Sunny Mehta and the New Jersey Devils have been exorbitantly busy in the last few weeks, between the draft, signing extensions, tendering offer sheets, signing free agents, and rebuilding the Utica Comets from the top down.
One byproduct of the various moves is that there is now a logjam in the forward corps. Between acquiring Amadeus Lombardi from the Detroit Red Wings, trading Jacob Markstrom for Evan Rodrigues and Jesper Boqvist, and offer-sheeting Barrett Hayton, the Devils are slated to have 15 rostered forwards (assuming the offer sheet is not matched by Utah), 13 of which are making at least $1.5 million -- Lombardi and Lenni Hameenaho are the two exceptions there. Notably, Hameenaho is the only forward in that crop of players who is waiver-exempt
With that in mind, then, there must be several moves in the chamber.
There has been a clear focus on acquiring more center depth for New Jersey, with seven natural centers on the projected roster -- eight including Hayton -- and Dawson Mercer, who has played down the middle at many points throughout his career despite predominantly being a right-winger. Admittedly, it is easier to shift from the center to the wing and, in general, there is more positional fluidity than there ever has been in the NHL once the puck drops, so perhaps the Devils are content running multiple centers on a line -- that would certainly be useful on the top line in the sense that Jack Hughes is a relatively atrocious faceoff-taker, as other-worldly as he is in other facets of the game.
With all that in mind, it can be assumed that the players on the fritz are the ones whose salary outpaces the value of their on-ice contributions. Mehta has proven to have an affinity for players who do a lot of things on or around the puck in either zone, and there are a few players who don't necessarily contribute as much as the preference seems to be.
One such player is Mercer, who is generally averse to driving play with the puck on his stick, instead relying on his teammates to do the work for him. That isn't an inherent negative, to be clear -- plenty of players have found success in that regard (Mika Zibanejad and Patrik Laine to name two) -- but it seems antithetical to what Mehta is looking for, especially for a potential top-six piece.
Otherwise, it's likely worth grappling with the potential that one or multiple of Nick Bjugstad, Stefan Noesen, or Cody Glass are moved. There are arguments for all of them -- Bjugstad's position has become somewhat redundant, and he doesn't really do much with or around the pick; Noesen's salary far outweighs his on-ice value at this point in time, and Glass is a potential sell-high candidate who may never reach that 19-goal threshold ever again, even if his play is excellent.
Either way, there is flexibility here by virtue of what Mehta has been able to do for the Devils in his three months as GM. There are plenty of options to solve this logjam up front, which is a good thing considering how many moves need to be made in order to make the roster complete.
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