New Jersey Devils Season Preview

The season is fast approaching as it is set to begin tomorrow. GM Knedel is excited to get his first season under his belt, after taking over the New Jersey Devils and Springfield Thunderbirds right before the UFA period started this offseason.

Recap of the offseason

Free Agency we made a big splash. We signed Eric Stall to a 3 year $9 million deal to bring in some experience and veteran leadership to a very young group. We also brought back Alex Biega to do the same thing with our defense. GM Knedel wanted to bring in another top guy to take the pressure off of Barzal and allow him to just go out there and play. We also picked up Patrick Brown up from waivers to bring in some forward depth.

The Devils made a few trades this offseason. Henrik Borgstrom was traded to the Calgary Flames in exchange for Troy Terry. GM Knedel said “This was a tough trade to make as we really liked Henrik but we also really liked Troy and we needed to improve on the wing”. Vladimir Sobotka and a 2020 4th were traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for a 2020 3rd. Due to waivers and the timing of our AHL preseason game we needed another center. So GM Knedel hit up his good friend Ian and they made a deal. Dominic Toninato was traded for Cash Considerations.

“I like the moves we made in the UFA period and through the trades that we made. I think we were able to improve in some areas and bring in some much needed depth to this team. We could look to make some moves in the future but only time can tell if that is going to happen.”

Season Preview

“I’m really excited to see what both of our teams are made up of this year. This will give us a good sign of where we’re at and where we should go moving forward. I love the potential that we have as a team, we’re young and have a long way to go. We hope bringing in Staal with have a big impact on the team. This is sort of a getting to know each other period.”

New Jersey Devils: Coach John Tortorella

Agostino - Staal (C) - Eberle

Garland - Barzal (A) - Terry

Olofsson - Brassard - Pitlick

McGinn - Schaller - Brown

Carlo - Biega

Russell (A) - Clifton

Marincin - Ruhwedel

Quick

Kinkaid

Scratched: Street, Melchiori

Springfield Thunderbirds: Coach Jay Woodcroft

Militec - Dube - Sikura

Blais - Barre-Boulet - Appleton

McKenzie - Lundestrom - Merkley (A)

Rempal - Toninato - Angello

Bouchard - Soucy (C)

Foote - Renouf (A)

Teves - Sklenicka

Comrie

Oettinger

Scratched: Jonsson-Fjallby, Burke, Point, Anas, Sherman

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