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Henrique, Larsson named to All-Star team, Kovalchuk surging, other notes

January 12, 2012, 1:25 PM ET [64 Comments]
Todd Cordell
New Jersey Devils Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Between the Devils playing on back-to-back nights, the All-Star game teams being announced and other things, it's been a busy couple of days. Here are some Devils thoughts as well as some notes on the All-Star rosters.

- First of all, congrats to Adam Henrique and Adam Larsson on making the rookie part of the All-Star team. They're both very deserving. It'll be fun to see them participate in the skills competitions.

- This one isn't Devils related, but the NHL messed up with these rosters, big time. Teemu Selanne, Nicklas Lidstrom and Jaromir Jagr, all of whom are playing well and could be in their final NHL season, did not make the team. All three are very deserving and all three will be Hall of Famers. Good job, NHL.

Note: The OC Register is reporting Selanne was asked if he'd like to participate but he declined. Hopefully the same goes for Lidstrom and Jagr.

- I'm a little surprised not one of Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk or Patrik Elias made the team. All three of them are in the top 25 in the NHL in terms of points and I figured at least one would get in. I guess not.

- Now to real hockey. Ilya Kovalchuk has been playing his best hockey since becoming a Devil as of late. He's been good defensively, and a huge threat offensively. Despite his slow start to the season, he now averages a point per game. Not bad.

- Sticking with Kovalchuk, he's been on fire. His stat line over the last four games: 5 goals, 3 assists, plus 1, 29 shots, 97:58 TOI. That's outstanding.

- Mattias Tedenby played less than seven minutes last night in Edmonton. If Pete DeBoer only intends on using him that much, I think the Devils should send him to Albany. He would greatly benefit from big minutes and they would certainly help him regain his confidence.

- Lastly, it was nice to see Johan Hedberg and the Devils rebound with a big win last night. It wasn't as pretty as they would have liked, but it's two points nonetheless. It was definitely nice to see the Devils respond with a win coming off an embarrassing outing vs Calgary on Tuesday.

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