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Following three consecutive losses, and six in nine games, it's becoming more likely by the day that the New Jersey Devils are sellers at the deadline.
That's probably the best route for general manager Ray Shero to go for several reasons:
1) First and foremost the Devils are unlikely to make the playoffs. They are currently three points back of a wild card spot and both teams they're chasing have games in hand.
SportsClubStats suggests the Devils need to go 13-7-2 to have ~70% of making the playoffs. That's far from impossible but is certainly a lot to ask of a team with 29 wins in 60 games; especially when they still play the Ducks, Kings, Penguins (x2) and Lightning (x3), among others.
It doesn't make sense to keep pending UFAs if it's unlikely you'll make the playoffs. That looks to be the case but obviously the coming week will add more clarity on that.
2) It'd be nice to reward the guys for their efforts this season by keeping the team in tact but doing so would be a short sighted move. The Devils aren't capable of seriously contending this season so, while making the playoffs is always the goal, they'd be better served recouping assets that can help the rebuild rather than missing the playoffs or losing in the 1st round and having players walk away for nothing. The Devils have been hurt by that enough in the past.
3) In Lee Stempniak's case his value will never be higher. His 40 points (and counting) is the highest total he's posted since 2006-07 while he hasn't scored 15 goals (his current total) since 2010-11.
At 33 he is enjoying arguably the best season of his career and it's unlikely he'll ever duplicate this season's success. Move him while his value is high and take what you can get for a guy you brought in for pennies right before the season.
A lot of the same can be said about David Schlemko.
4) Roman Polak and Nick Spaling are fetching 2nd round picks (although eating Raffi Torres' contract probably helped). It looks to be a sellers market. Take advantage of that.
5) The possibility always exists that the Devils could part ways with Stempniak and/or Schlemko and bring them back in the off-season. Obviously there's no guarantee they'd come back but it's not like this hasn't happened before (see: Vermette, Antoine).
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