Today a new era of New Jersey Devils hockey begins.
Nico Hischier, the 2017 1st overall pick, is the poster boy for change, but Marcus Johansson, Will Butcher, Mirco Mueller and Jesper Bratt, among others, also figure to be key pieces for the team moving forward and will be making their debuts this afternoon against the Colorado Avalanche.
Here are the projected lineups:
New Jersey
*making Devils debut
Taylor Hall - Pavel Zacha - Kyle Palmieri Marcus Johansson* - Nico Hischier* - Drew Stafford* Jesper Bratt* - Adam Henrique - Jimmy Hayes* Miles Wood - Blake Coleman - Stefan Noesen
Andy Greene - Damon Severson John Moore - Will Butcher* Mirco Mueller* - Steve Santini
Cory Schneider
Colorado (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Sven Andrighetto - Nathan MacKinnon - Mikko Rantanen Alexander Kerfoot - Matt Duchene - Nail Yakupov Colin Wilson - J.T. Compher - Gabriel Landeskog Matt Nieto - Tyson Jost - Blake Comeau
Mark Barberio - Erik Johnson Patrik Nemeth - Tyson Barrie Nikita Zadorov - Chris Bigras
Jonathan Bernier
Five things to watch:
1) Like New Jersey, defense is certainly the weak point on the Avalanche roster. Of the the 28 teams to play a game thus far, only Los Angeles and Vegas allowed chances at a higher rate during 5v5 play. The Devils' revamped forward core should cause problems.
2) Nico Hischier will be making his NHL debut today against the team most deserving (standings wise) of the opportunity to choose 1st overall. He was dynamite during the preseason and I'd expect that to be the case again this afternoon against a looser defensive team than he'll generally see.
3) Will Butcher and Alexander Kerfoot will be playing their first and second NHL games against the teams that drafted and developed them. Both will be given consistent minutes and the opportunity to make an impact so there's a fun little game within the game to follow.
4) In terms of raw talent, New Jersey's defense is better than it was a year ago. They are very inexperienced, though, and will be going up against a solid forward core that features several high-end talents. This will be a good test for them.
5) Jesper Bratt was the story of the preseason as the 2016 6th round pick stood out in a big way on a nightly basis. He clearly earned a nine-game tryout but he'll need to play well if he's going to stick around, especially when the Devils have capable offensive players in the AHL like Joseph Blandisi and John Quenneville.
Puck drop is just after 2 p.m. Eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet, MSG+ and Altitude.
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