The New Jersey Devils, not so long ago, were a perennial playoff team, but now have made the playoffs once in the past five seasons – their surprising run to the 2012 Cup Final.

Goaltender Cory Schneider responded to his first heavy starter’s workload with a very strong season. For all of New Jersey’s troubles, Schneider is a steady presence in goal.

As far as the rebuilding process goes, New Jersey’s defence is in a decent place. Underrated veteran Andy Greene the leader, but the Devils have some good young ones on the way up. Adam Larsson finally appeared to get on track after the coaching change last season and Damon Severson was impressive before suffering a broken leg. Add Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas and John Moore and that’s a nice group of under-25 blueliners around which the Devils can build.

If the goaltending is strong and the defence is at least promising, the Devils’ most glaring shortcoming is up front, where they lack high-end skill. Kyle Palmieri is a nice addition, but if the Devils are expecting to start the season with Pavel Zacha, Stefan Matteau and Reid Boucher in the lineup, that seems like a risky proposition. Mike Cammalleri is the closest thing the Devils have to a game-breaking scorer, and there is room for players like Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique and Patrik Elias, but this group is really thin.

That lack of forward depth makes the Devils very likely to miss the playoffs again this season. This is a rebuilding process and, with the forwards in particular, it’s going to take some time to get appropriate talent in place.

 

OFF-SEASON HEADLINES

May 4: Ray Shero hired as Devils' new general manager

June 1: Devils name Jon Hynes as new head coach

June 27: Devis acquire forward Kyle Palmieri from Ducks for draft picks

July 23: Lou Lamoriello resigns from post as Devils president; named Leafs GM

 

2015-16 NEW JERSEY DEVILS

* Off-season Addition

 

Projected Lines

LW C RW
Mike Cammalleri Travis Zajac Kyle Palmieri*
Adam Henrique Pavel Zacha* Patrik Elias
Stefan Matteau Jiri Tlusty* Reid Boucher
Jordin Tootoo Jacob Josefson Tuomo Ruutu
  Stephen Gionta Paul Thompson*

Fighting For Jobs: C Joseph Blandisi, C Sergei Kalinin,* C Tyler Kennedy (PTO)* C Jim O'Brien

 

Projected Pairs

LD RD
Andy Greene Adam Larsson
John Moore* Damon Severson
Jon Merrill Eric Gelinas
David Schlemko  

Fighting For Jobs: LD Seth Helgeson, RD Raman Hrabarenka, RD Vojtech Mozik*

 

Projected Goalies

No. 1 No. 2 No. 3
Cory Schneider Keith Kinkaid Scott Wedgewood

Off-season Departures: D Bryce Salvador, D Peter Harrold, G Scott Clemmensen, C Scott Gomez

Projected Lineup: Tom Gulitti/The Bergen Record

 

SERAVALLI'S THREE QUESTIONS

1. Is No. 6 overall pick Pavel Zacha ready for the NHL?

2. Who will be the Devils’ next captain?

3. How will the Devils’ veterans respond to such massive turnover?

 

BUTTON'S TOP PROSPECTS

Top 2015-16 Prospect

C Pavel Zacha (Sarnia, OHL): Determined player who had some bumps last season but has skills and physical maturity.

Long-Term Prospect

D Steven Santini (Boston College, H-East): Hard-nosed, physical, competitive, in-your-face defender who plays a territorial game.

* Listed with 2014-15 teams

 

 

BY THE NUMBERS

 

Three-Year Breakdown (League Rank)

  2012-13 2013-14 2014-15
Points 82 (22nd)* 88 (20th) 78 (25th)
Goals For 2.3 (28th) 2.4 (27th) 2.2 (28th)
Goals Against 2.5 (13th) 2.4 (23rd) 2.6 (14th)
Power Play 16% (T-20th) 20% (T-9th) 19% (T-8th)
Penalty Killing 81% (T-15th) 86% (1st) 81% (T-20th)
SAT% Possession 55.9% (2nd) 54.4% (3rd) 47.2% (26th)

* 2012-13 points: Pro-rated lockout-shortened total

 

ESTIMATED PAYROLL vs. CAP - $60.5M/$71.4M

The Devils don’t have enough game-breakers to run into cap concerns right now and their relatively-low cap number includes $4.85-million for injured winger Ryane Clowe, who isn’t likely to play again. Given the holes on their roster, the Devils may need to use some of that money to bring in bonafide NHL talent.

 

PARTING SHOT