The New Jersey Devils’ 2023-24 season is over. The Devils were eliminated from playoff contention with a few games to go and will hit the offseason early. It’s disappointing given the expectations before this season and how the team performed in 2022-23. Despite the regression, there’s still plenty of reason to be optimistic about the Devils’ future. With a big offseason looming for GM Tom Fitzgerald, here’s what I think the Devils need to do before next season.
Find a new head coach
Duh. This is a given after the team fired Lindy Ruff and replaced him with Travis Green in March. Green isn’t an option long-term after the team failed to make a push for a playoff spot. So expect Fitz to go out and get a brand new coaching staff. Some in the media are mentioning the Devils hiring a coach out of the college ranks. Quinnipiac’s Rand Pecknold has been mentioned. Former Devil great Jay Pandolfo is the HC at Boston University. Denver’s David Carle could be on his way to a second National Championship. But I think hiring a college or rookie head coach would be a mistake. This team needs a veteran.
So with that, there are some obvious, but unattractive, names that come to mind. Craig Berube was fired by the St. Louis Blues early this season. Berube helped the Blues win their lone Stanley Cup back in 2019 after taking over for Mike Yeo. Berube would help lead St. Louis to the playoffs three more times before missing out last season. Despite only coaching in parts of eight seasons, Berube has a great track record for success. He’s won a Cup. He’s made the playoffs in five of seven full seasons. He has a coaching record of 281-190-72. Berube would be great for this roster. He was a tough, hard-nosed player. The Devils need that toughness and identity.
Gerard Gallant is another former Rangers coach the Devils could bring in. Gallant gets a bad rap for flaming out in a few spots. He also flamed out after making it very deep into the postseason. Gallant helped the expansion Vegas Golden Knights advance to the Cup Final in their first season. He got the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final in 2022. In the six full seasons Gallant coached, he made the playoffs five times. His overall record is 369-262-70 in parts of 11 seasons. He’s also 31-29 in five playoff appearances. Gallant is pretty well decorated and could get the Devils back on track immediately.
Other names include Claude Julien and Bruce Boudreau, though both feel more past their prime. Julien hasn’t coached since 2020-21. Boudreau is beloved around the NHL and has had a lot of success. He’s also well known for not being able to get over the hump and into the Cup Final.
Go get a real goaltender
That header is a bit out of line. Jake Allen is a very good goalie. After being acquired from the Canadiens at the deadline, Allen had a string of strong starts. The Devils season got less and less meaningful from there, so tough to gather anything from the last two weeks or so. But as a backup, Allen has plenty of value. He can’t be the starter, however.
The Devils need to go make a big splash for a goalie. It’s something I thought wasn’t needed after last season. Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid looked great in front of a very good Devils teams in 2022-23. They were exposed this season when the team went through injuries and regression on defense. Players will get healthy and the defensive structure and personnel will improve. But when things break down, the Devils didn’t have a goaltender to lean on to steal games. That could have made a big difference this season, the difference between missing and making the playoffs.
So who to go get? Many believe it will ultimately be Jacob Markstrom from the Calgary Flames. Fitz has already made deals with Flames GM Craig Conroy (Tyler Toffoli). We know the two sides were talking a deal in-season and it fell through. That deal will be easier to navigate this offseason. The cost should be lower and Calgary can likely take on some salary.
Markstrom feels like a good two-year stop gap. The 34-year-old has accomplished a lot but hasn’t seen a ton of playoff action. Markstrom isn’t far removed from finishing second in Vezina Trophy voting in 2022, when he won 37 games and led the NHL with nine shutouts. For the cost, Markstrom makes a lot of sense for New Jersey.
The other more lucrative option is Juuse Saros. The Nashville Predators have a tough decision to make. Saros will enter the final year of his contract in 2024-25. The Preds have Kevin Lankinen and Yaroslav Askarov, the 21-year-old Russian phenom. Nashville could trade Saros during this offseason, get a big asset haul back and proceed with Lankinen and Askarov next season. Nashville could let Saros walk in free agency, giving Lankinen a short-term deal and allowing Askarov another year to develop.
If Barry Trotz decides to kick the tires on a Saros deal, Fitz will be the first to call. Fitzgerald has a strong connection to Nashville; he was their first team captain the first four seasons of the franchise. The Devils could deal some of that defensive prospect depth to try and pry Saros and sign him to an extension. New Jersey was at its best as a franchise with Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur as a stalwart in net. Saros would be the next great Devils goaltender and would give the franchise perennial contender status.
The other options would be a bit more risky, but there are some names that pop. The Devils could simply sign Lankinen in free agency. He’s had decent numbers in Nashville but little experience. That would feel like more of the same for the Devils. Alex Nedeljkovic could land himself a deal after this stretch of play for Pittsburgh. He was a former top prospect for Carolina before being traded to Detroit and landing with the Penguins. The Pens won’t be able to afford to keep Nedeljkovic given Tristan Jarry’s contract and the market.
The Devils also could look via the trade market on Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Jeremy Swayman/Linus Ullmark. Ullmark won the Vezina Trophy a season ago and was relegated to backup duty behind Swayman for the Bruins. Ullmark is 30 years old and the Devils shouldn’t want to give him a long-term deal. As a rental for a season, Ullmark isn’t a bad upgrade. UPL is a RFA and played well down the stretch this season. The Sabres will likely keep him as the starter. Devon Levi was once viewed as the future in net for Buffalo. If UPL is made available, he’d make sense for New Jersey.
Shore up the bottom six
The Devils’ top-6 forward group remains very talented led by Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt. The Devils have some good middle-six depth with Dawson Mercer, Alexander Holtz, Erik Haula and Ondrej Palat. Ideally, Haula and Palat play down in the bottom-six but they could also fit alongside the superstars on the team. The loss of Michael McLeod really hurt the Devils’ overall depth. We also didn’t realize how big an impact losing Yegor Sharangovich and Miles Wood would have on the team. So Fitz needs to figure out how to add speed, size and tenacity in the bottom two lines.
If we’re looking at veterans, a Joe Pavelski type would be perfect. He might retire if the Dallas Stars win the Cup or because he’s 39 years old. If not, the Devils should try and get him over on a one-year deal if he’s still Cup chasing. Fans will call to bring back veteran Adam Henrique. He makes a lot of sense as a great presence in the locker room for the young studs while being able to play on a third line and be effective on both ends. Henrique also solves your problem in the faceoff dot.
Danton Heinen, Michael Amadio, Trevor Lewis and Anthony Mantha are a few other low-end forwards the Devils could target for the bottom-six that make sense. It really depends which coach is brought in.
