Let Kovalchuk Play His Game

The RW experiment has utterly failed.

One of TSN’s guys laid out a fair amount of raw data from December 2011. The article is available here, but I just thought I’d mention that you see Parise and Kovalchuk on those lists a fair amount and in positive fashion.

Sure, we’d all like Ilya Kovalchuk’s numbers to resemble the guy we acquired from Atlanta, but the team comes first.

This may be a bit off topic, but I think a lot of these problems will fix themselves with a healthier Zajac (he’s not quite 100% yet) and Josefson back in the lineup.

Josefson’s ability as a hockey player seems to go very undervalued by our fan base. There is a reason we drafted him as high as we did. The kid gets the game, plain and simple. He plays a smart two-way game with a fantastic pair of hands. He may not be a perennial 20-30 goal scorer, but for those of you who don’t watch him very closely, I think he has the talent to develop the same way Zajac did in his first few years; defense-first mindset with steadily improving playmaking ability. I would not be surprised at all to see him amass 40+ assists in a season within the next 3 years. With that said…

Josefson coming back could solve the Kovalchuk/Parise problem. At the beginning of the year, DeBoer (rightfully) had Josefson centering Kovalchuk and then Parise and Zajac together. Until Josefson got hurt, he and Kovalchuk began to slowly create chemistry together. I know it was a small sample, but if you watched the two of them with the mindset of them growing together and meshing their abilities, they improved each and every game. Unfortunately the injury halted that development, but you could see the confidence growing with Josefson. They had the same type of playing relationship Parise and Zajac had early on, with Zajac being pass first and Parise being the trigger man. Josefson, though he is not the same type of player, has the same playing mindset of Zajac of defense first and pass-first in the offensive zone to play with the trigger happy Kovalchuk. Much the way Zajac started to bring out the best in Kovalchuk at the end of last year, I think Josefson can do the same as his new center, perhaps even more so than Zajac was able to.

My line combinations, with Zajac and Josefson fully healthy, would be (in no order):

Parise – Zajac – Henrique
Sykora – Elias – Zubrus
Kovy – Josefson – Clarkson

Parise and Zajac’s chemistry is well-known to us and is something very special. There are players that play well together and then there are players that know each other so well that they seem to share thoughts without communicating. Keeping them apart will not only hurt both as players, but could eventually push Parise out the door. He loves to play with Zajac and I think simply pairing them back together will bring the best out in Parise as well as reason enough to stay in New Jersey. Also, Henrique’s two-way ability, offensive creativity and his chemistry with Parise could put this line over the edge.

Ive said it before, but at least for this season, Elias needs to stay with Sykora. Sykora would be a 4th liner at best without Elias and I think playing with and old friend makes Elias happy. I agree that he may be able to bring more out of more talented players like Kovy and Parise, but with Elias and Sykora together, the team has much needed scoring depth as he is able to make a seemingly ineffective player that can only shoot the puck into an effective scorer who is on pace for 20+ goals. Also, Zubrus, though not as offensively gifted as he used to be, is a tough two-way player that can win possession and go into the dirty areas effectively. This is a veteran line that has the ability to add to the scoresheet and play effective defense every single night.

I have already stated why I believe JJ and Kovy need to play together, but just like Zubrus does with the Elias line, Clarkson adds grit and goes into the dirty areas effectively. This line boasts size (Kovy and Clarkie), scoring ability (all 3), playmaking ability (Josefson and Kovy) and is not inept defensively (JJ makes up for the others’ deficiencies)

I feel that DeBoer’s initial instinct to play JJ with Kovy and Zajac with Parise was the right decision, but only time will tell if they can develop they way I truly believe they can. With three solid lines that can all score goals, if the Devils are healthy, they can certainly make a deep playoff run this year and be a true force for years to come.

In ATL he could do whatever he wanted and still sometimes think he can do that here. Kovy has bad team skills, and is too one dimensional. I still wish Lemaire was coach so he could put kovy in his place. It’s possible Kovy doesn’t respect PDB.