After making the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2018 as a surprise team, the New Jersey Devils took a major step back in 2019 as they were near the bottom of the standings. With significant positive changes to the roster, the Devils are primed to make a return to the playoffs in 2020.

With their lowly finish in 2019, they were fortunate enough to win the 2019 Draft Lottery and selected forward Jack Hughes in the 2019 Entry Draft, who is expected to make a large scoring impact from day one in October. In addition, Taylor Hall, the 2018 Hart Trophy winner, missed 49 games with injury in 2019, is expected to be fully recovered for the upcoming season and will provide the needed scoring that was sorely lacking this past season.

Devils GM Ray Shero did not act passively as he did in the summer of 2018, as he acquired Nashville Predators defenseman PK Subban for almost nothing. Subban took a major step back in 2019 but is expected to play a major role on the Devils' blueline alongside Will Butcher and Damon Severson, where Subban will be expected to lead the power play from the back end. Shero also signed power forward Wayne Simmonds to a low risk one year deal worth $5 million. Simmonds will add additional scoring and toughness to the Devils lineup this year.

Additionally, the Devils had atrocious goaltending for much of last year from Cory Schneider, but his improvement in the 2nd half of the season gives fans promise that he will rebound in 2020 to help the Devils in the playoff race. Schneider was uncharacteristically bad at the beginning of 2019, and it is unreasonable to think that he will repeat the same to start the season.

While Hughes and Hall will be instrumental cogs in the success or lack thereof for New Jersey in 2020, scoring from forwards Kyle Palmieri (still in his prime), Nico Hischier, and Blake Coleman will go a long way. Hischier, the 1st overall pick in 2017 and still just 20 years old, is expected to take another step forward offensively since he will not be defended as tightly this year as opposed to last when the Devils' scoring depth was lacking. Questions remain about Miles Wood, who scored just 10 goals all of last year compared to 19 in 2018, as well as the 34-year-old Travis Zajac, who may regress with age.

The Devils sit with nearly $21 million in cap space with four restricted free agents left to sign in Butcher, Mirco Mueller, Connor Carrick, and Pavel Zacha, but only Butcher will get a significant raise, meaning the Devils will still have cap space. With the remaining space, Shero could pursue one of the remaining unsigned unrestricted free agents such as forwards Ryan Dzingel or Michael Ferland to boost the scoring depth, or defenseman Jake Gardiner to bolster the defense. Making a move for a remaining free agent would put the Devils over the top in a tough Metropolitan Division.

While the Devils' roster is not set in stone completely, the right moves have been made and there are signs pointing to a return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2020 for the red and black.