Reason #3: Health
The Devils are remarkably healthy. There is one injury on the roster, and that’s Jonathan Bernier. He missed the entire season with a hip injury, and it might actually be the end of his career. That’s okay, because the Devils have Akira Schmid, Vitek Vanecek, and even Mackenzie Blackwood at 100 percent.
The entire forward core is healthy at the perfect time. That gives Lindy Ruff his pick of the litter in terms of lines. He needed a change for Game 7, and he added Miles Wood and Yegor Sharangovich. Jesper Boqvist and Curtis Lazar will do the same later in the Canes series. The Devils are missing no stars. Jack Hughes is hitting at all cylinders. Nico Hischier is playing hard, tough minutes every night.
There was a chance the Devils almost lost one of its stars. Timo Meier took a borderline dirty hit from Jacob Trouba near the end of Game 7, where Trouba’s shoulder made direct contact with his head.
Another look at Jacob Trouba's huge hit on Timo Meier #NYR | #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/feRXfNrvd8
— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) May 2, 2023
The good news is we saw Meier at the end of the game. He had to go through concussion protocol, and there will be further tests. However, for now, it seems like everyone is starting the Hurricanes series ready to go.