Moore-On or Moron: Pre-Preseason Edition

Training Camp for the 2024-25 New Jersey Devils is here. Let’s talk about some storylines heading into camp.

The long wait is over as New Jersey Devils veterans report to training camp today.

While I expect there will be news and nuggets from the first media sessions of camp to react to, I don’t have a crystal ball to predict what exactly will be discussed. So rather than getting into that this week, I thought this would be a good opportunity to opine about some of the Devils-related news from the past week or so. What better way to do that than with the latest edition of the game that’s sweeping the nation, “Moore-On or Moron”.

Allow me to dive into a few Devils topics and we can determine whether I am spot on with my analysis, or perhaps these are just the ramblings of a moron.

The Devils PTO Signings Will Make An Impact

Its PTO season, with the Devils announcing a few more additions earlier this week, so lets take a look at all of them and how they might fit in.

Kevin Labanc is the biggest name and probably the most accomplished player of anyone the Devils have brought in this season in a PTO. The 5’11”, 185 lb. righty shooting RW has 225 points in 478 NHL games, all with San Jose. He’s struggled with injuries and inconsistencies the last few years and presumably had little interest on the open market before the Devils gave him a look with a PTO.

Andy Welinski is a 6’2”, 212 lb. RHD with a ton of AHL experience. Originally a third round pick of the Anaheim Ducks back in 2011, he has played 319 AHL regular season games between San Diego, Lehigh Valley, Stockton, Hartford, Rockford, Iowa, and Charlotte. He has also appeared 46 NHL games with the Ducks, with his last NHL games coming back in 2020-21.

They join goaltender Michael Hutchinson and LHD Jakub Zboril, who agreed to PTOs back on September 5. Hutchinson brings 154 NHL games worth of experience to the table, along with a familiarity with Sheldon Keefe as the two overlapped in Toronto. Zboril, a former Bruins first round pick, has played in 76 NHL games for the Bruins over four seasons, with his last NHL action coming in 2022-23.

I don’t necessarily mind the Devils looking to add a little depth, particularly when their depth is already being tested early between the injury to Luke Hughes and whatever the heck is going on with Simon Nemec. But I wrote a few weeks back when I said if the Devils wanted to add anything of substance, they’re better off waiting until the deadline instead of wasting their time with PTOs. Nothing that has happened since then has really changed my opinion.

Yes, when Labanc is going well, he can contribute a little bit offensively. But he also has a reputation for being a one-dimensional forward who is poor defensively and draws the ire of the coaching staff. Your mileage may vary, but I look at a guy who was a healthy scratch on the worst team in the league and ask myself “why would he be the answer here”. Perhaps Labanc is simply a placeholder until Dawson Mercer shows up to training camp, but if he doesn’t produce enough offensively to play Top Six on a bad NHL team like the Sharks, and he doesn’t do any of the gritty, sandpapery, defensive stuff to be a coach’s pet and force his way into a bottom six role…..how exactly does Kevin Labanc fit on a team like the Devils? Short answer is that he probably doesn’t.

I can somewhat understand the Welinski and Zboril PTOs if the idea is for them to eventually wind up at Utica. I don’t know how many veteran defensemen Utica actually needs if we remember that Colton White and Nick DeSimone are already in the mix there, but maybe they choose to add another with the recent injuries at the NHL level. I can also understand the Hutchinson PTO if the idea is “we don’t want Nico Daws to play any NHL games this season under any circumstances”. Not only would Daws benefit from being removed from the NHL equation entirely in the short-term, he’s 14 games away from losing his waiver-exempt status. So if the idea is that Hutchinson can sit on the NHL bench in a baseball cap in case of emergency while Daws plays a starter’s workload in Utica, I get it. Lastly, I can understand having even more “veterans” around for the final few preseason games if the Devils plan is to indeed leave for Prague on September 29th, as Matt Loughlin indicated. Somebody has to play those final few preseason games against the Rangers and Flyers.

I fail to see how any of these PTOs make an impact though, and if they are, its probably a negative impact because they’re playing too much at the NHL level which means something went horribly wrong for that to happen in the first place. The Devils might need another forward, but Kevin Labanc isn’t it. Hutchinson has mostly been a bad backup goaltender wherever he’s been, and the two defensemen are more AHL depth than NHL solutions. If the idea is that they’re camp bodies, that’s one thing. If the idea is you need one of them to be something, that’s another thing entirely.

Verdict: Moron

Dawson Mercer Will Be In the Opening Night Lineup

This is basically a “Of course Dawson Mercer will be signed in time” prediction.

