Detroit Red Wings vs. New Jersey Devils Prediction, Preview, and Odds

Detroit finished 7th in the Atlantic division last season at 35-37-10 with 80 points. Detroit's biggest addition during the off season was Alex DeBrincat. The addition of DeBrincat and others has made Detroit a much better team at the offensive end of the ice. Detroit has three former Michigan Wolverines down the middle including Dylan Larkin, Andrew Copp and J.T. Compher. DeBrincat brings two seasons of 40+ goals to the Red Wings. 

On the blue line, Detroit could be described as just average last season but have added Jeff Petry, Shayne Gostisbehere and Justin Holl to their back end. Moritz Seider had an off-season after winning the 2022 Rookie of the Year but is expected to bounce back this season. In goal, Villie Husso is Detroit's No. 1. Backing up Husso will be the 35-year-old veteran James Reimer, who played the last two seasons for San Jose.

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The New Jersey Devils were one of the surprise teams of the 2022-23 finishing second in the Metropolitan division at 52-22-8 with 112 points. New Jersey was able to sign Timo Meier while adding Tyler Toffoli, which will help make the Devils an exciting team to watch. Jack Hughes became a superstar in the league last season with 99 points while Jesper Bratt and Nico Hischier also became household names for NHL hockey fans. New Jersey averaged the fifth most goals per game at 3.52.

The blue line for New Jersey lost two important players in Ryan Graves and Damon Severson, but the Devils were one of the top 10 defenses last season and should fill in the holes easily. New Jersey allowed an average of 2.71 goals per game last season and owned the fourth best penalty killing unit in the league at 82.6%  Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid will share duties between the pipes this season for New Jersey. Schmid made a name for himself during the postseason with a 2.35 goals against average and .921 save percentage in eight games, while Vanecek was injured.

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Insiders Status:

Both Detroit and New Jersey are top heavy on offense and not as strong on defense as the Devils scored the fifth most goals per game this past season. With Timo Meier, Jack Hughes and Tyler Toffoli leading the offensive charge, the Devils will be hard to stop on any given night including Thursday's opening night. Detroit's Ville Husso had a subpar season last year and will face an onslaught by New Jersey’s attackers.