Some might consider Micro Mueller’s fractured clavicle a minor issue. Don’t put me in that group. I see it as a devastating injury.
Okay, maybe you think the term “devastating injury” is an overreaction. Not me. There is a reason this “Career AHL’er” with 54 fairly nondescript NHL appearances is playing game in and game out. Is it because Mirco Mueller is setting the world on fire? Not really. His plus/minus is 0 and Mueller has no goals and only two assists to his credit. Is it because the Swiss product is growing into his game defensively? Sure, that’s part of it. Mueller is making better decisions with the puck, using his body and blocking more shots in the past few weeks.
But the real reason is really, really simple. Like most things are.
Ben Lovejoy and Daulton Prout are just awful. God-terrible-horrible-awful.
Let me take you back to each of their last appearances for the New Jersey Devils. Lovejoy had a glorious chance to clear the puck early in the power play starting the third period. He failed to do so, made a weak challenge on the puck carrier on the half boards, and two seconds later Jaden Schwartz buries an easy chance from the slot. That’s the last we’ve seen of the $3 million man.
Dalton Prout is even worse. His last appearance saw a couple of horrific turnovers end up in the Devils net, a brutal penalty which helped the Edmonton Oilers pot another, and he then tried to justify his existence in a heavyweight bout against Milan Lucic. That might have had value when the Broad Street Bullies where in vogue, but it doesn’t now (even if Ken Daneyko thinks it does).
Mueller was becoming increasingly important to the New Jersey Devils. He will be sorely missed.
The specter of either Prout or Lovejoy getting the call in ACC on Thursday is a terrifying thought to all Devils fans. They are way too slow to keep up with the NHL’s highest scoring team. The falloff from Mueller to either Lovejoy or Prout is roughly equivalent to that presented by the topography of the White Cliffs Of Dover in the south of England. At least those are pretty. For sure, there will be nothing pretty about half of the Devils’ third defensive pairing Thursday night.
In all likelihood, nothing can be done in the short-term for the Devils. However, Ray Shero needs to don his thinking cap very, very quickly to formulate a plan to deal with Mueller’s injury. Should he place a call to the farm to promote Josh Jacobs? I don’t know about that. He’s still 21 and lacks even a year of AHL experience. Is Michael Kapla the answer? God no, he was awful for the Devils last spring, looked bad in the summer prospects team and is -8 for the B-Devils. He’s looks to be barely an AHL player.
It could be that a trade is the answer here. As amazing as it is to say, given the paucity of talent up front the past few years, there are currently a surplus of forwards in the system, both at the NHL level and within the pipeline. Could the Devils withstand the loss of one forward to bolster the forces on their blue line? One might reasonably think so.
Hopefully I’m wrong. Maybe I’m wrong. I really hope I’m wrong. The Devils’ great start this year deserves to be built upon, not wasted. But I don’t think I’m wrong. I don’t see #12 nor #5 as being the answer this year. They are more like a question mark. A huge, glaring, prominent, bombastic bright neon orange question mark! The Devils defense is already conceding a good number of shots to begin with this year. They can’t tolerate a hack stepping into the third pair contributing nothing but sluggishness, poor puck management and a propensity for bad penalties.
Next: Travis Zajac Is Nearly Back
Mirco did indeed suffer a devastating injury. Devastating indeed. Let’s hope John Hynes and Ray Shero show the ability to deal with this situation. It’s not going to be easy.