Where Does Marian Studenic Fit In Future With New Jersey Devils?

Marian Studenic is a player that a lot of fans are really getting behind. He brings a ton of speed and fire to the lineup whenever he’s in there. He really tries hard to always be in the play, but he always seems to be missing one thing or another to really put his game together. Studenic is only 23 years old. That’s still pretty young for a hockey player who still needs to find himself.

However, let’s look at the facts. Studenic has been in the lineup for 10 games this season, and he has zero points. The New Jersey Devils need players who are going to score, and Studenic hasn’t scored. To be fair, he spends a lot of time on a line with Michael McLeod and Nathan Bastian.

It also comes a little bit to bad luck. Studenic has six individual high-danger chances. To get zero points out of those six high-danger chances is hard. For example, Bastian has five individual high-danger chances, and he got two goals out of it. Studenic is getting to hard areas and he’s taking the right shots, but they just haven’t gone in.

Studenic got into the lineup because the Devils are without Tomas Tatar and Jimmy Vesey due to COVID protocols. Once one or both of them come back, he’s going back to the taxi squad. Is that the best place for him? Should he go back to the AHL to grow his game? There are a lot of factors for Studenic.

The Devils need to figure out what they think Studenic will become. Is he always going to be a tweener NHL player, similar to what they had with Brett Seney, or does he have higher to climb in his career? That will change how they look at him this season. If he’s part of the future, then they will be a little more careful with how they treat him. If he’s a luxury prospect they hope does something, then they can just have him wait his turn to get into the lineup for the rest of the season.