Team: 2022-23 New Jersey Devils

Initial Creation Date: Mar. 25, 2022

Published: Mar. 25, 2022

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

From watching this team all year I'd try to plug areas of weakness. Obviously goaltending is #1, but I am not all that interested in this goalie free agent class, nor am I interested in giving a huge long term deal to a goalie right now. Let's not forget how good Blackwood looked before his covid bout last season. Give him and Daws (who's been impressive himself) a chance to compete for the net and sign Strauss Mann as a young inexpensive wildcard. If all of that fails and NJ is losing games because of goaltending again, use the VGK (or NJ) 2023 first to head hunt a big name goalie like Gibson or Hellebuyck.

Top 6 is young and has been pretty good but NJ needs to establish a real, tough NHL third line. I think Fitz tried to do this but Johnsson and Tatar ain't it. They aren't terrible, but this team needs to shake up a bit and they are the expendable and improvable pieces. Give ARI two legit NHLers to hit the cap floor. Bring in Garland for a bit of a hefty price but his term is appealing. Try Dadanov at 3rd LW but if it doesnt work NJ has plenty of LW players and prospects in the organization to slot in and trade him for a mid round pick. And the big one...bring in Claude Giroux. Will probably take a pretty big overpay for him to come to a rival. But it lets him stay close to where his family is living right now and makes the process easier. Also not sure where else he is getting 6M+. For NJ he provides much needed stability down the middle with an exciting but young center core. If they want to do anything in playoffs they need a center to rely on who is over 24 years old. Having one of Hischier, Hughes, Giroux on the ice for 80% of the game would be huge.

Andy Greene. Devils have a lot of fringe young bottom pair defenseman. I'm high on Bahl and Walsh but you don't want to rely on one of them and Ty Smith as a third pair every night. Greene has lost a few steps but he is still responsible and can help babysit those guys (and maybe even Luke Hughes come March) as a stable defensive presence. If things go well and the young D progress they can scratch him and have him as an extra option if injuries happen or they want a more defensive look in the playoffs. Let Greener finish his career where it started.

No excuse for this roster not to be a playoff team.

1.

2.

3.