New Jersey Devils: 5 Possible 1st Line Forward Combinations

The New Jersey Devils have options to play on the first line.

The New Jersey Devils went into last season with Taylor Hall, Nico Hischier, and Kyle Palmieri on the first line. No matter what happened to the rest of the team, the Devils knew they could trust those three to contribute offensively and these three would be out there when the team needed a goal. It didn’t go as planned, Hall struggled coming off his knee injury with free agency on the horizon, and things ended up looking a lot different by the time the season ended.

During the last game of the year, Miles Wood had replaced Hall on the first line. Interim head coach Alain Nasreddine was trying something out, but it clearly didn’t work. Some other players who made appearances on the first line were Jack Hughes (as a winger), Jesper Bratt, Nikita Gusev, and Blake Coleman. It was a rough year with no consistency.

This year, there’s at least hope for consistency. Lindy Ruff is taking over a head coach. Tom Fitzgerald knows he has time to let things simmer. There have been some major additions to the roster while not losing a lot of the talent in the pipeline. Adding Andreas Johnsson to the forward group is interesting. There are still a lot of holes to fill, and there are prospects who could eventually pick up those roles.

When it comes to the first line, there are a finite amount of combinations the Devils can make. Most fans hope none of those combinations include Wood this season. This first option is probably the one that makes the most sense on paper, at least at first.