I talked about this in another thread, but I think the Devils, while they'll still make the playoffs, will see some regression this year. Don't take that as an insult lol. It's only temporary and I'll explain way...

1) NJ's defense was stacked last year. VERY stacked. Losing both Graves and Severson will be noticeable and possibly expose some goaltending issues.

2) NJ's defense WILL be stacked again, but while Hughes had a good showing in a very small sample size, it remains to be seen if he still needs some time to develop or if he'll hit the ground running. So, this could be a caveat to my first point.

3) Schmid definitely showed that he has the ability to be a starter, but again, small sample size. Vanacek is OK, but also played behind one of the best defenses in the league last year, a defense that's likely to take a temporary step back. Schmid is only 23, which in goalie years is still a development time, so we'll need to see how he handles a larger work load.

4) Yes, you got Toffoli, but losing some other guys like Wood, Sharangovich and a few others, you'll need to see how the rest of the lineup shakes out, but there may be no issues there.

So, I'm not saying the Devils WON'T finish high in the standings, but I think given all the changes and time needed for younger guys to develop, there may be some temporary regression. I think the Rangers finish 2nd in the Metro behind CAR this year. Devils finishing 3rd or 4th.

im not a devils fan so no insult taken lol, but fair points. i might say tho rangers will be fighting Pens for 3rd and may fall short of postseason depending how the atlantic plays out, ( dont take offense rags fans) but they also lost a lot of their year end fire power and may rely too much on shesterkin being a brick wall.

I predict 1. Devils 2. Car 3. Pens/Rags

1/2) Agree on Severson, not so much on Graves. Hughes looked better than Graves and I'm confident he will keep that up. Miller+Hughes in for Severson+Graves is a wash imo

3) It's possible Schmid starts the year in Utica. Vanecek will be average and that's all the Devils need in the regular season

4) Losing Sharangovich sucks but he had a pretty bad season. Losing Wood is addition by subtraction. Toffoli+Holtz+Foote in for Sharangovich+Tatar+Wood should be a net positive

Scoring and offense wasn't/isn't an issue, but obviously the dynamic will change. I'm a very wait-and-see person, so to me we need to see how the new bodies will gel and fit the system. It may take a minute for things to fall in place, or none at all, but there's a decent amount of turnover from last year and things sliding in to place can take time.

I'm confident Hughes will be a stud, but I'm just not sure how SOON that will happen. Such a small sample size, he'll go through some growing pains as most players do, so while I think he may contend for the Calder, I do expect ups and down. Graves and Severson were/are more seasoned, so there will likely be more issues this year, but not next and once Nemec is ready, this defense will be stacked again.

I mean to be fair, they’re just year end talent like you said. I am not a fan when people say the NYR lost Kane, Tarasenko, etc. because they played majority of the season without them and still were a playoff team

Coming off 107 point season and they improved from this past year’s opening roster. I think the biggest upgrade is coaching and hopefully Lavi’s system works well

I think the Rangers quietly made savvy moves. They weren't earth-shattering moves, but they were the right moves. I also expect a bounce-back year from Shesterkin. He wasn't bad last year, but he definitely had a step-back and I don't see that happening moving forward. I think they're going to be a very complete group. I think the Devils, Pens, Caps and Isles will all finish very close together in the 3rd through 6th spots.

The Rangers lost two players who truthfully didn't fit in well and IMO made very savvy moves who are better fits. I think the Rangers will finish 2nd this year. I also expect Shesterkin to bounce back from last year. Not that he had a BAD year, but he didn't have a great year.

It's not even so much that Hughes will be a stud right away, although I do think he will, it's more that Graves is overrated. I strongly believe that he was a product of Marino last year and Severson the year before. JFresh's model agrees with me, Dom's model thinks the opposite.

Yea Igor regained form in the last month of regular season and brought into the 1st round of playoffs. Too bad the team sucked

I think this coming season really depends on Lavi’s system and if Kakko/Laffy sink or swim

Lavi is a smart coach and he knows how to work with what he has. I think Kakko is what he is at this point, a very good 3rd line forward and if the expectations are as such, and he's deployed as such, he'll be a good fit. Laf? I dunno with that guy lol

I disagree with Kakko. He’s shown a lot more promise than Laffy. If anything Laffy looks like a 3rd line forward

All of the players the Devils lost this offseason are very replaceable and arent as big of losses as people think. Graves was penciled in to be top pair with Hamilton but didn’t play up to expectations. He was even worse to end the season and in the playoffs. Even Luke Hughes played more than Graves in the Hurricanes series. The emergence of Kevin Bahl and Luke Hughes will be able to replace Graves easily. Bahl is better defensively than Graves and less prone to making mistakes (worse offensively though). Damon Severson would be the biggest loss however he played the entire season on the BOTTOM PAIR. Colin Miller is obviously worse than Severson but for a bottom pair dman it isn’t a huge deal. Miles Wood was the worse skater on the Devils last season. His play after his hip surgery has fallen off a cliff. Shocked he got a 6 year deal in free agency. Nolan Foote is a younger and better version of Wood. Sharangovich was very inconsistent throughout his time on the Devils. A year or two ago he was firmly in the Devils top 6 and by the middle of 2022-23 season he was scratched for guys like Miles Wood and Jesper Boqvist. Mackenzie Blackwood is made of glass. Replacing him with a full year of Schmid will be beneficial to their Devils. I would argue the Devils got better this offseason adding Toffoli, full year of Palat, Meier, Luke Hughes, Schmid, and adding a ton of depth. Compare that to the Rangers who lost Kane and Tarasenko and their aging core

I think you might have misunderstood what I wrote. I didn't say the Devil's got worse. I'm saying there will possibly be an adjustment period all-around which is why I'm saying they will still make the playoffs, but at a lower seed.

As far as the Rangers go, they lost two players who never really fit in or contributed much to begin with. They made very savvy moves. Their bottom-six will be much better defensively, Wheeler is a better fit for their style than Tarasenko and/or Kane. Plus, Shesterkin had an off-year and a bounce-back year will make a profound difference where they finish.

A slow start is definitely very possible with so much roster turning however this team screams to me “most points in 2nd half of the year”
I can totally vie an acclimation period for the first couple of months but there’s not a doubt in my mind this team is going to score a lot of goals and win a lot of games

Devils finishing at a lower seed would imply they got worse. Tarasenko was on pace for 56 points over 82 games (would have been 5th on the Rangers), Kane on pace for 52 over 82 games (7th).

Rangers replace Kane, Tarasenko, Motte and Mikkola with Wheeler, Bonino, Pitlick, and Gustafsson
I wouldn't call that improvement at all

Their success depends on Shesterkin playing Vezina Price level

100% and that's what I was hinting towards along with some development of younger players. I have no doubts about the Devils in general moving forward.

No, finishing at a lower does not imply they got worse. I'm starting to think you have an issue with critical thinking or you're simply not truly reading what I'm writing.