The New Jersey Devils finished with 81 points last year. Now, to give you an-Over. Just to give you a sense. Was that not it? Well, I am going that direction. Give you a sense of how outrageous that is and how that's never happening again, at least not in this era. They're over under. I'm going to give it to you right now. Can you guess?

People are really high on them.

It's according to Bet MGM.

And the books tend to go by that. I'm going to go way higher, 97.5..

That's pretty high, right?

No, it's going to be like 110.5..

Well, it's actually in the middle, 101.5. Man, oh, man, oh, man. That's a big swing, though, for the betting markets. Big swing, and it shows you how much went wrong for this team. Dougie Hamilton, shitty goaltending, Jack Hughes down like this, and a Lindy rough that maybe they had a point with fire Lindy. Eventually, it happened just a season later.

The thing I'll never forgive Devil's Hands for is they did the sorry Lindy, and then when they wanted them fired again, they should have gone, We were right.

Or never mind. They should have. Now, this is a great team with a coach who we're quite familiar with and who is known for having high-flying hockey. Let's talk about Sheldon Keef first and his effect on this roster.

Oh, man. I've been talking about this since the moment the Devils hired him. Listen, it was his time to go with the Leifs. I don't think it's that he didn't get it. I think it's that his message was falling flat, and the Leifs simply wouldn't do what he was telling them to do. He wanted them to score playoff-style goals and drive the net. They simply wouldn't do it. And now he gets to coach Andre Palotte. What a luxury. I love Palotte. And isn't it crazy that that's the first name I went to, right? Andre Palotte? Yeah, but who's been... The list of guys who have been better in terms of what I just described in the playoffs over Palat's career is very short. It's very short. Then you add to that Jack Hughes, Nico Heescher. Oh, my God, Timo Meyer. He gets to coach Timo Meyer. The style that Keef coaches, whether you think it is a good style or not, or whether you think it works in the playoffs or not, it's like he was handcrafted to coach the Devils. I think he's a really good pickup for them, and they're going to score five 500,000 goals.

Chesa, what are your thoughts?

Sorry, I just took a sip of water. Oh, sorry. My bad.

That's more of a gulp.

With Sheldon Keef? Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it's what Sheldon Keef has done in his tenure as head coach of the Toronto Maple East is be a very successful regular season head coach. And the devil's team from last year isn't at all the team from this year. Not at all. It's a completely different... They didn't have a single 30 goal score on their team last year.

Which is outrageous.

And how about their You're a decore. So the decore to me is the craziest part. So you got, I mean, this is according to Daily Face-off from a few days ago when I wrote my notes. But Jonas Siegenthaler. All right. He was on the Devils last year. Then you got Dougie Hamilton. Well, okay. He was on the Devils for a second, then he got hurt. So he wasn't really on the Devils last year. Brandon Dylan. Well, there's a new guy. Okay. Brett Pesci. Well, there's a new guy. Okay. Kovalevich, who they just got. Okay. Well, he's a new guy. Okay. From the Habs. And Simon Nemich. Well, he played a handful of games last year, so he was on the Devils a little bit.

Kovasevitch did play 62 games last year for the Devils.

I thought they acquired him this offseason.

I thought they did, too. No, I'm looking at the stats from last year, 62 games.

And I got the wrong player. But yes, anyway. No, Montreal-Canadiens. Last year, Kovalec, 62 games.

So they added him to this step?

Yeah. Oh, my God. I was like, Am I going crazy? Yeah. Okay. So it's like, sometimes we go, Oh, they You really rebuilt the...

No, this is unrecognizable from the one they ice last year. So with a new coach, there might be an adjustment period. They might not come out of the gate so good. But I really believe that's as good a decore as Keef has ever had in his NHL tenure. Even with Matthews and Marner and Nylander, that's as good a forward group as Keef has ever had. And how about maybe we're burying the lead? They couldn't stop a beach ball, and then they got Jake Allen, and he looked like George Vesna himself compared to what the Devils had. And now he's their backup because they got Jake Markstrom. Dude, this team is stacked.

They almost got both Allen and Markstrom at the deadline last year.

It's as crazy a single-season rebuild as we have seen a team pull off in a decade. It's really, really good.

Jesse, what do you think being able to stop a puck this year does the doubles.

Yeah, I think that's been their Achilles heel the last couple of seasons. They had to go to Kira Smith in the playoffs there, and they beat the Rangers. But in the second round, it turns into a pumpkin, and they lose there. Last year, they couldn't figure it out. That's the key to this whole thing is you bring in a number one starter, and that's what you've been asking for. Even at the end there, where it was Jake Allen playing decent hockey for them, they looked better. It was just getting some goal tending. That's why I think they're going to be a very good team. When you ask me about the over-unders, I got them at 110 because the Edminton Oilers right now are the favorites to win the President's Trophy, and their over-unders 108. I think the doubles are going to win the President's Trophy this year. I think they're easily the team that It means like they have all of the complete parts to make a good run at a good long regular season title. Like I mentioned, Sheldon Keef is very good at keeping a team motivated throughout the regular season. I think they're going to be right there, up there with the top of the league standings.

