New Jersey Devils: This Offseason Continues Ray Shero’s Progress
With over seven years since “HENRIQUE!!!! IT’S OVER!!” That special moment has been the biggest moment since a huge display of offense by the New Jersey Devils on Scott Niedermayer‘s Jersey retirement night in December 2011. It shows you how father time has shifted from 2012 to the 2015 offseason when Lou Lamoriello hired Ray Shero “effective immediately” over a conference call.
Growing up watching Ray Shero as the opposing team GM of the Pittsburgh Penguins made many of us hate the Penguins because we had to deal with Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Marc-Andre Fleury in the middle of their prime. That sample from 2006-2014 made me really love the business model under Shero’s watch. Then on that one night in 2015 when Ray Shero was hired by Lou I was on cloud 11.
From the moment after Lou’s last draft in 2015, Ray Shero began his transition plugging in a dear friend and a marvelous Director of Amateur Scouting, Paul Castron. Castron has been very pivotal assembling scouts from the 2016 draft to the present. It always seems each year Shero’s scouts knew how to find talent in the zones of North America, Europe, and parts of Russia.
It took some less-than-stellar moments from buying out Mike Cammalleri and Devante Smith-Pelly (after he was traded for Stefan Matteau with Montreal). Also placing Ryane Clowe on LTIR.
However, look at what Ray Shero had done. He flipped guys like Vernon Fiddler and P.A. Parenteau for picks, and later doing a nice hockey deal trading Adam Henrique for Sami Vatenen in a package with Joe Blandisi included. Not to forget trading away Joey Dudek and a 3rd for Maroon at last year’s trade deadline. Dealing Yegor Rykov and a late pick for Michael Grabner was one of the downsides of Ray’s trading at the deadline, but it was worth the gamble to make way for possibly Jocktan Chainey who needs to be signed after the Memorial Cup.
Also lets not forget the trades for Kyle Palmieri and Taylor Hall that have paid major dividends over the past few years. Another move was dealing Keith Kinkaid for a mid-round pick to Columbus that has made way for Gilles Senn to come over from Switzerland. Now, if I am thinking back to the 2015 offseason the biggest dividend has been the hire of Ray Shero.
Ray has been selling off dead weight contracts, moving some average Joe’s for some more higher potential trades. If I had a crystal ball with guys like Kasperi Kapanen, William Nylander, Jason Zucker, Phil Kessel, and Jake Trouba as possible trade targets, I see Ray Shero making a few moves this offseason. However with the history between Ray Shero and past GM’s I see him using his extra picks in the 2nd and 3rd round to leverage a possible Andre Burakovsky type trade. I expect Ray to be asking many other gm’s for different offers very soon because Taylor Hall needs more talent and depth surround him, Nico, Palms, Bratt, and likely Hughes/Kakko after.
It won’t be long to see The Devils winning more games and cranking up Howl for each goal, and blast Song 2 by The Blur, and singing Glory Days after every home game. But Devils fans will cheer, and go WOOOOOO WOOOOOO WOOOOOOO along with Ric Flair on the jumbotron during games, and after wins.
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I have to mention that the boys back at The Let’s Go Devils Podcast, and Jake Wakely a dear Devils friend of mine will be so excited for the upcoming draft. Like a fortune cookie you hope it reads along the lines of “many good things will happen for you today, and positive karma is on its way.” Well we are all hoping with the transition from Lou to Ray where we learned “In Ray We Trust”, and with Paul Castron nothing feels wrong. I will quote Castron from the Nico and Nolan debate “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
To me it makes a whole lot of sense after listening to Craig J. Button of TSN say:
"“Kakko is a terrific player. There’s no question that at the start of the season Hughes stood alone as the top player in this draft class, but Kakko has shown through his play that there’s a credible conversation to be had about who should be in the top spot, but if two prospects are this close I’m still taking the center over the winger every time – unless that winger’s name is Alex Ovechkin.”"
This makes me think of the special card the New Jersey Devils Ticket reps sent out for season ticket membership. John Tavares, Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Steven Stamkos, and Nico Hischier are the six centers taken 1st overall. Gabriel Landeskog, Taylor Hall, and Alexander Ovechkin are the only three Wingers to go first overall. 6/9 of those 1st overalls equal a near 67% chance of Ray Shero likely taking Jack Hughes. 3/9 is the 33% chance of a winger going first overall.
The Conclusion: Today’s NHL is built around very dynamic centers that can be playmakers, and goal scorers. They have speed, first-class puck skills, high end hockey senses, and astonishing hockey IQ. There is a burning fire in each of these recent players that makes it so interesting to watch. But Ray is very likely snagging Hughes to have his 1-2 punch for many moons to come.