Thoughts on the Eve of Another Devils Season

Devils rookies report to training camp next week. Veterans report the following week. This post covers a few loose ends with training camp almost upon us.

The long wait is almost over.

With Labor Day weekend behind us and the summer unofficially over, it’s time to start looking towards the fall. With that comes hockey season, and while it is not quite October yet, we are closing in on some important dates on the Devils calendar. Before you know it, there will be hockey at The Rock.

We’ve reached the final few days in the offseason where players are starting to return to the area in preparation for training camp and the upcoming season, but there are still a few loose threads that need to be addressed. This week, I’ll take a look at them and give my thoughts on each situation.

The Devils Should Be Able to Navigate A Simon Nemec Injury

For those who may have missed it, Simon Nemec suffered an apparent upper body injury in Slovakia’s game against Hungary during the final qualification games leading up to the 2026 Winter Olympics.

According to Slovak hockey insider Tomas Prokop, he will undergo more testing in New Jersey this week.

Credit to NJDemon for pointing this out in the comments of John’s preview article to me, as Slovakia assistant coach Peter Frühauf noted that the Nemec injury was a “more serious” injury.

Nobody wants to see Nemec injured and/or missing time, but the Devils do have the depth on the blueline and time on their side to take things slow, regardless of the severity of the injury. The Jonathan Kovacevic trade all of a sudden goes from being a sneaky, crafty pickup to a critical one, while this also potentially opens the door for Santeri Hatakka (or another defenseman who impresses in the preseason) to make the NHL roster out of camp. Either way, the Devils have time to sort this out, as veterans don’t report to training camp until September 18th, the first preseason game isn’t until September 22nd, and the Devils-Sabres season opening games in Prague aren’t until October 4th.

Time will tell what the severity of Nemec’s injury actually is, and frankly, I think the “more serious” label is kind of vague without the additional context that further testing would provide. Does “more serious” mean he needs surgery or does it mean “He’s certainly not playing against Kazakhstan, and with this tournament over, this is Jersey’s problem now”? The Devils are at least in a good position to withstand it for the time being, as they have the luxury of time where Nemec isn’t in immediate danger of missing NHL games and they have the luxury of depth where they should be fine with Kovacevic in the meantime.

Dawson Mercer Still Not Being Signed Isn’t a Big Deal…..Yet

With veterans two weeks away from reporting to training camp, we’re starting to get down to the nitty gritty in regards to Dawson Mercer and whether or not he’ll be signed in time for training camp, let alone the 2024-25 season.

David Pagnotta reported on NHL Network last week that Mercer and the Devils weren’t close, but talks were ongoing. That sentiment was echoed by Kristy Flannery of The Hockey News, who spoke with Mercer’s agent Pat Brisson of CAA. Brisson confirmed that they’ll continue to speak and they’ve had many conversations, but that was last week and the deal still isn’t done.

Much has been written about Mercer on this site, with Gerard saying time is ticking while John drew potential correlations between Mercer’s situation and the deferred bonus payments in Seth Jarvis’s new deal with Carolina. But we don’t know what we don’t know, and we certainly don’t know what exactly is the holdup here.

I certainly don’t think its as simple as “The Devils have $4.9M in cap space left, give that all to Mercer”. That would be the wrong way of looking at this, for a few reasons. The Devils will want to leave cap space available for injury callups during the season (which, they might need one right off the bat with the Nemec injury). They also don’t want to have to dip into LTIR to be cap compliant until its necessary, as they want to be able to accrue cap space throughout the season leading into the trade deadline.

Ultimately, deadlines spur action and the reality of this situation is that there really is no hard deadline for the Devils to get this done. The first soft deadline is probably September 18th when veterans report as you’d like for Mercer to be there while Sheldon Keefe is trying to implement a new system. You’d like for Mercer to be there for practices and whatever preseason action a veteran of his stature would get into. But its not required. Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt are two recent examples of players who went into camp unsigned before eventually putting pen to paper.

If you’re looking for a harder deadline than that, you’re probably looking at the day before the Devils board their charter flight for Prague for the season opener. Obviously, missing regular season games is a deadline. It’s also something that Mercer has never done throughout his three-year NHL career. I don’t think the Devils should necessarily be beholden to a consecutive games played streak, but I do think its a source of pride for the player, and I wouldn’t want a contract dispute being the reason for me missing games, regardless of whether that impacts the streak or not.

The fact that Mercer’s deal still isn’t done isn’t out of the norm. A quick look around the league shows there are plenty of RFAs still unsigned at the moment. But these deals all get done eventually and rarely do holdouts bleed into the regular season. I would guess when push comes to shove, both sides find a middle ground. Until then, there’s no reason to be concerned. At least….not yet.

How Much Will the Devils Actually Use Kurtis MacDermid?

Much has been written in regards to Kurtis MacDermid this offseason, but some of the comments in the most recent AATJ Top 25 under 25 post got me thinking just how much MacDermid will actually be used this upcoming season.

