The New Jersey Devils welcome players on the ice for the first time since they were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes back in April. Despite still having the Luke Hughes contract (or lack thereof) over their heads, it’s great to see the team playing hockey once again.
We can learn a lot in those first days of training camp. We’ll see who looks faster and stronger right off the bat. There will be talk about how has the best chance to impress in the preseason and possibly make the team.
By far, the most important aspect of the team we’ll learn in these first few days is line pairings. Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe has been going over these lines maybe hundreds of times over the offseason, and we get to see where he landed over the next few days.
The biggest question is who gets paired with Jack Hughes. It’s something we’ve talked about multiple times this offseason. Who will be next to Hughes is not clear after the Devils failed to get a true top-six forward in free agency or through trade this offseason.
We wrote that we think Dawson Mercer will ultimately get the call to be next to Jack Hughes to start the season, but that’s not how we’re starting training camp. There’s no surprise that Hughes will have Jesper Bratt on his right, but who is on his left might have Devils fans surprised.
Here’s a first look at #NJDevils lines and pairings for Group 1… keeping in mind they’re split into teams during the early stages of training camp 😅 pic.twitter.com/Yt2dch4iq0
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) September 18, 2025
Evgenii Dadonov signed a one-year, incentive-laden deal this offseason. Many believed he’d at some point get a chance to play with Hughes based on a number of factors, but the prevailing wisdom was that he would start his Devils career with rookie Arseniy Gristyuk.
Instead, Gritsyuk is getting his first look on what would essentially be a fourth line with Paul Cotter and fellow newcomer Juho Lammikko.
These are the very first lines, and they will likely change multiple times before the Devils even play a preseason game, but the first line is what is at the top of mind for Coach Keefe. Let’s see how this works. Welcome back, Devils hockey!