New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Who Can Solidify Their Spot For Next Season
The New Jersey Devils don’t have a lot to look forward to this season, but with some young players in the lineup, they have the chance to give themselves a spot on next year’s team.
The New Jersey Devils are going to look a lot different next season. There’s no two ways around it. They traded away five NHL roster players at or near the NHL Trade Deadline, and didn’t really get anyone of note back to replace them immediately. After sending away Andy Greene, Sami Vatanen, Blake Coleman, Wayne Simmonds and Louis Domingue, they only got Freddie Claesson who can actually slot into the NHL roster. Heck, add in the Taylor Hall trade from December and it’s the same position.
This opens a ton of spots for players who spent most of the season in Binghamton. Right now, we count eight forward positions, three defensemen and one goalie as locks to see the starting lineup based on current contract. Of course, trades could change that, but even without that we count four wide open forward spots and three wide open defensemen spots.
There are already some players pushing for those spots on the NHL roster right now. The Devils already called up multiple players across the board, and sent others down. They are clearly working out who they think is better suited to show their skills in the NHL, and which ones need to build confidence in the AHL. There’s also the aspect of a playoff race. The Devils NHL team is not fighting for the playoffs. The AHL absolutely is.
Either way, the Devils are going to go into next season with major decisions to make on these young players. What they do over the last dozen-or-so games will help whoever ends up in charge next season decide where they slot. So, who really needs to prove themselves over this stretch?
Jesper Boqvist
This one seems kind of obvious, but it’s definitely not a lock to see Jesper Boqvist in next year’s lineup after what we saw from him this season. For one, it depends a lot on what the New Jersey Devils do in the NHL Draft and free agency. If they sign two top-six forwards, where does that put Boqvist? Then again, if they trade someone like Travis Zajac this offseason, it almost guarantees him a spot in the top nine, which is crucial for his development.
Boqvist has not had a good season, even if it’s not entirely his fault. He spent most of his time in the NHL on the fourth line, where he was getting an average of under 11 minutes of TOI per game. He only scored four goals over 35 games, which is obviously atrocious on paper for a kid of his caliber.
In the AHL, he’s a dominant force. B-Devils play-by-play guy Rob Lippolis told us on the Let’s Go Devils Podcast last week that he’s almost always the best player on the ice on both teams. There, he has eight goals in 18 games, and most of them have come recently as he’s settled in with his new linemates.
It’s pretty clear that Boqvist is extremely close to NHL ready. If this were baseball, we’d call him a quadruple-A player. He’s right on the cusp, but the good news is he’s just 21 years old and playing his first season in North America. No matter what, the Devils have to find a way to get this kid on the power play, because he is going to thrive there. The fact he only had three power play shots in 35 NHL games is a crime. If he keeps playing the way he’s playing in the minors, it will be hard to keep him there another season.
Joey Anderson
Joey Anderson was so close to solidifying his role on this roster last season, but a major injury forced him on the sidelines for months, and kind of reset his development. He started in the AHL for most of the season, and was called up in early February. This is much different from his first professional NHL season, when he was called up within the first month of the season.
He’s been much better this season, which is expected from a guy jumping from the college game. He has six points in 17 games, including four goals. Last season, he had just seven points in 34 games. Then, in Binghamton, he had 34 points in 44 games. He proved himself to be at least a borderline NHL player already.
Next season, we expect him to slot into the NHL right away. There are too many open spots, and he’s played well enough to prove himself worthy. He’s also playing close to two minutes of penalty kill time per game. On a team with dynamite penalty killers like Travis Zajac, Pavel Zacha and Kevin Rooney, it shows the trust coaches have in Anderson. In 31 minutes of penalty kill time, he’s only been on the ice for nine high-danger chances against.
Take a close look at Anderson’s numbers. He’s on the ice for a ton of total chances (186 against and just 140 for). However, of those chances, 32 of 140 for are of the high danger variety, and 23 of the 186 are high danger against (all at 5v5). To translate that for the common man (and most since this is a ton of numbers), around 23% of all of the chances the Devils had with Anderson on the ice were the best possible chances to score. Of the opponents chances, only around 12% were the most dangerous of chances. If Anderson stays on this path, we can’t see him playing in the AHL at all next season.
