NHL Preview - New Jersey Devils

New Jersey Devils

2015-16 season: 38-36-8, 84 points	Head Coach: John Hynes (2015)
7th Place Metro Division	General Manager: Ray Shero (2015)
12th Place Eastern Conference	AHL Affiliate: Albany Devils ECHL Affiliate:
Cap Space: $12,538,693

News

• Traded a 2016 3rd Round Pick to Pittsburgh for the rights to RW Beau Bennett
• Traded D Adam Larsson to Edmonton for LW Taylor Hall
• Traded Graham Black and Paul Thompson to Florida for Marc Savard's contract and a 2018 2nd Round Pick

Players Lost in the Offseason

POS.	Player	New Team	Contract
LW	Bobby Farnham	Montreal Canadiens	1 year, $575,000
LW	Jiri Tlustly	Free Agent
LW	Patrick Elias	Free Agent
LW	Tyler Kennedy	Free Agent
LW	Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond	Tampa Bay Lightning	1 year, $575,000
RW	Jordin Tootoo	Chicago Blackhawks	1 year, $750,000
RW	Tuomo Ruutu	Vancouver Canucks	PTO
C	Stephen Gionta	New York Islanders	PTO
C	Jim O’Brien	Colorado Avalanche	1 year, $575,000
D	David Schlemko	San Jose Sharks	4 years, $8,400,000
D	David Warsofsky	Pittsburgh Penguins	1 year, $575,000
D	Dan Kelly	San Jose Sharks	1 year, $575,000

Incoming Free Agents

POS.	Player	Old Team	Contract
C	Vernon Fiddler	Dallas Stars	1 year, $575,000
LW	Luke Gazdic	Edmonton Oilers	1 year, $700,000
D	Ben Lovejoy	Pittsburgh Penguins	3 years, $8,000,000
D	Brandon Gormley	Colorado Avalanche	1 year, $650,000

2016 Draft Picks

RD	Pick No.	POS.	Name	Junior/College/Club Team
1	12	C	Michael McLeod	Mississauga Steelheads (OHL)
2	41	RW	Nathan Bastian	Mississauga Steelheads (OHL)
3	73	RW	Joey Anderson	U.S. National Development Team (USHL)
3	80	C	Brandon Gignac	Shawnigan Cataractes (QMJHL)
4	102	LW	Mikhail Maltsev	Russia U-18 Team
4	105	G	Evan Cormier	Saginaw Spirit (OHL)
5	132	D	Igor Rykov	St. Petersburg Jrs (Russia)
6	162	LW	Jesper Bratt	AIK (Swe-1)
7	192	D	Jeremy Davies	Bloomington Thunder (USHL)

Top Three Prospects

POS	Name	Draft Info	Current Team
G	MacKenzie Blackwood	2015 2nd RD (42)	Barrie Colts (OHL)
G	Scott Wedgewood	2010 3rd RD (84)	AHL/ECHL
RW	Reid Boucher	2011 4th RD (99)	NHL

Projected Lineup

Forwards

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	Taylor Hall	24	Canada	2020
C	Adam Henrigue	26	Canada	2019
RW	Kyle Palmieri	25	USA	2021
LW	Mike Cammalleri	34	Canada	2019
C	(A) Travis Zajac	31	Canada	2021
RW	Devante Smith-Pelly	24	Canada	2018
LW	Pavel Zacha	19	Czech Republic	2019 (RFA)
C	Jacob Josefson	25	Sweden	2017 (RFA)
RW	Beau Bennett	24	USA	2017
LW	Sergey Kalinin	25	Russia	2017
C	Vernon Fiddler	36	Canada	2017
RW	Reid Boucher	23	USA	2017 (RFA)

Defensemen

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
D	John Moore	25	USA	2018
D	(C) Andy Greene	33	USA	2020
D	Jon Merrill	24	USA	2018
D	Ben Lovejoy	32	USA	2019
D	Seth Helgeson	25	USA	2017 (RFA)
D	Damon Severson	22	Canada	2017 (RFA)

Goalies

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
G	Cory Schneider	30	USA	2022
G	Keith Kinkaid	27	USA	2017

Extra Skaters

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	Luke Gazdic	27	Canada	2017
RW	Joseph Blandisl	22	Canada	2017 (RFA)
D	Brandon Gormley	24	Canada	2017

