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With the Devils having several young up-and-coming defensemen in the system, some are suggesting brushing aside depth guys like Pete Harrold in favor of committing to youth entirely.

This, of course, would mean that on top of Adam Larsson, Eric Gelinas and Jon Merrill all becoming regulars next season, a young blue liner like Damon Severson would make the team.

I don't think that would be a good idea, however, as using Severson as the team's 7th defenseman and playing him sparingly would stunt his development; not to mention Harrold already fills that role quite well.

For all the crap Harrold takes - he's an easy target because he gets tossed around like a football at times - he's actually a pretty good player, and is more than adequate as the team's 7th blue liner.

He can skate, generally he moves the puck well and he can eat up some minutes whenever he has to.

He's not a sexy player, but more often than not he gets the job done, as his underlying numbers from last season indicate.

Note: Only defensemen Harrold played 50+ minutes with last season are listed. Green indicates that goals for percentage (GF%) and shot attempt for percentage (SAF% / Corsi%) combine for a total of 101 or more.



Harrold's numbers with each defenseman were good across the board, despite his two most regular partners being a player who was recently bought out, and another being a rookie.

His possession numbers varied from excellent (with Marek Zidlicky) to elite (with Jon Merrill). Regardless of who Harrold was paired with he was able to move the puck up ice and help the Devils generate the vast majority of the shot attempts. Controlling shot attempts usually leads to winning the goals for battle, and that shows in his numbers.

Again, Harrold is an easy guy to pick at. He's small, he's frequently on the wrong end of big hits, and at times he turns the puck over a little too much. That said, generally good things happen when he's on the ice, and he's worth keeping around.

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