New Jersey Devils offseason hype train is back in full swing, and we hope that's not a bad thing

The New Jersey Devils offseason was a success once again. Since Tom Fitzgerald took over as general manager, he’s never been quiet in the offseason. He always makes some kind of a splash and is always in on the biggest names who are available. In his first offseason as GM, he made the surprising trade for Andreas Johnsson and signed Corey Crawford. The next season, they added Ryan Graves, Dougie Hamilton, and Tomas Tatar. Neither season led to a playoff berth (and Crawford decided not to play another game for the Devils).

We’ve been hearing the Devils “win” the offseason since they traded for Taylor Hall back in 2016. Since then, there was the P.K. Subban-Nikita Gusev disaster of 2019. There was last offseason when they said goodbye to half of their roster but added a few interesting pieces like Tyler Toffoli. This offseason, we’re seeing the same amount of hype as all of those offseasons. Should Devils fans be worried?

Does New Jersey Devils offseason hype train lead to another disappointing regular season?

There is a difference here. The Devils invested in defense and goaltending, which were the two major issues last season. They sold low on possible question marks, going all in on guarantees like Jacob Markstrom and Brett Pesce. 

They also invested in pieces that don’t need to be superstars. Subban and Gusev needed to come in and be All-Stars. Pesce and Brenden Dillon need to be good hockey players. They already have Dougie Hamilton, a current star, and Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec who are future stars. They need someone who is solid on the back end, and they have two.  

They also have a solid offense returning from last season. Yes, they are missing a top-six forward, but that can happen when you have Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier, and Jesper Bratt. We’ve seen star teams make it work and win the Stanley Cup with interesting players in their top six. 

Yes, the hype train should come with some consternation. We should have our guard up as fans. However, this isn’t like other offseasons. The foundation was always there. Last season was always an outlier. Markstrom was always the right move. Adding defense was always the right move. Was the return of Tatar the ideal move at forward? No, but it really doesn’t move the needle either way enough to hurt this team’s playoff chances. This is a very likely playoff team, and Devils fans should be happy with how this offseason played out.