What to watch for in the New Jersey Devils preseason openers

The Devils open their exhibition schedule with a pair of games on Monday night. Let's dig into some players, and storylines, worth following.

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The New Jersey Devils open their preseason schedule with a pair of games tonight – one in New Jersey and one in Montreal.

Let’s take a closer look at lineups and some things to watch – or follow from afar – in each contest.

Philadelphia at New Jersey

• We didn’t get rushes this morning but, based on rosters, I assume Holtz will remain with Meier and Hischier and be given a chance to skate with them in a real game setting. That would be extremely valuable experience as they’d likely see plenty of Sean Couturier. He is a very good two-way pivot and a strong play driver who will be taking this game seriously after missing so much time with injury. It’ll be good to get reps going up against that level of competition.

• I like that Holtz will skate on the top power play and be used as a trigger man. I see him taking that role on the 2nd unit if he can play his way onto the team.

• I’m interested to see how Josh Filmon looks against pro hockey players. One of the knocks on him at the draft is that he was extremely lean and has a long way to go physically before handling himself against grown men. He is still early in his development path but this’ll be a good measuring stick to see just how far he has come – and how far he still has to go.

• Kevin Bahl might not play on the top pairing – the Devils may opt to spread he and Hamilton out for balance purposes – but he is certainly LD1 on the roster the Devils are icing. Philadelphia is dressing a really good top-6 for a preseason opener so Bahl will spend plenty of time against legitimately solid NHL players; at even-strength and on the PK. Let’s see how he handles it.

New Jersey at Montreal