The New Jersey Devils have become a team that regularly makes use of professional tryouts in training camp, but this summer looks different. The free-agent board is still loaded with names, yet the roster is crowded enough that there may not be any real opening for a PTO.
That’s a notable shift for a club that used camp tryouts last season to sort through its fourth-line center options. The process did not exactly solve everything, with Luke Glendening ending up in the lineup for most of the year, but it did give Kevin Rooney a chance before he later signed with the Utah Mammoth.
This year’s pool of available veterans is unusually strong. Vladimir Tarasenko scored more than 20 goals for the Minnesota Wild last season.
Michael Bunting has proven he can be a useful middle-six forward for multiple teams. Patrik Laine is finally healthy after being a former top scorer.
John Klingberg remains a quality defenseman. Jonathan Drouin was expected to play a major role for the New York Islanders when he joined them recently.
Reilly Smith was productive just a few years ago, and Adam Henrique was brought to the Edmonton Oilers to help push them over the top and is still only 36.
That kind of depth would normally make a PTO look tempting. The Devils could use more insurance, and bringing back Henrique would be the kind of feel-good move plenty of fans would embrace.
Laine, at the right price, is the sort of calculated swing that makes sense. Bunting would help a lot of teams.
But Sunny Mehta has already built a roster that leaves very little breathing room. The Devils were hit by more injuries than anyone could reasonably keep track of last season, so the instinct to add depth is easy to understand. The problem is that every extra veteran on a tryout also squeezes out a younger player trying to win a job.
At the moment, New Jersey already has 14 forwards on NHL contracts. Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Cody Glass, and Nick Bjugstad are all lined up in the middle.
Timo Meier, Jesper Bratt, and Anthony Mantha are set for top-six wing roles. Arseny Gritsyuk, Dawson Mercer, and Connor Brown fill out the top nine.
Evan Rodrigues will get a spot somewhere in the lineup, and the last opening is expected to come down to Jesper Boqvist, Stefan Noesen, and Lenni Hameenaho.
And that still leaves out players such as Armadeus Lombardi, Shane Lachance, Colin White, and Xavier Parent, who will also be looking for chances in camp.
So unless there’s a significant trade, the Devils simply may not have the room to bring in a PTO this summer. Even if Vladimir Tarasenko might be the better NHL bet than some of the players battling for jobs, New Jersey could decide the cleanest path is to head into training camp without one at all.
In Other News...
Martin Brodeur Just Raised The Stakes For Nico Daws
With the Devils reshaping their front office and several familiar faces from the Tom Fitzgerald era moving on, Martin Brodeur has become one of the organizations clearest voices on the next phase of the roster. The Hall of Fame goalie, now in the executive ranks, has continued to show confidence in Nico Daws, a young netminder the team re-signed as it resets its goaltending plan after trading Jacob Markstrom.
Daws now has a real opening to push for the job, and the timing matters for a team that has spent plenty of recent energy trying to stabilize the crease. Jake Allen and David Rittich are part of the picture too, but Brodeurs support adds another layer to the competition and puts extra attention on whether Daws can turn a fresh opportunity into something more substantial next season. [Read more 🡒]