The New Jersey Devils struggled to get anywhere in 2018. In the opening round of the playoffs, they faced off against Tampa Bay and were badly outplayed by a much superior Lightning squad, losing in five games. Looking at the Devils offseason, they didn’t do much. But if you examine their roster, they didn’t have to. This is a young team that is getting better. 19-year-old center Nico Hishier, the first selection overall in the 2017 NHL draft, had a solid rookie season, finishing the year with 52 points total. This year, they will be expecting a full season from 2015 first round draft choice center Pavel Zacha. They will finally get to see 2016 first round draft choice center Michael McLeod in action. In the 2018 draft, they added more youth to their defense with defenseman Ty Smith from Spokane of the Western Hockey League in round one. This is a very good young team, and they are relying on that youth to get better.
