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The New Jersey Devils open up their season in two days and while their roster isn't finalized, Pete DeBoer gave us an indication of what to expect with his line combinations today.
If you haven't seen them, they read as follows:
Ryane Clowe - Patrik Elias - Damien Brunner
Adam Henrique - Travis Zajac - Jaromir Jagr
Dainius Zubrus - Andrei Loktionov - Michael Ryder
Ryan Carter - Stephen Gionta - Steve Bernier
Bryce Salvador - Marek Zidlicky
Andy Greene - Adam Larsson
Anton Volchenkov - Peter Harrold
Martin Brodeur
Cory Schneider
Extras:
Rusty Olesz - Jacob Josefson - Mattias Tedenby
Alex Urbom - Mark Fayne
A few thoughts:
- One thing that stands out to me is that Elias is playing center despite all the Devils depth there.
We already know DeBoer looks for duos in line combinations and that he loves the Elias-Brunner duo, but apparently he likes it best when Elias is playing the middle. Based on how they looked in the preseason, I think DeBoer is smart to give it a shot.
- I like Clowe playing on a line with Elias and Brunner. His physicality and ability to win puck battles on the boards should complement the latter two nicely.
- Because Elias is playing center, Zajac is the best faceoff man on the team and Loktionov can't play wing, Henrique has been shifted to the left side. I like Henrique better down the middle but the Devils aren't paying him $4 million per season to play a bottom-6 role so they have to figure something out. He has played a little wing in the past and has played fine, so the switch shouldn't be an issue if this is what DeBoer wants to stick to.
- Mark Fayne has drawn the short end of the stick and it looks like he'll be sat in the season opener. He's very reliable defensively and is statistically the best player on the team when it comes to zone exits, so I don't like him sitting in the press box. I think Fayne is a much better playing option than Volchenkov but, because of his salary, Volchenkov will be given every opportunity to play.
- Brodeur seems to be holding up relatively well considering his father just passed away. The plan is for him to start the season opener Thursday. I imagine Schneider will draw in for the home opener on Friday.
- Devils still have to trim down the roster by a couple players before Thursday. Just a guess, but I think Tedenby and either Gionta or Urbom will go down, depending on if DeBoer wants eight defensemen on the roster.
**
Devils temporarily finalize 23-man roster.
Eastern Conference playoff predictions.
Western Conference playoff predictions.
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