Arthur Staple isn’t backing off his preseason Stanley Cup Final pick. He sees the New Jersey Devils meeting the Edmonton Oilers in the final round of the postseason.
“I had Devils spoilers in the Stanley Cup final when I threw mine up on Twitter,” Staple told Devils Rink Report with James Nichols, and 12 games into the season, New Jersey is making the bold call look prescient. “I really felt like when I looked at the teams in the East, especially in the Metro… there was a lot of room at the top of that division for a team like New Jersey to put up some serious points.”
The key? “Health, I think, was the main factor in their fall off last year. They’ve got it for the most now,” Staple continued.
With the core intact, Jack Hughes has ascended into the “MVP race through the first month… on pace for over 50 goals.” He’s no longer just an “elite playmaker,” Staple said, but an “elite goalscorer” whose connection with Jesper Bratt forms “one of the best duos in the league” among linemates.
Sheldon Keefe’s forward deployment has been crucial, too. The Timo Meier-Nico Hischier-Dawson Mercer line, Staple noted, has been “scoring big goals” while remaining “heavy to play against.” It’s a rare second unit with “that kind of combination of skill and edge,” and Keefe’s “masterstroke” in pairing them balances the lineup perfectly after the Hughes-Bratt flair.
The Devils had to get away from that line amid key injuries, including Connor Brown. However, it shouldn’t be a surprise to see that trio back together when everyone is healthy.
Depth concerns, due to injury, such as Cody Glass’, makes for an inconsistent fourth line. Those are real concerns, but “far off problems… unless we start seeing a couple, you know, three, four losses in a row, which I don’t think we’re going to see just yet.”
Once Glass and Ondrej Palat return, “you can kind of have some more options there,” including dropping Palat to a fourth line that could suddenly become “effective.” Brown has already proven “an incredible addition,” and Arseny Gritsyuk is “only getting better and getting more confident.”
The Devils got a monster start out of Jacob Markstrom on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. Perhaps, the contract situation was weighing on him. But now, the dotted line is signed, and he’s seemingly feeling better.
Yet, previously, the Devils were winning despite Markstrom’s services. Plus, some middling metrics on the power play revealed the Devils as a strong team with even more room to grow.
“To be able to win the games they’ve won without a .940 save percentage or without a 40% power play… They are not average, but some of their some of their metrics are kind of middle of the pack, and I think that’s an excellent sign when you’re winning games when they’re not excelling in any specific area,” Staple explained.
“It just means the team is good, and they know that they’re good, and they know they can. They can turn it on during the power play, they can turn it on the penalty kill. They can get big saves from at least Jake Allen so far, and you hope Jacob Markstrom. You can have big nights from some of your [defense], you can have big nights from your top six. You can get contributions from the third line. These are all really good situations to be in to set up a long season. And there’s going to be ups and downs. There’s going to be subtractions and additions. That’s what good teams do.”
Staple, who covered the Islanders’ 2014-15 breakout, hears echoes of that transformation. He recalled asking Kyle Okposo how a struggling group flipped the switch.
Staple recounted Okposo’s words, “We’ve all been on good teams… you just look around and there’s confidence in the room.” That’s the vibe in New Jersey now. “I think the Devils are there right now,” Staple said, “and that’s going to carry them a long way this year.”
The Metro is wide open, the East is winnable, and Arthur Staple’s prediction is aging like fine wine. “This team is legit.”
