The New Jersey Devils made a ton of decisions on Sunday, putting multiple players on waivers and claiming Remi Poirier from the Dallas Stars. This pushed them to put David Rittich, who they signed this season to seemingly become the third goaltending option, on waivers. Many thought the Devils were going to be forced into an unsavory decision because of the three-headed monster in net, and in the end, that’s what is happening.
However, they don’t have to make the decision now. Sunny Mehta, who is in his first season as New Jersey Devils GM, showed his hand with who he put on waivers on Sunday. None of Amadeus Lombardi, Stefan Noesen, or Jesper Boqvist were on waivers. It appears all of them made the team.
Lombardi has been given the rock to play on the fourth line alongside Connor Brown and Cody Glass. This is an unexpected fourth line, as lineup additions pushed some really good players down the lineup. Most expected Glass to be the third-line center, but Mehta and Sheldon Keefe are going with Evan Rodrigues on that line.
With Boqvist and Noesen still on the roster, something has to give. And that something appears to be on defense.
See, they put Vladislav Kolyachonok on waivers. The reason that is important is that many believed that Declan Chisholm was going to be the person to put the Devils in an awkward position. Would they put him on waivers after Mehta spent all offseason talking about how good he was? Then, two injuries led to a much easier decision.
The first is Seamus Casey. One of the Devils’ top prospects got injured in a preseason game, and it didn’t look good. He went to throw a hit, and he came out of it worse for wear. We still don’t know exactly what is wrong with him, but we went months not knowing what was wrong with Marc McLaughlin last season. The Devils don’t show an interest in giving information on injuries unless it is to star players.
Casey was fighting for a roster spot, but he was still a long shot. However, one player who isn’t a long shot is Johnny Kovacevic. The defensive defenseman has the salary of a roster guarantee, but he’s coming off a down season. That down season was his return from a torn ACL, so it’s understandable, but he also might be a Jonas Siegenthaler merchant.
Kovacevic didn’t play a game during the preseason, dealing with his own injury, and it seems like a guarantee he will miss the start of the season. He’s skating with the extras, but without a real practice under his belt, starting the season on IR seems like the most obvious choice.
Sending a defenseman to IR will fix the Devils' roster issues
And that IR stint will allow the Devils to keep all their forwards. It puts them in the awkward position of having no extra defensemen on the 23-man roster, but it’s not the end of the world.
Many thought Noesen was a goner on this roster, but he had a really good training camp. He was showing his value at every turn, putting the puck in the net with serious consistency. This preseason, he’s the only player on the Devils who created at least three rebounds. He does things that nobody else on the roster does, and that is valuable from a depth perspective.
Boqvist has shown his speed and elusiveness in training camp, appearing ready to bounce back from a down year in Florida last season.
They made this an impossible decision. It seemed like it would easily be Noesen on waivers, but he worked his tail off to make this roster.
Now, the decision will have to come eventually. Kovacevic is not going to be a long-term injured reserve candidate like Nick Bjugstad. However, just giving the Devils a couple of weeks to really evaluate this is immensely valuable.
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