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Down (cont.) :
Adam Henrique
I am a huge fan of Henrique and I’m a firm believer he will be a solid player in the
league, however he’s going to have a harder time this year. Any time you end up
losing an elite PPG line mate, it’s probably going to hurt a bit especially when there
isn’t many scoring options to begin with. Look for Henrique to still be Mr. Clutch
when all the chips are on the table but with Parise gone, he may be assigned to play
more of a defensive role than offensive as the team will tighten up as a whole.
Marek Zidlicky
When I see Zidlicky, I see another Pavel Kubina. They both had their glory days but the sad reality is that
Zidlicky is just a temporary band aid until Larsson takes over and Zids becomes another forgotten
memory. He seemed to have lost a step or two in quickness that will affect his offense, and he’s not the
type to make very many hits so he is kind of limiting and on the decline. His age and size also makes him
an injury risk at this point in his career.
Gainer’s Final Comments:
I never doubt a Stanley Cup Final’s goalie, but Brodeur is now 40 and that cannot not be ignored. He’s
done a great job of hiding his age but it’s only a matter of time now. Further concern is the fact that NJ
has no long term contingency plan to replace him in their pipeline, so I guess they better hope for a
miracle soon. The face of the roster may also change drastically as the following are on contract years
and may not be with the team later: Elias, Zajac, Zubrus, Clarkson, Josefson, Henrique, Janssen, and
Zidlicky. Every year I expect NJ to fail, and every year they surprise me. I wouldn’t be surprised if they
did a minor rebuild after this season, and it’s about time too.
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