New Jersey Devils team preview: Depth chart, line combinations and more for 2024/25 NHL season

The New Jersey Devils failed to make the playoffs last season, and in the offseason, the Devils made one of the biggest moves by acquiring star goalie Jacob Markstrom. The Devils are one of the betting favorites to win the Stanley Cup.

While the addition of Markstrom was a big move, the hope for New Jersey is that the roster remains healthy, as key players such as Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton dealt with key injuries last season.

In the offseason, New Jersey added Markstrom, Brett Pesce, Stefan Noesen, Brendon Dillon, Tomas Tatar and Paul Cotter. However, the Devils did see John Marino, Alex Holtz, Akira Schmid, Kevin Bahl, Kaapo Kahkonen, Tomas Nosek, and Brendan Smith leave.

The Devils enter the season tied with the third-best odds of winning the Stanley Cup at +1300, which implies a 7.1% chance. New Jersey is given odds of -350 to make the playoffs, which implies a 77.8% chance of playing playoff hockey.

New Jersey Devils line combinations

Although the Devils' roster has not been confirmed, here is what their lines could look like.

• Timo Meier - Jack Hughes - Jesper Bratt
• Tomas Tatar - Nico Hischier - Dawson Mercer
• Ondrej Palat - Erik Haula - Stefan Noesen
• Paul Cotter - Curtis Lazar - Nathan Bastian
• Kurtis MacDermid

The forward group looks to be one of the top in the NHL and enforcer Kurtis MacDermid will be the team's healthy scratch but still should play a fair amount.

“Any time we played the harder, heavier teams post-trade, they were different games than before the trade,” GM Tom Fitzgerald said over the summer about re-signing MacDermid, via The Athletic. “The value he brought. He’s a very good leader. He leads by example.

"And our players loved him and felt it was a must to bring him back. I couldn’t agree with them more.”

Defenseman

• Jonas Siegenthaler - Dougie Hamilton
• Brenden Dillon - Johnathan Kovacevic
• Seamus Casey - Simon Nemec
• Nick DeSimone

The Devils' blue line will look much different once Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce get healthy and return to the lineup.

Goalies

• Jacob Markstrom
• Jake Allen

The Devils went from having one of the worst goalie tandems in the league last season to now having one of the best with Markstrom and Allen.

Devils October schedule

Here is the New Jersey Devils' schedule for the first month of the season, which includes two games in Prague, Czech Republic.

• @ Buffalo, Oct. 4 (in Prague)
• vs Buffalo, Oct. 5 (in Prague)
• vs Toronto, Oct. 10
• @ Washington, Oct. 12
• vs Utah, Oct. 14
• @ Carolina, Oct. 15
• @ Ottawa, Oct. 17
• vs Washington, Oct. 19
• vs Tampa Bay, Oct. 22
• @ Detroit, Oct. 24
• vs New York Islanders, Oct. 25
• vs Anaheim, Oct. 27
• @ Vancouver, Oct. 30