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devilsrule33

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devilsrule33 last won the day on April 2 2017

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About devilsrule33

  • Birthday 09/27/1985

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  1. Patrik Elias retiring was going to have me come out of retirement. The last link we all have to those great teams that now seem so far away. I am sure we can debate HHOF or not for a long time and what could have been. And I bet in a different circumstance, on a different team, with a different style, with different teammates, the decision would be easy. But that's what Elias sacrificed, and he doesn't seem to have any issues with that. Patrik Elias did what every die-hard fan of a team wants their star player to do. He put winning before anything else. He took less money, less freedom, less fame for the good of the Devils. He accepted his role for the betterment of the team every time. He switched positions, switched lines and played with much less heralded players. And did so without any confrontation. He was all class. He treated the Devils with more respect than they probably showed him. It’s extremely rare for an athlete to stick for one team their entire career. Elias did this, but it was never a coach and player tied to the hip like say Tom Brady and Bill Belichik or Tim Duncan and Greg Popovich. It was anything but that obviously. After the A-line disbanded, it felt like he constantly took a backseat to other players for whatever reason. Pat Burns, Claude Julien, Brent Sutter, and Jacques Lemaire all seemed to fall in love with other forwards, their style of play and line matching at Elias’ expense. When Brent Sutter came along, he shamefully stripped Elias of the captaincy and gave it to a player that missed training camp and pre-season. In 2009, after one of the best seasons of his career, he saw a 40-year-old mid-season acquisition heavily cut into his minutes. I’ll always remember game 7 -- the saddest game in Devils history for me anyway - where 7 forwards saw more ice-time than Elias. An NHL coach thought it be best to give Jay Pandolfo and Brendan Shanahan 3 more minutes each than Patrik. Shanahan never played another second of NHL hockey. Pandolfo would be scratched the entire 2010 playoffs. But Elias kept quiet only to see three more coaching changes in 2 years. Sure it must have been fun to play second fiddle to Parise seeing ice-time with Brian Rolston and Dean McAmmond, or the lowest of lows – 35-year-old Rob Niedermayer. Remember that in 2010 Elias saw around the same ice-time per game as Brian Rolston and Rob fvcking Niedermayer. He still had 36 even-strength points in 58 games. Yup, he was still around, and 11 years after his career season, Patrik was once again finished in the top 10 of NHL scoring. Not playing with Parise or Kovalchuk. But by making David Clarkson relevant and a washed-up Petr Sykora relevant again (later scratched in the playoffs). That season was the first year in maybe his entire time that a coach used Elias like a horse he could be. At 35 He was a true all situational player playing just under 20-minutes per game (the most he ever played in his career). The Devils kind of needed Elias to be that in 2012. For as much talk about how Elias was that all-situational player, he never was used as one like many star players around the league. He wasn’t going toe-to-toe against other team’s top players. He wasn’t always defending the lead in the final seconds. He could have done that, but the Devils found themselves defending leads more than not and were happy to roll through lines and use a checking line against the other team’s best. In 2007, the Devils had one of the most dynamic lines in the league in Elias, Gomez and Gionta going, but Claude Julien was happy to give Jay Pandolfo as much ice-time as Patrik Elias. Different team, different coach, that line is giving Elias a 90-95 point season. That same season Marty St Louis had 102 points playing 24-minutes a game – almost 5 and a half minutes more than Elias. The Lighting needed St Louis to play that amount. The Devils just didn’t. Elias played more than 19 minutes once in his career. St Louis played 20+ minutes for 11 straight years. Elias was fine with that. He did what was asked for him. He took on any role and style and succeeded at it. Top line, secondary scorer, checking line. The Devils were really really good for 15 years when Patrik Elias was on the ice. With Elias, it seemed we always wanted more from him. But when it’s all said and done, he finished with over 1000 points playing most of his career in the dead-puck era on the most offensively prohibiting teams in the league, while never playing 1st line minutes or power play minutes that any 1000 point player in the history of the league was provided. The last time the Devils made the playoffs, who was the team’s best player that year? It wasn’t the 27-year-old great captain that would leave at seasons end. It wasn’t the 28-year-old 100-million dollar man who scored 83 points playing 5 minutes of PP time and 25 minutes of total time a game. No, it was 35-year-old Patrik Elias. The Devils own team overlooked him and gave the MVP to Zach Parise. The NHL overlooked him giving 1st team all NHL to Ilya Kovalchuk. Par for the course for Patrik Elias. Greatness was always there, but you always had to look a bit harder. Sometime it was missed by his own coaches, sadly his teammates, by fans of the Devils and the NHL. However, it’s not a coincidence the Devils were an elite team when Elias was an elite player. It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Devils faltered when Elias stopped being one.
