Training camp is upon us, and this is the time of year, theoretically, for competition. NHL jobs are on the line, players are competing against each other for those opportunities, and camp serves as a larger setting for “may the best man win the job”.
That’s not quite how reality works though.
Veteran players have guaranteed contracts (some of them with clauses protecting them from being moved) and almost all of them would require waivers in order to get sent down. Add in that there’s no hard or set rule mandating that a team HAS to carry 13 forwards versus 14. Teams are free to construct their rosters as they so choose, provided they don’t exceed the salary cap ceiling, and provided they don’t exceed the 23-man roster limit. As a result, this limits the actual number of spots that might be available for a younger player to make the roster.
The New Jersey Devils are coming off of a successful long weekend in the Buffalo area at the Prospects Challenge, and a big part of the reason for that success has been the play of their top line wingers in that competition in Shane LaChance and Lenni Hämeenaho. They’ve been the Devils best players in this format. Even keeping this in perspective by remembering that this is ultimately pre-preseason hockey against a bunch of players who aren’t ready for primetime and might never be NHL players when its all said and done, it’s tough to deny that they’ve looked good. They’ve looked good to the point where its reasonable to ask if either LaChance or Hämeenaho could actually make the Devils roster out of camp.
It’s not unprecedented for a younger player to come out of nowhere and essentially force his way onto the NHL roster by leaving no doubt in training camp. It’s something we’ve seen a few times in the last decade between Jesper Bratt prior to the 2017-18 season and Dawson Mercer prior to the 2021-22 season. But could we see it again this year?
What Do LaChance and Hämeenaho Bring to the Table?
LaChance, who was acquired by the Devils for their part in retaining salary cap space in the trade that send Trent Frederic from Boston to Edmonton earlier this year, brings a different dynamic than most of the Devils forwards.
For starters, LaChance is a big boy. Listed at 6’5” and 218 lbs., he would be the largest forward on the Devils roster aside from Kurtis MacDermid. There’s more to LaChance than just size (and all the things that come with added size like reach) though. There’s a willingness to go to the front of the net and make things happen. He has soft hands, but he also has the mindset of doing the dirty work to create something. He’s an energy player, through and through, but you can also see from his style of play why Boston University named him team captain. You can also see that he’s not going to allow the opposition to take liberties. A lot of aspects of his game are already being pretty close to being NHL-ready, with the one big “yeah, but” being his skating. I’m not going to wave that off as not being a concern. I’m just saying with this particular player, there’s a lot to like here and he’s bringing something to the table the Devils could, frankly, use a bit more of. Considering the Devils got him in exchange for retaining a portion of Frederic’s salary to go elsewhere, that’s some solid GM work by Fitzgerald to get a guy close to NHL ready who has a chance to be something.
As for Hämeenaho, he’s found the scoresheet less frequently than LaChance but you can see why the Devils would be excited when it comes to his potential. You can see the willingness to engage and battle along the boards. You can see the hockey IQ, playmaking ability, and skill on display. Obviously, there’s still an adjustment period for him to deal with as he’s playing his first games on North American ice, but we are talking about a young player who has played against men the last three seasons in Liiga. We are talking about a player who continued to improve year after year in that environment. Obviously, there’s a difference between doing what he did there and it translating to the NHL where the best players in the world play, but the earliest returns have indeed been promising.
I don’t know that I necessarily think that LaChance or Hämeenaho are ready to step in and contribute immediately at this level, and that is certainly something the Devils will be weighing. But I could see Hämeenaho being the type of winger with the type of skillset who eventually settles into a complimentary role somewhere in the Devils Top Six. I could see LaChance ultimately becoming a third line, energy, “makes things happen” winger that is the type of player every team wants in their bottom six. Maybe not now, but in my opinion, they’re going to be NHL players and their time is coming eventually.
The Devils Roster Situation at Forward
Assuming the Devils do not make a trade between now and the start of the season, I view them as having 11 forwards who are stone cold locks to be on the Opening Night roster.
Locks (in order of AAV from highest to lowest): Timo Meier, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat, Dawson Mercer, Connor Brown, Stefan Noesen, Cody Glass, Evgenii Dadonov, and Paul Cotter.
In reality, I probably should have two additional forwards listed as locks, for very different reasons.
