Is Seamus Casey Better as a Forward?

The Devils have the opportunity to do something creative with one of their roster players, but should they?

I wrote yesterday about the New Jersey Devils' revolving door on the sixth-defenseman front, which includes Dennis Cholowski, Simon Nemec, and Seamus Casey. Casey was third on my list of whom they should play. I think his playstyle is more conducive to regular season hockey than playoff hockey at this point in his generally unrefined career, and while the point totals are nice, the defensive concerns are legitimate.

Pair that with the fact that the Devils’ right side on defense is locked up for the foreseeable future, with Dougie Hamilton presumably not going anywhere, Brett Pesce being locked up until 2029-30, and Johnathan Kovacevic receiving a five-year extension near the deadline, and there’s writing on the wall for Casey and/or Nemec to be moved in the off-season.

The one benefit that Casey has to his game is that his tools are actually pretty translatable to a positional shift, though. Whereas Nemec, even though I think he’ll firmly be the best of the bunch, is locked into his position, Casey has some flexibility. It’s certainly an unconventional thought process, but one I’ve held for quite some time and has been pushed around pretty quietly by some members of the Devils’ fanbase.

What specifically about his tools say “forward,” though? Let’s get into it:

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Skating

The first thing that jumps off the page is Casey’s skating. His top speed is fine to above average, but what stands out, in particular, is his explosiveness—he bursts to his top speed quite quickly—and his edgework, the latter of which is the most prominent aspect of his skating ability. His lateral movement is scarcely found in the NHL, particularly among defensemen.

That isn’t to say that no defensemen in the NHL can walk the blue line like Casey does — Quinn Hughes, Lane Hutson, Cale Makar, and even Luke Hughes are examples of players who can do similar feats — but the list pretty much stops there. Of course, this in and of itself is part of what makes Casey such an effective facilitator from the right-defense position, but it’s also reason to believe that his transition to forward would be smoother than it would be if he didn’t have that under his belt.

Hockey IQ

This is where I think Casey actually has the biggest argument for contributing more meaningfully as a forward than as a defenseman.

Outside of his skating, I think Casey’s vision is his best asset. He finds difficult plays to high-danger areas at a pretty high clip, particularly for a defenseman. His willingness to jump into the play only exacerbates this aptitude, allowing him to open up opportunities that otherwise were blocked simply by moving his body. While he does find these plays from the top of the zone somewhat regularly — his play to Timo Meier the other day is a superb example of that — he finds them with more frequency when he’s active below the circles. His cross-ice play is some of, if not the best in the Devils’ pipeline. It would serve him (and the team) well if he could use that tool more often.

Defensive Play

The worst part of Casey’s game is his defensive play, bar none. He’s nervous in the zone when he receives pressure from forecheckers and largely gets bullied off the puck by proxy of his size — only one other NHLer (Lane Hutson) is as small as Casey.

What Casey is good at defensively, though, is positioning. He takes away shooting and passing lanes well enough and his active stick is an asset in pushing play toward the outside. His puck retrievals are where his game lacks, and he could see a complete shift from liability to stalwart with the simple principle that he wouldn’t have to play puck retriever nearly as much if he were playing as a forward and not a defenseman. It completely transforms the outlook of his defensive game to, in my opinion, similarly to how Jack Hughes plays defense.

Shooting

Casey’s shot is threatening when he uses it in the right capacity — in the upper slot, through screens. He has a general lack of power generated into his shots, which is fine, but it doesn’t give him an advantage over other blueliners in that regard. He’d be more able to use his wrister in the capacities in which he succeeds the most if he made the switch to forward.

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In particular, I think Casey’s skills bode the best for a center more so than on the wings. His defensive positioning can be an advantage there more so than along the perimeter, and he has the acceleration, edgework, vision, and playmaking chops to be a playdriver and playmaker. If the goal is for the Devils to keep one of Nemec or Casey in the system — which it probably should be — the best route for both the player and the team is likely to convert Casey to forward. From what I understand, too, he’s made it clear that he’s willing to try it if it means more meaningful NHL time.