The New Jersey Devils have a dilemma that most didn’t expect. They have too many forwards. Sunny Mehta was not going to let depth be an issue for this team. He made multiple moves to add bodies that have diverse skill sets.
First, he traded for AHL forward Amadeus Lombardi who might be ready to make the jump to the NHL. Then he traded Jacob Markstrom for Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist, solidifying the bottom six and solving the goaltending issue in one move. He kept adding from there, signing Anthony Mantha and Colin White to hold different positions on the roster.
On top of that, Mehta did not trade any forwards out of the room. So, Dawson Mercer, Stefan Noesen, Nick Bjugstad, and every other forward from last season, except for a few, are still here.
On defense, there was one subtraction. Simon Nemec was exiled to Calgary after a very strange career in New Jersey. That leaves six major names from last season returning, which is exactly how much you’d want for a team. A team has six spots in a nightly lineup, but knowing the Devils and their injury history, they can’t go without depth.
Sunny Mehta is very interesting in one defensive addition
So, the Devils traded for Declan Chisholm. He is an interesting player because most consider him way overpaid. He is considered a seventh defenseman, which is what we expect him to be at first, but Sunny Mehta has talked about him A LOT.
With how much the new GM is talking about a defenseman, we expect Sheldon Keefe to give him every opportunity to prove himself in training camp. Then, the question moves to a simple one: What if he proves Sunny Mehta right?
Then, that’s a different question. The Devils are paying Luke Hughes $9 million, and then Brenden Dillon and Jonas Siegenthaler are making $4 million and $3.4 million, respectively. The Devils will not want either of them on the bench, even in the name of depth. In all likelihood, that would lead to a trade.
Dillon and Siegenthaler are both better than a lot of players getting into lineups on a nightly basis. They bring different things to the Devils, even if they are both defensive defensemen. Teams will want to trade for them, and if the Devils figure out they want to play Chisholm quickly, then even better. Getting this trade done before cut-down day, when teams have their 23-man rosters set in stone is imperative to getting the best return on their investment.
The Devils don’t want an awkward situation on their hands, which is why a trade is more likely than keeping one or the other, even though they have the cap space to do it.
It should be a very interesting training camp for the New Jersey Devils. There aren’t many training camp battles, but Chisholm trying to earn a spot in the starting lineup is one worth watching.
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