Overhaul for Hall

Équipe: 2019-20 Devils du New Jersey

Date de création initiale: 29 août 2019

Publié: 5 sept. 2019

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

Shero has put in a lot of work this off season to improve the team in the hopes of re-signing Hall. Overall, this team is now quite deep defensively, but will by relying on a bit of a bounce back from Schneider behind a more competent team, and immediate top 6 forward quality play from both Gusev and Hughes to really make a run at the playoffs. I think they are definitely in the mix as the Metro seems fairly wide open this year with no truly terrible teams. The only outstanding items are signing Zacha, perhaps seeing if there is an upgrade at RW out there, or finding another trade where they can take advantage of their cap space. If they fall out of the playoff picture, they also have a few quality UFA's that they can use at the deadline to bring in pieces to compliment their young core and continue their rebuild. Shero has set them up to be a flexible team with both a good present (playoff discussion this year) and future (good young core players), but there may be still a bit more to go to truly being a cup contender. It should be an exciting season for Devils fans.

I think Zacha gets a two year bridge deal at $2M based on what Anthony Beauvillier just signed for, but just a bit lower as he has yet to crack 30 points.

I have Ty Smith making the team on the bottom pairing with power play time mixed in as he adjusts to the NHL. He's got nothing left to prove at the WHL level and they can't send him to the AHL. I think Boqvist stays one more year in Sweden as he's a better fit in the top 6 there than in the bottom 6 at the NHL level. They can keep him if there's injury issues in camp, or at the end of the SHL season after the trade deadline if they become sellers and move out some of their UFA's.

I think Shero can grab a very good player middle six player in Frolik for cheap from a Flames team that needs to shed cap to sign Tkachuk. His acquisition fits with his plan to either make a push into the playoffs and retain Hall, as well as offers the flexibility of being a pending UFA that they can move at the deadline for a better price than they paid (especially if they retain salary).