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The NHL playoffs begin in just a few days and, as has become tradition, the New Jersey Devils will not be participating.

Playoff hockey for the Devils was once as predictable as the sunrise but those days are long gone as this marks the fifth consecutive year they will be hitting the links in early April.

The Devils have a lot of holes and I expect GM Ray Shero to be very active this off-season in trying to fill them.

At the top of the list of needs is acquiring a legitimate top-4 puck-moving defenseman, if not two. Damon Severson has shown he can move the puck and chip in offensively on a fairly consistent basis but he needs some help. John Moore can score but defensively he is very erratic and there is pretty much nothing in the way of offense after those guys. That needs to change.

Adding scoring depth up front is also necessary, although having more capable puck movers would help what the Devils have in place up front become more productive.

Only four forwards had more than 32 points and only six who finished the year on the roster had more than 20. The continued development of guys like Pavel Zacha and John Quenneville should help boost the team's 28th ranked offense but more needs to be done if the Devils want to take a significant step forward next season.

In goal, I imagine they are set. Cory Schneider will return as the starter and almost certainly provide better goaltending than he did this season. Keith Kinkaid needs a new contract but showed he is a solid backup and will surely be rewarded for his efforts.

The roster certainly needs a lot of work but, over the past few years, Shero has done a fantastic job of accumulating draft picks and clearing out cap space. Now is the time to put it to use.

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