Devils Call Up Vladimir Zharkov (finally)

Per Gulitti, no one was sent down to Albany, which means the Devils are practicing with 23 men today. I can't remember the last time the Devils had a full line-up. Here are the lines from the link for today's practice:

"Forwards: Ilya Kovalchuk-Travis Zajac-~~Jamie Langenbrunner~~Dainius Zubrus; Patrik Elias-Jason Arnott-Jamie Langenbrunner; Brian Rolston-Tim Sestito-Mattias Tedenby; Vladimir Zharkov/Rod Pelley-Adam Mair-David Clarkson.

Defensemen: Colin White-Henrik Tallinder, Andy Greene-Mark Fayne; Anssi Salmela-Anton Volchenkov; Matt Corrente-Mark Fraser.

Goaltenders: Martin Brodeur, Johan Hedberg."

over 1 year ago Matthew Ventolo 13 comments 0 recs |

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No biggie but...

You and Gulitti both made a mistake putting Jamie Langenbrunner on both the first and second lines. Though in his article he stated the first line had Danius Zubrus on the right wing for the first line.

by pshapiro on Dec 27, 2010 4:49 PM EST reply actions

Thanks for that. I must admit I just copied and pasted the lines (see the quotes there). I’ll fix it.

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"Hockey is the only job I know where you get paid to have a nap on the day of the game." - Chico Resch

by Matthew Ventolo on Dec 27, 2010 4:55 PM EST up reply actions

No problem. Its about time Zharky gets a chance I think he proved himself enough last season to deserve a spot and will definitely make the most of this opportunity.

by pshapiro on Dec 27, 2010 5:01 PM EST reply actions

step one complete.

Step 2, get him on a line with guys at least half as fast as he is. Here’s a free hint, that ain’t Mair and Clarkie.

by Murdoc on Dec 27, 2010 6:59 PM EST reply actions

Poll for this news is incoming in a few minutes.

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by John Fischer on Dec 27, 2010 7:22 PM EST reply actions

I can’t remember the last time the Devils had a full line-up.

October 6th?

Go Devils
Go Jets
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by FrankG929 on Dec 27, 2010 7:30 PM EST reply actions

Lemaire liked Zharkov last year…at least at times. Not terribly surprised he got the call, just surprised it took this long.

I am a Zharkov fan, but seriously, we’re counting on a guy with 0 career goals to be the savior…

It was "status quo" when the NHL rejected Kovy's contract, it was "status quo" when the Devils did not dress a full roster and it is "status quo" now that the Devils have lost 21 out of 32 games in regulation. In Lou We Trust...

by DownGoesAvery on Dec 27, 2010 8:11 PM EST reply actions

I don’t think anyone said he was going to “save” the season. I like him because his worth ethic was awesome last year. As John show in his post, he’s a Corsi phenom.

I know he’s listed as a RW, but he shoots left so playing LW isn’t a bad idea.

In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
"Hockey is the only job I know where you get paid to have a nap on the day of the game." - Chico Resch

by Matthew Ventolo on Dec 27, 2010 9:21 PM EST up reply actions

Isn’t part of the reason his corsi is so high is because he was playing protected minutes?

by devsfan9 on Dec 27, 2010 10:55 PM EST reply actions

Well a player’s Corsi number is Shot Attempts For minus Shot Attempts Against while he is on the ice. Considering he played 40 games last season and his TOI per 60 minutes was just over 10 minutes, he’s played enough minutes to gather a Corsi number you can judge him on. Shots attempts are all shots on goal, missed shots, and blocked shots.

Per Behind The Net, he had the highest Corsi On and Relative Corsi (per 60) for the whole team with 15.36 and 14.5.

In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
"Hockey is the only job I know where you get paid to have a nap on the day of the game." - Chico Resch

by Matthew Ventolo on Dec 27, 2010 11:53 PM EST up reply actions

Forgot...

On the same link, I added zone starts to see where he started on the ice and where he finished. His Offensive Zone Start % was 57.6%. His Offensive Zone Finish was 48.7%. This would mean he and his line did start more in a more advantageous position to generate shots to only get pushed back during his shift (yet still be able to get attempts off). However, the majority of his starts were in the neutral zone with 124 (98 were in the offensive & 72 were in the defensive zones). Thus they were able to generate shots by getting into the zone as well and be effective.

In Lou We Trust: SBN Blog of the New Jersey Devils
"Hockey is the only job I know where you get paid to have a nap on the day of the game." - Chico Resch

by Matthew Ventolo on Dec 28, 2010 12:20 AM EST up reply actions

That’s great, so he is developing nicely into a great 2 way player. I am not sure how much pk time he got last year but it would be nice if he could take some of that load from the 1st and 2nd liners (Elias, langs, Zajac) we are using now. Now lets hope he can turn some of that corsi into real goals and maybe allow us to boot one of the third liners to make cap space. I could see him developing into a Jay Pandolfo but with a point scoring upside (and hopefully some of those points will be goals too.)

by devsfan9 on Dec 28, 2010 9:42 AM EST up reply actions

I like the looks of putting him on a line with Josefson and Tedenby when Josefson gets cleared to return.

by pshapiro on Dec 28, 2010 3:23 PM EST reply actions

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