Inactive Players

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
C	Marc Savard	39	Canada	2017
LW	Ryan Clowe	34	Canada	2018

Season Outlook

• Last year the Devils played well above their record.  Goalie Cory Schneider was by far their best player and most likely would have won the Vezina Trophy for best goaltender had the Devils made the playoffs.  Ray Shero, in his first season as New Jersey's GM, started working his magic immediately.  He brought in John Hynes from the Penguins' AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins, to coach the Devils and it worked greatly.  Hynes helped turn Schneider into one of the best goalies in the league and the Devils became a superior defensive team.  They ranked in the top-10 in all of the major defensive categories - Goals Against, Penalty Kill Percentage, and Corsi Against - and they were a solid puck possession team.  Had New Jersey simply scored some goals (they ranked last in Goals For and Corsi For), they probably would have been a playoff team.

CAT.	Goals For	Goals Against	PP %	PK %	PDO	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi For %	oZS%	dZS%
Stat	184	208	19.92	82.95	100.4	3595	4231	45.9	47.0	53.0
Devils’ Rank	31st	9th	9th	8th	11th	30th	3rd	29th	30th	30th

PDO= Even Strength Shooting Percentage + Even Strength Save Percentage

Corsi For= Shots + Blocks + Misses while in possession of puck

Crosi Against= Shots + Blocks + Misses while not in possession of puck

Corsi For %= Corsi For/(Corsi For+Corsi Against) -> Above 50% means that team controls play

oZS% = Offensive Zone Start Percentage

dZS% = Defensive Zone Start Percentage

• Shero addressed this goalscoring need by acquiring elite Left Winger Taylor Hall for a fringe top-4 defenseman in Adam Larsson.  With him skating on the first line with Adam Henrique and Kyle Palmieri, their top line will be tough to shut down.  The Devils also brought in former 1st Round pick Beau Bennett, whom Shero is familiar with, from Pittsburgh to see if they can salvage his career similar to how well Devante Smith-Pelly fit in New Jersey last season.  To fill the hole left by trading Larsson, they brought in Stanley Cup winner Ben Lovejoy to be a veteran presence on a relatively young defensive unit.  If Palmieri can prove that he is truly a 30-goal scorer in this league, then the Devils should be in good shape this season.  Schneider will ensure that their defensive system stays intact while the addition of Hall will spark the offense.  New Jersey could make the playoffs this season and will be in a good position for years to come, with a young, controllable team, and an excessive cap space to sign the players.

Breakout Candidate:

• RW Devante Smith-Pelly - Smith-Pelly has bounced around between three teams (Anaheim, Montreal, and now New Jersey) in the last few seasons and has failed to make an impact on Anaheim and Montreal.  He was traded to New Jersey during the season last year and settled in nicely on a team that didn't really have a chance of making the playoffs.  With any pressure off of him, and the freedom to simply play hockey, he put up 13 points in just 18 games and set a new career high in goals (8) in a very small sample size.  Going into this season, he will have the chance to skate on the second line and could shine.  I think that Smith-Pelly will eclipse the 20 goal plateau and cause Anaheim and Montreal to wish they hadn't gotten rid of him.

Regression Candidate:

• RW Kyle Palmieri - Palmieri is another player that New Jersey has that originated with Anaheim.  When he played for the Ducks, he never scored more than 14 goals in a season but broke out in big way last year, scoring 30 goals in his first full season in the NHL.  That performance was good enough to earn him a spot on the Team USA World Cup of Hockey roster over Phil Kessel.  I think that Palmieri is a very talented hockey player, who is still quite young (25), but I'm not sold on him being a perennial 30-goal scorer.  The addition of Taylor Hall on the opposite wing (who is a truly elite talent) could take away some of Palmieri's goals. I hope that a regression doesn't occur but I think that it is likely.

Bounceback Candidate:

• LW Mike Cammalleri - Cammalleri actually had quite a nice season last year, averaging nearly a point-per-game in 42 games.  He would have definitely surpassed point totals in recent seasons, and would have had a chance to set a new career high in points (his current career high is 56).  If he can stay healthy and put in a near full season, he should bounce back nicely for New Jersey.

*All statistics and information come from: rosterresource.com, thehockeywriters.com, hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and generalfanager.com