Hi everyone,

While I was reading Devils in the Details, I found interesting to bring up a question posted by tjlecavs ( Welcome here by the way) just below :

OK, now that we know that Bernier didn’t refuse a two-way deal, can someone who is more intimate with the inner workings of the team explain to me why they didn’t offer him a deal but they decided to keep BOTH Boulton and Janssen? I am going to assume the cap was not an issue.Peter Deboer keeps in the NHL line-up Brad Mills, Cam Janssen and Eric Boulton for the first games of the season.

Even if I can't pretend being an Hockey expert, I'll reserve my thought after the jump, but please guys don't be afraid to share yours too.

This my dear, is the question that I would love to answer, because I just don't get it.

In fact, more than Bernier the question could be, firstly,  Why did they keep Boulton AND Janssen over Pelley and Zharkov, which are, by far, better hockey players (speaking of the game itself).

There's a good chance to see Mills, Boulton and Janssen prowling around the 4th line now. Personally I see this, already, as a problem, but to me this kind of line-up brings a bigger issue:

Your prospects can't play anymore on the 4th line. Because there will be no room for helping a young talent to develop his game. Of course Mills, Janssen and Boulton can fight, they've got grit, heart and are some real tough guys... But they're just bad hockey players, plain and simple.

As long as they're out there, a kid like Mattias Tedenby shouldn't be playing on the 4th line because he won't develop anything but a growing frustration... And since the 3 other lines seem in a way or in another, completed, Mattias Tedendy, which has burned one year on his ELC, could have no choice but to be sent down to Albany .Looking at the big picture, its the same situation for all of our prospects.The 4th line seems, up to now at least, to be condamned as a goon line.

 I sincerely hope that Peter Deboer's still testing the stuff and he will see soon enough that keeping 3 goons in the NHL roster is not good for your team. Truth is,  I wouldn't mind keeping just one, Mills or Boulton perhaps, but 3, that's not serious.

Now, to finish my paragraph, let's see the kind of 4th lines we could've had or we could have in a near future (fingers crossed) ... I won't lie, for a 4th line, that looks pretty good to me:

Tedenby-Pelley-Zharkov

Tedenby-Mills-Zharkov

Boulton- Pelley-Tedenby

Tedenby-Henrique-Zharkov

  Etc-Ect-Ect

Thanks for reading.