New Jersey Devils Should Keep Taylor Hall-Nico Hischier-Kyle Palmieri Line Together
By Tyler Kelley
It’s been an exciting offseason for the New Jersey Devils. After adding Jack Hughes, Nikita Gusev, Jesper Boqvist, and Wayne Simmonds to the NHL roster there’s much more roster flexibility than Devils fans or the organization are used to.
Flexibility and depth are great things to have on an NHL roster, but there can be such a thing as trying to do too much. That’s exactly how it looks about the potential of splitting up the Hall-Hischier-Palmieri line, at least to start the year.
First, let’s talk about how good these three have been over the past two years. From 2017-19, the trio has played 576 minutes together at 5v5 and has an xGF% of 54.20 in that period.
(Numbers from Natural Stat Trick)
In 2017-18, they struggled defensively but still had great offensive output. Using Micah Blake McCurdy’s environment distiller, we see that in 17-18 the trio had a net +5% output above league average in over 200 minutes at 5v5. The next season, their play together improved significantly defensively and we saw that jump to a net of +35%! That’s better than Boston’s Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–David Pastrnak trio that’s generally considered one of, if not the best 1st line in the NHL. It’s also better than the Landeskog-Mackinnnon-Rantanen trio in Colorado. That’s a pretty good standard being set by the Devils 1st line.
I don’t disagree with the idea that putting a shooter like Kyle Palmieri alongside Nikita Gusev and Jack Hughes could find success, but is it worth splitting up one of the best first lines in hockey?
Jesper Bratt is one of the top shooters on the Devils current roster behind Palmieri and Hall, so he seems like a logical selection to start the year on the 2nd line.
Jesper Boqvist has shown the ability to score at a decent rate in Sweden as well and has looked great throughout the preseason.
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Wayne Simmonds is a logical fit given the fact that he’s been a mainstay in Philadelphia’s top six essentially his entire career. The Devils brought him in on a one-year, prove-it deal to seemingly fill a hole in the top six. Unfortunately, Simmonds doesn’t seem to be a great fit in the top six at 5v5. Most of his success in recent years has come on the power play where he’s consistently towards the top of the league in generating High-Danger chances.
A sleeper selection for the role is Blake Coleman. Coleman’s shooting talent is only slightly behind Jesper Bratt, and he’s more effective away from the puck in both the offensive and defensive zones. While splitting up Zajac and Coleman seems unlikely especially since John Hynes seems to love keeping the two paired, it may be worth a look.
The moral of the story here is that behind Hall-Hischier-Palmieri the Devils have a ton of options. By keeping the 1st line in tact to start the year there’s less pressure on the 2nd line to produce immediately and allows more flexibility in the middle six. If the 1st line and 2B line of Coleman-Zajac/whoever isn’t on the 2nd line can produce then there’s no rush to find the perfect fit for the 2nd line. Less pressure is a good thing when your 2A line is comprised of 2, maybe 3, players that are in the NHL for the first time in their careers.
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In the end, the Devils should lock in Hall-Hischier-Palmieri, Gusev-Hughes, Coleman-Zajac, and let the other pieces fall where they fit best.
For the first time in a long time it seems the Devils have an embarrassment of riches, and that’s nice to see.
Advanced Statistics from: