Ray Shero asked that Devils fans look at his actions as general manager and recognize the direction he is trying to lead the team. And Shero is correct that the evidence is there, and at the very least he isn’t sitting on his hands.
The active offseason continued when he was able to pry salary-cap casualty Marcus Johansson from the Capitals on Sunday in exchange for second- and third-round picks. They were two picks acquired by Shero in previous trades, and Johansson, the 26-year-old Swedish winger, will fit right into their top six with a $4.853 million salary-cap hit for the next two seasons.
This is the latest move toward vastly improving their talent, including taking Nico Hischier with the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL draft, adding former Rangers center Brian Boyle on a two-year, $5.1 million deal, plus last season’s acquisition of Taylor Hall in a one-for-one trade with the Oilers in exchange for Adam Larsson.
Yes, Shero was gunning for the top free agent on the market in defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. And yes, Shero did lose out on Shattenkirk, who took less money and a shorter term to sign with his favorite team from childhood, the Rangers, who happen to play just across the Hudson River with a proximity that will bother Shero throughout the duration of the four-year, $26.6 million deal.
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But now Shero has that extra cap space, along with a handful of assets still at his disposal. And Shero has every intention on continuing to be aggressive in trying to make his club better next season.
“By winning the [draft] lottery and taking a kid like Nico, a year ago Taylor Hall, now Marcus Johansson, Brian Boyle, we’ve wanted fans to understand the vision of what we’re doing here,” Shero told reporters on a conference call Sunday night. “It’s an identity we’re trying to get to. What we’ve done last year, last week, it’s evidence of what we’re trying to do.”
Shero had a lot of holes to fill after five straight seasons without making the playoffs. But especially after he won the draft lottery, he knew this summer was going to be a turning point, and he was all business while buying out the contracts of Mike Cammalleri and Devante Smith-Pelly.
There is one situation that has put him in a difficult spot, and that’s dealing with the possibility of Ilya Kovalchuk coming back to the NHL. If the 34-year-old Russian wants to return, the Devils own his rights until July 1, 2018. Kovalchuk, who has been playing in the KHL for the past four years, would have a short list of teams he would accept a trade to — the Rangers likely on that list — so it would be up to Shero to get the best return he could for the presumptive top-six winger. If Kovalchuk decided to stay in the KHL for one more season, then Shero would get nothing in return.
As for where he stood on the matter, Shero was hoping to gain any insight into Kovalchuk’s thinking.
“If you find out,” he said, “let me know.”
The fact is that Shero is going to continue to try to make moves, regardless of possibly having Kovalchuk as a trade chip. There is now more talent up front, but still some space for young players such as Pavel Zacha and Joe Blandisi to show they’re ready. There is a hope that Cory Schneider can bounce back from a down year in nets, and that Shero can upgrade the defense from their current crop in which John Moore, the mercurial former Ranger, is in the top four.
“It sucks to be below average on forwards and defense,” Shero said, “but we’re getting there.”
Shero is pushing the Devils forward, and likely won’t stop. At the very least, they’re quite a bit further along to being a playoff team than they were a month ago.