Équipe: 2020-21 Devils du New Jersey

Date de création initiale: 8 avr. 2021

Publié: 8 avr. 2021

Mode - plafond salarial: Basique

The Devils have done a pretty decent job acquiring assets in recent years and have had some lottery luck to aid the rebuild. But the on-ice results have been extremely poor and there seems to be a lack of top tier talent beyond the two #1OAs. I projected our young guys into 4 classes, legitimate NHL top 6, hopeful/fringe NHL top 6, legitimate bottom 6 and unlikely NHLer. By legitimate I am talking about can they adequately fill that role on a competitive playoff team in the future.

LW: legit top 6
C: hopeful/fringe top 6
RW: legit bottom 6
LD: unlikely legit NHLer

Basically what I found (as expected) is that there are a TON of bottom 6 worthy young players. I could be overvaluing some guys but I really don't look at any of them as unlikely to play legit bottom 6 minutes in the NHL at some point whether it's with NJ or somewhere else.

But as you go further left the bar gets smaller and smaller. I don't know if you can project any players or prospects comfortably as top 6 players after Hughes and Hischier. There are a few hopeful top 6 guys with Holtz probably closest to breaking the threshold as a legit top 6 but overall slim pickings.

Unfortunately the NHL isn't built to be kind to teams with weak top 6's and good but young bottom 6's. In fact it's pretty much the exact opposite. Get elite, fast, young players in the top 6 and fill out the bottom 6 with experienced vets.

I'm not proposing NJ go out and sign a bunch of 35 year old grinders to play bottom 6. I'm more interested in the idea of how you move some of those pieces on the right to get a significant piece or two to put into the left or center column. I don't have any great ideas because Im an internet dummy but I'd hope Devils management are open to finding creative solutions to turn an abundance of average young talent into a couple of premiere talents. Easier said than done.