Don

But the player losses keep piling up. Last summer it was Zach Parise, which really stung, and right now the Devils are staring at the possible defections of UFAs Patrik Elias and David Clarkson, neither of whom has discussed a new contract with the team.The Devils have some youngsters to replace these players, just not enough it appears. Adam Henrique was a fabulous third-round pick and it’s far too early to assess the professional merits of Adam Larsson (fourth overall 2011) or 2012 first-rounder Stefan Matteau. The problem is from 2005 to 2009 — years in which at least some first-round picks should have become Devil mainstays — the club that has always prospered through the draft didn’t do very well at all with the selections of Niklas Bergfors, Matt Corrente, Jacob Josefson and Mattias Tedenby That has been compounded by the fact that the team’s 2004 first-rounder, centre Travis Zajac, is having a dreadful offensive season with just 15 points after signing an eight-year, $46 million (U.S.) contract right after the lockout ended. You start to see how this adds up to a struggling team with only 15 wins. You can have all the right philosophies and team-oriented attitudes as an organization, but you need some talent to make it “doing it the right way” work. For New Jersey, lots has been walking out the door and not nearly enough has been walking in.