Devils Clarkson Making Huge Strides

Before the start of the Devils season, David Clarkson was known as an energy guy.  Every team in the NHL has them.  When your team is playing flat and uninspired hockey, your energy guy drops his gloves hoping to re focus the team.  He takes his five minutes in the penalty box, and hopefully landed some solid punches in his fight.  Clarkson once had 183 penalty minutes in one season which was one of the highest in the NHL.  That season in 82 games, Clarkson only scored nine goals.  His career high in goals was 17 in 2009.

This season is a completely different story for Clarkson.  He can no longer lead the NHL in penalty minutes because he needs to be on the ice for the Devils.  With four games left to play in the regular season Clarkson has set a career high in goals, assists, points, shots, and game winning goals.  Clarkson has taken his game from the bully, to one of the top goal scores on the team.  With 29 goals this season, Clarkson looks to hit 30 goals for the first time in his career.  If you would have told me that Clarkson would only be four goals behind super star goal scorer Ilya Kovalchuk in goals at the end of the season I would think you're crazy.  This guy always seems to be in the right place at the right time.  He is a dominant puck possession winger along the boards, and he has increased dramatically in his puck handling skills.  It is really nice to see his game come full circle in his sixth NHL season.  As a Devils fan, I would love to see this guy continue this play into the playoffs, which is in only 2 weeks.  Six game winning goals for the right winger which is the highest on the team, Clarkson is one of the most valuable forwards on the team, and now its not just because of his right hook.