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1) For years the New Jersey Devils have struggled to score at 5 v 5. That's one of the reasons they have continually missed the playoffs despite all-world goaltending from Cory Schneider.
The Devils should get a big boost from the newly acquired Taylor Hall,
who is an outstanding full-strength scorer, but he's not the only bit of reinforcements on the way.
Barring anything flaring up in the preseason, which is possible, the Devils will also have a healthy Mike Cammalleri to start the year.
While he isn't a household name like Hall, he has been a very good 5 v 5 producer for years and will be a big help in that regard when in the lineup.
Since joining the low-scoring Devils, Cammalleri has averaged 1.81 points per 60 minutes of 5 v 5 play. He is tied for 88th in that category and there are 90 1st line jobs, which means he has produced at a 1st line rate despite little help around him.
For comparison sake Nathan MacKinnon and Ryan Johansen produced at the exact same clip over the last two seasons while Sean Monahan (1.79), Henrik Sedin (1.77) and Phil Kessel (1.76) are among the many that have produced at a lesser rate.
Banking on 82 games of Cammalleri is a massive stretch but if he can play 60+, as he did in the two seasons prior to last, the Devils will be a much more potent offensive team; especially with Hall in the picture and added depth up front.
2) Ray Shero deserves a lot of credit for how he's been able to clean up the Devils' roster. Almost every bit of dead weight that was here when he took over has been dropped and he has put the Devils in a real good spot financially.
Most would agree that the Devils should at least be in the conversation for a wild card spot this season. That's encouraging given the Devils have gotten much younger over the last year and still have more than $13 million to play with. That doesn't even include the $8.8 million in relief they'll get when Marc Savard and Ryan Clowe go on LTIR.
Travis Zajac aside, there probably isn't a player on the roster that is clearly making more than he is worth and a solid, young (for the most part) core has been put in place with Taylor Hall (24), Adam Henrique (24), Kyle Palmieri (25), Pavel Zacha (19), Damon Severson (21), Cory Schneider (30) all under team control for the foreseeable future.
There is definitely light at the end of the tunnel and with an improving prospect pool - not to mention 17 draft picks over the next two years - there is reason to believe the Devils have the pieces to sustain success in the coming years.
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