NHL Off-Season Rankings: No. 19, New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils come in at No. 19 on TheHockeyNews.com's NHL off-season ranking. The Devils have a new GM and a new No. 1 goalie, but are they a Stanley Cup playoff lock?
Video Transcript
Their goaltending situation, situation right now is, to me, disastrous because I think you've got Heeschier and Hughes up the middle.
You've got some good forwards.
Their defense is pretty decent.
Dougie Hamilton bounced back last year.
I think Luke Hughes has got a lot of talent.
But the goaltending could undermine all of that.
I mean, Nico Dawes, who a lot of people are saying is, should be the starter, he's 25 years old.
Look at his statistics.
In the American Hockey League, he had under 900 save percentage the last three years with over 100 game, almost 100 games in the American Hockey League.
Now, he played better at the NHL level in spot duty, but I wouldn't feel confident going into the season with Nico Dawes as my number one goaltender.
And Jake Allen is a fine veteran guy, and d- big game Dave, David Rittich is, you know, a, a number, a good number three.
But really, they should be in the Connor Hellebuyck sweepstakes, and them not be, and maybe that's where things will go, but right now I think that they ha- you know, this goaltending situation to me could lead to them missing the playoffs and Sheldon Keefe being the first coach fired in the NHL.
