Predicting the Best Player at Each Position for the New Jersey Devils in 5 Years

After a run of victories against mediocre opponents, the New Jersey Devils ran into an excellent hockey team in the Montreal Canadiens over the weekend. By thrashing the Devils 6-2, Montreal showed New Jersey how much improvement it is still in need of.

With that stark reminder that this season is all but lost, now is a decent time to look to the future. This list will predict who the best Devil will be at each position in five years.

In goal, the answer is obvious. On defense, there are a number of choices, an encouraging sign for the future of the team.

But, there are ominously few choices at forward, pointing to the lack of top-tier scoring potential within the Devils' organization.

Goaltender: Cory Schneider

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Cory Schneider makes a save against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Honorable Mention: Keith Kinkaid

Given that Cory Schneider only turns 29 next month, the question of who the team's best goalie will be in five years is an easy one.

Age 34 is not that old for goaltenders, so it seems clear that Schneider, New Jersey's deserving No. 1 goalie, will still be the go-to guy in five years.

Schneider struggled at times at the start of the year but has slowly been improving as the season has gone on, as shown by looking at his month-by-month stats:

Month	GP	GAA	SV%
October	10	2.90	.906
November	13	2.35	.922
December	12	2.23	.924
January	8	1.89	.940

Of course, it does not seem likely that Schneider will post a 1.89 goals-against average and .940 save percentage for the rest of his time in New Jersey, but there has been a clear upward trend in Schneider's play as he has gotten more comfortable with his surroundings and being a No. 1 goalie. 

Keith Kinkaid gets some acknowledgment for his strong play behind Schneider this year, but barring injury or trade, there is no apparent way that the 25-year-old passes the Devils' top goalie.

Defensemen: Adam Larsson and Damon Severson

Julio Cortez/Associated Press

Adam Larsson gets quite excited after scoring the game-tying goal against Toronto.

Honorable Mention: Jon Merrill, Steve Santini

As there are two defensemen on the ice at a time, it seems fitting to choose two defensemen for this list. Of course, it also helps me from having to make a difficult decision between two incredibly promising young defensemen.

Adam Larsson and Damon Severson have only been in the lineup together for 17 games this season, as Larsson started the season as the team's seventh defenseman and dealt with the mumps, while Severson has been out since December 15 with a fractured left ankle.

Severson's inclusion in the Devils' starting lineup on opening night came as a surprise to many. His assignment, playing on the top defensive pairing with Andy Greene, came as an even bigger surprise.

He was an offensively explosive defenseman for his first 10 games of the season, picking up seven points. His offensive numbers dipped after that, no doubt related to the drop in play by his team, but he continued to be a huge part of New Jersey's plans. 

Severson played less than 20 minutes in only three games before his injury—the first three games of the season. His 23:01 a night is the highest among rookies in the NHL.

Larsson began playing well in November but then missed three weeks with the mumps. It was a tough break for a player who seemed to be finally finding his game at the NHL level. 

Former coach Peter DeBoer had decided Larsson would be best served in the AHL for much of the last two seasons, a decision met with at best mixed responses from the fanbase. But, when Larsson returned to the NHL this year, his defensive play was at a level exponentially higher than anything seen from the 22-year-old Swede previously.

Larsson continued that strong defensive play when he returned in December and has clearly profited from New Jersey's coaching change since then. His offensive play, often missing under DeBoer, has come alive under the new coaching triumvirate.

He has eight points in 17 games since the change and is clearly playing with more confidence when on the puck in the offensive and neutral zones.

Both Severson and Larsson are shoo-ins to be top defensemen on the team in five years for the same reason—they are players who have already demonstrated a tremendous ability to play in their own defensive zone while still possessing a growing offensive ability.

Jon Merrill, who was excellent last season, gets an honorable mention. He has leveled out some this season but already is a decent second-pairing defensemen at only 23 years old. Steve Santini, 19, also gets recognition for his stellar freshman year at Boston College and IIHF World U18 Championship Best Defenseman award.

Left Wing: Reid Boucher

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

Reid Boucher celebrates a Michael Ryder goal.

Honorable Mention: Miles Wood, Stefan Matteau

Reid Boucher's presence on this list comes as a result of two factors.

First, Boucher has an impressive goal-scoring record from his days in the OHL and a tremendous shot. He set a single-season scoring record with his junior team, the Sarnia Sting, by scoring 62 goals in 2012-13.

