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The New Jersey Devils have had a very busy off-season.
They smartly traded a couple lottery tickets for Marcus Johansson in effort to improve an offense that has underwhelmed for several years.
They drafted Nico Hischier to be the team's new face of the franchise and add some skill and creativity to a team that could certainly use it.
They signed Brian Boyle to be a role model for the kids and take on some tough assignments to make their lives easier.
Ray Shero also cashed in some of the many picks at his disposal to bring in Mirco Mueller, who the Devils are hoping can be a long-term player for them.
The Devils are no doubt better than they were heading into the summer -- at least on paper -- but the off-season certainly hasn't been perfect.
Heading into the summer, upgrading the defense was at the top of the priority list.
With all due respect to Mueller, the Devils still haven't done that. Even if Mueller makes the team (he will) and holds his own in a depth role this year, he probably won't be much better, if at all, than Jon Merrill -- at least right now.
If there are growing pains for Mueller, and/or he doesn't come along as quickly as the organization hopes, you could argue the defense is actually worse now than it was at the end of the season.
That doesn't bode well for the Devils' chances of crawling out of the basement this year.
There is still time to find a solution, but quality blue liners aren't exactly readily available come August.
Knowing Shero *could* be done making notable additions, how would you grade the team's off-season thus far?
Personally, I'd give Shero and the Devils a 'B'. The Johansson trade was great, drafting Hischier was the right move (at least in my opinion), the Boyle signing was solid and the Mueller trade, while I still don't love it, could end up paying off.
In saying all that, the defense was a big concern heading into the summer and that remains so.
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