Outside of a disastrous training camp and preseason, I have a hard time believing that Arseny Gritsyuk isn’t going to make the Devils roster out of camp. Gritsyuk is older than Hämeenaho, has more pro experience in a better overseas league, and I’d be stunned if after finally convincing him to sign his ELC and make the jump to North America that the Devils would turn around and suggest that he rides the bus on the AHL circuit until a spot opens up. If anything, the Devils actions would suggest the opposite. Dadonov has embraced taking on the role of being the big brother to Gritsyuk’s little brother and helping him get acclimated to North America, and I think that matters. The Devils want Gritsyuk to make the 23-man roster, and for a team that could use a little more offensive punch anyways, which is the main thing Gritsyuk provides, I would expect him to make the 23 man roster.
The other, more controversial, player that I could see being a lock for a roster spot? You guessed it. Kurtis MacDermid.
I know that MacDermid is limited as a player, to put it kindly. I know that his contract is set up in a way where the Devils could just bury the cap hit if necessary. I also know that he’s the type of player where you can leave him on the bench for weeks at a time. He’s a finished product as a player. He does not need to be playing regularly, unlike some of the younger players we’ve discussed here. Frankly, he shouldn’t be playing regularly as he’s not a good hockey player.
But this was all true last year as well, and even with the Devils tight up against the salary cap, the one move they never made was to send MacDermid down to create flexibility. They also never sent him down to give a younger player a shot. With hindsight being 20/20, that probably says more about guys like Nolan Foote (who is no longer here) and Brian Halonen (who is still in the organization) that the Devils never gave them more of an opportunity than a handful of games here and there. But the larger point is that, at least for the 2024-25 season, MacDermid’s roster spot was ironclad. The Devils, for whatever reason, saw value in him being the next man up if they needed a face puncher on any given night. Is it the best use of a roster spot when they already had guys on the roster who could punch faces if needed? No, of course not. But it’s what they did.
When it comes to MacDermid, I’m going to take the mindset of “he’s on the team until he isn’t”. So I’m going to assume he will be on the roster as well. Him, along with Gritsyuk, would make 13 forwards.
Roster Configuration is Key
I know I just said what I said about MacDermid’s roster spot being seemingly ironclad. But I do think its worth considering the salary cap for a moment.
It’s tough to project what salary cap space, if any, the Devils might have seeing as they still haven’t agreed to a deal with Luke Hughes as of this writing. But it’s safe to say that the youngest Hughes will chew up most of, if not all of, the Devils remaining cap space for this season.
Yes, the Devils could create a little flexibility by burying MacDermid and maybe this is the scenario where his spot is no longer guaranteed. They could either replace him on the roster with someone making less, and save a couple hundred thousand dollars in the process. But what they also could do is simply not carry the maximum 23 players on the roster. It is something we’ve seen more of the last few years as teams right up against the salary cap ceiling try finding a way to squeeze every last dollar they can out of the roster. I’m not saying that Sheldon Keefe, the former head coach of the Maple Leafs, had a hand in how Toronto managed the salary cap, but he does come from an organization where sometimes, that is what they did in order to be cap compliant.
I don’t see any reason for the Devils to do anything but carry two goaltenders (Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen). I also don’t see any reason for them to do anything but carry seven defensemen, with the understanding that Johnathan Kovacevic will begin the season on IR. So if those numbers are set in stone, there’s only so much finagling the Devils can do with how they decide to construct the roster. Any such finagling though would likely cost the kids a chance at breaking camp with the big club.
Competition For the Final Spot(s)
With the Devils seemingly at 13 forwards including MacDermid, 7 defensemen, and 2 goaltenders, that would leave one spot for a forward to make the roster. One.
Do the Devils use that spot on a center? Are they willing to have this player also be the type of player who they’re comfortable with not playing for weeks at a time potentially? Because if they are, Kevin Rooney and Luke Glendening are in camp on PTOs. If they’re not sold on Dawson Mercer being a center (or if they decide they need him on the wing), there’s a good chance one of Rooney or Glendening winds up making the roster and being the 4C, with Cody Glass being the 3C. Another player who could be in the mix for that specific role is Juho Lammikko, who is not on a PTO.
I’d consider LaChance and Hämeenaho to have a leg up on some of the other players likely slated to play for the Utica Comets this season. There’s always the possibility that somebody emerges out of nowhere and impresses the brass enough to put their name in the mix. But the purpose of this article was to simply point out whether or not a path exists in the first place for those two specific players in LaChance and Hämeenaho to make the 23 man roster.
I’d say that assuming the Devils don’t make a trade to free up a spot, and assuming that they continue to see something in MacDermid that nobody else is seeing, the answer to the question of whether a path exists is “probably not”. Not now, anyways.