There are negatives and positives to everything in life, regardless of the situation you find yourself in. With it all but set in stone that the NHL's 2012-13 campaign will be shortened, if there even is a season, I have decided to look at a couple of reasons why a shortened season would benefit the New Jersey Devils.

Note: Thanks to Jeff Angus for the idea. He wrote a similar piece like this on the Dallas Stars recently.

More rest

The Devils were just on an extended playoff run which is extremely draining on all players involved. If there is a shortened season, which seems likely at this point, the Devils players will have more time to rest and get ready physically and mentally for the upcoming season.

It's not secret that teams that go as far as the Devils did last year often take a few steps back the following season, in part due to a shortened summer and not having enough time to rejuvenate themselves, but a shortened season would certainly help erase that from working against them as the Devils players would have more time to recover.

It's also worth noting that the Devils are an old team by NHL standards and older players usually take longer to recover and ready themselves after injuries or layoffs. While the players certainly don't want the season shortened, I'm sure the likes of Martin Brodeur, Patrik Elias and Bryce Salvador, among others, would put the extra time off to good use.

Young players get time to showcase in Albany

The Devils have a couple vacancies in their crop of top-9 forwards, and they're going to rely on the likes of Bobby Butler, Mattias Tedenby and others to take those spots and run with them once the season begins. If there is a delay, Butler, Tedenby and the rest of the young forwards expected to push for a spot on the Devils will be given lots of playing time in Albany to showcase what they can bring and how they improved in the off-season.

For lack of a better term, they could 'tryout' in Albany hoping that Lou Lamoriello and the Devils front office staff like what they see, thus rewarding their play with a spot on the big club if and when the NHL season starts.

While a full season is what everyone wants, that doesn't appear likely at this point. A delayed season will do more harm than good for most, but as shown above it's not all bad for the Devils.

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