New Jersey Devils: Great Expectations For Each Position

Centers have been a missing ingredient over the years for Shero and company. However, with the blessing of not once, but twice, the draft lottery mojo has allowed Ray Shero and company to draft Nico Hischier out of Halifax in the QMHL, and Jack Hughes out of the USNTDP. This is the “Crosby-Malkin effect”.

Ray Shero now gets to use a similar recipe he had in Pittsburgh. Over the years, Travis Zajac has always been a key cog in the Devils center depth. Zajac provides leadership, skill on offense, and defense. Pavel Zacha began maturing into being a better center while gaining more confidence. With the help of Patrik Elias around him as an “unofficial coach” will help him a ton.

During last season’s Stanley Cup run for the St. Louis Blues, we saw how important Ryan O’Reilly was to the St. Louis Blues. There are many other examples, including the Chicago Blackhawks’ Jonathan Toews who won three Stanley Cups and three Conn Smythe Trophies. This is why Ray Shero knows how to build a winner from scratch the long and hard way.

Shero over the years didn’t have Hischier and Hughes so with a lot of firepower in those two centers they can make anyone on their offensive end far much better players by getting open, dishing the puck in the open slots, and being able to fire the puck at will.