Pucks and Pitchforks
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Should New Jersey Devils Play Ben Lovejoy Or Steve Santini?

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 23: Steven Santini #16 and Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils in action against John Hayden #40 of the Chicago Blackhawks on December 23, 2017 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Blackhawks 4-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 23: Steven Santini #16 and Sami Vatanen #45 of the New Jersey Devils in action against John Hayden #40 of the Chicago Blackhawks on December 23, 2017 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Blackhawks 4-1. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images) /
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The New Jersey Devils season is starting to feel like a lost cause. It would make sense to start the young players and sit the veterans, but for one specific reason they might want to keep Ben Lovejoy in the lineup.

With how this New Jersey Devils season has gone, it’s very confusing that the team hasn’t played defenseman Steve Santini more. He’s just 23 years old, has two seasons where he played over 35 games, and the Devils just signed him to a three-year deal that is purely a one-way deal. That means he has to stay on the Devils or they could risk losing him for good.

The Devils drafted him in the second round five years ago, so they used a pretty high asset on him. This isn’t a player that just fell in their lap, this is a player they had high hopes for from the start. Yet, for some reason, he’s getting no playing time this season.

Santini did miss some time earlier in the year. He suffered a broken jaw two minutes and 33 seconds into his first game this season. A puck hit him in the face, forcing him to miss a month. Well, he’s since recovered. Yet, he’s been nowhere to be seen except in warmups and practice.

Ben Lovejoy had a great start to his season, but things have fallen off considerably. He was doing really well with Will Butcher, but now that line can’t be trusted on the ice. Lovejoy just hasn’t been good at his positioning, his decision making or his puck movement.

Lovejoy is a free agent at the end of the season. He spent three seasons in a Devils uniform with up-and-down results. He was awful the first year because the team treated him and Andy Greene as a first line. He was much better last season, when he was forced to prove himself on a nightly basis.

It seems like it would make sense for the Devils to sit Lovejoy to play Santini, right? Well, there is one reason the Devils might be choosing the play Lovejoy.

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The Devils seem to be looking towards the future all year. After spending at last year’s trade deadline just to make it to the first round, GM Ray Shero was inexplicably quiet during free agency. In fact, he didn’t make many moves all offseason. There were no big trades. He didn’t sign someone under the radar. Heck, he didn’t even make a draft day trade to recoup some of the picks he lost. So maybe this entire year is to set themselves up for the future.

If that’s the case, maybe the Devils are playing Lovejoy so they can trade him after the New Year. The New York Rangers got a third-round pick for Nick Holden last season. The Devils could likely get that, or possibly a fourth, for Lovejoy.

So, that’s the conundrum here. If the Devils decide to sit Lovejoy to play Santini, then his trade value goes in the toilet. However, Santini really needs to figure some things out on the ice, and if he doesn’t get playing time he may never learn from his mistakes.

Personally, I think that Shero will trade Lovejoy sooner rather than later. That means they should play him, hopefully build his value, then the Devils can play Santini after he’s traded.

One quick note: I know that we didn’t mention Mirco Mueller and Egor Yakovlev as options to play, who I think can be better in the long run than Santini, but I think they are the ones who are interchangeable with each other.

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