Sharangovich-Boqvist-Kuokkanen Line Earned Their Spot
Over the past two scrimmages, there are a lot of players that stood out in different ways for the Devils. However, three players that seemed to have a ton of chemistry right off the bat are Yegor Sharangovich, Jesper Boqvist, and Janne Kuokkanen. These three players came in with wildly different expectations, but they found each other and it looks like they rode each other’s skills onto the opening night roster.
Yegor Sharangovich was crushing it in the KHL on a loan before the season. He scored 17 goals for Dinamo Minsk before coming back to New Jersey. At one point, he was fighting for top scorer in Russia. He brought that experience back and grew off of it.
He’s stood out as much as anyone not named Jack Hughes in the last two scrimmages. He’s making plays and finishing plays. The Devils have sorely missed a goal scorer on the bottom six. Sharangovich can be that player.
Boqvist has been really good at positioning so far this offseason. He puts himself in a place to get a pass, and that gives the Devils a high-danger opportunity. This is crucial from a player that likely focused too much on making plays himself last season.
Kuokkanen came to the Devils in the Sami Vatanen trade. He was once leading the AHL in points last season. He’s a player that isn’t going to knock your socks off, but he does a lot of things right. He is playing with two plays with a huge upside, so if he can just keep everyone doing the right thing, this line could be really good on the Devils’ bottom six.