Heading into the preseason, it appeared as if Jesper Boqvist had a slim chance at cracking the New Jersey Devils opening night roster. It was nothing against him as a player, rather, the additions of Wayne Simmonds and Nikita Gusev made Boqvist the odd man out. Of course, this wasn’t the case. Boqvist had an excellent preseason and earned his spot on the roster, and made his case for a strong role on the top line and possibly even power play time. Yet, this hasn’t happened.
After a disaster of a game against Winnipeg, Boqvist was inserted into the lineup the next night in Buffalo, on a pretty solid line with Gusev and Pavel Zacha.