Good morning Devils fans. Tonight, the Devils try to achieve something that hasn’t been done since the 2016-17 Avalanche: go undefeated in the preseason. They will take on the Islanders at home tonight, 7 PM. Per Amanda Stein, looking at the last game and roster updates, this will most likely be the lines we’re going to see from HC Lindy Ruff:

Toffoli-J.Hughes-Bratt
Meier-Hischier-Holtz
Palat-Haula-Mercer
Bastian-Mcleod-Lazar

Sieganthaler-Hamilton
Bahl-Marino
L. Hughes-Smith

Vanacek
Schmid

*Remaining Camp/Roster Players: Halonen, Bowers, Dowling, Thompson, N. Foote, Tierney, Miller, Willman, Nemec, Hatakka, Kinkaid, Daws

*I based this on any updates found through CapFriendly and the Devils site. If there are any cuts I’m missing, please let me know in the comments.

Talking about cuts, two players are on their way back to Utica: Cal Foote (cleared waivers), and Jeremy Brodeur

With 3 spots remaining on the roster to give out, I would be ok with those going to Thompson, Foote, and Nemec. I also get that keeping Nemec in the AHL to get more playing time and development would be beneficial. I would only keep him up if it meant slotting Smith to a scratch position. If that isn't the case and Nemec goes to the minors, I would keep Miller despite his weaknesses over the preseason.

3 Keys to the Game Tonight:

1. Don’t Fix What’s Not Broken

The Devils have found their groove in the top 9, with players like Jack Hughes, Alexander Holtz, and Ondrej Palat having strong preseason campaigns. Keeping the lines together to continue building chemistry and ensuring stability is huge. The fourth line to me is the only one with a question mark of unpredictability, outside of the usually consistent Michael Mcleod. Tonight’s game against a tough two way team is the perfect opportunity to finalize our plans for the roster this year.

2. Special Team Will Be Paramount

After a stellar power play fueled win last game, the Devils special team will need to keep things riding and hot while avoiding the box themselves. The strong PP Unit 1 of J.Hughes-Bratt-Hischier-Meier-Hamilton will be a decisive group with a ton of firepower to match. Whether the second unit can go toe-to-toe with them (Palat-Holtz-Mercer-Toffoli-L. Hughes), time will tell.

3. Consistency Between the Pipes

Vanacek and Schmid were arguably the most talked about aspect of the roster plans this season with numerous strong goalies possibly on the trading block. Looking purely at numbers, Vanacek’s save percentage of .937 looks to be the indicating factor of the 1a vs. 1b debate with Schmid struggling a bit with .877. Is it time to worry? Absolutely not. This is preseason and endless variables of new players coming in and out will seriously affect defensive stability. Most likely, you are looking at a 60-40 split between the netminders, with Vanacek taking the lead and Schmid topping his career high of games played per season.

What are your thoughts? Any remaining question marks with the preseason wrapping up? Who should get the last roster spots? How excited, nervous, or skeptical should we be about preseason as a predictor of regular season success?

Leave your thoughts and comments below. Raise Hell,

-Josh Biringer

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