Chris Pronger Poses A Problem For Devils’ Stars Parise, Kovalchuk

As I noted here in breaking down the on-ice/off-ice even strength numbers, I felt Chris Pronger stood out the most. He clearly did among his fellow defensemen. He has the highest total average ice time (25:55) and when steps on the ice, the goals against and shots against rates significantly fall. He may have a reputation and may take too many minors for one's liking, but he's an excellent defenseman. It's going to be a big challenge for Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Patrik Elias, and Ilya Kovalchuk to get past him - much less the rest of the Devils' forwards. If they can break him and/or force him to take a few calls, then that would be great. Otherwise, he's going to be a big obstacle along the way to try and beat Brian Boucher.