The New Jersey Devils did very little to upgrade the defense this offseason. It is just the first week of July, but as of right now the Devils lost John Moore and added Eric Gryba and John Ramage. That’s literally it. Doesn’t matter what you think of Moore, he’s a much better NHL defenseman than Gryba.
Then, it became clear the Devils would be out on the three big names in free agency next season. First, Oliver Ekman-Larsson re-signed with the Arizona Coyotes. Then, Drew Doughty re-upped with the Los Angeles Kings. Now, it looks like Erik Karlsson is either on his way to the Tampa Bay Lightning or possible the Dallas Stars.