The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils @ New York Islanders
The Time: 7:00pm ET
The Broadcast: MSGSN, MSGSN2, Devils Hockey Radio
Last Devils Game
On Tuesday, the Devils hosted the Islanders at The Rock, rolling to a convincing 6-2 win.
Potential Lineup
In Tuesday’s game, the Devils played a ton of their regulars against an Isles team that consisted of a lot of tweeners and AHL players. As you would expect, the results were one-sided in New Jersey’s favor. Plenty of Devils looked good, but the context cannot be ignored.
So how will they line up for tonight’s contest? Well here’s how they looked at practice yesterday:
As Stein notes, while Ondrej Palat and Connor Brown have skated together in practices and during Tuesday’s game, this is the first time Cody Glass has centered them. It’s been a rotation of centers that have slotted between the two veteran wings thus far, but I do think this will end up being the opening day third line. It’s an intriguing mix that brings a lot of defensive ability to the table, as well as some speed (especially from Brown) and skill. I’ll be interested to see how they perform together.
Meanwhile, Jonas Siegenthaler and Dougie Hamilton lined up on different pairs yesterday after reuniting on Tuesday. I’m not sure how I feel about this one, but we still have a lot of preseason left to go, so this may very well just be head coach Sheldon Keefe experimenting with some new defense pairs.
The above lineup might not actually be what we see tonight, of course. But it should be close.
Return Of The Jack
For the first time since he went shoulder-first into the end boards in March, Jack Hughes played in a game. A preseason game, yes, but it was still nice to see the franchise player back out there. By far the most important thing was that Hughes got through Tuesday’s game without injury (which goes for every player, by the way). We all know what he can do, so it’s not like I would be concerned if he struggled. Health is the first, second, and third priority here.
But Hughes didn’t struggle. Instead, he registered two assists in 15:55 of ice time. He played on a line with Jesper Bratt and Evgenii Dadonov, and he manned his usual left flank position on the power play. He looked like the same old Jack Hughes to me, but again, even if he looked rusty I would not have any concerns about him being ready for the regular season. Unless the reason he struggled was that he looked less than 100% healthy of course, then I’d be worried.
In any case, Hughes got through the first game fine, and it’s so nice to see him back on the ice in game action.
Edwards Making A Push
Ethan Edwards has played the first two preseason games. The young defenseman out of the University of Michigan has shown a lot of promise thus far. Don’t believe me? Just listen to Keefe:
This report came after the game on Tuesday, in which Edwards was paired with Brett Pesce. Again, take it with a grain of salt given the lineup disparity in that contest, but Edwards really did look good. I seriously doubt Keefe and the Devils actually want Edwards to play over Luke Hughes, but I also don’t think these were empty words or a veiled threat to Hughes’ camp as he continues to hold out.
We all had Edwards penciled into the Utica roster to begin the season, but it wouldn’t be the first time a player comes into training camp/preseason and surprises. Jesper Bratt famously got his start in the NHL by doing just that in 2017. Heck, just last year we saw Johnny Kovacevic go from random depth defenseman to integral cog last September. If Bratt and Kovacevic can win jobs when the odds are stacked against them, why can’t Edwards break camp as the surprise seventh defenseman? It looks like he won’t play tonight, but it shouldn’t be long before we see Edwards on the ice in preseason action again.
Did Luke Hughes Sign Yet?
No.
Will Matthew Schaefer Play?
This to me is the biggest question for tonight’s game. Since it’s preseason, there’s not much to report on opposing teams aside from any potentially intriguing camp battles. It doesn’t seem like the Islanders have any of those, so the next most interesting thing to me is seeing the number one overall pick in action.
Here is how the Islanders lined up in their preseason game last night:
Considering Schaefer was nowhere to be found, I think there’s a good chance we see him this evening. He has played in one preseason game thus far and registered an assist. His skating also looked borderline elite in that contest. He’s such a highly-touted prospect, and I’d love to see how he looks in game action, even if it’s only a preseason tilt.
Your Take
What will you be looking for out of tonight’s game? Are you as excited as me to (hopefully) see Matthew Schaefer in action? As always, thanks for reading!