Snowman

how many turnovers did the devils have in the neutral zone? how many sloppy passes or blind passes? the 5th tampa bay goal was paul martin *backhanding* the puck along the boards, didn't clear the zone, then he didn't play "stay at home". marty could use a rest. if the devils are going to deal for cross or semenov or anyone else who knows how to play "D", now is the time. mcgillis was an embarassment on the ice (-2 on just e/s goals). paul martin played terribly. time to change the defensive pairings. time to bring up david hale. time to ditch the forwards who aren't producing. time for elias to get healthy. i like larry robinson as much as the next fan, but the team isn't delivering for him. after the last ugly stretch of hockey, there was some serious "team time" before a practice. time for some loud, considered, and thoughtful yelling. this is pro sports, but it's a job. we pay to consume this product. and the product, despite some nice features (marty, parise, gionta, brylin) has too many defects right now.

basic breakouts of the defensive zone were sloppy at best. need some serious skating "D" to help -- the days of the big banger who clears the crease area are over. bring up david hale, get paul martin healthy, and get someone else who can skate with the puck. i saw more shots from outside the face-off circles than i could count. those are fine if there's someone in front to deflect the puck or tip a rebound in (gionta's goal, for example) but firing the puck into traffic is as good as leaving it at the blue line while you skate back. you play the game the way you practice it. at practice on tuesday, parise and madden stuck around to the end, skating and working on one-timers (i was at south mountain anyway and stuck my head into practice). halfway through the first period, my 11 year old son said "if this was us we'd be doing waterfalls [herbies] for 2 hours tomorrow".

so when patrik elias is healthy again and ready to rejoin the team, how do the devil make salary cap room for him? freisen went because they needed some headroom, but i don't think lou can slide patrik's new contract under the cap even without friesen's salary on board.

new member, found the site while googling around waiting for a staff meeting to end (thank heaven for wireless networks). by day: nerd, writer, photographer, manager of NJ Devils Youth Hockey team (pee wee "B"). read my hockey blogs graciously hosted by my employer. by night: writer, devils fan, ebay addict, ceo and emperor for life of the aggressive snowman group. claim to fame: scott gomez recognizes me in the parking lot at south mountain arena. of course, if you were forced to endure 4 1/2 hours of playing golf with me (i am to golf what the ny rangers are to teamwork and winning), you'd have bad dreams that made you remember faces too. and i've run into patrik elias on the little league field (watching a softball game). fandom: elias. gomez. jamie langenbrunner, who is as nice a guy as you'll ever meet. george parros, with the LA kings. jeff halpern, washington capitols.