While I can understand the argument that MacDermid’s 3-year, $1.15M AAV contract is designed to be put on waivers at any time to be sent down, I’m reluctant to think that will actually be the case with MacDermid. At least to start Year 1 of that pact.

We can argue about the money, the term, and whether or not MacDermid is actually good at anything other than punching other dudes in the face, but the fact remains that Tom Fitzgerald made him a priority signing this offseason. Fitzgerald gave him three years and more than a minimum salary to make sure he had this guy six weeks ahead of the UFA market opening on July 1. The Devils clearly value him, and I think there’s more to it than wanting to get him locked in for this upcoming season just in case they couldn’t get who they wanted in UFA.

In addition to that, the Devils probably don’t need the minimal cap space at the moment (I view Mercer’s situation separately from what the 22nd and 23rd guys on the NHL roster are projected to make). Yes, the Devils COULD bury MacDermid at the AHL level. But why would they be doing so? To save a couple hundred thousand dollars versus a minimum salary replacement player? Perhaps, but there’s probably more to it than that.

I think its up for debate how much the 12th forward can actually do in an NHL game in the 4-5 minutes of ice time he gets, positively or negatively. I’m not saying that a fourth liner can’t have an impact, but generally speaking, you’re not winning or losing games over the course of an 82 game season based on whatever your 12th forward is doing. But I do think there are timeswhere you want that guy out there to set the tone for the night.

I would expect MacDermid to be in the lineup against heavier teams and teams that have a track record of physical play, so I’d probably pencil him in for games against Florida, Washington, Philadelphia, and both New York teams. And I wouldn’t be surprised to see a guy who got into 16 of the Devils final 23 games post-trade last season get into more games than expected this season.

The Devils Can’t Afford to Waste Any More Prime Jack Hughes Years While He’s On a Bargain Contract

Yesterday, Edmonton Oilers star and former Hart Trophy winner Leon Draisaitl agreed to an 8-year extension making him the highest paid player in the NHL.

Draisaitl is one of the five best forwards in the league in some order, depending upon how one feels when ranking him, Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, and Nikita Kucherov on any given day.

Four of those five players have recently held the title of “highest paid player in the league”, with McDavid set to reclaim his title when he signs an extension sometime next summer once eligible.

Jack Hughes isn’t quite on that level yet as a player, but he’s not that far off either. Entering his age 23 season, he still has room to grow as a player. More importantly, Jack Hughes is signed at an $8M AAV through 2030. As more and more top players come up for new deals, Jack’s number remaining a consistent $8M only hammers home the point that this is the single best contract in the NHL right now and will remain so until the time comes for him to negotiate a new deal.

Jack being injured last year didn’t help matters, but the Devils wound up wasting a prime year of Jack’s prime and Jack’s bargain deal regardless due to the other flaws with the roster.

That simply can not happen again.

Tom Fitzgerald knows this, which is why he made the moves he made this summer. It’s not just about making the Devils better right now. It’s also dealing with the reality that the Devils best chance of winning a Stanley Cup (or Stanley Cups) might be throughout the lifetime of Jack’s deal, with THIS group together and locked in. We don’t know what player contracts will look like come 2030. Assuming the salary cap continues to go up, it doesn’t take a genius to suggest Jack may one day claim that fictional WWE title belt of “highest paid player in the league” for a year or two until the next guy surpasses him. And rightfully so.

Star players are always going to get theirs, and that’s fine. Teams don’t get into cap hell paying star players. Teams get into cap hell by overpaying role players and getting it wrong on their core pieces. The problem in Edmonton isn’t what McDavid and Draisaitl make….its what Evander Kane and Darnell Nurse make. If anything, star players rarely get paid what they’re worth and are underpaid. But when star players get a bigger slice of the pie the second and third time around, there’s less pie to go around for everybody else.

It would be in the Devils best interests to take advantage of the fact that their best players are all locked in now and for the foreseeable future and act accordingly. Fitzgerald did this summer. We’ll see if they can now reap the rewards in the coming years.

Leadership and the Importance of Setting the Tone on Day One

As a team, you’re only as good as your best players, and I think these last two years are perfect examples of that.

In 2022-23, Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton were healthy throughout the season and posted career years. Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt were great as well, and the Devils had one of their best seasons in recent memory. Vibes were good, the leadership was good, and the results on the ice were great.

Last year, Hughes was injured and a shell of himself when he did play. Hamilton didn’t play after December 1st due to a torn pec. Bratt took his game to another level, which was great to see, and while Hischier played well, I think the ebbs and flow of the season and the pressures associated with bearing the load took its toll on him. Vibes were bad, everyone was miserable because of the losing, and losing causes leadership to come into question (from the outside, anyways).

Consider Hischier’s quotes to Elliotte Friedman in last week’s 32 Thoughts.

