Comparing New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers Rosters
By Nick Villano
The First Line
The New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers both made big acquisitions, but only one of them made a change to their first-line forward group. The Rangers biggest move was bringing in Artemi Panarin. They spent more than $11 million to finally get a finisher on that first line. Beforehand, all their moves would still feel incomplete because without Panarin their first-line would have Chris Kreider on it.
The Devils could do a lot of things with this top line, but it seems safe to say that Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier should be a pair on it. Kyle Palmieri is a wild card, but as of right now he’s probably the best choice.
So basically, we’re looking at line with one massive star, one young center with nothing but promise and a right wing with 30-goal upside. Pavel Buchnevich is looking to have his own breakout season with Panarin here.
This is another thing these teams have in common. There is a ton of unknown on the top line. Will Panarin be able to be a star in the Big Apple? Can Taylor Hall bounce back to his MVP winning ways after a major knee injury? Is Nico Hischier ready to break out into a 70-point player, like Zibanejad did last season?
Now that we’re comparing these two, we have to do it based on upside. There’s just nothing else we could do with it because there’s nothing we have to go off of at this point. We have to give the upside play to the Devils here. Hall could be a 100-point player, Hischier could eventually become one of the best two-way centers in the league and Kyle Palmieri is a proven scorer.