As the dog days of summer are dwindling away, the summer sands along Coastal New Jersey will cool off as fans start hitting up the rink at The Prudential Center for the 2026-27 season. Under GM Sunny Mehta and AGM Braden Birch, the Devils look to tap into a newer coaching staff that can blend and articulate many ways of the new system. The Devils have Brad Shaw on defense leading the pk and special teams defense, then you have Coach, Sheldon Keefe returning. No more Dave Rogalski and other coaches like Jeremy Colliton, and Coach Brylin who took a job in the KHL as a head coach.Â
For those people thinking it'll be the same old Devils of the last few seasons, it feels different this time around. The Devils have five forwards in the last year of their contracts, and they have Brenden Dillon and Declan Chisholm on defense who are in contract years as well. Cody Glass, Nick Bjugstad, Stefan Noesen, Jesper Boqvist, and Evan Rodrigues are all the 5 forwards looking to make a big year for themselves. This is a season where the Devils will look to have a few more shooters and play drivers on the middle and bottom 6 forward lines.
This is what the Devils have for a short bit of time, well in advance of the season starting. Wouldn't be shocked if Sunny Mehta looks to deal his poker hand, but the Devils will likely have an internal option in Anton Silayev, who will likely replace Brenden Dillon next season. He plays a similar role but at a younger age. The former first-round pick will be a long-standing shutdown defender in New Jersey.
If there is a player that the New Jersey faithful has been sleeping on this time for this season do not be surprised if Sunny Mehta signee in Vladislav Kolyachonok becomes a big mobile puck moving defender who can speed up the pace of play, and is not afraid to shoot pucks from the low danger zone, and has no problem creating rebounds, and has the ability to dangle and do a lot of slick silky mitt work on goalies as an underrated finisher.
Sunny Mehta, this past draft, made some picks to revitalize the prospect pool, but he also became familiar with recent Devils draftees left behind from the Tom Fitzgerald regime.Â
Mehta follows the history of the New Jersey Devils. Lou Lamoriello was the man who made key signings of Russian and former USSR hockey players well before the NHL got its hands on them, before it became hip. Mehta made several picks from Russia and Belarus and is not afraid to take risks on players with upside from the past few draft classes who could become big supporters of the NJ Devils.
The New Jersey Devils will have no problem looking back at their depth charts and at how well Sunny has added to the prospect pool, and at signing a few high-upside players to the AHL and pipeline. Don't be surprised that this is a reason the Devils' defense has become a huge strength, allowing Nico Daws and Jake Allen to breathe a lot easier in net, with the offense getting back to scoring on all cylinders.Â
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