News Devils Team Notes

[New Jersey Devils]

Enough is Enough: Tom Fitzgerald Needs to Get Luke Hughes Signed

For most of this NHL offseason, I have been very patient with the New Jersey Devils in their negotiation with Luke Hughes. I promoted the idea of keeping Hughes’s cap hit down via deferred salary (as the Carolina Hurricanes have done with multiple players). Jared wrote in mid-August about how he was not concerned about the lack of a deal at that time. I wrote at the end of August about internal caps and why I was not worried about Novozinsky’s five-year article. Jackson ended up writing in early September about why he thought a bridge deal might not be a bad idea. But at a certain point, patience turns to frustration, and the Devils seem to be crossing that line and risking the growth of their own core.

Plainly, if the Devils want Luke Hughes to take the next step in becoming a number one defenseman, missing the entirety of training camp and preseason for a second season in a row is not going to help. Last year, there was nothing that could be done about Luke’s absence. He was out with a left shoulder injury, which was eventually surgically repaired after he left Game One of Round One of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Hurricanes. There are no such excuses now. Luke has gotten surgery and recovered well enough to play in camp right now. With only four preseason games, including tonight, it seems like we would be lucky to see Luke Hughes in the preseason at this point. If he does not sign in time, Hughes will not even have a chance to work with new defensive coach Brad Shaw before the regular season begins.

That is frustrating.

It is also frustrating to see anyone even half-seriously push the idea that Ethan Edwards can be thought of as a Hughes replacement. Yes, Keefe rightly praised Edwards recently, and he played very well against the Bridgeport Islanders on Tuesday. If Ethan Edwards was not a 23-year old fresh out of college in need of consistent playing time, I would be promoting him as the best left-handed seventh defenseman option available on the team. However, it is September and not April, and Edwards’ best place will be racking up minutes in Utica following the Devils’ last preseason game on October 4.

Superficially, Edwards shares some abilities with Hughes. They are both very good skaters. Edwards seems keen on pinching on offense, and he was rewarded with a goal against the Islanders. But I am not about to compare someone who topped out at 21 points at Michigan in his senior year to another defenseman who had 17 goals his freshman year of college, and 48 points the next season. Flash forward to today, and Luke Hughes has already had two productive NHL seasons. If Ethan Edwards has filled in for Luke Hughes even more than rarely by the end of the season, something will have gone seriously wrong. I have NHL hopes for Ethan Edwards, but don’t try to sell him as a Hughes replacement or stand-in.

Luke Hughes is one of the few players Devils fans are hinging the hopes of their next five or ten years on, along with his older brother, Jack, and Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Timo Meier, Simon Nemec, and others. If the Devils want to win a Stanley Cup over this timeframe, they not only need to keep Luke Hughes, but they need him to be better than he has been in his first two seasons. Luke is not off to a bad start in the NHL by any means, but they need him to be a 60-point producing two-way force if they want to get to the promised land. At what point does playing hardball hurt the team more than paying a little more than what Tom Fitzgerald would like to pay Luke on a long-term deal?

If Luke comes back for the last three games of the preseason and gets into two exhibitions plus practices, I will say that all is well that ends well. But if Luke misses the preseason, I will be reaching unexpected amounts of frustration for a hockey season I have been greatly looking forward to. If this somehow stretches on long enough that Luke Hughes misses regular season games, my mostly-positive takes on the front office and their offseason will sour significantly.

Had the news on their negotiations indicated any progress over the last week, I might feel better about the state of things. We have heard that there is a big gap between the Hughes camp and Fitzgerald, and that has not changed. But I am not interested in hearing the explanations of why X and Y players’ contract outlooks might be holding back the sides from coming to an agreement. We cannot be seriously comparing an RFA in pre-arbitration years to veteran unrestricted free agents looking for their last big paydays. The rising cap affects all, yes, but more importantly, we are talking about how one of the most gifted athletes of all the defensemen in the NHL should be paid now, four years from now, and eight years from now. They are not fitting that cleanly under the cap without one of or a combination of long-term injured reserve, deferred salary, or a trade.

