James Nichols
One of the main goals for the New Jersey Devils this summer was to bring in players that can provide depth scoring.
Enter Evgenii Dadonov, Connor Brown, and Arseny Gritsyuk, and so far through the preseason, the early returns look promising.
Most notable is Gritsyuk, who has played in four preseason games thus far, scoring two goals and three points in that span. He’s been up and down the lineup, however, his role is becoming more solidified.
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On Thursday at Madison Square Garden, the Devils deployed what looks mostly like their regular season lineup. Luke Hughes did not dress, as he skated with both groups earlier in the day, working out in his first day of training camp activities. Otherwise, sans injured players, the lineup Sheldon Keefe deployed will likely be similar to what you see on October 9th against the Carolina Hurricanes.
You’ll recognize the Devils’ top-six. It’s not so different from what it was last season. Jesper Bratt flanks Jack Hughes on the right, and is rounded out by Dadonov, and Nico Hischier centers Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer.
It’s the bottom six that’s made over with Cody Glass, centering Brown and Ondrej Palat. However, the line that’s made the biggest impact in the preseason thus far has been the new-look fourth line of Gritsyuk, Luke Glendening, and Paul Cotter.
The fourth line opened the scoring for the Devils on Thursday against the New York Rangers after Gritsyuk was sprung for an odd-man rush with Cotter. The Russian forward created a passing lane for himself around the Ranger defender and connected with Cotter, who beat Jonathan Quick to give the Devils a 1-0 lead.
Gritsyuk, thus far, has displayed an elite shot and offensive prowess. His playmaking appears promising, too.
“I think that he’s going to be such an amazing player in this league,” Cotter said of Gritsyuk. “I mean, just his everyday approach is positivity. ‘How can I get better?’ And it makes the game fun. It’s fun to play with a guy who has that ability to learn, but also has confidence and his skill, and he’s not afraid to use it. I mean, we’re the fourth line out there, but it doesn’t look it with the way he’s making plays. He’s fun to play with for sure.”
For as complimentary as Cotter is of Gritsyuk, he’s drawing praise himself from the Devils’ head coach.
“I think Cotters had a great camp, great preseason,” Keefe said. “He had a great game here today, he scored a good goal. He & Gritsyuk made great plays there. It starts with Cotter in the defensive zone. They converted to offense. Gritsyuk makes a great play and good finish, but Cotter drove the puck to the neutral zone, got us in deep a bunch.
“Like I said, it’s been a good camp for Cotter. He hasn’t always gotten the greatest draw in terms of the lineups that he’s played with, and he’s played on the road a bunch and all these kinds of things. But I thought he’s handled himself very well, and he definitely looks ready to play [in the regular season].”
Playing in a fourth-line role, it’s not always going to be all about the skill. It’s certainly a welcomed development to see the pucks going in the net via the fourth line. Yet, they’re going to be deployed in plenty of checking situations. We know Cotter is a capable checking forward, and Glendening is a well-regarded defensive forward. So, what’s the view of Gritsyuk away from the puck?
“Great. I mean, if there’s something that doesn’t go right, he’s talking to me about it, and we’re figuring it out as a line,” Cotter explained. “[Glendening], obviously, makes it really easy [for us]. Any mistake either of us have is pretty much always cleaned up by just his ability to always be in the right spot structurally. So, when you have a guy that’s that structurally sound and a guy that’s as skilled and confident as [Gritsyuk], it’s a pretty good mesh.”
Glendening is working with the Devils on a professional tryout contract. However, at this point, it would be shocking if he doesn’t receive a contract as he appears to be the Devils’ full-time fourth line center moving forward, ripping a roster spot away from the likes of Juho Lammikko and prospect Shane Lachance.
Asked Keefe how comfortable he is with Glendening as the Devils’ 4C.
“I feel good about it, he brings lots of value,” Keefe said. “I think in terms of the things that he brings, face-off utility, penalty killing, leadership and experience, all that sort of stuff. So I’ve liked his camp. Obviously, we’ve got other guys here that have been competing with him, but at this point, I’ve been happy with the camp and what he’s shown our group and what he’s brought in the locker room and off the ice.”
It’s certainly a different look on the fourth line than last season. Cotter remains, but we saw the skill he can bring. And that’s not to belittle the value that Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian previously provided. However, Gritsyuk brings an offensive element the Devils didn’t have in their depth last season, and is showing promise in the other two zones. Glendening’s veteran presence rounds out the new-look line, which can create favorable matchups for the Devils.
Asked if the fourth lines mix of skill and checking ability felt like a unique opportunity for the Devils, and the answer was a resounding yes.
“I do [feel it’s a unique opportunity],” Keefe started. “Obviously, we’re trying to up our skill set, or we tried this off season to up our skill set in our bottom six. Gritsyuk’s addition helps with that. Cotter found ways to produce from the fourth line last season with the way that he played and his skill set. Then you add another guy like Gritsyuk that, again, I liked his game. In the first period, especially, I thought Gritsyuk was really good. He’s on the puck. He created some turnovers. He had some shots himself. We talked about the play on the goal. So yeah, it gives us some, some good options. Those guys are going to get a lot of really good matchups, favorable matchups, with the type of speed and skill set they have to score in different ways.”
“Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think it’s important for our team too,” Cotter said. “[Gritsyuk] is obviously a guy that potentially could be on our first power play. I’m working to try and get to the second power play and pinch my way into penalty killing. So you have guys that have pretty good skill and could also do the fourth line muck grind, all types of things, as a lot of our guys can do. So, I think just having that ability to do both up and down throughout the lineup is really special.”
