The New Jersey Devils thought early in the season that they had a true shut-down defenseman when Steve Santini was going up against the best players and holding them to nothing. Think about this, Santini played 25 minutes against the best team in the league, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Devils won. In fact, he played more than 20 minutes in seven of the Devils first 10 games.
Now, he feels like a shell of his former self. Santini went from a guy I called possibly the most important player, to a player that Tyler Kelley gave a D for a midseason grade.