New Jersey Devils 4th Line Player and Point Projections
With training camp approaching it’s time to look at the New Jersey Devils roster. Some late additions have changed my initial thoughts. We’ll start from the 4th line and work our way up. All projections are assuming a full 82 game season.
Miles Wood-Brian Boyle-Stefan Noesen
Miles Wood 9 Goals, 12 Assists
Wood found himself up and down the Devils lineup last year. He’s a high-motor player, and a physical player. This should allow him to slot in nicely as a 4th line winger. A former 4th round pick out of Boston College, he posted eight goals and nine assists in his rookie campaign. Playing Wood strictly in a bottom 6 role should take some of the pressure off. It’s a role much more suited for him.
He averaged 12:51 time on ice last year, and I would expect that number stays in the same range. The major difference is that I wouldn’t expect Wood to slide up the lineup as much this year. Despite the injury to Travis Zajac, the Devils should have a set top 6 with plenty of left shot players.
Boyle: 12 goals, 12 assists
Boyle wasn’t the flashiest offseason signing, but he may be one of the more impactful. Boyle can fill the 3rd or 4th line center role, but fits better on the 4th. He’s a career 50% faceoff man. Despite being 32, he managed to post 13 goals and 12 assists in 75 games last year. Boyle is another big physical player to add to the team. With the loss of Travis Zajac I would expect that he’ll log a ton of penalty kill time.
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Noesen: 11 goals, 12 assists
Noesen is a former Anaheim Ducks first-round pick who was never really given a chance with the Ducks. He signed a one-year, two-way deal this offseason, so the ball is in his court. If he doesn’t perform well at camp, or has a poor showing to start the year, he could find himself in Binghamton.
With that said, he played well for the Devils in 32 games last year. He scored six even strength goals. Truthfully, I could see Noesen beating out Drew Stafford for a spot on the third line. Noesen is a young player and it wouldn’t hurt the Devils to push Stafford down the lineup and Noesen up to see what he can produce with a full season of work.