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5 New Jersey Devils Players Who Could Steal A Playoff Roster Spot

By Nick Villano

Luke Hughes #43 of United States breaks his stick during the game against Czechia in the IIHF World Junior Championship on August 17, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Photo by Andy Devlin/ Getty Images)
Luke Hughes #43 of United States breaks his stick during the game against Czechia in the IIHF World Junior Championship on August 17, 2022 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (Photo by Andy Devlin/ Getty Images) /
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New Jersey Devils
Brian Halonen of the New Jersey Devils. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Brian Halonen

The Devils took a few chances on highly-touted prospects that would eventually play in the AHL. Tom Fitzgerald signed Jack Dugan in the offseason, and he grew into a decent player. Then, the Devils traded him for defenseman Zack Hayes. The Devils needed a 6’3″, 224-pound defenseman after losing Nikita Okhotyuk in the Timo Meier trade.

Another player the Devils signed with a high upside is Brian Halonen. The former Michigan Tech star has been much better as of late. He has 10 points in his last 11 games. This includes a two-goal performance against the Belleville Senators. His shooting percentage is way up this season (17.2%), but it has shown no signs of slowing down.

Halonen is another player who’s yet to spend any time in the NHL. In fact, he actually spent more time in the ECHL this season than he did in the NHL. He was sent down when he was struggling earlier in the year. It clearly sent a message.

Halonen has been playing well, as we said. It’s all about recency bias when it comes to a playoff roster. It doesn’t matter about name value or a player’s season stats. Look at the Devils in 2018. Jesper Bratt was really good all year, but he was ice cold going into the postseason. So, the Devils started without him. Halonen could take the place of someone else.

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