New Jersey Devils Depth Paying Dividends During Recent Surge
In a sport as physical and grueling as professional ice hockey it’s not uncommon for injuries to derail a promising year. In fact injuries are often the “go-to” excuse when it comes down to explaining the downfall of a team at the end of a disappointing season.
Such is not the case for the 2011-12 New Jersey Devils. They have been plagued by injuries all season, losing nearly 160 man games to players considered to be regulars in the line-up. Yet somehow the Devils are 5-1-1 since the All-Star break and find themselves securely in the playoff race. How are they doing it? Depth, plenty of it.
When it was discovered that center Travis Zajac would miss the start of the season with a torn Achilles, Jacob Josefson moved up to fill his spot. Then Josefson himself sustained an injury of his own allowing Adam Henrique, who was in the AHL at the time, to step in. Henrique has since exploded onto the scene as a viable Calder Trophy candidate and is among the league leaders in rookie scoring.
Josefson has since returned and has been relegated to fourth line duties but can be shuffled between any of the lines. It’s an option head coach Pete Deboer is not afraid to use with anybody on the Devils squad.
New Jersey’s much embattled defense has been the subject of some well deserved criticism. Yet they manage to get the job done game in and game out. The Devils currently rank 17th in the league in goals against but have been improving steadily all season.
Andy Greene missed 26 games but Deboer managed to find the right players to fill in during his absence. AHL players Matt Taormina, Alex Urbom and Peter Harrold all saw time on the blueline at one point or another this season.
Despite Henrik Tallinder being out indefinitely and Adam Larsson in the pressbox with a sore back there has been little drop off in terms of play. Even Mark Fayne is proving himself to be an everyday NHL defenseman while Taormina is a plus-3 through 20 games.
Mid-season acquisitions, Ryan Carter, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Kurtis Foster have provided an additional boost along with recently signed Steve Bernier. Ponikarovsky has seven points in his eight games with the Devils and he is a plus-5. Foster added a right-handed shot to the Devils power play to complement Ilya Kovalchuk. Bernier picked up his first goal as a Devil in Saturday’s 3-1 loss the the Florida Panthers.
In all 33 different players have found playing time for the Devils this season. Of those 33 players, 27 of them have collected at least one point this season. Credit has to be given to GM Lou Lamoriello and coach Deboer. They have a system in place that allows for the team to easily adapt to new bodies in the line-up. It may not always look pretty but at the very least they have a team that competes at a high level in a very competitive Eastern Conference.
Lamoriello has taken a few licks in recent years for some questionable moves. He seems to have regained a bit of that golden touch that helped him create three Stanley Cup winning teams. Lamoriello has a knack for finding diamonds in the rough and right now some of the rough edges are starting to smooth themselves out.
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