New Jersey Devils: Opening Night Roster Finally Comes Out

It is here! The 2022-23 New Jersey Devils opening night roster is out. It has some players who had to earn their right to be on the team during the preseason and training camp but the decisions are made and the roster is ready to go. 

This is a team that has its leaders. Of course, that starts with captain Nico Hischier who begins on Injured Reserve. We don’t know when he comes back but the team needs it to be sooner rather than later.

Of course, then it is their best player in Jack Hughes. He is an incredible offensive player that has the ceiling of a legit NHL superstar. It is going to be so fun to see what he can do this year with a clean bill of health.

Finally, the goaltending and defense need to be much improved this year in order for them to have a chance. Leading the way on defense is Dougie Hamilton who was injured with a jaw injury for a lot of last season, his first with the team. Year two promises to be very good for him.

Vitek Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood are the goaltenders that will man the net for the year. As long as they both stay healthy and consistent, they should both see plenty of time in the blue paint. They must play well if the Devils want to be a playoff team.

This New Jersey Devils roster breeds lots of excitement for what’s to come.

Forwards:

• Nathan Bastian
• Jesper Boqvist
• Jesper Bratt
• Erik Haula
• Alexander Holtz
• Jack Hughes
• Andreas Johnsson
• Michael McLeod
• Dawson Mercer
• Ondrej Palat
• Yegor Sharangovich
• Tomas Tatar
• Miles Wood
• Fabian Zetterlund
• Nico Hischier (IR)
• Tyce Thompson (IR)

Defense:

• Ryan Graves
• Dougie Hamilton
• John Marino
• Simon Nemec
• Damon Severson
• Jonas Siegenthaler
• Brendan Smith

Goalies:

• Mackenzie Blackwood
• Vitek Vanecek
• Jonathan Bernier (LTIR)

For one, there are some new faces that came via trade or free agency. Having both Ondrej Palat and Erik Haula should really help this forward group. They are both savvy veterans that can score goals and play with incredible effort.

Seeing some young prospects like Alexander Holtz and Simon Nemec is also really cool. There were some questions about that as the preseason went along but they both prevailed. Now, we have to hope that they play well enough to stick around.

Some of the bubble players that made it are Michael McLeod, Nathan Bastian, Andreas Johnsson, and Jesper Boqvist. Each of those guys provides something different and can help the team win games.

Jesper Bratt will be looked at to be amongst the team scoring leaders with Hischier and Hughes. If he can repeat what he did last year, he will really help this team take a big step offensively. The same can be said for Yegor Sharangovich as he is a legit goal scorer in this league.

The biggest surprise omission is Kevin Bahl. He was very good in the preseason and camp but he isn’t on the list. He is easier to send down right now and call up when the time is right. He has a bright future and just needs to keep working.

This has the potential to be a widely improved team from a year ago. The Metropolitan Division is tough but they have a roster that is going to attack fast and hard. As mentioned before, if they can defend and get some goaltending, they should be a wildly improved team.