The New Jersey Devils suddenly have a deep forward pool to choose from coming into this season. Because of this depth, especially at center, John Quenneville may have trouble cracking the lineup.
The New Jersey Devils have a great problem on their hands. They come into this week’s developmental camp with a ton of great young forwards, and only a few spots on the roster for them. Theoretically, there is probably three to five spots on the roster for nine players who fans could see playing in the NHL this season.
When looking at the players in camp this week, Pavel Zacha, Miles Wood and Nico Hischier are close to guaranteed a roster spot. Two played almost the whole season with the Devils last year, and the other is Nico Hischier.
There are a bunch of guys who have some NHL experience, including Nick Lappin, Joseph Blandisi and Blake Coleman. There’s also a group who showed they can contribute based on dominant Junior seasons, including Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian.
When looking at this roster as a whole, former first-round pick John Quenneville may be the player with the most trouble finding a place on this team.
Quenneville was anything but consistent last season. He was very good in the AHL last season. He scored 46 points in 58 games and helped lead the Albany Devils (RIP) to the playoffs. Once he had a crack at the big leagues, however, he struggled.
To be fair, he joined the Devils during the height of their struggles. During his final ten games in the NHL last season, the Devils lost all but one game. It was a tough time for the team, both the players and the fans. It would be hard to judge him based solely on that stretch.
Quenneville is definitely coming into his own. In most seasons, he’d be a lock on this Devils roster. Unfortunately for him, the Devils may need to choose between him and McLeod on the opening night roster. If they choose Quenneville, McLeod is forced to go back to Juniors for another season, which could hurt his seasoning as a whole. Quenneville, on the other hand, can go back to the AHL to start.
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Just because of the Devils depth, and the hard decisions John Hynes needs to make up front, Quenneville could end up being the odd man out. This fact makes this week’s camp so important for him. The Devils brass say there are no roster spots on the line in development camp. That’s true in a sense, but players can stand out and give Devils coaches something to play off of come September.
If Quenneville does find himself in the minors to start the season, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He’s still just 21 years old. He has plenty of time to perfect his game, and he may need to work on a position change. He’ll definitely spend a lot of time in the NHL this season, but he may have to wait for the inevitable injury to get his chance.
All this obviously depends on Ray Shero. The Devils GM is still looking for a deal to bring in an upgrade on the defense. That deal could either move someone taking up a roster spot, or could even include Quenneville himself.
Quenneville will be fine either way. He’s ready to contribute on the NHL roster, but a start below this is not devastating. What the Devils should try to avoid is starting him as a healthy scratch. He needs a little more seasoning, whether thats in Binghamton or in New Jersey.