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Devils 11/12 line combos


Tedenby21

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I've been thinking about this a lot, and I'm not sure if I agree with you or not. I have two main issues

1) Without Zajac, Elias is probably our best defensive forward. We need him out there in big spots, many of which obviously begin with defensive zome faceoffs. I accept that our overall faceoff percentage goes down with Henrique as a full time center, but I'm much more comfortable protecting him by giving him less important/dangerous draws than hamstringing Deboer with his best backchecker losing big faceoffs. This mess goes away when Zajac gets back, so not a huge issue, but I guess I disagree with you about what sacrifice we should make.

The difference between Zubrus and Elias last year was 11 points, or one in 9 faceoffs. i don't consider that a huge deal (nor do i consider that their true talent gap, though elias's 45% might've been because zubrus took faceoffs against better centers). It looks like Zubrus will remain at wing for now, though.

2) At some point, Henrique has to take his beating at center. I don't see him getting better at faceoffs in the AHL, and he obviously won't playing wing. I see this as a bit of a rebuilding year, especially the beginning, so it's a good time to let Henrique learn to take NHL faceoffs. If you see him as a winger long term, this point is moot.

I don't see this as a rebuilding year. I also don't see Adam Henrique's future being at center, either, so yeah, it is a moot point to me. His goal/assist ratio looks more like a wing. There are centers with 1 to 1 G:A ratios in the NHL (stamkos comes to mind, nieuwendyk, jason arnott's is 4:5), but not many.

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Testing a guy like Peter Harrold on the point in the PP baffles me. Granted, I only know his numbers and stats, but he doesn't appear to be a very offensive player.

Harrold had 43 points in 49 games in his last year in the minors. If (and probably when) he goes back to the minors, he will run the power play in Albany. LA used him on the PP in 2008-09 - 2+ minutes per game - but did not do so in the year before or the two years after.

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The difference between Zubrus and Elias last year was 11 points, or one in 9 faceoffs. i don't consider that a huge deal (nor do i consider that their true talent gap, though elias's 45% might've been because zubrus took faceoffs against better centers). It looks like Zubrus will remain at wing for now, though.

I don't see this as a rebuilding year. I also don't see Adam Henrique's future being at center, either, so yeah, it is a moot point to me. His goal/assist ratio looks more like a wing. There are centers with 1 to 1 G:A ratios in the NHL (stamkos comes to mind, nieuwendyk, jason arnott's is 4:5), but not many.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'm much more inclined to agree with you with those stats; even if Zubs playing better centers skews it, 1 in 9 isn't enough.

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Not much to say about Stralman. I was really hoping for something good from him, but he's been pretty quiet in what I've seen so far (1.5 periods) of the scrimmage. What do you guys think? Will he make the team?

Impressed with Larsson, just like everyone else has said. But Josefson looks incredible. He's looking like the best guy on the ice at times.

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I agree 100% about Josefson, he looks like he got much stronger on the puck and looks much faster. I'm not that big on Stralman at all, there had to be a reason he couldnt crack a weakened Blue Jackets defense group last season. Veilleux seems like he could be an interesting addition. I thought he was pretty solid on Tampa a few seasons back, he could be a solid find. Larsson should be a lock for NHL, he looks like the smoothest defenseman out there by far.

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