NJ Devils: Five Questions that Must be Answered by the End of Training Camp

Though this off-season wasn't headlined by a top-five super-star bolting from the Garden State to play back in the KHL or a team Captain heading home to play for his childhood team, the New Jersey Devils still managed to make some significant changes this summer. GM Lou Lamoriello made long-term commitments to both goaltender Cory Schneider (7years/ $42MM) and veteran defenseman Andy Greene (5 years/ $25MM), Mike Cammaleri and Martin Havlat were brought into the center-fold as free-agents to boost the teams offensive woes, and future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur is hopefully fading into retirement.

Still, with all that change, comes questions surrounding the team as they gear up for training camp and the start of the 2014-15 campaign. Here are five questions that must be answered before puck drops on October.

1. What to do with the remaining aging and inconsistent veterans?

Even with the departure of a bought-out Anton Volchenkov, there are still a number of questionable veterans on the Devils depth chart who didn't live up to expectations last season. Most notable - team captain Bryce Salvador, who missed a bunch of time with a broken foot, but when he was on the ice he was highly ineffective. Michael Ryder - the three time 30+ goal scorer, was highly inconsistent, sometimes going over a month without scoring a goal. Dainus Zubrus, who has had plenty of health issues of his own looks as if his talent level has diminished to that of a bottom six forward. Pete DeBoer  must step up and put the team first by sitting his veterans if they remain inconsistent.

2. How much can the Devils rely on Jaromir Jagr this season?

Without question it looked as if Jaromir Jagr took a dip in the fountain of youth before each game last season. He played in over 19 minutes per game last season, his highest in the NHL since returning from Omsk Avangard of the KHL in 2011. Can the Devils expect him to play that much again this season? Jagr will turn 43 in February, making him the oldest player currently playing in the NHL. Despite being in tip-top shape, can his body handle the same workload again?

3. How many games will Cory start?

After signing his off-season extension, Cory Schneider is finally the 'guy' in New Jersey. Having split time with Roberto Luongo and Martin Brodeur his whole career, he now has nobody to fight for spots. So how many spots should Cory get? He started a career-high 43 last season with New Jersey. Can Pete DeBoer trust him enough to give him 70 starts?



4. Are their young D-Men ready to man the blue-line?

Backed by popular belief, the Devils are known to currently own one of the best young crops of defenseman in the NHL. Jon Merrill, Eric Gelinas, and Adam Larsson have displayed star qualities during different parts of their stints up in New Jersey. Are all three of them ready to be every-day defenseman? Can Larsson bounce back from a long stretch of games down in Albany after displaying poor play at the start of last season? Will Gelinas and the Devils finally get a deal done, and if so, can he eliminate his mental errors that started to cost him playing time?

5. 14?

The Devils currently have 14 rostered forwards, and that's without counting Ryan Carter and Scott Gomez - two free-agents with rumored mutual interests of re-kindling with their former team. So what can Lou do with this excess of forwards? It seem's as if the only thing they can do is trade some of them away, but time is certainly ticking. With a few short weeks remaining between now and the start of the season it's apparent that they only have a limited time to sort this whole mess out or else Pete DeBoer will have a much bigger job on his hands than expected.

Time will certainly tell.