As of this writing at 2:03am ET, he is not signed, and the Devils very well may pull one over on me by announcing this sometime Wednesday morning before this publishes. If so, it is what it is. I can’t predict that.

Still, reading the tea leaves, it would appear we are heading in that direction as Peter Baugh of The Athletic alluded to earlier this week. Those sentiments have been echoed by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period and James Nichols of NJD Hockey Now. There’s enough smoke building to the point where there’s probably something there, and that’s to be expected as training camp does open today.

Is it a huge deal if Mercer misses Day 1 of camp while the final details are hammered out? Not really. But with Sheldon Keefe implementing a new system, you do want everyone present and accounted for sooner rather than later. And you do want Mercer there well before the rest of the team departs for Prague on September 29th.

Mercer and his camp might have wanted a long-term deal but that was never realistic with him coming off of a down year, and the Devils spent their money elsewhere. Even if they wanted to give him something similar to what Detroit just gave Lucas Raymond, the money just isn’t there at this time. The Devils left enough money for a bridge deal. Mercer will wind up accepting a bridge deal. And this entire situation will be kicked down the road to a later date.

Training camp was the “deadline” that the Devils were always going to operate on in this situation, and one would think they’ll wind up coming pretty close to meeting that deadline. If they’re off by a day or so, so be it. But this should, hopefully, get done in time for Mercer to be in the Opening Night lineup against the Sabres. I expect that it will.

Verdict: Moore-On

The Devils Should Try to Get Luke Hughes’s Next Contract Signed Now

Three years ago, the Devils and Jack Hughes agreed to an 8-year contract extension worth $64 million.

That deal was negotiated while Hughes was out of the lineup, as he suffered a separated shoulder roughly six weeks earlier.

I don’t want to say it’s deja vu, but fast forward three years later. Luke Hughes is entering the final season of his ELC like how Jack was. Luke Hughes is a promising young star, finishing third in the Calder voting last season. Jack hadn’t broken out yet when he signed his deal but he showed flashes of promise that he was going to be what we expect him to be. And weirdly enough, Luke Hughes will also miss a decent chunk of the early portion of this season due to a shoulder injury, just like his big brother.

I wouldn’t go as far as to say the Hughes’s are injury-prone and they were smart to take the money when they did. But they are both going to be part of the Devils core for years to come and need to be compensated as such. Luke’s deal is up after this year and unlike Dawson Mercer’s situation, I would expect the Devils to get Luke signed long-term sooner rather than later. Puck-moving defensemen are at a premium in this league, especially ones who can skate like Luke, and while I don’t think fearing offer sheets is a thing, why risk it getting to that point and not negotiating on your terms?

The market is pretty well established for top-end defensemen coming off of their ELC. Brock Faber signed for 8x$8.5M earlier this offseason. Owen Power, who went #1 overall in Luke’s draft class, is entering the first year of a seven year deal worth $8.35M AAV. Coincidentally enough, Luke shares an agent with both his brothers as well as Power.

There might be some belly aching and whining about whether or not Luke has “earned it” once he puts pen to paper, which similarly enough, also happened when Jack signed. But with a projected $15.3M in cap space in 2025-26 and before considering any cap increases, the Devils have plenty of space to get a deal similar to the one Faber just signed done. And as you should know by now, its a fool’s errand to bet against the Hughes brothers, and it would be foolish to not get him signed now. I suspect once he does sign, we’re probably only about a year or two away from talking about how Luke Hughes has one of the best contracts in the NHL.

It would be another calculated bet for Tom Fitzgerald to make, but I would expect that these conversations are already taking place behind the scenes. And I wouldn’t be surprised if, like Jack, once Luke is ready to make his 2024-25 debut, he’ll be a lot wealthier when he takes the ice.

Verdict: Moore-On

Chase Stillman Can Make the Devils Roster, Assuming He’s Healthy

One of the more impressive performances at the Prospects Challenge came from former first round pick Chase Stillman.

Keep in mind, this should be viewed through the lens of Stillman being one of the more experienced players in this particular setting and him playing against a bunch of players who will top out as career AHLers. But if you wanted to see him dominate a bunch of 18 or 19 year olds, both on the scoresheet with four goals and with physical play, Stillman delivered in a small sample size.

Stillman is entering his second professional season, having played 54 games last season for Utica. The idea of him spending a large chunk of another season at the AHL level isn’t out of the norm as a lot of players need that second year as part of their development. But after an impressive showing and the current state of the bottom six being what it is at the NHL level, it raises the question of whether or not Stillman can be so impressive in camp that he wins a job. It’ll get tougher in NHL preseason games where you’re going up against more experienced players, but theoretically, his abrasive style of play fits what the Devils were looking for this summer with some of their other additions.

