After going through potential line combos New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff could experiment with this preseason, it’s time to look at possible defense pairs. With Ryan Graves in Pittsburgh with the Penguins and Damon Severson with the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Devils’ defense will look different this season.
That means Luke Hughes and Kevin Bahl will take on full-time roles, while Colin Miller comes in and adds some experience on the back end. There won’t be the same kind of chemistry with the Devils’ defense pairs heading into preseason games, so Ruff may try to mix and match some new units until he finds what he likes.
Hughes & Miller
A significant reason the Devils’ offense thrived at five-on-five a season ago was that Ruff used Severson in a sheltered third-pair role that gave him cushy offensive minutes with Jack Hughes. They need to find someone to replace that role, and that’s where Luke Hughes comes in.
The youngest Hughes brother has good size at 6-foot-2, 183 pounds, but the strength of his game is his elite skating and puck-moving ability. Those tools make him the ideal candidate to take over the Severson role. And having turned 20 years old just 12 days ago, it makes sense not to give him difficult defensive minutes alongside John Marino, at least right away.
Miller, who the Devils acquired in a trade with the Dallas Stars, is a reliable defensive defenseman who’d be a good partner for Hughes, given his veteran experience. It’d provide Hughes with a security blanket and allow him to jump into the play as the fourth attacker. That’s probably the best way to deploy him and get the most out of his skill set to start 2023-24.
Bahl & Hamilton
Jonas Siegenthaler was Dougie Hamilton’s main defense partner a season ago. While I don’t expect that to change, there’s reason to believe a Kevin Bahl and Hamilton pair could work based on previous ice time together. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, they’ve posted a 51.97 expected goals percentage (xG%) in about 221 minutes as defense partners.
That should be a good enough reason for Ruff to try it during preseason games, and it could benefit both players. Bahl may be more of a defensive defenseman, but asking him to jump straight into Graves’ role is a big ask, given he only has 77 games of NHL experience between the regular season and playoffs.
Related: 4 Devils Line Combos to Try During Preseason
While Hamilton still gets top-four minutes defensively, the most difficult defensive assignments will go to John Marino. Bahl would still get some tough matchups, but not as difficult as he would alongside Marino. It could help him ease into a regular role while giving Hamilton a steady defense partner that would allow him to jump into the play as a fourth attacker.
Siegenthaler & Marino
Bahl could be ticketed to end up on a pair alongside Marino to start the season. His skill set is closest to Graves, making him the ideal candidate to take over that role. But if Ruff really wants to have a shutdown pair, giving Siegenthaler some ice time alongside Marino might be worth a look.
Siegenthaler didn’t have the best 2022-23 season, but he was still a solid top-four blueliner. He defended the rush very well, and his defensive impacts were still good, just not to the level they were the previous season. He might not be the best puck mover, but that’s where Marino can help. Marino may be a defensive defenseman, too, but his microstats profile is excellent:
Marino is a very underrated puck-moving defenseman and will get the rush started the other way. The Devils likely wouldn’t have to worry about a Siegenthaler and Marino pairing getting hemmed in because of the latter’s puck-moving ability. Add in their defensive abilities, and it could form one of the better shutdown duos in the NHL.
Hughes & Hamilton
I don’t anticipate Ruff putting Hamilton and Luke Hughes together much. But if the Devils are trailing in a game and need a goal or two, putting those two together to generate some offense might not be the worst idea. In fact, it’d probably be a pretty good one.
Hamilton is coming off the best season of his career, having totaled 22 goals and 74 points in 82 games. He is one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL and will likely be again this season since Ruff’s system plays to offensive defensemen’s strengths. Not only will he collect plenty of assists, but he’s a high-volume shooter with a cannon of a shot.
Hughes isn’t the shooter Hamilton is, but he showed goal-scoring ability in his time with the Michigan Wolverines. He’s easily the Devils’ defenseman with the most offensive upside after Hamilton, so if Ruff finds himself in a situation where his teams need to get back in the game, it makes sense to pair those two together.
And it’d be best to find out if it can work during preseason games. Just like seeing if Siegenthaler and Marino can work as a shutdown pair, it’d be wise to see if Hughes and Hamilton can gel in different situations when the games don’t matter and Ruff can tinker with his defense pairs.
Devils Young Defensemen Will Have To Wait
Šimon Nemec was the second-overall pick in the 2022 draft and had a solid showing in his two games at the Prospects Challenge last weekend. It’ll be interesting to see how Ruff and his staff use him during preseason games. He’s probably a long shot to make the opening-night roster since the Devils have Hamilton, Marino and Miller on the right side. But I’d expect him to get a long look before they make a decision on him.
Other than him, I’d be surprised if some of the Devils’ other young defensemen pushed for jobs this preseason. Daniil Misyul had an excellent Prospects Challenge, but he’ll need some seasoning in the AHL with the Utica Comets first. The same is true for Topias Vilén, who’s playing his first season on North American ice.
But when it comes to the regular group that Ruff will have this season, there are options worth considering, like Siegenthaler and Marino and Hughes with Hamilton. We should find out soon enough what Ruff and his staff are thinking heading into games.
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Advanced stats from Natural Stat Trick