Two years ago, when the Devils beat the Rangers in the playoffs, they had a long winning streak in November, so the cushion was created. Nothing like that in 2023-24. “We never got going.” Anyone who knows Hischier knows he wears it hard when things go badly. “I always want to win,” he said. “That’s not a secret. I hate losing. As a captain I want to do more, I need to do more. … Was I frustrated? Yes, it just sucks. You obviously want the team to do better. … Sometimes I have to go home and say to myself, I gave everything I can. That’s it.”

To be clear, I’m not blaming Nico Hischier for last season. Not any more or any less than I would blame any other player for last season. But I do think the pressures of trying to do more to make up for garbage goaltending, a bad defense, Jack being compromised and Dougie not being there got to Hischier. Jack Hughes is one of the leaders on the team as well, and I think it ate at him that he was a compromised version of himself as a player due to his injury. He’s one of the most competitive players in the league, which is why he gutted it out the best he could in the first place. It’s admirable that he played as well as he did given the circumstances. With that said, I think he too felt the pressures of wanting to do more with the season playing out in the manner it did. And regardless of whether they wear a letter or not, its tough for guys like Ondrej Palat, Dougie Hamilton, and Timo Meier to lead when they’re not in the lineup due to their own injuries.

Last year’s team had holes, but I don’t think leadership was one of them. The goaltending was a problem. The blueline wasn’t deep enough. The team was soft, got pushed around, and was way too easy to play against. Injuries and losses start piling up and before you know it, the coach is fired and the team is going through the motions of just trying to get to Game 82 so they can reset, lick their wounds, and regroup over the summer.

Tom Fitzgerald changed and upgraded just about everything he could over the summer. Goaltending should no longer be an issue with Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen. The blueline should be deeper with Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, and Johnathan Kovacevic. The team should be tougher to play against with Stefan Noesen and Paul Cotter. Nemec’s recent injury aside, the team is healthy. They have a new coach in Sheldon Keefe with a track record of consistent regular season success. Yes, they brought in more veterans, and frankly, they needed more veterans and experience in the lineup, but I think there’s a difference between that and leadership.

Either way, there should be no more excuses moving forward for this group. The leaders of this team are in place. The core of this team is in place. The veterans are in place. Its on them all to see to it last season doesn’t happen again, which is why I think the most telling story in regards to the 2024-25 season has yet to be told.

What will the mindset of this group be on Day 1 of camp?

Hischier took the losing to heart last season. I don’t doubt that with an extended summer, he’ll be rearing to go come training camp. I don’t doubt that Jack, being as competitive as he is and with the way last season went for him, will be chomping at the bit to get out there. I don’t doubt that Bratt, who wasn’t complacent with back-to-back 73 point seasons, will work harder to top the 83 points he posted last year. I don’t know if he can, but I’m excited to see if Bratt indeed has another level to gain.

Ondrej Palat isn’t used to losing. He’s used to being on teams that are in the playoffs just about every year. So is Erik Haula. So are most of the newcomers on the roster who weren’t here last year. But even putting them aside, the Devils who were here last year have had a whole summer to stew over the disaster that was the 23-24 season. Most of them were here the year prior and know how good this team is capable of being.

How will they approach this upcoming season? Before I answer how they should approach it, let me close this section by acknowledging that team across the river for a moment.

That team across the river was a team that, while talented, had their season end in disappointing fashion in 2022-23. They also didn’t experience even half of the nonsense the Devils dealt with last year while losing in the manner they did.

We can debate whether or not they were right to feel that way after having smoke blown up their rear on how good they were heading into the playoffs and how they were easily going to win that series against the upstart Devils. Smarter people knew the Devils were always the better team the entire time, but I digress. They knew good enough wasn’t good enough and that after a disappointing loss, they had to be better. This lead to what was probably one of the defining quotes of the 2023-24 season.

Fast forward seven months later, and they finished the season with a President’s Trophy. Artemi Panarin, Vincent Trocheck, and Alexis Lafreniere had career years, while Chris Kreider, Adam Fox, and Mike Zibanejad played to the back of their hockey cards.

They played with a purpose under a new coach and erased the bad lingering taste from that loss to the Devils. Their leaders and best players took losing in the manner they did to a team that they probably felt was inferior to them to heart. And it all started with that “No BS” mentality on Day 1 of training camp.

They set the tone on Day 1, they worked harder than everybody else in the Metropolitan, and they got the results they deserved and that they earned. And while (thankfully) it wasn’t enough to win the Cup, it was enough to make a statement that last year is dead and gone. This is a new team with a new identity. No BS.

For the Devils in 2024-25, they need to adopt that same exact mentality. And that needs to start with the leaders on the team and trickle down to the rest of the roster. I don’t doubt that the leaders on the team will have a chip on their shoulder after last year. Or at least, I would hope so after how last season that transpired the way it did. The Devils players who are back should be well aware that last season was nowhere close to being good enough.

If they don’t, there might be bigger problems with this team that need to be addressed down the road.