That said, its not easy to make an NHL roster and most of the Devils forward spots are accounted for. Putting Mercer aside as he’s not under contract as of this writing, I have Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Ondrej Palat, Erik Haula, Stefan Noesen, Tomas Tatar, Curtis Lazar, and Paul Cotter as locks to make the 23 man roster. I think Nathan Bastian and Kurtis MacDermid have a very strong chance to be on the roster as well given their contracts and level of experience. If they are, you’re up to 13 forwards once you do include Mercer. That would leave one forward spot up for grabs, assuming the Devils don’t carry 8 defensemen.

Stillman would be competing with guys like Nolan Foote, Adam Beckman, Max Willman, Brian Halonen, and the aforementioned Labanc for that spot. Theoretically, most of those other players will have a leg up as they would have to clear waivers to be sent down to Utica while Stillman is still waiver exempt, but I don’t think that should necessarily be the deciding factor. If Stillman impresses in training camp and the preseason as much as he did during the prospects challenge (and I’m talking to the level of Dawson Mercer three years ago where he left no doubt he should be on the roster), he should be a candidate to earn a roster spot.

Assuming, of course, he’s not broken.

Verdict: Moore-On

The Devils Should Take Things Slow with Luke Hughes and (most likely) Simon Nemec

Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec are going to be significant players for the Devils long-term.

They’re also both currently injured at the moment. Or at least, we think so. Perhaps we need an internet detective to take a recent photo of Simon Nemec for the team to bother to tell us what’s going on there.

I’m not going to speculate on the severity of injuries. But I am going to implore the team to do the smart thing in both cases and not rush either player back until they’re 100%.

Johnathan Kovacevic, Santeri Hatakka, Nick DeSimone, Colton White, Jakub Zboril, and Andy Welinski are not Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec. They’re not better than them right now nor do they possess their long-term upside. But the Devils built the depth that they built for a reason. Trust in the depth that you built that you can cobble together a decent enough third pairing for the first few weeks of the regular season until Luke and/or Nemec return.

The Devils don’t play a regular season game for another two plus weeks. Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec do not need to be there on Opening Night for the Devils to get to where they want to go. But they are going to need them there in November, December, January, February, etc. They need healthy versions of these players to be a playoff team.

While I’m on the topic, can the Devils PLEASE do a better job protecting the players from themselves when it comes to rushing back from injuries. We have seen plenty of examples of Devils players not being anywhere near 100% playing games, from Mackenzie Blackwood saying the team asked him to return before he was ready to knowingly playing sick players to letting Jack Hughes and Timo Meier be shells of themselves for long stretches of last season.

I get that the players are competitive and bear some responsibility here as well. Jack Hughes at 50% is still better than most players in this league and guys like him are the ultimate competitors. Players want to play and they know their bodies better than anyone. I get that over the course of a season, nobody is 100%. I get that each individual situation is different. But too often in recent years, we have seen this organization chase short-term wins and damn any long-term ramifications. This would be the opposite of the long-term, big picture approach that they’ve taken with this rebuild in general. They’re in a position with Luke Hughes and Nemec where they have the luxury of time, and they have the depth where they should be able to get by in the meantime.

Be smart, take your time, ignore Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec once they start getting the itch to play, protect them from themselves, don’t let the ebbs and flows of the first few weeks of the season impact your decision making, and operate on your timeline. Please. I’m begging you.

Verdict: Moore-On

The Devils (and the NHL in general) Need To Be More Transparent With Injuries

I’ve already alluded to this, and I expect we’ll finally get some answers today when the Devils talk to the media, but Simon Nemec was injured 19 days ago and we still have no official update from the Devils.

How is this possible and/or acceptable? It’s not.

Nothing on the team website. Nothing on their Twitter account. Silence.

To be clear, I don’t doubt for one second that the Devils would have also been silent in regards to Luke Hughes if it weren’t for the fact that that photo of him in a sling at a Michigan football game made the rounds on Reddit. That photo of Luke in a sling prompted the Devils to put out a brief statement that we probably don’t get otherwise, meaning we’d be learning about Luke’s injury today instead of one week ago. John alluded to this in his post last week and he’s spot on with his analysis.

I acknowledge that this past two weeks or so has technically been the offseason. The team isn’t and hasn’t been required to make Tom Fitzgerald or anyone else available to the media these last few weeks. I also get that us, as fans, don’t need access to the players medical records.

