The New Jersey Devils are back on the ice for training camp and preseason as they are moving quickly towards an October 4th opening night in Prague, Czechia. Before that, the Devils will play a few preseason games as they try to get the right lineup. The lines will change over and over again, and they will continue to change throughout the 82-game season and into the (hopefully) playoffs.
Still, it's telling to go through the Devils early line combinations. Sheldon Keefe came into training camp with some preconceived notions. Others have been quick developments. We are working with the lines which is as follows:
Tatar-Hischier-Bratt
Meier-Hughes-Mercer
Palat-Haula-Noesen
Cotter-Lazar-Bastian
Dillon-Hamilton
Hatakka-Nemec
Siegenthaler-Kovacevic
Takeaway Number One: Defenders Aren’t Playing Off Hand
The Devils came into training camp shorthanded on the blue line. Brett Pesce is still dealing with offseason surgery and will likely miss a couple more weeks, and Luke Hughes was injured during training and will miss at least the first month of the season. In the offseason, the Devils loaded up on right-handed defenders. Outside of signing Pesce, they also re-signed Nick DeSimone and traded for Johnathan Kovacevic.
Add this to Dougie Hamilton and Simon Nemec on the right side, and it seems like there are five right-handers against three lefties. Many fans thought the Devils might replace Hughes, who is left-handed, with a right-handed defenseman. Instead, Santeri Hatakka has been given the majority of the reps, playing alongside Simon Nemec.
We’ve mentioned that Hatakka is no longer waivers exempt, so he might make the roster while the injured players recover. If that’s the case, it makes sense to start the season with everyone playing on their proper side.