3 things we expect to learn as New Jersey Devils training camp opens
New Jersey Devils training camp opens on Wednesday, marking the official start of the season. As we welcome another run with Jersey's team, what do we expect to learn on Wednesday?
The New Jersey Devils are opening training camp on Wednesday, and it’s a time of much rejoicing. After four and a half long months without Devils hockey, the players are putting on the red and black. We expect to see many new faces in the building, including Jacob Markstrom, Brett Pesce, and Brendan Dillon. We also welcome back a few faces in Stefan Noesen and Tomas Tatar.
Beyond the players, the Devils are starting Day 1 with new heard coach Sheldon Keefe. He’s implementing a new system after a few mostly-failed years under Lindy Ruff. It wasn’t that Ruff is solely responsible for the last few years, and especially last year where everything went wrong, but most would argue that Keefe is a coach on the rise who should bring the Devils to the next level.
Now, with the Devils reporting to Newark today, what should we learn from the start of a new era of Devils hockey?
1. Devils Training Camp Roster
The Devils' roster is pretty much set in stone, but there are always some fun surprises that come up at the last moment. It can be a prospect we didn’t expect to make it, a PTO that hasn’t been announced, or a college free agent who is trying to make the Utica Comets roster. We will learn about all of these things tomorrow.
The Devils' current listed roster includes 26 forwards, 14 defensemen, and five goalies. That doesn’t include the four PTOs, including Kevin Labanc and Jakob Zboril. In all, we see the Devils with 49 players on the roster. Last year, the Devils went into camp with 57 players. We expect at least some new names that aren’t listed yet.
2. Simon Nemec's Injury Status
The New Jersey Devils are notorious for never revealing injuries. It’s a running joke that they come close to even hiding injuries. At times, they have to be pushed into releasing information about players. We saw that just last week when a picture of Luke Hughes went viral. He was on the sideline of the Michigan football game in a sling. That’s when we learned that the Devils young stud would miss the first month of the season.
That brings us to Simon Nemec. The Devils' other young stud defenseman was injured during a qualifying game while playing for Slovakia. We haven’t heard anything about his status since then. There were reports that he was in pain after the collision, but that is the gist of it.
Since we haven’t heard anything from the Devils, even an acknowledgment of the injury itself, it could be bad news. We don’t want to speculate, but the fact we haven’t heard anything for weeks shows that it’s at least something.
The Devils spent assets and cap space on depth on defense, and it looks like they will need to use it right away.
3. First Possible Line Combinations
Do not freak out about the line combinations on Day 1. It is not worth it to make any assumption as to who is with who, but it is at least an interesting anecdote to bring discussion. Sheldon Keefe has been thinking about this since he was hired. He’s probably spent days putting his ideal line combinations together and who might work with who. He wants to see where he can find hidden chemistry right off the bat.
Two specific combinations will be interesting to see. Who goes with Dougie Hamilton after his major injury, and who is on Jack Hughes’ line? For the first one, Hamilton had played with Jonas Siegenthaler, but he’s coming off a very down year. He has played with Brett Pesce in the past with the Hurricanes, but that requires him to play on his off hand. Could he play with someone like Brenden Dillon? That makes the most sense to start.
As for Jack Hughes, it’s anyone’s guess. It might not even matter since the Devils don’t have Dawson Mercer signed. He could walk into training camp as soon as the ink is dry and end up next to Hughes. He could also cost himself a chance to play on the Devils' top line if he doesn’t show up with enough time for practice.
We also get to see if Nico Hischier will once again pair with Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier to start the season. They line did work last year and could do damage this one. But again, these lines don't mean much more than conversation fodder.
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