The Devils will have eight NHL-caliber defensemen when Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce are back from their injuries. What will their lineup look like?
Yesterday, the New Jersey Devils announced a number of roster moves. Per the team’s official release, they:
- Waived defensemen Nick DeSimone and Colton White
- Waived forwards Nolan Foote and Shane Bowers
- Assigned Nico Daws to the Utica Comets
While I could sit here and complain that, well, any of these players were sent down before Kurtis MacDermid, who played three minutes as a 12th forward on Saturday, I will focus more on the defensemen and just hope that Nolan Foote is not claimed while MacDermid remains as the team’s emergency fill-in forward that the coach is unwilling to actually give minutes to. The important things here are that Nick DeSimone and Colton White were sent down, bringing the team below the 23-man roster limit, as they were allowed to take extra skaters to Prague and they now have to be cap compliant.
The exact roster is still not quite set for Thursday, as there are a few still working back from injuries. Topias Vilen is out for three to four weeks, Santeri Hatakka has been out since his first preseason appearance, Luke Hughes is out for awhile, and Brett Pesce has yet to play since his recovery from surgery at the end of last season. I would assume that these moves mean Brett Pesce will be ready to play on Thursday, as they are technically only with six healthy defensemen on the NHL roster, excluding Kurtis MacDermid.
When Luke Hughes returns to the lineup, they will have eight defensemen on the roster. Unless a player gets hurt between now and then, the Devils will have to figure out if they want to balance the minutes between those eight, or if players will be sent down or moved to give the lineup more consistency.
Option #1: Send Down One Player, Rotate Defensemen In/Out of the Lineup
The option that, at face value, seems most likely — and is one I expect most fans to be in support of — would be sending down Seamus Casey to the Utica Comets. However, if the first two games of the season are any indication, this might end up being a tough pill to swallow. Here are my pros and cons of sending down just one player, assuming that one player is Casey:
Pros: Seamus Casey will not have as much time handling the puck on the power play with Luke Hughes back in the lineup, unless Sheldon Keefe and Jeremy Colliton want to use two defensemen on the second unit. Not only will Casey get more power play time in Utica, but he will probably play 20-24 minutes a night rather than the 12-18 he might get in New Jersey.
Cons: Seamus Casey currently looks like he can handle competition at the NHL level. And while Casey has looked great to start the season, Simon Nemec has really struggled with the offensive game. On the second pair, Johnny Kovacevic and Jonas Siegenthaler have meshed very well, and Kovacevic has looked like a guy who is going to be tough to take out of the lineup.
Option #2: Send Down Two Players, Keep the Pairings Consistent
I do not think this will be a super-popular idea, but I think it is worth mentioning. As I just mentioned, Siegenthaler-Kovacevic has looked like a solid shutdown pairing to start the season, and Brenden Dillon seems to have unleashed a more physically-involved Dougie Hamilton on the top pairing. When Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce are both in the lineup, I would assume they end up as the team’s second pairing. So…where does that leave Simon Nemec? They could swap him and Kovacevic in and out, but Pesce returning to the lineup will mean that Nemec might only see around 15 or 16 minutes of ice time per game when he plays.
Simon Nemec is actually the youngest defenseman on the roster — Seamus Casey is a bit more than a month older than him. He will turn 21 in February. With 62 NHL games under his belt now, I think that Nemec has actually slowed down since coming onto the scene. He does not seem to move the puck around the offensive zone with as much confidence, and his defensive game is still being tuned up. Sending Nemec down alongside Casey would likely mean one of the Devils’ older depth defensemen, such as Colton White, Nick DeSimone, or Santeri Hatakka upon his return from injury, sits in the press box except for playing in day-to-day situations.
Pros: Casey-Nemec has worked together as a third NHL pairing for two games now, showing mixed effectiveness and a decent amount of promise as a duo. If they are sent down together upon Luke Hughes’ return, they can play top pairing minutes together in Utica, giving them more time to build chemistry with Casey on the left-side. Both players can work on their net-front defense and their offensive creativity with more freedom in Utica.
