Devil's Woes Poll

[MantaRay]

I agree... I don't think the system "holds" Elias back. He seems to have free range in the neutral and offensive zone. I just don't think the Devils have anyone that can perform at his level to put on his line (like the Sykora, Arnott, or Gomez could). It's a huge difference playing a team like last-year's Tampa who had 2 good lines (one GREAT line). Those teams put pressure on all of your lines to play great defense - and any offense always comes second. This Devil's team on the other hand doesn't have those same offensive threats - so I think teams get more of an opportunity to focus on their own offense.

[njskaguy33]

While I was leading towards "Other", I voted for bad breaks. Outside of a few outliers, the Dev's losses have all been close contests where the game could have gone either way. The problem with the offense isn't so much the offensive players as it's the lack of transition game from the defense. When the average age of your defense is 26, you have to expect some inconsistancy somewhere, and that's been our problem all year long. We biggest thing we miss from Gomez is his ability to lead the rush and get the puck in the offensive zone. Without him, we live and die by dump ins, creating an inconsistant offense. Hopefully Lou will address this in the offseason but it's waaaay to early to start thinking about July.