1. I have more or less carried Travis Zajac's water for the entire season to date, but I have reasons for that: a) he is playing some fantastic hockey and; b) he's not getting much credit for playing fantastic hockey.

No. 19 has gone up against top competition all season long and has held his own much more frequently than he has not. He goes up against players like Sidney Crosby, Nicklas Backstrom, Ryan Getzlaf, etc. every single night and has not only done an excellent keeping those players from producing offense, but he has still continued to chip in offensively here and there in the process.

He's on pace for about 15 goals and 40 points, which isn't ideal from your top line centre, however, if he continues to play excellent defense and drive possession the way he has, his point totals should increase. Even if they do not I'd argue he's still earning every penny he's making. The Devils would be a bottom feeder without him.

Many criticize Zajac because he's not putting up a ton of points, but Lou Lamoriello gave him the contract and knew exactly what he was getting when he signed Zajac long-term. Zajac has scored more than 20 goals once in his career so expecting him to finish every chance and turn into Alex Ovechkin isn't realistic.

Here is a little chart to display how he's been deployed this season.



Notice that he's faced the toughest competition on the team, and that Stephen Gionta is the only forward that has started more shifts outside the offensive zone. You'll also notice that Zajac's circle is dark blue, which means he's driving possession close to the 60% mark.

He has been used in the toughest circumstances a coach can use a player, and he's done darn well. Give the guy a break.

2. We all knew Cory Schneider was getting next to no offensive support from the Devils this season, but they're even worse than I suspected.

New Devils beat writer, Randy Miller, dug up the numbers to see exactly how bad they were and, well, they aren't pretty.

The Devils are averaging 1.63 goals per game in Schneider's 19 starts, while Martin Brodeur is getting 2.83 goals of support per game in 24 starts.

Brodeur is an exceptional puck handler, I think the greatest of all time, but I have a hard time believing that's the difference in 1.20 goals per game every time out.

Maybe the Devils are more confident with Brodeur in net. Maybe it's just a fluke. It's hard to explain, really.

What I do know is Brodeur's save percentage is 11 points lower, his goals against average is 23 points higher, and that his winning percentage is much higher than Schneider.

The last number is all that a team cares about, especially when said team doesn't have a 1st round pick at the upcoming draft, which is probably why Pete DeBoer is leaning a little more towards the future Hall of Famer. Personally I'd start Schneider a little more frequently in the second half as the numbers suggest what the eyes have shown, which is that Schneider has been the better goaltender. I'm not sure it'll play out that way, though.

3. UPDATE: Patrik Elias has been placed on injured reserve and Eric Gelinas has been recalled.

Many fans need to calm down about Eric Gelinas being assigned to Albany. He has hit a bit of a rough patch in his development over the last 5-7 NHL games he played, and he's going to face lesser competition to help dig himself out of it. Over the 5-7 game span Gelinas struggled, Jon Merrill continued playing pretty good hockey and Marek Zidlicky, Andy Greene, etc. produced enough offense from the backend to make this move doable.

The Devils aren't going to waive an NHL defenseman like Mark Fayne to clear a spot for Gelinas, that'd be very stupid, so sending him down to find his game while trying to move a defenseman was the smart move for Lamoriello to make. He's been around this business long enough for me to give him the benefit of the doubt. He knows what he's doing.

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