Since turning pro, though, his results have been hit-or-miss. In 112 career games with the Devils' AHL affiliate, the Albany Devils, Boucher has 37 goals and 29 assists. In 27 games in New Jersey over the last two seasons, he has two goals and five assists.

Essentially, Boucher has shown potential but has yet to prove he can bring that potential to the NHL level. 

This brings us to the second factor of Boucher's inclusion: the lack of forward talent among Devils prospects. While Boucher has been somewhat disappointing in Albany thus far, there simply are so few other high-potential forwards in the Devils' system that Boucher remains the only real option.

The other young left wingers in the system worth noting are Miles Wood and Stefan Matteau. Wood played on the fourth line of the United States' team at the IIHF World Junior Championship in December and January, but at 19, he is still too young to make any definite projections about. Matteau, 20, has been average at best in Albany this year, and he is likely only a third-line player at the next level.

The youngest left wingers on the NHL roster right now are Tuomo Ruutu and Michael Cammalleri, 31 and 32 respectively. In five years, neither figures to be a major factor for the Devils.

So, for better or worse, at 21, Boucher is the most obvious choice for top left wing in New Jersey in five years. Whether he is a top scorer or an average player by that point may play a large role in the Devils' future.

Center: Adam Henrique

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Adam Henrique moves the puck through the neutral zone.

Honorable Mention: Travis Zajac

Adam Henrique, like Boucher, makes this list in part because the Devils lack depth at forward.

Of course, Henrique has plenty of merit as well, having put together a respectable resume during three-and-a-half seasons in New Jersey.

In 240 games, he has 63 goals and 75 assists, giving him a solid rate of 0.575 points per game. Henrique has developed a reputation for scoring clutch goals as well, with 11 regular-season game-winners to go along with three playoff game-winners during the Devils' 2011-12 run to the Stanley Cup Final.

Henrique, 25, has also shown he is a sound defensive player, which increases the likelihood the Devils will want to keep him around. 

While Henrique's accomplishments are worth praising, it has to be noted how sparse the Devils' future options at center are as well. The average age of the four centers from the Albany Devils' most recent game was 27.75 years old, ancient in terms of prospects. Given that Albany's captain, Rod Pelley, a 30-year-old center, did not play in that game, that figure may even be artificially young.

The Devils have a few centers in the OHL and NCAA, such as John Quenneville, Joseph Blandisi and Blake Pietila, but none has shown enough yet to be considered a top prospect. 

That leaves Travis Zajac, who will be 34 in five years, as the only other legitimate option. Zajac has played well since the coaching change, but he has yet to find the consistent offensive play expected from a top-six center since Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk left the team. 

Henrique has managed to put up decent offensive numbers since the departure of those two and is four years younger than Zajac, so he gets the nod.

Right Wing: Not Yet in the Organization

Adam Hunger/Associated Press

General manager Lou Lamoriello during a press conference. He and Devils management must find a way to get more offensive talent into the organization.

Right winger Paul Thompson leads the Albany Devils with 22 goals, which makes him second in the AHL. 

The problem? Thompson is 26 years old. The reality is that Thompson, though a decent player, is not going to become a top NHL goal scorer, given that he has spent his entire professional career shuffling around the AHL and ECHL.

Past Thompson, the pickings at right wing are even slimmer. Mike Sislo spent some time in New Jersey but is little more than a serviceable third- or fourth-line player. The only other young right winger in the organization is 19-year-old Connor Chatham, who is not expected to be a top-six forward.

The right wingers during the Devils' most recent games have been Jaromir Jagr, almost 43, Martin Havlat, 33, Steve Bernier, a 29-year-old career fourth-line player, and 32-year-old Jordin Tootoo. Clearly, none of those players will be a top winger in another five years (in truth, none is even now).

So the Devils simply must work on acquiring more offensive talent, both at right wing and in general. This list has clearly shown that the work done by Lou Lamoriello and his staff in terms of putting the team in a position to win has been insufficient.

Of course, Lamoriello was set back by Zach Parise's decision to go to the Minnesota Wild and Ilya Kovalchuk's unexpected departure for Russia, both of which were at least in part out of his control. But those situations do not change the fact that the forwards drafted by the Devils in recent years have for the most part not worked out.

This uncertainty ought to cause Devils fans anxiety. While Schneider has staked his claim to the No. 1 goalie spot and the young defensemen have impressed, the Devils have been squeaking by at forward with contributions from older players who will not be here in five years. 

The New Jersey Devils' management must find a way to fix this problem, or the next five years will not look any better than this one has.