The New Jersey Devils Must Play Young Players To End Season
By Nick Varney
In recent games we’ve seen Reid Boucher and Stefan Matteau get NHL game time. Time which was long overdue. Now is the time for the Devils to put more future NHLers on to the ice.
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Joe Whitney and Seth Helgeson are names that instantly deserve mentions whenever the discussion of giving game time to players in Albany comes up. Seth Helgeson has impressed largely in his 21 games as a rookie. Joe Whitney on the other hand hasn’t had much of an opportunity or time to show what he can do. With 48 points in 59 AHL games and just one point in 4 NHL games. Whitney represented the Eastern Conference in the AHL All-Star Game. Another AHL All-Star that wouldn’t be undeserving of a call-up is center Scott Timmins. In 2013-14 Timmins had a combined 15 points in 69 games in the AHL playing for Wilkes/Barre and Springfield. This season he has returned to form with his best season totalling 46 points in 59 games.
Looking at defence it looks solid with Mark Fraser and Peter Harrold the truly expendable players. Seth Helgeson who has NHL experience should be joined by Raman Hrabarenka. The big Belarussian has tallied 23 points in 38 games. He suffered a cracked cheekbone back in November and missed two months but bounced straight back into form in February with nine of those points coming after his recovery.
The point of the season we’ve all been waiting for is here and hopefully Lou Lamoriello does what is needed with the handful of games we have left in the season. The New Jersey Devils have an elimination number of one as I write this, basically meaning the next game either the Boston Bruins or Ottawa Senators win signals the Devils are officially watching the playoffs on TV. If Lou was waiting for this moment to come before truly giving up on the 2014-15 campaign then now is the time. Players like Dainius Zubrus, Tuomo Ruutu, Peter Harrold and Mark Fraser should not be getting time on the ice for New Jersey. They should be watching games from the stands. The Albany players mentioned above all deserve a shot. The season should come to an end with the young defenders and forwards getting experience in a rotation along with Eric Gelinas, Jon Merrill and Steve Bernier, who has been putting in some good performances whilst the likes of Fraser, Harrold, Zubrus, Ruutu, Martin Havlat and Michael Ryder do little to nothing to enhance the outlook of the future of this team.
The Devils just lost a 3-1 contest with the Carolina Hurricanes and now have just seven games left to take a look at who will and won’t be on the roster next term. A few guys have earned themselves a fair crack at returning in 2015-16, two in particular being the pleasant surprises in the form of Scott Gomez, Steve Bernier and Jordin Tootoo. Now is the time to give the young guys a chance to play games. Stress free, nothing riding on them games. Let them go and have fun out there. They can’t possibly do any worse than the guys they’d be stepping in for.
Next: Keith Kinkaid Not Enough As Canes Top The Devils 3-1
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