The New Jersey Devils took a Sasquatching on their way to a two-game sweep of the Buffalo Sabres (4-1, 3-1) and former bench boss Lindy Ruff. Sheldon Keefe’s start found the firepower from Jonathan Kovacevic, Stefan Noesen, and Paul Cotter, to name a few guys. These are not exactly big names who were proven vital in their two big wins
Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen split the back-to-back, looking more comfortable in the net in both games. Jonathan Kovacevic and Brenden Dillon enforced defensive efforts, keeping the Sabres' forward lines to the outside. Last season, that different core looked flustered and bombarded and had little strategic planning to minimize goals against.
This series showed Seamus Casey is capable of playing PP2 unit minutes and is learning to handle the big responsibilities on defense. However, he has to deal with a tough Maple Leafs offense and a very scrappy Capitals team coming up on the schedule.
Still keep expectations modest because it’s a long season and some rookies do well or fall under a 41 game brickwall and fall off a bit. In a month or so, Luke Hughes should be back, and a lot of tinkering around that could involve Santeri Hatakka’s status on the Injury Reserve, so a lot can happen in the eight-week span.
Suppose the New Jersey Devils can keep the current core going. In that case, the depth of the farm system will give drafted players like Anton Silayev, Mikhail Yegorov, Veeti Louhivaara, Max Graham, and Matyas Melovsky a big advantage and plenty more time to develop. This is simply a recipe for near-term and long-term success.
One of the expectations this team needs to achieve is to be a buyer before the deadline and make enough cap space for Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes’ extensions. This is a very important chess move GM Tom Fitzgerald has to plan for, and not many Devils fans will understand why they can’t always go for the shiny new trade target. However, in recent reports, the salary cap could potentially reach over $92 million by July 1st, 2025.
This kind of increase will only help the Devils budget for upcoming contracts while after Jake Allen’s contract is up we will see if he stays another season or Nico Daws takes over. Also after Jacob Markstrom does finish up in New Jersey we could see Nico Daws and Isaac Poulter or Nico Daws and Tyler Brennan overtime in net. That is before any potential goalie acquisitions over the next 2-4 seasons.
This season is where the consistency of playoff hockey begins under Sheldon Keefe and Tom Fitzgerald must be bullish when bolstering the team and the staff over the season. Tom Fitzgerald has been logical and bold at maintaining principles of not ruining a good core with near and long term assets.