With Bob McKenzie coming out bold thee other day saying he is “99.9 percent sure that Jack Hughes goes first overall,” this would be a huge shift forward. Guys like Tyler Myers, Jonas Donskoi, and Gustav Nyquist are all interesting pieces to the puzzle. Ray Shero can begin his free agent talks on the 23rd of June.
If I had to build a pre-season roster it currently looks like this :
Offense:
Taylor Hall– Jack Hughes- Kyle Palmieri
Timo Meier– Nico Hischier– Blake Coleman
Jesper Bratt– Travis Zajac– Jesper Boqvist
Miles Wood– Pavel Zacha– Michael McLeod
Defense
Tyler Myers/Colin Miller– Damon Severson
Ty Smith – Sami Vatanen
Andy Greene – Jeremy Davies
Goalies:
Mackenzie Blackwood
Summarizing The Fantasy Roster
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The top-six line possesses a lot of speed, skill, scoring, and dynamics to the Devils roster. This includes having Timo Meier coming in a trade down the line, which would likely involve Will Butcher. The bottom six is much faster, smarter, and has a chance to be more physical and yield more scoring chances.
Over the years, bottom-six players has been more of a grind it out line but not enough consistency in scoring. I’d like to see lines 3 and 4 produce more consistently, especially when the Top 6 lines can’t score on certain nights. The defense has more skill, strength, and physical ability to shutdown other teams. Damon Severson is an excellent offensive-defenseman and he does need a Colin Miller type guy to compliment his game.
Ty Smith and Sami Vatanen make a lot of sense for me. Smith is a very intelligent left handed shot who can not only pass the puck, but he can skate like the wind on zone entries. At times last pre-season I thought Smith skated like Taylor Hall. Sami Vatanen is a really good 2-way defenseman who knows how to play offense as well. Sami can hold his own on the right side, and shutdown opposing teams.
Andy Greene is getting up there in age with 1 year left and he needs a kid like Jeremy Davies to help add more stability on the opposite side. Davies has more speed, skating, hockey iq, and senses that would build the bottom 3 pairing in a brighter light.
Tyler Myers is a guy who I liked over the years where in Winnipeg he has been a physical presence, and he can score his fair share of points. Not exactly sure if Shero goes out and signs him by July 1st.
If the goaltending can stay healthy between Cory Schneider and Mackenzie Blackwood, this can be a great tandem. Todays game proves you can’t just have a starter and a backup. You need two have 2 really good starters competing game in and game out.
It all starts with Jack Hughes. The Devils taking him tonight changes just about everything.