New Jersey Devils: Michael Grabner Officially A Bust
By Nick Villano
The New Jersey Devils made their first trade ever with the New York Rangers this season when Michael Grabner came across the Hudson River. It will officially be looked at as a bust as he’s pulled from the playoff lineup.
New Jersey Devils General Manager Ray Shero made a push at the trade deadline to acquire more talent at the forward position to help the team make the playoffs. He moved future assets in exchange for two players who can score. One of those players look like a perfect fit for this Devils team. The other player looks like he can’t leave in free agency fast enough.
Obviously, the latter is Michael Grabner. He’s been not good. It’s pretty much a consensus that the only thing he brought to the table as of now is penalty killing, and in the playoffs the Devils penalty kill has been awful. It comes to a head today, as he’s taken out of the lineup.
#NJDevils: Also looks like Stafford draws in for Grabner.
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) April 16, 2018
He’s skating on the fourth line with Wood and Boyle.
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The Devils sent a second-round pick and Yegor Rykov to acquire Grabner. Since he joined the Devils, he’s scored just two goals. He has five points in 25 games after scoring 31 points in 59 games before coming here.
Grabner has blazing fast speed. We’ve seen him use it on multiple occasions to break away from a defense and have a beautiful chance on goal. Almost always, he misses the net. How good is speed when you can’t even get a shot on net?
Basically, the Devils wasted a second-round pick on Grabner. He’s been so bad, that head coach John Hynes wants to go Drew Stafford over him in a must-win game in the playoffs. There’s nothing good coming out of Grabner right now. While Stafford isn’t the player I’d pick to get back into the lineup, there’s no argument Grabner should be in the lineup. Nothing works when he does it. It’s time to try something else.