One of the guys that I think is due for a comeback year, and it's hilarious that I say comeback here because he still had 52 points in 69 games, is Timo Meyer. He could not score under Lindy Ruff, but as soon as Travis Green took over, he took off. And imagine a full season, full health, and full Jack Hughes.

This, again, go to the net. Go to the net, drive the net, score playoff style goals. The least would not do it. That's Timo Meyer. That's what he does. And It seems like the easiest thing in the world. Put Timo in front of the net, let him wreck shop. Oh, well, how are we going to get him the buck? Oh, I don't know. Dougie Hamilton, Jack Hughes, Luke Hughes when he's healthy, Nemich, and friggin. You go through the list. It's a diabolical team.

I'll just be frank. Dawson Mercer just signed a contract, too, for a pretty reasonable cap hit, about $4 million. Jesse, what do you expect out of a guy like that?

You expect him to take a step? Every year, it seems like on the back end, they get a new young name that we got excited about, right? And Dawson Mercer is just the next one in that long line, and he's going to get better with each season. And he's developed into a nice little goal score, 20 goals last year. So you expect him to improve on that.

Yeah. Luke Hughes, obviously, is going to be missing at camp right now because he's injured. But him coming back and being a part of this, too, is awesome. You mentioned we did that whole thing on the defense. I was like, We're missing someone.Oh, yeah, Luke Hughes.Oh.

Yeah, Luke Hughes. Well, and just expanding on Jesse's point, the Devils actually have a player this October that they didn't have last October. And that's Dawson Mercer. He played every game. I only know this because I had him in fantasy. Game one, nothing. Game two, nothing. Game three, nothing. Game four, nothing. Game five, nothing. Game six, nothing. Game seven, nothing. Game eight, nothing. Game nine, nothing. Game 10, nothing. Game 11, first goal of the season. And then he actually had three goals in his next four games. But we're talking the first month of the season. And this is when Jack Hughes was going off, and then he got hurt. On top of having those injuries, they needed players to step up last year, and then nobody did. So what was Mercer's point total last year?

He ended up with 33 points.

In how many games? Eighty-two. So really, it's 33 in 72 because he was that bad the first 10 games. He couldn't score.

And if you look at the '23 season where he exploded onto the scene, it was just second full season in the NHL. It was 27 goals, 29. It says 56 points. So you see a big drop off from year 20 season to 21. You shouldn't expect that. You shouldn't expect those point goals to go up a whole bunch. And I think a large start of that, that slow start to the season last year because he's 21. And this year now, he's 22. And Lindy. And Lindy. And the team wasn't cooking, and there wasn't anything there for the devil. So you expect him to be back up to where he was in 22, 23. There's an extra 10 goals out of a center in your lineup.

If you don't know who to pick in fantasy, just pick a devil.

Yeah, but good point. What? Forward? Just by virtue of the fact that they'll be a part of a really good team.

Forward, defender, goal tender, yes.

Yeah, absolutely. Get them. So as I I told you, the New Jersey Devils. They finished seventh in the division last year, I believe, close to last in the conference. And of course, it got them a nice little first-round draft pick. But 101.5 is the over under. Jesse, Steve, are you going over? And where do you have them in the division?

I'm going over, which is going to make my next thing make no sense. Third. The reason I have them third is they didn't even make the playoffs last year. And I'm trying to learn my lesson. It's nothing against the Devils. It's a team won't make the playoffs. They'll add a few guys, and we go, now they're going to take off. And it's really difficult to make up. What are they making up? 30 points in the standing?

Something like that? That's what the suggestion. Well, 20, 30 points. That's a lot.

It's just a lot. So over. I think they're crazy. Chesie with the President's trophy thing, he's probably not even wrong. I'm going to say third because I've been smacked around too many times.

Chesie, what are your thoughts?

I think the Devils win the division. Steve, the jump I think I mentioned this in the Black Hawks preview. They went from 63 points to 112. This is a team that's prone to giant swings in point totals because of the young talent they have that just seems to surprise everybody. So I'm going to go first place in the division, President's Trophy, and over on the point of. I'm going to call-Sorry.

And it's what the Leaps deserve.

I'm going to call over on this as well. I think they're second in the division. The one thing for me, and I know that the regular season doesn't matter as as much to the Rangers as it might to the Devils, because the Devils really need to get themselves back in. Until you have unseated the King, I can't take the King out of the King's pot. Does that make sense?

With the Rangers, they won it last year. They know it means nothing. Yes. Is how I look at it. So somebody else is going to take that because they're determined to do it.

Yes, agreed. And you know what? I think that's a good pick. I'm still putting them second. And I think that they can't miss Hockey this year is going to be Devils Rangers. That is going to be a spectacular regular hockey. That is your New Jersey Devils season preview.