It has been up to Tom Fitzgerald to figure out how to make the money work for the last three months. It certainly could have and should have been done by now. Nothing has happened to significantly change the cap outlook of the team. Johnny Kovacevic will be out until the calendar year 2026. Maybe, he could be back by January or February, or maybe not. The Devils will have just a bit under $7 million in cap space when Seamus Casey is sent down for Luke Hughes. They would have even more if they were willing to waive Kurtis MacDermid. So, if the team wants to sign Hughes to a max deal of at least $72 million, they can shave the AAV down to $8.5 million with deferred salary (if they deferred about $17 million over the first four years), but they would still need to put Kovacevic on LTIR unless they wanted to defer over half of the total salary while running a bare-bones, no-extras roster. I am not sure they want to do that either, with Juho Lammikko signed and Luke Glendening looking like a good fit in camp.

If that all seems ridiculous, get this: Tom Fitzgerald has taken so long to sign Luke Hughes that it is now notably more difficult to save cap room by deferring salary than it was a month ago due to the decline in interest rates. Just waiting and “being patient” has dulled the tools Fitzgerald has had at his disposal.

Was I seriously expecting that the Devils would use deferred salary to their advantage? No, but it would have been nice to see them use the same tools that a division rival has used to get a leg up on everyone else. And it would have been very nice to see Luke Hughes suit up for training camp on time like the other guys on the Devils roster. Either way, Luke Hughes must be signed by the end of preseason, or the front office is putting the success of this season at risk. If the team is already going to have Kovacevic out until New Year’s or even later, they cannot afford to have Luke Hughes playing catch-up with Brad Shaw and on his pairings and special teams assignments for the first month of the season.

Your Thoughts​

Do you think Luke Hughes will sign this weekend? How are you feeling about Hughes and Fitzgerald right now? How will you feel in a week if he’s still unsigned? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/d...om-fitzgerald-needs-to-get-luke-hughes-signed

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Mixed Bag Lineup at the Isles for a Friday Night Tilt

Keefe seems intent on continuing to rotate the primary roster players every other game, with a mixture of players filling things out. Tonight was no different as the boys took the bus out to UBS Arena for game 3 of the pre-season.

There was nothing very notable about the actual lineup up front, but the coaching staff continues to tinker with pairings on the back end, giving Dougie a look with Edwards, Siegenthaler with Nemec, and Cholowski with Casey. This was the pre-season debut of Seamus Casey after dealing with an injury sustained during the prospects challenge.

On the Islanders side we got a pretty good look at the bulk of their forward corps: Barzal, Horvat, new addition Drouin, Duclair, Gatcomb, and Cizikas all dressing for the fishsticks. Devils fans also got a look at 1st overall pick in the ‘25 draft, Matthew Schaeffer.

Casey made his presence felt early, sending a nice little flip pass to Glendening on a rush chance, at 2:01 of the first period. Employed Luke corralled it nicely and in one motion gave Sorokin a shimmy and went top shelf. 1 shot, 1 goal is pretty good – they should try and do that every time. Casey was in on everything early offensively and had a couple of good play break-ups defensively. The Devils were on the front foot most of the period, controlling shot attempts 22-15, scoring chances 9-7, and high danger scoring chances 6-2, while veteran Jake Allen was a perfect 8 for 8.

View Link

The ice started tilting the Islanders way in the 2nd and their NHL-heavy lineup decided to show up, even thought he Devils had to slog their way through Long Island traffic on a Friday night. The Devils fumbled their way through a couple of Power Plays, where the only chances came on two Gritsyuk one-timers and a nice feed from Cotter to Lammikko on the doorstep, who proceeded to bury it in Sorokin’s chest. After an extended shift that trapped the Devils on the ice for nearly two minutes, the Devils got 2 bad breaks – literally – as Rooney and Hardman were stickless. Allen kicked out a shot from Barzal, but Gatcomb was sitting on top of the crease and finished it off. Jakub Malek took over with 8:30 left in the 2nd and was tested on a nice cross crease play but otherwise closed out the period clean. The Devils gave a lot of the fancy numbers back, handily getting out chanced 9-3 and out shot 7-4 with an ugly 22.9% xGF.

We headed to the 2nd intermission tied 1-1, in a mostly uneventful game. But the Devils came out buzzing in the third, with Nathan Legare putting them up for good with a nice individual play, stripping the puck from aforementioned 1st overall pick Matthew Schaffer at the blue line, then keeping a strong stick getting through Ethan Bear and ripping one home past Sorokin at 8:44. Welcome to the league, Matthew!

