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Ridgewood, NY • 22 Years Old • Male
Check out the comments on any Devils blog and inevitably you'll find people calling for Peter Deboers head. I'll admit, I agreed with most of these people for a while. But the more I think about it, the more I realize that Deboer is actually doing a good job working with the players he's been given. Yes, the Devils struggle to score goals. And yes, they seem like they're doomed to miss the playoffs. However, virtually every game they've played in this year has been decided by one or two goals, and they've managed to beat a handful of great teams (i.e. Ducks, Kings, Bruins, etc.)

So let's consider the players in the Devils lineup (I'm just gonna stick with forwards for the sake of brevity):

Jagr: One of the best players ever who's at the end of his career. Amazingly, he continues to produce at a high rate

Elias: Great first line player when in his prime, but reaching the end of his career

Zajac: Good two- way forward. Probably best suited for a second line

Henrique: Unproven second line center

Zubrus: Good two-way player reaching the end of his career

Brunner: Unproven scoring forward, who looks fast and creative one shift and lazy the next

Ryder: Streaky scoring forward. Probably best suited for a second line

Bernier: Great fourth line winger

Gionta: Fourth line energy player

Carter: Good fourth line player

Loktionov: Looked great for a few games last year, but overall, a completely unproven scorer

Josefson: Underachieving first round draft pick

Tedenby: Underachieving first round draft pick

Janssen: Okay, I'll admit Janssen is pretty damn good

Anyway, ask any coach in the NHL if that's a winning group of forwards, and they'd likely say no. But somehow, someway, Deboer makes Devils fans feel like the team has a chance. Granted, they come up with the short end of the stick more often than not, it's still not bad to follow a team that has a chance to win almost any night. And honestly, I think Deboer is to thank for that.
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