New Jersey Devils' Biggest Need May Be Forwards, but There Is Defensive Need Too

While there is no doubt that the New Jersey Devils need help at forward, it would be untrue to say that is New Jersey's only weak spot.

The Devils are obviously set in goal with Cory Schneider, as well as with their top defense pairing of Andy Greene and Adam Larsson, who combined for 33 points and a plus-eight rating after the firing of former coach Peter DeBoer.

But how the rest of the defense pairings will pan out is unclear. This is, of course, not to say that the Devils do not have talent and potential on the blue line.

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Damon Severson, 20, started the season as Greene's partner on the Devils' top pairing and ended the season with 17 points in 51 games. After returning from an ankle injury that sidelined him for two and a half months, Severson struggled to get back into the flow of the game. In his 19 games after returning to the starting lineup, he had a minus-nine rating. 

After Severson returned from his injury, his partner was usually Jon Merrill, 23. Merrill is a decent puck-moving defenseman and impressed during his rookie season, but subpar defensive play doomed him to a sophomore slump. Merrill's minus-14 rating was the lowest of any Devils defenseman, and his SAT per 60 minutes (a statistic that measures possession) was minus-6.94, according to NHL.com, lower than any of the Devils' other young defensemen who played at least 25 games.

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The Devils also have Eric Gelinas, 24, who has played more NHL games than either Severson or Merrill but is probably behind both of those players on the depth chart. Though he has an incredibly dangerous shot, Gelinas' defensive abilities appeared to be doubted both by DeBoer and the coaching triumvirate of Scott Stevens, Adam Oates and Lou Lamoriello.

Once New Jersey was officially out of the playoff race, Gelinas was given more opportunities to play, but doubts about his defense remain. He led the Devils in minor penalties, despite playing limited minutes in only 61 games, and had a minus-two rating, despite having a significantly higher percentage of offensive-zone starts than any of his teammates, according to Stats.HockeyAnalysis.com.

How large a role each of these defensemen will play next season depends on some external factors. 

First, and perhaps most importantly, because New Jersey needs scoring and has a glut of young defenders, there is a very real possibility that one or more of these defensemen get traded. The Devils may prefer to part ways with Gelinas, the oldest and least defensively sound of the group, but his trade value may be the lowest as a result.

To try to predict which defenseman will ultimately get traded would be a speculative effort at best at this point, but it seems incredibly likely that one of these three will be traded to try to bring in some offensive talent.

So, that would leave the Devils with a top pairing of Greene and Larsson with another pairing of two of Severson, Merrill and Gelinas. 

What role these two play will ultimately depend on what new general manager Ray Shero's plan is. If Shero sees New Jersey as still a few years away from being a legitimate competitor, it would not make sense to bring in older outside players to take minutes away from the developing young defensemen. He could allow the Severson/Merrill/Gelinas combination to be the team's second defense pairing, knowing there will be growing pains that the team is better off dealing with now.

In such a situation, the Devils would have a number of options.

Shero could re-sign Peter Harrold and Mark Fraser to play as the third defense pairing, where each filled in during the second half of last season. But by the start of the 2015-16 season, they will be 32 and 29, respectively, so that would seem contradictory to a plan of rebuilding or transition.

The Devils also could opt to go all-in on a year of rebuilding and bring in more young defensemen, such as Seth Helgeson, Raman Hrabarenka, Reece Scarlett and Steve Santini.

But it seems unlikely that Shero would immediately go into a rebuild, given the tools the Devils already have. So, it may be more likely that Shero dips into free agency to bring in a defender or two who can play on the second pairing. With Michael Ryder, Martin Havlat and Bryce Salvador set to come off the payroll, the Devils will have some cap space with which to work.

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For Devils fans, there are two familiar names on the list of unrestricted free-agent defensemen: Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya, both former Devils. Former general manager Lamoriello had a history of bringing back players who previously departed the team (Bobby Holik, Brian Rolston, Claude Lemieux and Scott Gomez, to name a few), but with a new man in charge, that factor may no longer play a role.

Of course, Shero brought Martin to the Pittsburgh Penguins prior to the 2010-11 season, so a connection remains, but Martin's salary demands may be more than Shero and the Devils are willing to pay for a second-pairing defenseman. Last year, Martin's cap hit was $5 million, according to Spotrac. 

Other unrestricted free-agent defensemen include Christian Ehrhoff of Pittsburgh, Andrej Meszaros of the Buffalo Sabres and Michael Del Zotto of the Philadelphia Flyers. A full list of unrestricted free-agent defensemen can be found at Spotrac.

Any number of these players could be an upgrade over Severson, Merrill or Gelinas, while also reducing the need for an inexperienced player like Santini to be rushed into the lineup or an inferior player, such as Fraser, to be forced into the lineup on a regular basis. 

Ultimately, New Jersey's greatest area of need is at forward, where the Devils need goal scorers badly. But for Shero and the Devils to ignore defense would leave New Jersey an inexperienced and thin, though promising, defense corps.

If the Devils want to be competitive next year, they also must give some consideration to what they want the team's defensemen to look like.