New Jersey Devils: Building Around The Young Players Now
The New Jersey Devils are trading away a lot of the veterans on the team. It appears that the plan is to completely build around the young guys.
The New Jersey Devils made some tough decisions on Sunday afternoon. They got themselves a pretty decent haul for Andy Greene and Blake Coleman. A 2020 1st-round pick, a 2021 2nd-round pick, a high-level prospect, and a low-level prospect came between two trades. It is a significant day in the future of this organization after making deals with
Interm General Manager Tom Fitzgerald made it pretty clear that this team is building around the young players that are already here. It seems like Nico Hischier, Jack Hughes, and MacKenzie Blackwood are the ones he is most concerned about building around. That is probably the best train of thought for a team in the position that the Devils are in.
They now have Hughes, Hischier, and Blackwood as their true building blocks. They are hoping that Ty Smith, Jesper Bratt, Jesper Boqvist, and Nolan Foote among others will start to fill out the lineup. That is the way to make a team very good so that is the route they are taking. If all of these guys start to reach their potential at the same time, the Devils could be a dangerous organization for a long time.
It doesn’t feel like this team is going anywhere any time soon, but it does seem like the future is pretty bright with some of these young players. They are going to need to be strong at the draft this year. They already have three picks lined up to be made this year in the first round and could end up with one or two more if they make any other significant trades. At that point, it is up to them to take advantage of what appears to be a very fruitful draft.
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It is less than fun to watch heart and soul guys like Andy Greene and Blake Coleman go, but hindsight might show this to be a very successful day in the future. It is up to the organization to make that happen. The good news is that they clearly are committed to building around the young players that they already have, especially the two that they took with the first overall pick.