It was a very fortunate night for General Manager Ray Shero on Tuesday, whose offseason plans for the New Jersey Devils have been affected exponentially after winning the 2019 NHL Draft Lottery. Despite this year’s setback, Shero seems to have the organization on the right track and won’t veer from his long-term plan. With the New Jersey Devils most likely slated to pick center Jack Hughes first overall at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft however, this (along with former first overall pick, Nico Hischier) will give the organization two (projected) star-caliber centers to continue building around, a blueprint that is very familiar to Ray Shero.
As many of us know, Ray Shero presided over the Pittsburgh Penguins for eight seasons (2006-2014) prior to joining the New Jersey Devils. While I did point out in a previously-written piece how Shero ultimately had little to do with forming Pittsburgh’s foundation and player core, the Penguins made back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances under Shero’s watch (2008, 2009), with the organization winning their third championship in the latter year. Shero is also credited with acquiring many Penguins players that were central to their recent back-to-back Stanley Cup championships (2016, 2017).
Despite being in another situation where Shero can build around two star-caliber centers, there are some notable differences between Shero’s time in Pittsburgh and New Jersey, which will essentially prevent Shero from solely relying on the same blueprint as he used with the Penguins. The biggest distinction are the situations Shero inherited when he first joined each organization.
As I noted in my previously-written piece that I cited earlier, Pittsburgh’s foundation was already in place when Shero arrived. With the New Jersey Devils, Shero built his own from scratch—along with having some unparalleled draft lottery luck.
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Another difference is the additional assets Shero had with each team. For most of his seasons in Pittsburgh, those teams saw a revolving door of different right and left wings to play alongside Crosby and Malkin. Pittsburgh’s lack of sufficient depth at wing inhibited the team from achieving more postseason success beyond 2009, making just one deep playoff run (2013) from 2010-2015.
In New Jersey, Shero previously acquired two high-scoring wingers (Kyle Palmieri, Taylor Hall) before Nico Hischier and the 2019 first overall pick fell into his lap. Unlike Crosby and Malkin in Pittsburgh, New Jersey’s offense won’t be entirely centered around the Hischier/Hughes one-two punch. With Jack Hughes most likely coming into the fold, his presence will provide more balanced scoring on the first and second lines, which will take pressure off New Jersey’s top unit. As top-line wingers, Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri give the Devils two additional established scoring threats—in addition to whatever acquisitions Shero makes in the coming months.
This segues into New Jersey’s bountiful salary cap situation, which is a luxury Shero didn’t necessarily have in Pittsburgh that affected his ability to obtain top-end wingers for Crosby and Malkin. This summer, Shero will have over $30 million in cap space available, giving him the flexibility to add more scoring talent around his top-two centers—along with being able to re-sign Taylor Hall long-term. Under Shero, Crosby and Malkin cycled through an array of wingers on their lines like James Neal, Marian Hossa, Chris Kunitz, Mark Recchi, Petr Sykora and Bill Guerin. All of these players either failed to remain long-term fixtures on the Penguins or weren’t genuine top-line wingers.
Tust because adding Jack Hughes would revamp the New Jersey Devils a player foundation to emulate Pittsburgh’s, it doesn’t mean Ray Shero is going to alter his vision for this team. Shero obviously wants to turn the New Jersey Devils into a winning franchise and with a player like Jack Hughes, he can incorporate more aspects of the formula he succeeded with in Pittsburgh, into his plans for the Devils. Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes have essentially become Ray Shero’s new Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin one-two punch. The Devils having a one-two punch at center like like the Pittsburgh Penguins is a sign of the team improving as a whole and—when taking the Devil’s current core players into consideration—puts Shero in a more advantageous situation with the New Jersey Devils than he had with his previous team.