View Link

Only a few minutes later at 12:21, Gritsyuk intercepted an errant puck at the top of the zone, barreled in on a breakaway, burying a second chance opportunity on Sorokin, after his first shot was stopped. Credit to Casey for his second assist of the game while taking a big forecheck hit to move the puck up in the D zone to Cotter.

View Link

The Isles answered with 16:50 left, as Angus Crookshank failed to clear it, leaving it for Schaefer who fired a pass deep to Duclair who turned and roofed it over Malek. Angus quickly made up for his transgressions buy burying the empty netter to seal the game for the good guys.

View Link

Quick Notes​

Malek looked very good in his real NHL debut, stopping 12 of 13, including a sick glove save on a cross slot one- timer, and helmet save on a short side attempt. He looked composed and swallowed up rebounds. More of him please.

The battle for 4C continues between Lammikko, Glendening, and Rooney. Glendening seems to be the current leader in the clubhouse (in my opinion, followed by Lammikko and then Rooney).

Casey is so fun to watch.

Edwards continues to have understated, yet solid games. Very Andy Green (h/t Devils Insiders). That being said, the Ethan propaganda seems targeted to an audience of 1.

Halonen had a hilariously bad PP shift in the 2nd, where he ate it 3 times, including putting himself in a cartoon pretzel at the blueline. Aside from his goal in the first game, he hasn’t really been doing himself any favors.

I really liked Legare’s couple of games last season, great type of player to have as a first call-up option.

Pre-season game 4 (and 5?) is a split squad at 3pm on Sunday, with one team going up to Quebec to face Ottawa, with another group staying home to face The Caps.

LGD

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/d...g-lineup-at-the-isles-for-a-friday-night-tilt

 

[New Jersey Devils]

The 2025 All About the Jersey Top 25 Under 25: The Hopefuls From 15-11

It is time for another five! This one is an interesting group: these are the first group of five who are all on NHL two-way contracts, meaning all five could play for the New Jersey Devils this year and will almost certainly all suit up for the Utica Comets. Let’s begin with one of our favorite Michigan draftees!

15. Ethan Edwards (D) — Last Rank: 21 — Age: 23 — 2024-25 Teams: Michigan Wolverines (NCAA — 36 games), Utica Comets (AHL — 10 games)

Drafted back in 2020, Ethan Edwards has been a question mark for the New Jersey Devils’ future as a result of the stacking of the blueline since then. With Luke Hughes expected to lead the defensemen for years to come, along with other possible long-term Devils in Simon Nemec, Seamus Casey, and Anton Silayev, it has been difficult to conceive of a place for Ethan Edwards on the team. With Jonas Siegenthaler returning to form last season, the left side of the defense has become quite formidable on paper, both in the present and the future.

With a bit of patience, AHL seasoning, and careful management, though, Edwards may still be a Devil: he has a lot of tools that Sheldon Keefe and Tom Fitzgerald value. He is an excellent skater, and strong despite his shorter stature. He was not a massive point producer at Michigan, topping out at 21 points in his senior year, but has shown the willingness to go to the net on offense — and his skating ability allows him to do that with recovering to his position in mind.

In my view of the current Devils roster, Edwards may very well be the fourth best left-handed defensive option behind Siegenthaler, Hughes, and Dillon. When the season begins to approach the playoffs, I would hope that the Devils’ front office has a look at Edwards’s performance in the AHL (alongside Seamus Casey, if he plays there) before trying to use the trade market to bolster the defense. His individual growth is most important right now, but I would take an older defenseman with Edwards’s exact skillset as the seventh defenseman on any day of the week.

14. Thomas Bordeleau (C/W) — Last Rank: N/A — Age: 23 — 2024-25 Teams: San Jose Barracuda (AHL — 68 games), San Jose Sharks (1 game)

Acquired in a trade for Shane Bowers during the offseason, Thomas Bordeleau looks to restart his career with the Devils. At 5’9” and 174 pounds, Bordeleau had 14 goals and 24 assists for the Barracuda last season. I thought to compare him to Xavier Parent (ranked 26th in our list), who is just an inch shorter and about the same weight, who had 17 goals and 19 assists in 61 games for the Comets last year. Of course, Bordeleau has played 44 NHL games for the San Jose Sharks in his career, but the breakdown of his play is not very pretty. He has averaged about 15 minutes of ice time per NHL appearance with six goals and 12 assists with a -22 rating, while going 48.9% in the faceoff dot. In his most extensive NHL season (27 games in the 2023-24 season), the Sharks scored five times and gave up 18 goals with Bordeleau on the ice at five-on-five, while Bordeleau put up seven of his 11 points on the power play.

