New Jersey Devils Must Focus On Defense

The New Jersey Devils team struggled on all aspects last season, so general manager Ray Shero concentrated the offseason on upgrading its offense and they did that successfully. They selected Nico Hischier with the first-overall pick in this year’s draft and expect him immediately contribute as a center. They traded with the capped-out Washington Capitals to acquire 26-year-old winger Marcus Johansson for a couple of draft picks. They even signed veteran Brian Boyle to add a little scoring punch on the back lines. And with some of their young players slowly emerging, the Devils offense looks to be heading in the right direction.

Not so much on defense. Their defense, which struggled on giving up shots last year, hasn’t changed at all. The team still has Andy Greene, Ben Lovejoy, Damon Severson and John Moore as their top-four defenders — the same guys who tied for sixth in most goals allowed (2.94) and finished 10th in shots allowed (31.4). With no changes on defense, don’t be shocked if those numbers don’t improve too much. To make matters worse, there is expected to be little improvement among these regulars as most of them are getting old. Greene is turning 34 and starting to slow down. Lovejoy, 33, struggled last year and was demoted off the top line. Moore had a career-high 12 goals, but struggles on defense. Only the 22-year-old Severson has future promise.

However, what options remain? According to CBS New York’s Steve Lichtenstein, Shero is “keenly aware” that the team needs to upgrade their blueline. With all their promising youth and development on offense, the team seems to have few defensive prospects at all.

Despite the team’s $19.4MM in available cap space, via CapFriendly, there isn’t much available on the free agent market. The team failed to bring over Kevin Shattenkirk at the onset of free agency. Their attempt failed as he instead inked a long-term deal with the rival Rangers. The best possibility remaining at this point would be Cody Franson, but according to Lichtenstein, he is not on Shero’s radar. Perhaps a trade can fix their defense. Vegas has too many defenders and one might be able to be had for cheap. One of them is former Devil Jonathon Merrill, who they lost to Vegas in the expansion draft, but how much of an improvement would he be if he was part of the problem in New Jersey last year. Hopefully, New Jersey has a plan.