I don’t want to speculate on Nemec’s injury and/or the severity of it, but I also feel like we almost have no choice but to speculate because of the silence coming from the team. Is it a really bad sprain? Is it a fracture or a dislocation, despite what Tomas Prokop initially reported? Did Nemec suffer a concussion? Is he totally fine? Does he now have bolts coming out of his neck like Frankenstein? Did he fall into the Springfield Mystery Spot, never to be seen again? I know the answer to those last few questions is no thanks to his Instagram but my point is I shouldn’t have to dig through Nemec’s Instagram account to find the answers to these questions.

This does raise the question as to whether or not fans need to know about injuries? Its not our bodies or our livelihoods, after all. But my response to that would be yes, I actually do need to know to some extent. Especially when you’re asking me to make a financial investment in the team in some manner.

Whether the Devils or the NHL like it or not, we live in the “people pay to watch me play” era. And the last I checked, the Devils are still very much in the business of trying to make as much money as possible. If you’re like me, you are likely receiving daily emails from the team and/or their sales reps to try to get you to purchase something. Tickets to a game, a suite experience, a group outing, etc. Not to mention any merchandise or concessions once you do decide to go to a game. I get that the fine print in these transactions will typically say “lineup subject to change” or something along those lines somewhere in it to cover the team from a legality standpoint when the player on the front of the ticket doesn’t play, but the point remains that people go to see their favorite players as much as they go to root for the laundry.

People want to see exciting young players. People often buy tickets based on the opposition because they want to see certain players on that opposing team. The NBA has had a load management problem for years where fans have repeatedly gotten screwed over buying tickets to see a specific superstar come to town only for them to announce the day of that they’re sitting out for rest. It’s a major problem that the NBA has taken some steps to address, and its one that causes fans to take a leap of faith and trust that they won’t get screwed whenever they put their credit card information into the computer and buy tickets.

Most people have a limited amount of disposable income for entertainment in 2024. Shouldn’t they have as much information as possible to make an informed decision before spending hundreds of dollars on hockey tickets for the family?

If you’re a casual Devils fan who isn’t online all the time and had no idea Simon Nemec played hockey at a competitive level this summer, would you even know that he may or may not be injured? Would you even know Luke Hughes got hurt during his offseason training? Because its not like the team is going to say “By the way, those players you like might not play anytime soon” while they’re taking your money.

When the Devils are taking money from sportsbooks by entering a partnership with them, and when they’re advertising said sportsbooks during games, on the boards, and on in-arena signage, shouldn’t you know whether or not a player on the team is going to play anytime soon before placing a wager?

The Devils are far from the only NHL team to operate in this manner where they protect injury information like its the nation’s nuclear codes. There will always be some veil of secrecy until the league steps in and requires the teams to operate with the level of transparency I’m requesting. But taking a look at another far more successful league than the NHL, the NFL has injury reports for a reason. And they take it seriously when teams operate with a level of chicanery to avoid divulging information on said reports. Sometimes.

People who defend the NHL for operating in this manner might think that “upper body injury” is a good enough designation for an injured player. And granted, it makes little difference to me if its a shoulder vs. a wrist vs. a fractured rib. But I don’t think I’m asking too much when I ask the team not to string us along like the time Taylor Hall was “day-to-day” for months before he ultimately needed season-ending knee surgery. I’m not necessarily saying the Devils are lying about injuries but not being forthcoming erodes public trust. Being misleading, intentional or not, certainly erodes public trust. Withholding information regarding player availability while simultaneously taking money for tickets certainly seems unethical and erodes public trust.

David Blitzer may have said that injury timelines are tough to predict, and he may be right. I don’t doubt that Hall’s situation might have been complicated in 2019. Every injury is different. Every athlete’s body is different. Sometimes, the team and player exhausts all rest and rehab options and surgery is a last resort. And ultimately, we don’t know what we don’t know. But with how inconsistent the Devils have been disclosing injury information, they have not earned the benefit of the doubt in this regard. And the worst part with all of this is that the team knows they can get away with it because a) the league won’t force them to operate differently and b) we as fans will always keep coming back for more.

Injuries are always going to happen. I am simply asking the team for updates like the Luke Hughes update, and I’m asking them to give that information without feeling forced to because a teenager with too much time on his hands happened to catch an image of Luke Hughes in a sling in the background while watching a college football game on TV, prompting someone on the Devils PR staff to scramble to put out a statement and do damage control.

Verdict: Moore-On in that I’m definitely right. Moron in the sense that I’m likely yelling into the void expecting them to do so.