I do think a ranking of 14 might set expectations a bit too high for Bordeleau, who may be lauded as an NHL option by some fans because they see he’s played there before, while not having any pessimistic sentiment towards him because he’s played for a different team. And, yes, the San Jose Sharks have been a very bad team, and good players can be buried by bad team play. But I would hope that a guy competing for a spot on this year’s Devils team, with their playoff and contending aspirations, would have been able to crack the Sharks’ lineup for more than one game last season. He has a lot to prove, even if he has shown skill before. He almost makes me think of a guy like Joseph Blandisi — someone who showed a lot of skill on a bad Devils team in The Second Devils Dark Ages, but couldn’t stick in the NHL after his first big stint. Hopefully, Bordeleau explodes in the AHL and sets him up for a real NHL shot.

Bordeleau was a second round pick in 2020, a lauded prospect of the United States National Development Program, and a productive player at Michigan. Perhaps he was just incredibly unlucky in San Jose, but I do not currently see a great way for him to make the roster as it stands today. He is a skilled, undersized forward trying to break onto a team that needs a fourth line center. If the Devils needed a scoring winger, I would have more hope for his case. He did have a good preseason debut against the Rangers as a winger for Kevin Rooney, in which he led the team in expected goals percentage, but he has yet to get back onto the ice. Perhaps when the Devils play their split-squad games, Bordeleau may get a shot with more ice time.

13. Jakub Malek (G) — Last Rank: 13 — Age: 23 — 2024-25 Team: Ilves (Liiga — 33 games)

Staying steady at 13, Jakub Malek has finally appeared in a preseason game for the New Jersey Devils. After being loaned to Ilves in the first year of his entry-level contract, Malek did not suit up for the Devils last year in the preseason. This was best for the team at the time, as they were carrying Nico Daws and Isaac Poulter in the AHL along with Jeremy Brodeur and Tyler Brennan in the ECHL. With Poulter off to Winnipeg and Daws’s status for the upcoming season up in the air, Malek has a chance to solidify himself as a future NHL starting goaltender with a strong season at Utica. When Sam Kasan interviewed him for the team’s prospect profiles on NHL.com, Malek said about his goals for playing in Utica:

To win the Calder Cup. I can’t wait to be there because it will be something totally new for me. I can’t wait for the fun, I can’t wait for the games, I can’t wait to be there with the guys.

Given the Comets’ lack of success over the last few years as a Devils affiliate, that should be music to their ears. When Malek was last a member of VHK Vsetin in the second Czech league, Malek put up a .932 save percentage in the regular season along with a 7-4 record and .933 save percentage in the playoffs, turning 20 years old at the end of that 2021-22 season. Since then, Malek has grown in the Finnish Liiga, going from 22 to 27 to 33 games played, while continuing to show that he can handle professional competition with a .910 save percentage and a 40-22-15 record across those games.

"That was my first impression of him. I thought he was excellent." – #NJDevils HC Keefe on Jakub Malek.

Malek said he was a nervous going in but "it was important to stay in my head, still concentrate. Im happy with myself that I stayed concentrated & focused on my performance.” https://t.co/T8vyAiCfwP

— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) September 27, 2025

In the long-term, Malek still projects as a goaltending option for the New Jersey Devils once Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen no longer hold down the fort in goal. Having primarily played European professional hockey since he was 18 years old, Malek might be ready for the NHL as soon as this season, but circumstances dictate that he works to master the AHL first. In the process, he will likely have the opportunity to play with everyone in this section of our Top 25 in his first North American season.

In the short-term, Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen need to hook him up with a good mask.

