There are a lot of good forward options out there. We’ll start by addressing what I believe is the New Jersey Devils biggest offseason need up front, a top six right wing.
Kyle Palmieri, as much as we all love him as a New Jersey Devils player, is not a great top 6 RW. While he didn’t hold Nico Hischier and Taylor Hall back by any means, his major contributions were on the powerplay and his 5v5 play needs to improve.
There are certain pieces in the top six that I’d like to believe are currently set in stone, or simply that we can count on them to produce moving forward.
Hall-Hischier-Palmieri
Johansson-Zacha
Assuming the Devils re-sign both Coleman and Noesen, the 3rd line should remain intact with Travis Zajac centering those two.
The 4th line should utilize some combination of Miles Wood, Jesper Bratt, and, of course, Brian Boyle.
Youngster’s John Quenneville and Michael McLeod will each also get a shot at earning a spot in this lineup. I actually like Q’s chances this time around.
Before we get into it, let me thank the people who provide this data corsica.hockey, Matt Cane with the salary projections, Bill Comeau with the vizzes, and Micah Blake McCurdy whose website hockeyviz.com is an incredible resource when evaluating teams and players.
Now let’s take a look at the best available options for the Devils to address their top six issues.