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1) Over the last few weeks I've written quite a bit about who should take Adam Larsson's minutes next season.
After diving into the numbers I've settled on Damon Severson as the best option to fill Larsson's shoes; but only at even-strength.
Severson has performed well logging tough minutes alongside Andy Greene when given the opportunity and, at 21, the best is yet to come.
His offensive abilities are unquestionably better than his defensive abilities, though, which is why I'd like to see someone else eat up Larsson's penalty killing minutes.
I think the best candidate to do so is Ben Lovejoy. He is a defense-first guy and
has fared quite well on the PK in recent years. If Lovejoy takes Larsson's PK minutes then Severson will be freed up to play on the man advantage without having to shoulder a ridiculously large workload.
If Severson plays 17-18 minutes per night at full-strength as well as a couple on the man advantage I think he will be able to handle it. Anything extra would almost certainly be overwhelming for a young player still coming into his own.
2) Adam Henrique has played four full seasons since entering the league in 2011-12. During those years he has scored 16 goals, 25 goals, 16 goals and 30 goals.
If he wants to get off the roller coaster and become a more consistent scorer on a year-to-year basis - rather than relying on shooting percentage fluctuation - he needs to start shooting the puck more.
Including the lockout shortened season he has shot at least 12% each year in the NHL. He has a good shot. He just has to use it more.
Take last year, for example. Henrique ranked just ahead of Jacob Josefson for 8th among Devils' forwards in shots per 60 minutes of 5 v 5 play. It wasn't as if he was attempting a lot of shots and was simply missing the net, either, as he finished 7th in terms of shot attempts per 60 at 5 v 5.
Jordin Tootoo, Tyler Kennedy and Bobby Farnham are just a few of the players who finished ahead of Henrique in that regard.
If he doesn't shoot more next season a dip in goal scoring is inevitable. He is not going to shoot 20% again.
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