After cutting 15 players on Sunday the New Jersey Devils' roster is close to being finalized.
There are now just 27 players remaining in camp which, of course, means only four players need to be cut before opening night.
Ultimately the next couple games could determine who stays and who goes but I'm going to take a stab at guessing ahead of time.
The Devils currently have nine blue liners in camp. We know Eric Gelinas, Jon Merrill, Andy Greene, Adam Larsson, Damon Severson, John Moore and David Schlemko are locks to make the team. That means only one, if any, of Marc-Andre Gragnani or Seth Helgeson will make the team.
I don't think the Devils have much need for another offensive minded blue liner like Gragnani and I'm not overly high on Helgeson so I don't see either making the team. Playing big minutes in Albany would also be more beneficial to Helgeson than playing a couple times a month as New Jersey's 7th or 8th defenseman.
Assuming MAG and Helgeson are sent to Albany only two cuts would need to be made up front.
I know the Devils want to give Zacha every opportunity to make the team but to me he's just not quite ready. I think sending him back to Sarnia would be more beneficial for both parties long term and expect that's what we'll see happen when all is said and done.
As for the final cut up front that's a tough guess. I very much doubt the Devils will part ways with Stephen Gionta so realistically it's probably down to Tyler Kennedy, Lee Stempniak and/or Sergei Kalinin.
All three have played well but I think Stempniak has been the best of the bunch and Kalinin is the youngest of the bunch - and the one with a contract - so if I had to guess I'd say Kennedy will be the odd man out. Whether that's the case or not remains to be seen.
It'll be interesting to see how all of this plays out. Luckily for us we won't have to wait much longer.
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