NJ With a Stunning Blockbuster

Welcome Mackinnon!

Welcome Nathan Mackinnon to the NJ Devils! For the low cost of Macklin Celebrini, Matvei Michkov, and the 7^th overall draft pick in the upcoming draft, NJ adds the second best rated player in the TUFHL to it’s roster. While it is stunning for the Devils to ship out the literal two best pieces of its years long rebuild, it makes sense if you squint and turn your head sideways. The Devils have tons of former 1^st and 2^nd round prospects in the prospect pool who should soon infiltrate the 2^nd and 3^rd forward lines and the 2^nd and 3^rd defensive pairings. The question was how long would management be able to wait for Celebrini and Michkov to develop into 80+ overall superstars? The answer turns out to be, not very long.

The Devils new top line of Jarvis, Tavares, and Mackinnon should be able to drag the team to a lower seed playoff slot as soon as this year, hopefully. Then next year other top prospects such as Lindstrom (center), Simashev (defenseman), Danielsson (center), But (winger), and Yurov (winger) should be ready to make an impact as well on entry level contracts producing right away.

Next up, NJ needs to find a goalie. Anton Forsberg can be a respectable 1B goalie but certainly not a playoff starter, and Casey Desmith is the same level of goalie and likely headed for free agency.