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32 in (roughly) 32 Season Preview: New Jersey Devils

The Devils have assembled a world-beater of a team, but can they capitalize and bring home gold?

9/24/2022 • Gage Westerik

Team: New Jersey Devils

GM: Mark Stefenelli

Power Ranking Placement: 4/32 in league, 1/8 in division, 1/16 in conference

Significant Additions:

Anze Kopitar, C/W - 89 OV

Logan Couture, C/W - 88 OV

Drew Doughty, D - 88 OV

Scott Wedgewood, G - 81 OV

Ryan Carpenter, C/W - 78 OV

Morgan Frost, C/W - 76 OV

Significant Subtractions:

Mike Smith, G - 92 OV

Joe Pavelski, C/W - 88 OV

Zach Parise, C/W - 83 OV

Jaden Schwartz, C/W - 82 OV

Pavel Zacha, C/W - 82 OV

Ondrej Kase, C/W - 81 OV

Max Jones, C/W - Prospect

Offseason grade: A-

There have been discussions I’ve seen that the Devils have been the beneficiary of much help from the former GM of the Sharks, however, we shouldn’t let that taint the work that GM Mark Stefenelli has done to turn this team into what it is now (though it still bears mentioning). New Jersey essentially went from being number 8 in their conference to number 1, which is very impressive. The additions of Kopitar, Couture, and Doughty are massive boons to the team that will push them towards the next step in their hunt for the cup. They also benefit greatly from the re-rates, having players like Duchene, McCann, Murphy, Dunn, Sorokin, etc. take massive steps this past season. They downgrade in nets losing Mike Smith, but realistically there was no way they were going to be able to re-sign Smith at the price he would have costed with the team that they currently have, and Wedgewood should be serviceable as a backup in the limited games he’ll have to play. All-in-all, a very good off-season for the Devils.

Projected Lineup:

Tarasenko - Kopitar - Duchene

Reinhart - Hischier - Couture

Lee - Roslovic - McCann

Sundqvist - McLeod - Carpenter

Doughty - Pionk

Murphy - Dunn

Severson - Hague

Sorokin

Wedgewood

Quote from the GM:

GM Mark Stefenelli spoke highly of his team going into the upcoming season, stating “I’m excited about this season because I think the team is finally ready to be a contender. We’ve had some playoff success over the years, but anything less than a cup this season would be considered a failure.”

Season Expectations: Cup Favourites

As stated by GM Stefenelli, the Devils are hunting for a cup this off-season and anything less than that would be disappointing with the roster they’ve assembled. The team is the best it’s been and has become, in my opinion, the number 1 team in the Eastern conference, as well as the number 4 team in the entire league. An extremely deep forward group that might be the best in the league, a deep defensive core that will be tough to beat, and a solid tandem in nets with one of the best in the world in Ilya Sorokin. There isn’t much more you could ask for in a cup-contending team, and the Devils should feel very confident going into this season.

In the next entry, we’ll be covering the New York Islanders. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day!

Previous entries:

Anaheim Ducks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-anaheim-ducks

Arizona Coyotes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-sesaon-preview-arizona-coyotes

Boston Bruins: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-boston-bruins

Buffalo Sabres: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-buffalo-sabres

Calgary Flames: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-calgary-flames

Carolina Hurricanes: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-carolina-hurricanes

Chicago Blackhawks: https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-chicago-blackhawks

Colorado Avalanche: https://dchl.ca/articles/league/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-colorado-avalanche

Columbus Blue Jackets:

https://dchl.ca/articles/senators/32-in-roughly-32-season-preview-columbus-blue-jackets