Written By Neil Villapiano
It's fair to say that the New Jersey Devils have one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the NHL. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has done a fantastic job of building this team to where it is. With the likes of Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Tyler Toffoli, Dawson Mercer, Dougie Hamilton, and more, the possibilities are endless with what this team can do. The question is, how do you put it all together and create the perfect Stanley Cup championship recipe? Let's take a swing at what the lines should look like to generate the most success.
Next up, is the defensive core.
Pairing 1: Jonas Siegenthaler - Dougie Hamilton
The first pairing is the most obvious one. We all know what Dougie Hamilton can bring on a night-to-night basis offensively. He can be the quarterback of your power play. He can play like another forward out there and can certainly put up points with the best of them.
However, his defensive game does lack at times, and having him paired with Jonas Siegenthaler is a really good balanced duo. Siegenthaler is a very reliable defenseman on his end and can calmly get the puck out of the zone. He's also very good at distributing it to his teammates to set them up to score. This overall could be one of the better top defensive pairings in all of the NHL.
Pairing 2: Luke Hughes - John Marino
This should be an intriguing pairing. First off, you have Luke Hughes who in just two regular season games, tallied his first career goal, first two points, and his first career overtime goal. To top that, he played in three of the Devils' playoff games and notched two points. That shows that Luke is NHL ready and expectations will be high for him in his first full season coming up.
Having him play with John Marino is good for the same reason as having Siegenthaler with Hamilton. Marino, last year, was one of the steadiest defensemen in the entire league. He was particularly good on the penalty kill. Having a talented defensive defenseman is a great security blanket for Hughes as he gets more accustomed to the NL game.
Pairing 3: Kevin Bahl - Colin Miller
Lindy Ruff spoke earlier this offseason about him being, "leery", about having two inexperienced, young defensemen on his back end this season. As much as I would love to have Šimon Nemec playing in the NHL this season, I think the timing isn't right just yet. The Devils have made moves to bring in guys like Cal Foote, Brendan Smith, and Colin Miller to add some veteran depth. Miller is the guy that makes the best sense to me on the right side. He's able to provide some scoring but can be a good puck mover as well. He's also another steady guy defensively.
As for Kevin Bahl, this is his moment to take the next step in his NHL career. He started slow last season, but as the year went on he started to find his game and became a really solid defenseman. He started to use his big 6'6" frame to be physical, but also was able to get better at blocking shots. This is more of a defensive pairing, and having two guys for 6'1" or taller is good to have as well.
Let me know what your thoughts are on all the pairings in the comments section below.
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Nicely laid out!