Kevin Rooney
This one is intriguing because Kevin Rooney can walk away from the New Jersey Devils for nothing since he’s an unrestricted free agent. Rooney is a player that gets a ton of flack, but he hasn’t been the worst player in the world as of late *writer ducks*.
Still, his numbers as a whole are very bad. He has a 43.23 Corsi For%. What’s interesting is goalies have an on-ice save percentage of .958 while he’s on the ice at 5v5. It’s by far the highest on the team among the regulars in the lineup. It’s not extremely telling, like most advanced stats in a vacuum, but it does show he’s been extremely lucky this season.
He hasn’t been the black hole of offense he was in 2019. Since the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day, Rooney has eight points. In the first three months of the season, he literally had one point.
Still, he’s such a limited player, and again there are no more ties to him after this season. He’s going to be 27 years old this offseason, and his ceiling has clearly been hit. Is it worth bringing Rooney back to play fourth-line center next season, a spot that could go to the younger players on this list? It all comes down to how he plays down the stretch. If he proves to be good for defense and penalty kill only, there are players that can do that which aren’t offensively inept in the prospect pool. Speaking of replacements….
Michael McLeod
Two weeks ago on the Let’s Go Devils Podcast with Chris Ryan of NJ.com, he told us he thinks Michael McLeod is going to just slot in to Kevin Rooney’s slot on the team, becoming a fourth-line center who kills penalties. He has had a lot of trouble offensively since he started his NHL career. He’s now played 33 games and has zero goals. That is… not good.
Still, he can show he’s ready for NHL action over the final month of the season. Based on recent line projections, it looks like he’s going to stick on the NHL fourth line for the time being.
McLeod is about a half-point-per-game player in the AHL, while changing the focus to his game. He’s no longer trying to be an offensive dynamo, as there are still issues with his skating and hockey IQ. He does still have some insane straight-line speed that could work out in his favor. It’s a lot easier to teach mechanics than it is to teach speed, but we’ve said the same thing about Miles Wood for three years.
McLeod has the most to prove on this entire list. He’s the one that could either make himself an NHL regular, prove he’s in need of some more seasoning, or force the Devils to give up on him entirely. If that happens, expect him to either get buried in the AHL or get traded this offseason. For those upset we used a 12th-overall pick on him, just be happy the trade involving him also got us Joey Anderson.
Connor Carrick
We have literally no idea where Connor Carrick should play next season. This season just fell off the rails for Carrick, who regularly sat in the owner’s box in favor of Mirco Mueller and then suffered a major pinky injury that forced him to sit for more than a month.
Now, Carrick seems to be on an island all by himself. The latest lines had him on the third line without even a partner thanks to the injury to Freddie Claessen. He’s now behind Dakota Mermis and Mueller, who get to be paired with P.K. Subban and Damon Severson, the only legitimate NHL defensemen on the roster. This shows they don’t see him moving up anywhere despite being one of four defenseman with an NHL deal going into next season.
Carrick is having a bad season overall. His CF% is second worst on the team to John Hayden (of anyone who played more than five games). All of Carrick’s advanced stats left much to be desired.
There’s a lot of defensive possibilities coming up next season. We expect Ty Smith, Kevin Bahl. Josh Jacobs, possibly Reilly Walsh, and one of their 1st-round picks to all spend time with the Devils in preseason. After what Smith did in Spokane this season, pencil him in for one of the open defenseman spots. We can’t see him going to the AHL, no matter what he does in the preseason.
Next. Mackenzie Blackwood and Igor Shesterkin Lead New Rivalry. dark
Where does Carrick fit? If the Devils sign nobody, he’ll easily be in the starting lineup, especially if he plays better with consistent playing time down the stretch. If the Devils start signing free agents, which they likely will, he’s more and more likely going to be fighting not to be a healthy scratch, especially if he plays like he did all season.