While the Devils' roster is not yet a finished product, and there is still time to make some changes, it's probably a safe bet to say the Devils won't be a playoff team next season.
New GM Ray Shero has made some nice additions to the club by signing John Moore and trading for Kyle Palmieri, however, not enough has been done to vastly improve the club's 28th ranked offense.
It'd take something drastic to do so and I think the time for such a move has passed.
With Cory Schneider in goal the Devils will have a chance every night and their blue line is stocked with good, young defenseman that should keep things exciting, but this figures to be another long season.
Palmieri is the most notable acquisition this off-season and, while I think he was a nice addition, the Devils will probably hover around the mid 20's in goals next season.
They could go out and grab a stop-gap winger like Brad Boyes but at this point it probably would benefit the team more to give some of their young guys a legitimate chance to make some noise.
Beyond the Devils' scoring woes another thing working against them is that a handful of their division rivals are getting better.
The Pittsburgh Penguins added Phil Kessel, one of the league's best scorers, to an already high powered offensive team that always makes the playoffs no matter how many injuries they deal with.
The Washington Capitals lost Mike Green but still have good blue line depth and significantly upgraded their forward core by signing Justin Williams and trading for T.J. Oshie.
Meanwhile the Columbus Blue Jackets won 40 games last season despite being decimated by injuries. All they've done this summer is added a rising star in Brandon Saad to the mix.
And then there is the New York Rangers, a team that has made it to at least the Eastern Conference Finals in consecutive years.
The Devils will play all of these teams a handful of times and they figure to leave the rink with an 'L' more often than not.
I'm not sure the Devils will completely bottom out but now would be the perfect time to do so.
Austin Matthews has put up better numbers than Jack Eichel did while playing for the USNTDP and is all but a lock to be the 1st overall pick.
Meanwhile Sarnia Sting defenseman Jakob Chychrun, who could very well be Josh Jacobs' partner next season, has established himself as a likely top-3 pick while Finnish winger Jesse Puljujarvi, who played in the World Juniors at 16 last winter, has done the same.
The NHL made some changes to the lottery system and going forward the top-3 picks will be determined by the lottery. That means the Devils have a better chance than ever to move up even if they don't finish bottom-3 in the NHL.
Whether the Devils finish last or not - I doubt they will - there is extra incentive to finish near the bottom of the league this season.
I'm not suggesting they tank but adding middling players past their prime in order to get a few extra wins could do more harm than good in the long run.
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