New Jersey Devils: Off-season Addition Expectations

The New Jersey Devils missed out on Kevin Shattenkirk in free agency but that didn’t ruin their offseason.  After winning the lottery and a classic Ray Shero July trade, New Jersey looks poised to improve.

Coming into this off-season the expectation was that the Devils would pursue Kevin Shattenkirk.  Many people (myself included) thought that given our geographical location and our cap space that it would also be a no brainer for Shattenkirk.  However, this obviously wasn’t the case.

The Devils would still go on to make a couple big moves.  It all started with winning the draft lottery.  Adding top 6 forwards in the NHL is never easy and the Devils were basically gifted one this year in Nico Hischier at number one overall.  Then came a classic Ray Shero move of acquiring a top six forward in July. Along with adding two top 6 forwards, Shero signed Brian Boyle to a two-year deal where he’ll likely slide into a 4^th line center role.

Marcus Johansson

We’ll start off by looking at Marcus Johansson and what kind of boost he’ll provide to an offensively challenged New Jersey team.  While the first line is likely set with a Taylor Hall-Travis Zajac-Kyle Palmieri combination, we can look forward to an entirely overhauled 2^nd line.  It looks likely that Johnansson will fill the 2^nd line RW role, despite Shero saying he could play any position.

The past two years the Devils have signed older free agents to slide into top 6 roles and have turned them into assets at the deadline.  For comparisons sake we’ll take a look at Johansson vs PA Parenteau/Michael Cammalleri.  As you can see Johnansson, was the far more productive player at even strength, easily exceeding the expectations of a 2^nd line winger.

Johansson spent the year on a very good Washington team, where he set career highs in both goals and assists with 24 and 34 respectively.  While power-play production is hard to predict, he netted 19 even strength goals and had 20 even strength assists.  Johansson should provide the play-making ability that the Devils have been lacking on their 2^nd line, and should provide a much needed boost.

Nico Hischier

One of the hardest things to predict in the NHL is rookie production.  It seems the Devils expect the #1 overall pick to slide right into the 2nd line center role.  This is big because Adam Henrique severely under performed as a 2nd line center last year, and should have a much better year sliding out to a wing.

I don’t think its fair to compare Hischier to generational talents like Conor McDavid and Auston Mathews. We should look at the production of players like Nail Yakupov, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, John Tavares, and Nathan MacKinnon to get an idea of what we can expect.

The lowest goal total of the four averaged out over 82 games (RNH only played 62 games his rookie campaign and Yakupov’s rookie year was lockout shortened) was 23.  They also hit around 30 assists on average.  I think its safe to say a fair expectation for Hischier as a 2nd line center is around 20 goals and 25 assists on the low side.  Considering Henrique played a full season and had 20 goals and 20 assists, Hischier’s an immediate upgrade.

Shero was able to completely revamp the Devils top 6 without mortgaging the future at all.  Trading two picks acquired for taking on Marc Savard’s contract and for Lou going to Toronto allowed him to acquire Johansson. Winning the lottery landed us Hischier.  Henrique has the opportunity for a bounce back year sliding out to wing and with two new linemates.

Brian Boyle

One of the more underrated signings of free agency was Brian Boyle.  Boyle is likely to fill in as the 4th line center where his production far exceeds expectations.  He is a very productive 4th liner and can eat up minutes on the penalty kill as well.  He netted 10 even strength goals last year and can even slide in as a power forward on the power play where he picked up 3 goals.

On top of just being a solid player Boyle brings veteran leadership to a team sorely lacking it.  Andy Green and Travis Zajac are two of the clear leaders on this team, and adding Boyle adds both leadership and production.  Boyle also adds a layer of protection for the Devils young stars.  The Devils could potentially have Hischier, Pavel Zacha, Michael Mcleod, and even John Quenneville in the NHL this year so adding a productive tough guy at the bottom of the lineup was a smart move.

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The chart below can be found here.  A better explanation can be found on the site as well but if Boyle is able to keep up the same level of play will certainly slide into perfectly into the 4th line center role.

Overall I believe Shero made some outstanding moves.  By trading for Johansson and drafting Hischier he’s completely revamped the 2nd line.  Allowing Henrique to slide out to a wing should provide the boost the Devils need to jump from near the bottom in scoring.

What’s Next?

It appears New Jersey is set offensively, but defensively there are still plenty of question marks.  We’ll see if Shero makes another move or if he’s expecting this unit to perform better than last year after only adding Mirco Mueller.  Our own Ken Jones looked at ways we could improve the defense.  We’ll see if they stand pat or if there is more to come.