With New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero looking to build around Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier, and the possibility of Jack Hughes coming in, it seems Ray Shero had a very productive night recently. He spent three hours with Pat Brisson (the agent of Jack Hughes). This sounded very promising since Amanda Stein, the New Jersey Devils beat writer, mentioned in a recent one on one video with Ray Shero.
This sounds similar to when Ray Shero spent nearly five hours with Nico Hischier in Bern, Switzerland during what was supposed to be a lunch. Ray was having a really good dialogue interviewing Jack Hughes at the combine for 20 minutes. It seemed based on what Mike Morreale of NHL.com said on the NHL Draft Podcast that he’s betting on Jack Hughes to New Jersey.
If I can extract from these recent events, it seems that the New Jersey Devils are high on Jack Hughes, meanwhile they are doing their due diligence in calling Kaapo Kakko’s agent to have a talk with the Finnish winger as well. Regardless it still feels like Jack Hughes can be the guy who can be the long term guy that can improve The Devils down the middle.
What I see Ray doing is trying to acquire a defenseman via trade around the draft. It maybe Olli Maatta, Jacob Trouba or whoever possible that won’t hurt Ray Shero spending more of that cap money which hasn’t been touched all that much.
Ray, on the other hand, has been waiting to bring in players with skill, talent, and the ability to mold this Devils roster in a more defensive minded as well as some offensively skilled. The other thing Ray can do in free agency is trying land someone like Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle, or Gustav Nyquist.
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Defense was very bad last season. I see Ray investing extra picks in a NHL ready player who might not be on our radar, and who knows better than Shero. He might pluck a Penguin like Olli Maatta who can be a bit physical, and move the puck to create scoring chances. Sami Vatanen can either be in the top-two pairing or be a key trade piece for something interesting.
Eberle makes a whole lot of sense as an excellent veteran the Islanders had. He has a lot of speed, scoring, and veteran leadership. He is a former teammate of Taylor Hall and they also hung out at the Toronto Raptors game recently. Eberle would add more right wing depth. Matt Duchene has been through a lot getting dealt to Ottawa for the pick to Colorado that NJ jumped in the NHL Draft Lottery. Then it seemed Duchene was getting hot in time for the NHL Trade Deadline which ended up putting him on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Gustav Nyquist had 22 goals and 38 assists in 81 games playing both wing positions between Detroit and San Jose. The last three seasons, he has scored between 40-60 points a season to average 50 points. That is a very good number, and he is a great bet to have for the next three seasons at least. Regardless of what he’s asking for, I’m 110% sure he is worth every penny. He is a very good skater and seems to play outstanding every season.
This is going to be one busy offseason for Ray Shero. He is going to have to improve this roster, and stock pile young players and veterans alike to go from 72 points to hopefully 98 points next season. I do see more people raising their expectations this summer. It’s not unheard of, but it’s expected to see internal and external players help growing this up and coming Devils team near and long term.