New Jersey Devils Season Preview
Greetings everyone… Chris Wassel here from The NHL Arena Program and slightly displaced New Jersey Devils fan. First up, we are going to start up with a simple offseason preview of the Devils. However, we have to take a sad look back at the 2007-08 hockey season.
Needless to say the memories of losing to the New York Rangers in 5 games last year do not fade away. That will definitely take some time. As the Devils lost 5-3 to the Rangers in Game 5, I remember saying to myself… “My god… we score and we can’t defend. We defend and we can’t score. Damn that has to change.”
So chug a beer after last year if you’re a Jersey fan… it may not make you feel any better though. The New Jersey Devils did get smart during the offseason. It did help naturally that the Devils were finally out of the Scott Niedermayer mess. Niedermayer signing with the Ducks messed up the Devils’ Salary Cap for 2+ seasons. Over the summer, the Devils were able to sign Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik and sent Vitali Vishnevski back to Russia. They also resigned several restricted and unrestricted free agents. A notable one was Bryce Salvador for 4 years, 11.6 million (until Jeff Finger signed with Toronto). With an improving, young defensive corp, the Devils could surprise many.
Why do I say that? Think about it! This year has been the annual Devils Bashing from media. I guess I have the right to name names at this point. The Hockey News as usual underestimates the Devils around 7th in the East but they are not the worst. ESPN actually has the Devils out of the playoffs. and they may be further from reality than ever. Case in point… ESPN has the Penguins winning the East. I won’t even say what CBS Sportsline thought.
Now hindsight is 20/20 folks. This is an annual occurrence and no one should be surprised. The reality is someday the New Jersey Devils are going to miss the playoffs but it won’t be this year. Here is why…..
I will say that Eklund is almost never right when it comes to these things. He had said that the Devils had the fifth worst offseason. Imagine what would have happened if the Devils had not signed Brian Rolston. Speaking of brainwashing… have you seen this one from Scott Burnside?
They haven’t missed the playoffs in years, but even if it takes 40 years they will eventually. I will predict it too. But how? I know! I will just predict them missing them every single year. I made look stupid at first but when they finally do miss them I will be looked at as the hockey guru of ESPN.
Sorry that will not happen either. I get the point….most network media does not like the New Jersey Devils. Okay well they do have some valid points. Martin Brodeur plays way too much. Hockeydb.com has all the evidence that you will ever need for this argument. All the practice rest in the world does not mitigate the debate at all. Playing games is playing games folks. You have to rest the big horse because face it, no rest equals early playoff exits and that is bad.
The offense was horrible… yet another valid point. However, it is not all bad for New Jersey. They seem to shoot an awful lot though but yet only had 206 goals (only the Isles at 194 was worse in the East). It is hard to make the playoffs with a stumbling offense. Patrik Elias only had 20 goals and 55 points last year and Zach Parise led the team with 65 points… not exactly numbers that scare opposing teams. These are players that probably should average a point or game… maybe even more.
The defense was not that good. Obviously many have said and rightfully so that Martin Brodeur is the Devils’ best defenseman. He does make the defense look a heck of a lot better than it actually was… especially last year. But with youngsters like Matt Corrente and a full season of Bryce Salvador…this team may not be so bad off after all. An improved defensive core is expected as they could not be worse than last year.
Special teams will improve… it has to. The Power Play was abysmal…. ranking 25th at 15.6%. Brian Rolston will be a key cog here and Bobby Holik may help on the second unit clogging the front of the net. Rolston, a natural QB, on the man advantage may even put the team in the top half of the Power Play rankings when all is said and done. The Penalty Kill was 82.8% which ranked a disappointing 13th. Now 13th does not sound that bad but this is the New Jersey Devils. For years, they were ranked in the top 5 or 10 on the man disadvantage. That may return this year with the return of Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston. Again as good as they are on offense..they are even better on the defensive end. With a little mix of youth thrown in, the Devils will improve on this statistic as well.
Prognosis: The Devils are an old, aging team to a point…they ranked 2nd in the league in current age…only Anaheim is older at 30.6. If Brent Sutter can find a way to keep the window open just a bit longer and playing Martin Brodeur maybe 70-72 games maximum… then the Devils will be better off in the long run. The team will improve overall but so has the rest of the Eastern Conference. However, with injuries and defections from teams… the New Jersey Devils will benefit. The Devils will finish 2nd behind the Philadelphia Flyers and again end up 4th in the Eastern Conference. Question will be what playoff lesson did they learn but that is for another time.
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Just a crazy Devils fan on the West Coast.
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