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Grading The New Jersey Devils' Off-Season

July 17, 2016, 12:49 PM ET [19 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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There is still plenty of off-season remaining but, for the most part, what teams look like now is what they will look like when training camp opens up.

There could be some tinkering here and there but, again, with the draft and free agent frenzy now in the rearview mirror most of the work is complete.

With that in mind ESPN's Craig Custance wrote an article (ESPN insiders only) grading the off-season work done by all 30 NHL teams.

I won't get into too much detail about what Custance wrote but the New Jersey Devils were one of five NHL teams to receive an A or better.

Some may argue otherwise but I think that's the correct grade.

Adam Larsson is probably better than he is given credit for but trading him for Taylor Hall was genius. Taking a flyer on Beau Bennett was a smart move, too, and Ben Lovejoy as well as Vern Fiddler will provide some much needed depth.

That said the Devils lost arguably their best defenseman as well as a very underrated blue liner in David Schlemko. Lovejoy was the only guy they brought in to shore up the blue line and a good case can be made he is the worst defenseman of the three.

There was room for improvement on the blue line to begin with and now that stands even more true.

I'd love to give Ray Shero and co. an A+ - the Hall trade alone almost warrants it - but I do have some concerns about the blue line so I settled on an A.

If the team were to sign someone like James Wisniewski I'd probably bump the Devils to an A+ but it sounds like Shero is happy with his roster for now.

How would you guys grade the Devils' off-season to date? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section and on Twitter.

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