New Jersey Devils: 2nd Defense Pair Projections
We’ve gone through 4th line, 3rd line, and 3rd defensive pair projections for the New Jersey Devils so far. We’ll get into the 2nd defensive pair today and then the 3 remaining lines next week.
2nd Defense Pair
John Moore-Steven Santini
John Moore: 3 goals, 10 assists
Moore had the best year of his career offensively last year. Unfortunately, it’s more than likely we will see some severe regression. Moore has a career Shot% (S%) of 5.1 but last year he saw his S% climb to 11.8. It’s safe to expect a large drop off in production and his defensive play is subpar. Moore is on the last year of his deal and will be a UFA next year. After acquiring Will Butcher, Michael Kapla, Mirco Mueller, and Yaroslav Dyblenko I would expect Ray Shero to move Moore to a contender at some point this year.
I originally expected Will Butcher would start the year in Binghamton but I think there’s a good chance he ends up in the NHL earlier than I thought. Moore should start the year on the 2nd pair but we could find Steven Santini and Will Butcher reunited again sooner rather than later.
Protecting Moore during the expansion draft allowed Coach Hynes to give his younger players more time to develop if need be. It also allows Ray Shero to flip Moore for an asset at some point this year. Moore, along with Ben Lovejoy, is likely more suited for a 3rd pair role but finds himself in the top 4 with New Jersey. Look for Moore to log plenty of time and likely be shipped off for a future asset at the deadline.
Steven Santini: 4 goals, 15 assists
Steven Santini played 38 games for the Devils last year and showed that he belonged. If he continues to progress he’ll find himself a nice role in the Devils top 4 for years to come. If John Hynes doesn’t think he’s ready we may see him down on the 3rd pair but I really think he’ll excel in a 2nd pair role.
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He was paired with Will Butcher on the Devils top pair at their recent prospect tournament and the two worked well together. Ideally we’ll see Butcher and Santini together at some point this year.
It’s in the Devils best interest to let their younger players get as much experience as possible now. Santini averaged 16 minutes of ice time a game last year and I would expect that to climb into the 18 minute range.
The Devils defense is predicted to be one of the worst groups in the league this year and it’s hard to argue that. However, there are some positives when looking at this group. They only have two players above 30 and they just locked Damon Severson up for 6 years. Youth is a good thing. And while the Devils missed out Kevin Shattenkirk this year adding an older veteran other than Shattenkirk would have only delayed player development.
Summary
Look for a good year from Steven Santini. All though I assume he’ll start the year with John Moore we could get a glimpse at a really good future pairing of Santini with Butcher sometime around the halfway point.