Devils News
Devils Making Many Lineup Changes vs. Red Wings; What We Know
Head coach Sheldon Keefe explained the New Jersey Devils will look quite different in Game No. 82 vs. the Detroit Red Wings.
NEWARK—In addition to the big news on the back-end, the New Jersey Devils are making an upheaval of changes to their lineup in Game No. 82.
READ MORE: Devils Dougie Hamilton to Make Expedited Return from Injury, Who He’ll Pair With
Dougie Hamilton’s return is certainly a welcomed surprise. He’s ahead of his six-to-eight week timetable that he was initially, slotting in against the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night.
Yet, whereas Hamilton goes in, many are coming out.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe explained all of Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Stefan Noesen, Timo Meier, Ondrej Palat (injury), Luke Hughes, Brett Pesce, Johnathan Kovacevic & Jacob Markstrom won’t dress for the final game of the regular season. Paul Cotter is serving the final game of his suspension, so he won’t be in the lineup, either.
In addition to Hamilton, who will pair with Brenden Dillon, here’s what we do know.
Nico Daws will start in goal, and Jake Allen will back him up by default. The Devils’ goaltender was recalled from the Utica Comets, alongside Mike Hardman, earlier today.
Dawson Mercer’s Iron Man streak will continue, skating into Game No. 328 of his career, playing in all 82 in each of the first four seasons of his career.
It sounds like Erik Haula, Tomas Tatar, Nolan Foote, Cody Glass, Marc McLoughlin, Nathan Bastian will all remain in the lineup at forward.
On the backend, Brian Dumoulin, Simon Nemec, and Seamus Casey are all likely.
The plethora of healthy scratches could also spell the returns for Dennis Cholowski, Justin Dowling, Curtis Lazar, Kurtis MacDermid, and Daniel Sprong.
As for what the line combinations might look like, we’ll have to wait for warmups. However, it’s certainly a different-looking Devils squad on Wednesday night, as Keefe rests his top players ahead of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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