New Jersey Devils Make Tweak to Fourth Line Amid Struggles

The New Jersey Devils are trying something somewhat new with their fourth line. After a few days off, the Devils called upon reinforcements from their American Hockey League affiliate, the Utica Comets. Amid struggling to roll four lines as he lost faith in his depth, Sheldon Keefe rolled out a newish look on Wednesday afternoon.

Devils Wednesday Workflow

Forwards

Ondrej Palat – Jack Hughes – Jesper Bratt

Timo Meier – Nico Hischier – Stefan Noesen

Paul Cotter – Erik Haula – Dawson Mercer

Nolan Foote/Shane Bowers – Justin Dowling – Tomas Tatar

Defensemen

Brenden Dillon – Dougie Hamilton

Jonas Siegenthaler – Johnathan Kovacevic

Luke Hughes – Brett Pesce

Nick DeSimone – Kurtis MacDermid

Not much throughout the Devils lineup was broken. Therefore, it wasn’t necessary to make too much of a change.

The only thing that was not sustainable was Keefe deploying Kurtis MacDermid and Justin Dowling for the few minutes per night he was.

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

Dowling remains down the middle on the fourth line. He’s now between Nolan Foote or Shane Bowers and Tomas Tatar, who has been flipped to the right side.

Bowers gives the fourth line a lot more speed and defensive reliability than MacDermid. Foote—who is off to a strong start with the Comets—isn’t as good a skater as Bowers. However, he can be physical and win puck battles, while bringing a touch of offense.

Even if he couldn’t admit the previous usage, or lack of, was hindering the fourth line, Keefe’s swift change as soon as reinforcements arrived indicates he felt it was time for a change.

The hope is that now Keefe will be able to rely on the fourth line for a few more minutes a night in order to give his top-nine a bit of a break for more meaningful shifts.

The Devils host the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday at the Prudential Center. We’ll get a better idea of whether Foote or Bowers occupy the left side of Dowling in short order.

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