12. Cam Squires (RW) — Last Rank: 17 — Age: 20 — 2024-25 Teams: Cape Breton Eagles (QMJHL — 58 games), Utica Comets (AHL — 3 games)

Since being drafted in the fourth round in 2023, Cam Squires has continued to be a solid forward prospect for the Devils. When he was drafted, I was intrigued by his higher-end production profile for a fourth-round pick while cautioning that it would take him some time to become NHL-ready due to his low weight at the time. But it has been a couple years since then, Squires has aged out of the QMJHL, and he had four points in his first three games for Utica last season, which bodes well for his first full season there this year. If he plays in the AHL like he did in the QMJHL (as he signaled an ability to in the spring), it won’t be long before he’s an NHL option. This was how Mitchell Brown tracked Cam Squires in his D+1 season (the only year with enough tracking data for Squires):

Cam has yet to play in a preseason game, but he did play for the Devils in the recent prospect challenge, where he had a fight (in which he actually did well against a larger opponent, who Squires was familiar with from the QMJHL) while showing off a bit of his skill. Hopefully, Squires actually plays on the split-squad day, as he was an extra for the Devils’ game group last night. But, as the youngest player at camp for the New Jersey Devils this season (having turned 20 in April), he does not seem very likely to get consideration for more than a top six role in Utica this fall. Still, if he plays like this in Utica, it won’t be long until he needs the next level of competition.

11. Shane LaChance (LW) — Last Rank: N/A — Age: 22 — 2024-25 Teams: Boston University (NCAA — 40 games), Utica Comets (AHL — 2 games)

Tomorrow will be a big day for Shane LaChance. After getting banged up in the Prospect’s Challenge, LaChance is only returning to play tomorrow, having missed the first three games of the preseason. The 6’5”, 220-pound forward was a fixture at the front of the net for Boston University last season, scoring one of their two goals in their stunning loss to Western Michigan in the Frozen Four Final. After signing an ELC with the Devils, he scored a goal and an assist for the Comets in two games at the end of the season.

His acquisition first flew under the radar for many Devils fans because of misdirected anger over Tom Fitzgerald facilitating the Trent Frederic trade from Boston to Edmonton, in which the Devils traded Petr Hauser to Boston, retained Frederic’s salary, and traded him to Edmonton for LaChance. LaChance, the son of Devils Director of US Scouting Scott LaChance (himself an accomplished NHLer of over 800 games played), was simply not the focus of the fan reaction to that trade. It was only as the Frozen Four rolled around that more people took notice of LaChance, whose build and goalscoring profile fits the bottom six needs that fans have been clamoring for Fitzgerald to remedy. He can park right in front of the goalie and do all the things you need a power forward to do there.

LaChance could have spent another year or two at college if he so wished, having only turned 22 on August 30 after two years of playing hockey for Boston University, but the move to the AHL is probably best for his career. Playing upwards of 60 games, with the chance to get a cup of coffee in the NHL (possibly soon, if he performs well for the rest of the preseason), will do him good. This is especially true considering LaChance’s size, as the AHL and NHL will present bigger challenges for a forward of his stature.

The Rankings​

Please see the full rankings below:

The community was almost perfectly on point for what the final results ended up, with just the exact order out of place. This will be an interesting five to follow. As I mentioned above, all five are most likely to spend the majority of their seasons with the Utica Comets, and their successes or failures will largely determine whether Utica can make the Calder Cup Playoffs. Squires sticks out a bit in terms of age, while LaChance does in terms of his skillset. Jakub Malek has the most professional experience of these five, and clearly should not be counted out from the Devils’ future. Bordeleau has plenty of skill, but has yet to really put it all together at the professional level. And Ethan Edwards looks smooth as butter on skates, and I hope he takes to the physical stylings of the AHL while not limiting himself on offense.

Your Thoughts​

What do you think of these five? Do you think any will make the NHL this season? Who do you think will have the best year with Utica? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/n...ersey-top-25-under-25-the-hopefuls-from-15-11

 

[New Jersey Devils]

2025 Preseason Gamethread #3: New Jersey Devils at New York Islanders

Sheldon Keefe has chosen to play Arseni Gritsyuk in three consecutive games. Will he shine again tonight? (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The Time: 7:00 PM ET

The Broadcast: Local TV — MSGSN2, MSGSN, Radio — Devils Hockey Network, Out of Market: ESPN+

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils at the New York Islanders

The Game Preview: Jackson took care of that this morning.

The Rules: If you have been a reader here, you already know the rules. But for the rest, a reminder: please do not swear in the comment section, and keep comments relevant to the hockey game going on. Beyond that, do not attack any other commenters, and do not ask for or pass along illegal streams on this board.

LGD!

Source: https://www.allaboutthejersey.com/d...ead-3-new-jersey-devils-at-new-york-islanders