A More Modern Team: How the Devils Can Lean on their Best Players Next Season
Do the Devils need to acquire new forwards? Or do just need to deploy their current ones better?
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - MARCH 3 : Jack Hughes #86 and Cody Glass #12 of the New Jersey Devils warm up before the NHL regular season game against the Florida Panthers at the Prudential Center on March 3, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Andrew Maclean/NHLI via Getty Images) | NHLI via Getty Images Happy Sunday. As fans watch playoff hockey, there are a couple things certain to be on their mind.
First and foremost will be how physical the games get. For a certain type of Devils fan looking at our roster, they will see guys like Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt and wonder how they are going to survive the playoffs when they make it back. Second will be the quality of depth that other teams get out of their forwards.
Most of the teams in the playoffs do not have one-line attacks: the best playoff teams, and the ones to watch out for, are those with great second and third lines. But what about fourth lines? The traditional model of a fourth line is that of a more defensive, physical group.
They may be more proficient at forechecking, and most of their goals will be of the greasy type. Deflections, crashes, and the like account for most of what people would consider to be traditional fourth line offensive contributions. Many hockey coaches over the past several years have adopted a model where these lines play more often.
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