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New Jersey Devils: 5 Players Who Can Solidify Their Spot For Next Season

By Nick Villano

NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 21: Jesper Boqvist #90 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his second goal of the game which became the game winner at 15:57 of the third period on the powerplay against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center on September 21, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Islanders 4-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 21: Jesper Boqvist #90 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his second goal of the game which became the game winner at 15:57 of the third period on the powerplay against the New York Islanders at the Prudential Center on September 21, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils defeated the Islanders 4-3. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
(Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Kevin Rooney

This one is intriguing because Kevin Rooney can walk away from the New Jersey Devils for nothing since he’s an unrestricted free agent. Rooney is a player that gets a ton of flack, but he hasn’t been the worst player in the world as of late *writer ducks*.

Still, his numbers as a whole are very bad. He has a 43.23 Corsi For%. What’s interesting is goalies have an on-ice save percentage of .958 while he’s on the ice at 5v5. It’s by far the highest on the team among the regulars in the lineup. It’s not extremely telling, like most advanced stats in a vacuum, but it does show he’s been extremely lucky this season.

He hasn’t been the black hole of offense he was in 2019. Since the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Day, Rooney has eight points. In the first three months of the season, he literally had one point.

Still, he’s such a limited player, and again there are no more ties to him after this season. He’s going to be 27 years old this offseason, and his ceiling has clearly been hit. Is it worth bringing Rooney back to play fourth-line center next season, a spot that could go to the younger players on this list? It all comes down to how he plays down the stretch. If he proves to be good for defense and penalty kill only, there are players that can do that which aren’t offensively inept in the prospect pool. Speaking of replacements….

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