Devils Current Fourth Line Is Not Sustainable; What Can They Do?

NEWARK — On Sunday night, the New Jersey Devils were shutout by the San Jose Sharks and ex-goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood on home ice. No one should be ringing the alarm yet as New Jersey just won three straight games and have collected points in six of their last eight games. However, there is one trend that can continue to hamper the Devils moving forward. The current makeup of their fourth line is not sustainable.

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Due to recent injuries, the Devils have been forced to work with a bit of a makeshift anchor line. Tomas Tatar, Justin Dowling, and Kurtis MacDermid is the group of forwards head coach Sheldon Keefe has deployed over the last four games.

Tatar aside, Dowling and MacDermid have been tasked with replacing the efforts of injured forwards Curtis Lazar and Nathan Bastian. Certainly, those two players don’t bring the same set of skills as the injured Devils forwards, and it’s hurting their depth.

On Sunday night against the Sharks, the fourth line saw the lowest minutes in total and individually. That’s not uncommon. However, there was about three and a half minutes time on ice (TOI) between Erik Haula and Tatar who had the third least minutes on Sunday, which is…a lot.

MacDermid skated in just 5:45, and hasn’t skated more than 8:16 in any of the last four contests.

The same can be said for Dowling, who has only eclipsed 10 minutes once by four seconds and has averaged just 7:12 TOI in that span. Even Tatar’s ice time—who averages 15:09 TOI in his career—is down to about eight minutes a night in the last three games.

Seeing as Lazar and Bastian average closer to 12 minutes a night in their career, the few minutes the current fourth line is putting up is having a ripple effect.

Following the 1-0 loss on Sunday, Keefe explained the Devils skated with tired legs.

“To me, it looked like we didn’t have it. It looked like a lot of our top guys, especially, we’re out of gas here as they really carried the load for us,” Keefe explained. “And we couldn’t get, whether it’s special teams that come through for us and get a goal or a goal from the third or fourth line, we couldn’t get that tonight.”

It’s not uncommon to see a defenseman at the top of the average time on ice leaderboard per game. However, the Devils heavily relied on Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier on Sunday who skated 24:05 and 23:27 respectively, the first and second-most time on ice for New Jersey. And although the Devils superstars are exactly that, superstars, they’re not robots who don’t tire out.

In fact, the Devils relied so heavily on their top six that every single forward skated for more time than their career average when hosting San Jose. Playing their second game in as many nights and their fourth game in seven days, it’s certainly not ideal for Keefe to be unable to evenly distribute time on ice throughout the lineup.

So what can the Devils do?

The Devils are really limited to just a few options. They’ll have to keep in mind Bastian will be back at some point. Lazar’s status is a little less clear, but the belief is he’ll be an option in the spring.

First, they can hope a useful player becomes available on the waiver wire. That way, all they’re sacrificing is dollars in return for services.

Second, the Devils can reach back down into the depth chart. Dowling is a fine player, but there are more viable options such as Max Willman or Shane Bowers, who showed serviceable fourth line ability.

Bowers will need to prove he can be more than the average nine and a half minute player he was in eight games last season. However, the 25-year-old’s skating ability alone is enough to take some pressure off the players above him. Ice time aside, Bowers small sample has indicated he can be a capable fourth line checking forward.

In the 2021-22 season, Willman skated in 42 games with the Philadelphia Flyers, averaging 11:46 of TOI. He hasn’t met that average with the Devils, but he has played far fewer games.

Willman is the kind of pesky fourth liner who has the motor enough to bother the opposition, and should be an upgrade over MacDermid on a regular basis.

Brian Halonen is a candidate as a MacDermid replacement, too.

Perhaps Nolan Foote is an option, too, if the Devils want to develop him as a fourth liner.

Otherwise, the Devils are looking down the aisle for a trade partner. Perhaps there is a team out there who has a spare depth forward on an expiring contract that can take a seat when Lazar and/or Bastian return to health.

In short, the Devils’ forward depth is certainly lacking with the injuries to Lazar and Bastian. They’ll need a forward or two who can be trusted to take on a few more minutes a night to avoid burning out their top forwards.

Whatever it takes, it’s important that general manager Tom Fitzgerald addresses it sooner than later, otherwise the Devils’ top-12 can burn out quickly which will only lead to the Devils’ demise.

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