We expect to see how the New Jersey Devils season is going to play out. Right now, Sunny Mehta is evaluating the roster, front office staff and executives, and the coaches. Unlike some situations, everyone from top to bottom has to convince the new GM that they deserve to continue their journey with the Devils.Â
The roster is an interesting discussion. The Devils have players like Jack Hughes and Brett Pesce who seem like locks to continue with the team, and Luke Hughes will be sticking around after signing a seven-year contract last season. Outside of that, trading or moving any other piece on the roster would be in the realm of possibility.
Guys like Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt would shock many people, but their situations and the player returning in their absence would likely change the conversation. This roster has holes despite being up or near the salary cap ceiling at all times.
Tom Fitzgerald tried to upgrade this roster on multiple occasions, and in free agency, he had an interesting record. He had some major wins, like Dougie Hamilton and Connor Brown. However, some of his biggest misses came in free agency. Signing Ondrej Palat haunted him all the way to this season, when he had to send the Islanders a draft pick and take back Maxim Tsyplakov just to move his contract.Â
One that’s still up in the air is Stefan Noesen. The grinder was really good in his first season with the Devils, scoring 20 goals on a $2.75 million salary. However, this past season, Noesen got injured right off the bat, and that was that. He missed training camp, but came back a few weeks into the season. He never looked right, and his net-front presence wasn’t as impactful was it was in 24-25.Â
It's hard to figure out where Stefan Noesen fits on the New Jersey Devils
Noesen finished with three goals and four assists in 38 games. He had knee surgery in January that basically put his season on ice, and not the ice we’re looking for.Â
Looking forward, it’s hard to figure out where Noesen fits. Sheldon Keefe let him play alongside Nico Hischier in his first season, but that’s not an efficient use of a top-six role on an actual contender. The third line is pretty set with Lenni Hameenaho, Cody Glass, and Arseny Gritsyuk. Even the fourth line is pretty stacked, with Nick Bjugstad, Paul Cotter, and Tsyplakov possibly all coming back next season.Â
This isn’t even considering any prospects moving up, like Marc McLaughlin, Xavier Parent, or Shane Lachance. And it doesn’t consider any free agents coming in. We’d assume Mehta is going to target former Devil A.J. Greer for that fourth line.Â
So, where does Noesen fit? Will Mehta use one of his buyouts to remove the last year of Noesen’s contract? Will he have any value on the market this offseason to move him? Noesen brings a factor that teams covet, including the Devils, but his contract might be a little too rich for his role, and the Devils only have so many roster spots and have to start making moves to improve this team.
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