Shero's Relative Free-Agency Silence Speaks Volumes: Devils Are Rebuilding

In his final months as general manager of the New Jersey Devils, Lou Lamoriello insisted his team was not in need of a rebuild.

Rebuild is a dangerous word in sports. Though it indicates an important focus on a team's future, its subtext suggests that a team's present is going to be unpleasant, if not downright unwatchable at times.

Are rebuilds sometimes necessary for certain clubs? Absolutely. Are they ever enjoyable for fans and players while they are taking place? Probably not.

But Lamoriello insisted the Devils were in the midst of a period of transition, not rebuilding. In February, Lamoriello told Tom Gulitti of Fire and Ice:

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Rebuilding is a totally different word. Transition means the amount of time it takes for that chemistry to get together or that new person to get comfortable with what he's doing withing the system he's in. That's a transition. ... Rebuild means you're starting right from the foundation.

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The truth of the matter is that Lamoriello could not afford to have his team go through a period of rebuilding. He was already on the hot seat as general manager, with his team on track to miss the playoffs for a third straight season. At the time, it seemed that any more failure in the present would result in Lamoriello losing his job.

In reality, though, his job may already have been lost. After new general manager Ray Shero took over for Lamoriello in May, Gulitti reported that ownership pushed for Lamoriello to step down.

Thus, a new man stepped into the decision-making role. The new man, Shero, came in with the blessing of both Lamoriello and ownership and has been given complete control over the direction the Devils will be heading in.

Shero and his new head coach, John Hynes, have been preaching the doctrine of creating a hockey team that is fast, attacking and supportive. While these ideals indicated the sort of team Shero and Hynes wanted New Jersey to embody, until the draft and free-agency period, it was unclear how such a team would be assembled and how long the process might take.

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Now, the picture is much clearer. After a series of somewhat mundane signings and a solid but unspectacular trade for Kyle Palmieri, it is obvious that Shero sees the Devils as a team in need of a rebuild, not a franchise simply in the midst of a transition.

That is not to say Shero has made a mistake in his assessment of the situation but that nearly every move he has made thus far has served to begin building the foundation a team must start from, which is exactly how Lamoriello defined the rebuilding process in February.

Shero's biggest move, the trade with the Anaheim Ducks for Palmieri, brings a potential top-six right wing to New Jersey, so it is certainly a solid move. But Palmieri's offensive contributions, at least to this point in his career, have not been as impressive as those of previously unrestricted free-agent options such as Matt Beleskey and Michael Frolik.

At 24 years old, though, Palmieri is younger than any option the Devils had in free agency and therefore is in a position to become the kind of foundational player New Jersey is in such desperate need of.

Shero's next biggest move was signing defenseman John Moore, who spent the end of last season with the Arizona Coyotes. Like Palmieri, Moore is only 24 years old and has significant potential. But as was the case with Palmieri, there were other free-agent options available at the time such as Johnny Oduya, Barret Jackman and Paul Martin, all of whom are more talented than Moore but significantly older.

The rest of Shero's signings this offseason have also served to build a foundation for the Devils. The signings of Yann Danis, Marc-Andre Gragnani, Jim O'Brien, Vojtech Mozik and Sergey Kalinin to two-way deals give New Jersey a pool of players who could contribute at the NHL or AHL levels this season, providing a level of depth that was not present in recent years.

Shero's commitment to rebuilding was equally clear in his decision to not re-sign Scott Gomez, Steve Bernier, Peter Harrold and Mark Fraser, all of whom contributed last season but are over the age of 30. 

What does the rebuild mean for the Devils in 2015-16, then?

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Most likely, it means the team is going to struggle. As of right now, the only defenseman the Devils have who has significant NHL experience is Andy Greene (eight NHL seasons), so it seems safe to assume they will be using an incredibly young defense corps.

New Jersey has a ton of potential on the blue line with the likes of Adam Larsson, Jon Merrill, Damon Severson, Eric Gelinas and now John Moore all having had their moments over the last two or three seasons, so this will surely be beneficial for them in the long run. But there will be growing pains in 2015-16.

Up front, things are a little less clear. New Jersey's forward group is obviously in need of an overhaul, as its top-end talent and general depth are both embarrassingly thin. This season, we may see players such as Reid Boucher, Stefan Matteau, Jacob Josefson, Sergey Kalinin and even newly drafted Pavel Zacha get repeated chances to crack the lineup so the Devils know which prospects have promising futures and which may not cut it at the NHL level.

Of course, the start of the regular season is still three months away, and it would not be a surprise to see Shero make a few more moves before the 2015-16 season begins. But he has made his intentions clear over the last month.

Shero, probably correctly, feels that New Jersey's foundation is not yet strong enough to build on, so Devils fans are about to be subjected to a period of rebuilding.