Stevens...gone. (they ought to get that message over to the banner-maker on the official website) Niedermeyer...gone. Friesen....gone. Malakhov....in. With all these disadvantages right off the bat, what is there for a Devils fan to say? I trust in Lou. Devils to win the Cup in five. Over who? It doesn't matter.
I think the Devils have a great chance to win this year. The addition of Moinly should help a lot with the new rules. They still have Brodeur. I expect them to go deep into the playoffs.
Hopefully parise will have a big impact. Im predicting that hes going to sneak in under the radar and steal the rookie of the year award out from under crosby's nose.
I don't know how the Devils are gonna cope with the new, more offensive NHL this year. I mean... 5-1 Devils in the third Brylin and Gionta, with a pair each, among your NHL scoring leaders. By the by, 3(!) 5-on-3 powerplays for the Penguins tonight? And they can't score on a single one?
nj.com has a devils forum. that might be the best you can do. also check out hockeyfights.com Devs down to the Blueskirts 2-1 right now. taking some stupid penalties because of new rules. basically if you're not checking and doing things "by the book" now, you're going to get nailed. stickwork, grabbing is out. once the players get it it will improve the game.
It's official - the Devils are one of the top 10 teams in professional sports, over the past ten years (going by regular season winning percentage) Team League W-L-T-OTL Pct. Green Bay Packers NFL 109-55-0-0 .665 Los Angeles Lakers NBA 522-266-0-0 .662 Detroit Red Wings NHL 431-194-97-16 .661 San Antonio Spurs NBA 517-271-0-0 .656 Denver Broncos NFL 104-60-0-0 .634 Colorado Avalanche NHL 400-216-101-21 .625 New Jersey Devils NHL 400-219-99-20 .623 Pittsburgh Steelers NFL 100-62-1-0 .617 Utah Jazz NBA 485-303-0-0 .615 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 384-218-117-19 .612 New York Yankees MLB 982-634-0-0 .608 You might not be able to tell from the indifferent start they've gotten off to, however.
Good win vs. the Sabres last night. The more important thing is that Brodeur will be fine. If Brodeur is gone than so is the Devils season.
Nice comeback win after a slow start tonight in NJ. Once OLN put up those stats about how bad Boston's been in the third period and in one goal games, you knew they were done for. Good - I've hated the Bruins forever. And how about Brian Gionta? Another goal - that's 16 (!) on the season. He's in 7th place in the league in goals. Dare we dream about the first Devils player to get 50 goals in a season?
Seems OLN and Cablevision finally worked out a deal, because I was able to actually watch the game. About time.
Have to appreciate Lou Lam giving this Cam Janssen kid some ice time. He bumped Sundin last night and Darcy Tucker came over to go at it. Tucker used Janssen's helmet to cut him on the face (he'll probably be fined/suspended for it) and Janssen let him tire out and then landed some big rights at the end of the scrap. Let's hope he stays up with the team.
Glad to see this thread exists. I post on Chelsea thread, where there is an off-topic hockey sub-thread. My nephew plays for Albany - this is his first year,, having signed over the summer. Have seen several AHL outposts.
Great game last night. He's the ONLY BC Iggle I can support, however (I have two STRONG reasons, and one of them is blood...) Great to see Patrik back.
Devils fan from afar glad to see the team back on a bit of a roll with that win against the Sabres. Now that the team's playing better and Elias is back after that bout with hepatitis, maybe we can fight for a better playoff spot. I don't think we will win the Atlantic, but a good playoff run is not out of the question if we can just get in.
Nice post! Glad to see that you are carrying the Devils faith in a distant land! I see the Devs as being the ONE team no one will want to face in the playoffs. Several points to ponder: 1. Will Sutter leave Team Canada's youth program, now that he's managed back-to-back titles, for the Devs? 2. Will they get some more help from Albany? Can Albany right itself? (Bias here: my nephew PLAYS for Albany, and was a teammate of Ryan Hellweg's - one of only 4 native Californians in the NHL - in the youth selects, where the Pacific team came out of nowhere to do well- my neph's from Alaska) 3. Tonight the Flyers visit. Will serve as validity check on our progress. go Devs!
Number 3 is the only one I have an answer to. Philly killed themselves with the power play opportunities they gave us. And good to see Marty get an SO against the top team in the Atlantic. I hope we can at least catch the Rangers in the standings at the end of the regular season. But bottom line, home ice doesn't mean that much. A good playoff run is possible even if we are one of the bottom four seeds.
Top seeds, for some reason (end-of-a -great-season-expectations) don't fare as well as #2 seeds. However, some strange voice inside me says the Devs will catch the Rangers - Weekes is not that good, and Lundquist has never played an entire NHL season. Watch some stuff slide through the 5 hole later on....
My nephew just got called up by the Devs. He makes his NHL debut tonight vs. the Islanders. He's #19. WOW!
I hate both teams but I guess I can find a little compassion to support a BigSoccer member's family member making his NHL debut. Exciting stuff though and I wish him luck. And damn. Have fun sitting in traffic.
Ryznar, eh? Got his first shot in the win over the Isles, I see. Great that you got to catch his debut in person.