"Meanwhile, the European theater has dried up from a failure to develop prospects to their full potential. Only one player from overseas who was drafted in the last ten years, Jacob Josefson, is playing on the Devils roster."
Uhhh Larsson?
Unless they mean forwards?
It is being corrected as we speak. Also this piece was sent in before Kerfoot returned from his injury. That too is being updated.
"The article is misleading and lacking of facts.
In the past 10 drafts they have only selected 11 Europeans, 2 of which are currently on the roster, and one has died. Most recently a few were in the NHL and one was a piece in the Kovy deal.
In the past 5 drafts the Devils selected 2 Euros, Larsson is on the team and Jorg was a 7th rounder.
Before making blanket and misleading statements next time do 5 more minutes of research. The fact that you left Larsson out is probably the worst offense too. I expect a re-write."
In terms of the remaining European players the Devils have drafted, I ask how many other than Larsson and Josefson are in the NHL today? We can discuss the environment was not the best for some of these players, which has been a big issue for the Devils with all the coaching changes and changes in kinds of players for each blend of the franchise's system of polay, but it still falls on the prospect to show his worth:
Here are the facts:
-Begfors played in 173 NHL games and had 73 points over two years between the Devils, Thrashers and Panthers. He only added 9 more points in his final two seasons before going overseas for good.
-Tedenby played in 132 NHL games, had a good rookie season but never found his groove again. We can argue that the coaching change from Lemaire to DeBoer affected him but he never found that confidence he had in the first year and thus couldn't adjust.
-Urbom played in 34 NHL games. He had a head start on many Devils prospects to entrench himself into the Devils lineup but could not. Then he was traded to Washington where he had a chance to displace veteran blueliners under Oates who liked him. He did not. Then he was claimed by NJ off waivers, showed he was passed on the chart by the glut of current defensive prospects in Albany and went overseas the following season.
-Zharkov (whom I liked a lot) looked great away from the puck whenever he was called up. However, he could not score. The new coaching staff decided went veteran heavy and Zharkov went to the KHL after the 2012 season.
-Vasyunov (RIP) I was hopeful for but he returned to Russia after he played in 18 NHL games in 2010-11. He showed progress in his three seasons with the Devils. I would have liked to see what he could have become.
-Petr Vrana had three good seasons in the AHL, played 16 games in the NHL, and then the next season moved to Europe where he remains to this day.
Most of the other European prospects have either gotten their toes wet in North America for a short stint then moved to Europe for good while others have not moved up the ladder to the pros.
