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New Jersey Devils: On A Lack Of Scoring, Zacha & More

April 21, 2016, 12:49 PM ET [17 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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A few New Jersey Devils notes:

1) The Kyle Palmieri addition was a great one, and the Devils do have a couple young players who can contribute sooner than later, but they still need to add a lot of offense if they want to take a big step forward.

Relative to expectations the 2015-16 season was a huge success but their inability to fill the net with any consistency cost them any chance at getting into the playoffs even with Cory Schneider's Vezina-caliber goaltending.



Schneider isn't going to be elite forever so the Devils best help him out while he still is.

2) I'll go a lot more in-depth on players I'm high on as we approach the draft but, assuming the Devils don't win the lottery and pick 11th, a few guys I like that should go in their range are forwards Clayton Keller, Julien Gauthier and Alex Nylander (though he'll probably go a couple spots higher) as well as defenseman Mikhail Sergachev.

It'd be preferable to get a forward, obviously, but it's not like the Devils are oozing with defenseman who have the ability to make meaningful contributions offensively. Draft the best player on the board.

3) I'm really curious to see how Pavel Zacha plays for Albany during their playoff run, which begins tomorrow. He was lights out down the stretch for Sarnia, and has gotten off to a nice start professionally tallying five points in four combined NHL/AHL games, but I worry he may soon wear down.

Prior to this year Zacha has never played 50 games in a season. This year he played 51 regular season games with Sarnia, seven playoff games, suited up for Czech at the World Juniors and has already played four professional games.

His game total is approaching 70, which is almost 20 more than his previous high. That's a big jump for a 19-year-old in the span of one year.

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