This team is actually pretty nasty from top to bottom. If Blackwood can return to form then the Devils will have a great season.

Yeah, the top six is really strong, and Holtz will be a bit of a wild card if he can make the team, but the bottom six has some soft spots which I can still see being a bit problematic (Johnsson, Tatar etc.)

Blueline is solid, still wouldn't call it elite though. Biggest X-Factor will be goaltending. Blackwood and Vanacek will at the very least have to be a solid 1A/1B tandem for the team to have a chance at the playoffs

The thing about the Devils blue line is that there is no definitive weak spot. All 3 pairings here are very strong. Grave and Hamilton is a good first pairing, Siegenthaler is a defensive work horse and Severson is no slouch either, and Smith and Marino will lock it down. Im a very big believer in this group and if they do end up doing poorly this season, it's not a bad time to be bad

As a #CBJ For the last 3 years I've been expecting the Devils to have a breakout year .. They have the pieces, they have for years. It's nearly impossible to find 2 Good top 6 centers and they have Hughes and Hischier..
This has to be year right??

Smith is most definitely a weak spot on the blueline, and Graves isn't a top pairing defender, he's playing above his pay grade too

Tampa Bay? Calgary? Winnipeg? Ottawa? Heck, even potentially Seattle, Anaheim, and Columbus one day

Tell me where our goaltending will be, and I’ll tell you how the season will go. It’s all about the guys in net.

I think they'll be better but it's still probably only good enough to be 5th in the division.

I think they will be competing for a wild card spot unless they have an amazing season and compete for a division spot.

Imo they have a better team than everyone in the division except the top 3: Rangers, Hurricanes, Penguins

I think the Caps are about as good as the Pens, I do expect one of them to fall sooner or later perhaps it will be the Caps but maybe it will be the Pens or both.

I dont see how we could fall with Geno, Letang, and Crosby still around. I mean sure their old but both Sid and Geno were over point per game and have been for tho know how many years. Plus Letang just had his best season in his entire career

Would still take the Rangers and Canes over NJ. Devils' ceiling this season is probably 3rd in the Metro with all of the question marks with NYI, PIT and WSH. I think one of those teams will click this year and finish ahead of them, putting NJ in wild card contention.

In any case, I think the Devils are gonna take a big step this season and will be primed for serious playoff contention by 2024

Maybe goaltending, if Jarry gets injured or leaves next season. I don't necessarily mean that one of them will fall now, but soon perhaps. Another is just that the middle of the pack teams just win more taking away from their wins, teams like NYI, NJ, CBJ, OTT, DET, BUF. Of course if just WSH blows it then that gives Pitt a better chance at staying afloat perhaps, but if they are both evenly matched but just winning less because of those other teams particularly if one of their the teams in their division take bump them out to a wild card position.

Chi went from winning the Stanley cup, to 1st round exits+missing the playoff in the odd year, to rebuild, and their guys are generally younger, ofc Toews isn't what he used to be, they did replace Keith with Jones but that didn't help, so it wouldn't be surprising that the Pens do fall even with Crosby, Geno, and Letang + Guentzel being top/good players.

Smith has excellent underlyings, even better than Graves who is an acceptable stopgap until Hughes comes up

That's the thing, Graves is JUST a STOP GAP, and if Smith has such good underlyings, then why did Carolina let him walk???

It's not just about the guys in the net, the bottom six needs to become tougher to play against. Need more Miles Wood types, not soft guys like Johnsson and Tatar

Because their internal model didn't like him as much as the public ones or liked their other guys better, because he didn't want to stay in Carolina, because they wanted to give younger guys a shot, because he didn't fit the team identity, because they just wanted to make a change, because the Devils offered him more, etc.

Yeah, and now the Hurricanes kind of have a hole at 3LD...

They're one of the better and more analytically inclined management groups, I don't think they'll have a problem there.

Even with Brendan Smith, there were reports that the Canes were looking for another 3rd pair defender. Your logic doesn't add up

Okay, maybe he just wanted to play somewhere else or the Devils offered him more. Maybe they wanted a different style of play (e.g. a defensive dman) or literally just a different person for god knows what reason. Smith isn't a weak spot in a third pair role.

Smith shouldn't be an everyday player, everyone knows that

I disagree, he's a perfectly good third pair guy and significantly above replacement level.

No he isn't