The Devils have a barrage of forwards - some moves will be made before the season - but, barring anything unforeseen, we know what their defense will look like when camp opens in September.
Andy Greene, Bryce Salvador, Marek Zidlicky, Adam Larsson and Pete Harrold are on one-way deals, while Jon Merrill is an absolute lock and Eric Gelinas figures to sign a one-way deal on his next contract.
With that in mind, we pretty much know who will be patrolling the blue line in New Jersey to start the season. It's just a matter of what combinations Pete DeBoer goes with, and how he deploys them.
I'll take a stab on what each unit will look like.
Pairing One: Andy Greene - Jon Merrill
The Devils' top defense unit, if DeBoer elects to go with this duo, will be making less than $4 million combined in 2014-15.
In what was Merrill's first season of pro hockey, he was given a shot in New Jersey early on and never looked back. Playing mainly in a top-4 role - he was 4th among Devils' D averaging over 19 minutes of ice per game - Merrill more than held his own. He drove play at a near 54% rate while playing relatively good competition, and he seemed to be more involved offensively as he settled in.
Greene will be able to do the heavy lifting, but I think another mobile defenseman who can move the puck up ice and hold his own at both ends of the rink will compliment him nicely at evens.
Pairing Two: Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky This unit will be relied upon to take some pressure off the kids, and eat some minutes against pretty good competition. Salvador is the captain and, while at times DeBoer overuses him at even strength, he is fairly good in his own zone, and is an important piece to one of the league's best penalty killing units.
Zidlicky is the Devils best pure offensive talent, and though he takes a lot of penalties at times, he can handle himself against tough competition. He's also capable of driving play up ice.
I think this unit will be one that sees a lot of defensive zone starts, and will log tough minutes in order to make things easier and gain more favorable matchups for the 3rd pairing.
Pairing Three: Eric Gelinas - Adam Larsson I'm quite high on Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson, but they're not exactly defensive stalwarts just yet, and having them play top-4 minutes, along with Merrill on the 1st pairing, probably isn't a great idea. Expecting three defensemen under 23 to play and succeed in a top-4 role is a lot to ask.
I think this pairing is quite capable and will be very good in time, but at this point DeBoer would be best relying on them to play 17-18 minutes against lesser competition than feeding them to the wolves against the league's best.
They were used in that role when together last season, and the results speak for themselves.
I think DeBoer would be smart to keep them together in 2014-15.
Extra: Pete Harrold
Harrold gets knocked around like a pinball at times, but he's a serviceable defenseman and is a lot better than many give him credit for.
Occasionally he'll have a bad turnover, but generally he's pretty smart with the puck, is a good skater, and has posted good numbers regardless of who he's been paired with.
Harrold is a low maintenance guy, won't complain about ice time and is usually pretty good whenever the team has to rely on him, so I'm quite comfortable with him as the team's 7th defenseman.
As of now, that's how I see the team's defense shaking up, and is how I'd pair them if the decision were mine. What would your top-7 look like if you were Pete DeBoer?
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