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In what has seemingly become a weekly occurrence, Eric Gelinas found himself skating on the Devils' extra defense pairing in practice this afternoon.
After playing over seven minutes in the 1st period of Saturday's win over Carolina, Gelinas found himself glued to the bench playing just a few minutes over the final two periods.
It's possible Pete DeBoer will dress Gelinas against Philadelphia as an extra defenseman, as he has done that in the past, but in all likelihood he'll be scratched as it appears Anton Volchenkov will take his place in the lineup.
Gelinas certainly has his deficiency's defensively and needs to continue to improve that aspect of his game, but I have a hard time believing his play is worthy of a seat in the press box.
As a rookie defenseman in the NHL, Gelinas has shown the ability to produce be a consistent threat offensively, and while he takes a lot of heat for his defensive struggles, his 5 vs 5 goals for percentage is at 50, meaning he's on for as many 5 vs 5 goals for as against. So really, his struggles aren't putting the Devils under water.
Factor in that Gelinas leads all defensemen in points per 60 minutes of 5 vs 4 play, and you'll struggle to convince me the Devils are a better team with Volchenkov in the lineup than No. 22.
The Devils seem to have turned a corner offensively of late, but it doesn't make much sense for a team that's struggled to score all season to sit the most efficient power play defenseman in the NHL this season.
I really like DeBoer as a coach and agree with a lot of the things he does, but I can't get on board with this.
Gelinas needs to play.
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