.

A healthy Johansson should help stabilize the second line. Bratt was great before the All-Star break (30 points in 47 games), but far less productive after it (five points in 27 games). Ironically, Zacha was the opposite. He posted just 12 points in 41 games before the All-Star break, but had 13 points in 28 games after it.

Zajac and Noesen struggled early, but once Coleman got added to the trio, it was one of the Devils best forward lines. They can handle defensive zone starts, but the Devils really need them to step up as far as offense.

Wood isn’t signed, which isn’t a good thing for New Jersey. Though he’s in a fourth-line role, he’s a guy who could help the Devils maintain their success. Wood might be a one-trick pony, but his one trick is goal scoring, which is extremely important. Quenneville could replace him if he remains unsigned.

Defensemen

Andy Greene – Sami Vatanen

Will Butcher – Damon Severson

Mirco Mueller – Steven Santini

Extra defenseman candidates: Ben Lovejoy, Eric Gryba

That top pairing struggled mightily last season, as they didn’t break even in shot attempts or goals. My suspicion is Greene’s the primary issue, as Vatanen posted a positive relative CorsiFor percentage with Moore in 237 minutes.

Their second pairing is probably better than their first one. If Devils head coach John Hynes uses Butcher and Severson together, he’ll have at least one very reliable pairing. While their goals for percentage looks bad, their expected goals suggest they’re better than their goals for percentage claims.

Santini needs to be paired with a puck mover. Unfortunately, the Devils don’t have many options there.

Goaltenders

Cory Schneider

Keith Kinkaid

Eddie Lack

Schneider won’t be ready to start the season, so it’ll be up to Kinkaid to continue his magical run from last season. Neither goaltender posted impressive numbers and the Devils team save percentage ranked 15th out of 31 last season. They’ll need better goaltending than that to make the postseason again.

Strengths

Top Line Talent

Hall and Hischier combined for 145 points last season. Meanwhile, Palmieri posted 44 points in 62 games. The Devils scored 20 goals with this trio on the ice at five-on-five while allowing just 10. Hischier will have to take a big step forward in his development, as his defense is still among the worst in the NHL among top line centers.

Looking at his numbers, Devils fans should be optimistic he’ll improve. Hischier scored 2.38 points per hour at five-on-five (32nd in the league among forwards with at least 500 minutes), which is outstanding for a rookie. His passing is already among the best in the NHL, as he finished 22nd in primary assists per hour at five-on-five.

Special Teams

The Devils are traditionally a boring team, but that changed last season. New Jersey had the 10th most effective power play in the NHL, converting on 21.43 percent of their chances. Hall scored an eye-popping 10.05 points per hour on the man advantage, which was the highest rate in the league among forwards (minimum 50 minutes on the PP).

Meanwhile, Palmieri ranked sixth with 8.02 points per hour on the power play. Butcher was a huge addition to the power play, as he finished in the top 10 among defensemen with 6.44 points per hour on the man advantage (minimum 50 PP minutes).

The Devils also had the seventh-best penalty kill in the NHL, killing 81.78 percent of their penalties. No team scored more shorthanded goals than the Devils, who scored 11. New Jersey posted the third-lowest CorsiAgainst per hour rate while killing penalties, which suggests their penalty kill could be for real.

If the Devils can remain impressive on both ends of special teams, that’ll go a long way to ensuring they are a competitive team in the 2018-19 season.

Season Prediction

The New Jersey Devils came from out of nowhere last season to make the postseason. Nobody expected them to, but they did. It will be tougher to make the postseason with everyone gunning for them. They won’t be able to take anyone by surprise.

While the same thing could be said about the Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights, at least the former has the addition of Philipp Grubauer and the latter has the additions of Paul Stastny and Max Pacioretty to hang their hats on. The Devils did nothing to improve this summer and that’s a bit concerning for their playoff chances.

That said, New Jersey has a great young core and an elite player in Hall. It’s not hard to envision Hischier having a breakout season and Butcher flourishing in a second pairing role. I’d wager it’s more likely the Devils miss the postseason than they make it, but a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs is well within the realm of possibility.

The Devils will need better goaltending, which is far from a guarantee. They’ll also need their young players to continue to take steps forward, which is not a given either. But don’t be surprised if the Devils once again prove everyone wrong. It’s happened before and it could happen again.