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The New Jersey Devils made a pair of roster moves today in returning forward Blake Speers to the Soo Greyhounds (OHL) and recalling defenseman Steve Santini from Albany.

On those moves and more:

1) I think sending Speers back was the right decision. He had some good moments but looked overwhelmed at times and was simply not ready to be an every day NHLer, which is no knock on the 19-year-old. He is certainly not as far off as many, myself included, expected. Allowing him to dominate the OHL this season and get another summer of training under his belt was the right move. Let's see where he is at a year from now.

2) Santini was sent down simply to get some game action. I actually think the Devils will use him soon and they sent him to Albany simply to knock the rust off. Throwing an inexperienced player into game action after weeks off is probably not the best idea. I think that's what the Devils were avoiding here.

3) A lot has been made about the Devils' inability to score at 5 v 5 but I don't think it is a big deal just yet. Despite adding some quality shooters (Taylor Hall, P.A. Parenteau, etc.) without losing any the Devils are scoring on just 3.51% of their shots so far. To put that in perspective the Toronto Maple Leafs had the worst 5 v 5 shooting percentage in the league last season and still scored on ~6.5% of their shots so the Devils are simply suffering from bad luck. I have no doubt the numbers will rise at least three or four percentage points, perhaps more, given some of the shooting talent (Hall, Parenteau, Adam Henrique, Kyle Palmieri, Mike Cammalleri, etc.) on the roster. Give it time.

4) Pavel Zacha is skating on the top line with Hall in practice and I think I'm in heaven. They have played a few shifts together thus far and have seemingly created Grade A chances every time. In terms of pure talent they are the best two players the Devils have on their roster so this could be really fun to watch.

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