The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (29-29-2) versus the Florida Panthers (30-27-3)
The Time: 7:00 PM
The Broadcast:
TV — TNT, HBO Max; Radio — Devils Hockey NetworkDeadline Uncertainty
With the NHL Trade Deadline quickly approaching, there has been an increase in rumors around the New Jersey Devils and the league at large. There are two things for relative certain: the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers are unlikely to “buy.” The Devils may actually trade some of their current roster away, between flipping players
they traded for this year and trading players with more term and dollars owed on their contracts. Still, there are a lot of “just rumors” going around, and things tend to happen closer to the Friday 3PM deadline than early.
If the New Jersey Devils are expecting to trade a certain player, though, they may hold him out of the lineup. There has not been any word yet about the Devils doing that with any of the players in their lineup. In fact, they are expected to roll with the same lineup tonight that they had on Saturday evening. Those lines and pairings are:
Meier — Hischier — Mercer
Gritsyuk — Hughes — Brown
Bratt — Glass — Hameenaho
Cotter — Bjugstad — TsyplakovHughes — Pesce
Siegenthaler — Hamilton
Dillon — Nemec
With Luke Hughes back from injury, the Devils’ scratches are Johnny Kovacevic, Evgenii Dadonov, and Luke Glendening. There is not much of a point in keeping either Dadonov (who skated in Jack Hughes’s place as a second line center in practice yesterday) or Glendening around at this point, as the Devils are not in striking distance of the playoffs. Even if the Devils do not get anything of substance for them in a trade, it’s probably time for them to move on.
The Devils threw an additional wrinkle to their situation yesterday when they signed AHL rookie Matyas Melovsky to a two-year entry-level contract. Melovsky only has 13 points in 35 games for Utica, but he had gotten off to a great start in October before injuries took a toll on him. Hopefully, Melovsky has a good end to his season now that he is back from injury, as I also thought he had a very good performance for a late-round rookie in the Devils’ preseason games. If Marc McLaughlin does not replace Luke Glendening after the deadline, Melovsky may be a good bet.
The Panthers
This is the last time the Devils and Panthers will meet up this season. In October, the Devils beat them 3-1, then losing in Florida 1-0 in November. Now back home, the Devils look to pull within one point of passing them in the standings (though I am sure many readers may be iffy on that sentiment). Both the Devils and Panthers are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games. The steep decline of Sergei Bobrovsky this season has compounded the Panthers’ injury issues, as he is 22-18-1 despite an .872 save percentage. With better goaltending from Bobrovsky, the Panthers might be in a playoff spot.
The Panthers will have some more reinforcements back in the way of Dmitry Kulikov, who was hurt on October 9 and has only played three games this season. Kulikov, who played great defensive hockey for the Devils in 2020-21, was a big part of the Panthers’ second and third pairings over the last two seasons. While I think Kulikov is a very good player, still, and the Panthers should be better off with him in the lineup, he may still be shaking off the rust tonight. The Devils should be aggressive against a somewhat hobbled Florida team tonight.
Your Thoughts
What do you think of today’s game? Do you think the Devils can win a second game in a row? Who should start — Allen or Markstrom? Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and thanks for reading.
