The NHL season is officially upon us. On Monday, the New Jersey Devils announced their final roster heading into Thursday night’s home opener against the Detroit Red Wings. There weren’t many surprises when the roster was released.
New Jersey Devils Roster Announced for Opening Night
The Devils roster entering the season has had very few surprises. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald and Head Coach Lindy Ruff are leaning on their core of young players and the veteran additions they made during the offseason. It’ll be up to the core of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and co. to lead this youthful group back to the postseason.
#NEWS: Our roster for the start of the 2023-24 season has been announced.https://t.co/jJ5uJvY6lA
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) October 9, 2023
Simon Nemec Sent to the AHL
A big storyline during the preseason was the status of Simon Nemec. The former second-overall pick had a few fantastic showings, particularly against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders. However, a few factors worked against him. The first is Luke Hughes. Hughes is a fellow 19-year-old rookie defenceman just getting his feet wet in the NHL. Despite his good play, it would be difficult for Ruff to enter the season with two rookie defencemen playing meaningful minutes on a playoff team. Instead, they will rely on the veteran duo of Brendan Smith and Colin Miller to fill a bottom-pair role.
The second factor working against him is his contract. For starters, Nemec is waiver-exempt, meaning no other team could claim him when the Devils sent him down. The bigger reason why his contract factors in is it slides his ELC to the 2024-25 season. For a Devils team trying to win a Stanley Cup, having a young, elite defenceman on his ELC gives the team a lot of flexibility. That being said, an injury can occur and Nemec could be called upon to play major minutes. But for now, he will presumably play big minutes for Utica in the AHL this season.
Chris Tierney Makes the Team
When the Devils signed Chris Tierney to a one-year, $775k contract back in mid-July the thought was for him to be a depth forward. Fast forward to camp and he looked destined for an AHL role. He was sandwiched between Nolan Foote and Graeme Clark, two younger players fighting for a roster spot. However, he continued to stick even as the roster began to trim down, even earning some ice time with full-time NHLers. His performances weren’t great, but he was responsible in his own zone and was consistently aggressive in the O-zone. With the Devils rolling with 14 forwards to start he likely won’t see much game time, but is a capable “plug and play” fourth-liner.
Four Players Start on IR
The release of the roster also gave us insight into a few injuries. The most notable being Nolan Foote starting the season on IR. He was in the battle for a roster spot before it was reported he wouldn’t play in either of the last two preseason games. In addition, forward Brian Halonen and goalie Keith Kinkaid are also hurt to start the season. Both players suffered injuries in the team’s first preseason game. Finally, goalie Nico Daws also starts the season on IR. Daws was ruled out until the end of the calendar year after having hip surgery, so no surprise there. All four will likely report to the AHL once healthy, although Foote is an interesting case.
Opening Night Lineup
The Devils open the season with 14 forwards, 7 defencemen, and two goalies. In the practices leading up to Thursday night, the Devils lineup has been set. It should be noted that Erik Haula has been out day-to-day with a “nagging” issue. Here is how they have been lining up in practice lately.
Forwards
Meier – Hischier – Mercer
Bratt – J. Hughes – Toffoli
Palat – Lazar – Holtz
Nosek – McLeod – Bastian
Tierney
Defenceman
Siegenthaler – Hamilton
Bahl – Marino
L. Hughes – Smith
Miller
Goalies
Vanecek
Schmid
Main photo: James Guillory-USA TODAY Sports
