The New Jersey Devils have had many training camp battles that led to interesting lineup decisions. Graeme Clarke, Nolan Foote, Tyce Thompson, and Alex Holtz were all fighting for spots on the roster. Holtz and Foote seemed to have the inside track, but only one of them seems to be in that opening night lineup. More on that in a moment.
For the most part, a lot of the Devils lineup was set in stone. This isn’t the Devils of the past 10 years. This is a team that’s stars drive production, and everyone else falls into place. We know that Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Erik Haula, and Michael McLeod are playing center. Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Dawson Mercer, and new addition Tyler Toffoli are the team’s most important wingers. Outside of that, training camp was about finding depth.
Right now, there is still a ton of players on the roster. They made some cuts on Tuesday, including sending prospects Clarke and Chase Stillman back to the Utica Comets. Now, they have to cut the roster even further ahead of October 12, when they take on the Detroit Red Wings in the opening game of the season. There’s still a Wednesday night preseason game to figure a few things out, but we caught a glimpse on Tuesday of what the lineup might look like in a little over a week.
Oh my, look at this #NJDevils lineup at practice today with the whole group together.
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) October 3, 2023
On paper, at the very least, this should look frightening to opponents: pic.twitter.com/HRndAd9rO5
As we see here, the Devils put a majority of their top players in a practice session. While the other players, which include Thompson, Foote, and Brian Halonen, were playing in a different rink. It shows which players are going to make the lineup and which ones are just getting an extra look before they are sent down.
Obviously, the above lineup still needs some cuts. There are 25 players on that list, and the Devils are only allowed to carry 23. One decision has already been made, as Erik Kallgren was placed on waivers. The other probably points to the defense, where Simon Nemec might have earned himself a spot (or more specifically, Colin Miller lost himself a spot). Right now, we’re looking at a Nemec-Luke Hughes pairing, which we’re not exactly a fan of.
There will be one more cut from this roster above, so it very well might be Nemec. He would be the easy pick from a waivers standpoint. Holtz looks like he found a spot on the team. He might be in the top six all season. It appears he’s going to get the shot next to Hischier and Meier to start the season. He was scoring in the preseason, so hopefully the former seventh-overall pick figured it out this offseason.
Seeing this lineup is incredibly exciting. We can’t wait to hit the ice on October 12. About 10 days before the regular season starts, we now have a lineup to discuss.