Cons: Simon Nemec has played in a top-four role in the NHL. Sending him down would feel like a step in the wrong direction even if the extra ice time worked out in favor of his development.
Option #3: Make a Trade
The Devils are limited with trade options due to the protections they put in many of their players’ contracts, but they do have some options. I do not really like any of them. With Jonas Siegenthaler on a partial no-trade clause, with a 10-team list, the team could trade him. Seamus Casey, Luke Hughes, and Simon Nemec can also be traded, as they are on ELCs — though I would consider Luke Hughes untouchable. And while it would be awkward to move a player the same season he was acquired, Johnny Kovacevic is on a minimum-salary contract with no trade protection.
Pros: Making a mid-season trade with one of these players means they would certainly get an NHL-level forward in return.
Cons: The Devils are just about pushed to the cap, and trading Kovacevic would mean moving their lowest-AAV contract, meaning any replacement for him on the roster would be harder to fit under the cap. Meanwhile, he looks like a second pairing defenseman on the ice. Jonas Siegenthaler is coming off a down year, but he is the team’s best option as a left-handed penalty killer, as Luke Hughes is unproven there and Brenden Dillon is more effective at even strength. If Siegenthaler continues to look like he may be returning to form, his contract at $3.4 million for four more seasons, including this year, will look like a steal again.
Moving one of the young players would be even worse. Nemec and Casey are still on ELCs. They might be able to fetch a ton of value on the trade market, but they have more value to the team ensuring defensive depth this season and being likely top-four players down the line. They are only 20 years old — they’re just getting started.
Option #4: Juggle Eight Defensemen
Back in the 2022-23 season, the Devils baffled many when they kept Alex Holtz on the roster despite him not dressing most nights, leading to him only playing 19 NHL games and 14 AHL games that year. They could opt to do something similar with Seamus Casey, keeping him with the NHL squad, getting him in on nights with seven defensemen, but mostly having him watch from the press box.
Pros: With the team keeping all of their defensemen, they can structure and plan rest nights, keeping players fresher for the playoffs. Each of them would also stay up-to-speed with Keefe’s system.
Cons: Unless Seamus Casey is going to play forward, which he did in a pinch at Michigan to surprising success, it’s going to be incredibly difficult to ensure that everyone gets enough ice time in this scenario. Casey and Hughes might have the puck skills of a forward, but it’s probably not worth doing unless a forward gets hurt with an 11/7 lineup. If nothing else, it would be interesting to watch. And at the moment, the team’s only extra forward on the roster is Kurtis MacDermid. So, I’m not ruling out this as a possibility yet.
Final Thoughts
I think Brett Pesce should probably take more time to practice with the team before returning to play, giving the Casey-Nemec and Siegenthaler-Kovacevic pairings at least one more game together, but these decisions are going to come up in the very near future regardless. Sure, someone could get hurt, but the team might actually enjoy a run of good health for once. If that happens, they only have so many lineup spots to go around.
Personally, I am okay with any of the options except the trade one. I would rather keep our defensive depth, see the team accumulate deadline cap space, and either trade for Kevin Labanc or sign Arseni Gritysuk, if not both, down the line. With the Devils only sporting $639,645 of cap space after their roster moves today, they actually would not have been able to sign Kevin Labanc without burying Kurtis MacDermid’s cap hit in Utica. With the roster as it is now, they will have to wait to bring the team up to the 23-man limit.
I like this team’s defense. Regardless of which of the three non-trade options they take, they have the personnel to ice a great group on a nightly basis. With at least a few more weeks before Luke Hughes returns, I am intrigued to see the cases that each of Nemec, Casey, Siegenthaler, and Kovacevic build over the month of October for why they should remain on the team and in the lineup.
Your Thoughts
What do you think about the coming roster decisions? Would you rather keep just Nemec up, or keep both him and Casey on the team? Or would you send them down to get top minutes in Utica? Do you disagree with me on the trade idea? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.