New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe is only worried about coaching the group of players he has at this point, and that group of players does not include RFA defenseman Luke Hughes. It may not be for a while.
As a result, Keefe and Co. need to be prepared for the event that Hughes is not available to them to start the 2025-26 season, just as he was last year, albeit due to injury.
If Tuesday's new training camp groups are anything to go by, it would appear that Keefe and the Devils have selected their winner in the race to replace Hughes on the roster, temporarily for the preseason or otherwise.
Prospect right-shot defenseman Seamus Casey, who stuck with the Devils out of training camp last year and starred in the Global Series against Lindy Ruff and the Buffalo Sabres, is in training camp Group 1, which features all of your favorite Devils players and NHL regulars, including Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, Jacob Markstrom, and Jonas Siegenthaler, among others.
Based on practice lines, we can assume that Siegenthaler and Hamilton will buddy up on the blueline once again, as will Brenden Dillon and Simon Nemec. That leaves Brett Pesce, Hughes's usual defense partner, with Casey and veteran Dennis Cholowski as potential pairing options.
We can assume that the Devils aren't going to bring Casey along just to have him sit and watch and not play or get reps, so he should fill in next to Pesce and play on his weak side on the left.
Keefe had Casey play this role once already last year, albeit with Nemec, with Siegenthaler and Dillon playing with Hamilton and Johnny Kovacevic.
Fellow University of Michigan alum Ethan Edwards had made his case for a roster spot, but his limited pro experience and exclusion from training camp Group 1 indicates his official Devils debut will have to wait.
Barring anything unforeseen, expect Casey to continue to build off a successful first professional season with the Devils organization by starting 2025-26 in the NHL again.