  2. Fantasy football is just so dumb. Here I am in the finals riding Cam Newton's second half surge. Nothing more. Nothing less. I think I drafted a a solid team (a lot of luck with that as well). But here is now the season unfolded. - Steve Smith (out for the yr) - Keenan Allen (out for the yr) - Joseph Randle (sucked then released very early in the yr) - Jimmy Graham (sucked then out for the year) - LaGarrette Blount (out for the playoffs) - LeSean McCoy (injured here and there, now doubtful for the finals). I have no business coming within 60 points of RSC by week's end. He has an unbelievable team, and should take this crown home.
  3. The 76ers sucking has nothing to do with the owners being cheap or not caring about the franchise. You are smart enough to know that. They trusted a process. In two drafts, they have had no lottery luck and missed out on two superstar prospects. The top player they drafted has been injured for two years. Perhaps the GM has made some mistakes along the way, but as good owners, they stepped back and trusted this slow rebuild. But, it is well documented they are embarrassed with what is going on. No way they ever expected anything like this. It's why they (with most likely the league's assistance) brought in someone else to help out. They've added one of the most well respected NBA men to look over Hinke's (the GM) work. Lastly, that has nothing to do with the New Jersey Devils. Like absolutely nothing at all. Ray Shero has been given he power to do what he wants. The Devils are rebuilding but still signing NHL bodies like Stempniak, Moore, Tlusty...trading for Palmeiri. That's Shero's call, just like it was the 76ers GM's call not to sign any capable NBA free agents or veterans. Two GMs doing their own thing with minimal oversight from the owners.
  4. Panthers defense has holes when teams spread them out. They simply can't get any pass rush from their ends, and after Norman, their secondary is pretty bad. The good thing until now is that they've gotten huge leads before their opponents are forced to go to that strategy. That will probably end.
  5. Dainius Zubrus (1) from Joe Pavelski and Joe Thornton. That's incredible. Firstly, congrats to Zubrus. I always say this, and this goes for people that thought I had it out for Brodeur or anyone else. I care about the Devils, and I have nothing personal against any player. I have been wanting Zubrus gone from the Devils for a while. I was super happy when he was bought out, but I was rooting for him to get that spot with the Blues over Havlat. And I was really happy when he got to career his really incredible career with the Sharks. I absolutely love that he scored tonight for the Sharks. But, it's almost 2016 and Zubrus is playing on a top line with another HOF and another fantastic player in Pavelski. Nothing should surprise me...
  6. Not even close...but sure. One is a generational talent, the greatest shooter to ever play basketball, an MVP, and a league champion. He's been watched by any moderate basketball fan dozens and dozens of times. The other has played 6 career playoff games, and not one NHL game that any even big hockey fan can remember.
  7. In a way, he's not wrong. Jamie Benn has not had his coming out party on a big stage. He quietly won the Art Ross Trophy last year. The average hockey fan isn't watching Stars games. I bet most fans couldn't accurately describe his game or what makes him so good.
  8. Same old Pats D. The Patriots had won how many games in a row before this loss...13? 14? The offense has bailed out the Pats D more times than not, but the defense has done its share many times including the biggest INT in NFL history. The defense that gave up 7 points in the AFC Championship game The defense that picked off Flacco twice in the last 16 min of the AFC Divisional round. The defense that didn't allow a TD to the Giants in the second half a few weeks back, and got the big stop allowing the offense a chance to win late. The defense that preserved a TD lead last week against Buffalo. The Pats defense could make the stops for 10 straight weeks, and a few bad plays, and it's same old Patriots defense..
  9. I don't get the controversy. There is a process to be able to fix incorrect calls to correct ones. A linesman caught what the refs missed. From the replays I have seen, Campbell clearly shoots the puck. They got the call right. It sucks for the Devils.
  10. The absolute wrong move but one that ruined him? A small stretch in the NHL did that much damage? I doubt that.
  11. I think this is a bit of a stretch. There really may not be a difference at all, except the fact that Devils ownership/management making an effort to let the fans in, and get to know the players and show off their personalities. Obviously not marketing the players and their off-ice personalities was Lou's doing, but that isn't to say the players weren't having a good time behind the scenes. From the tidbits that TG reported, there was always laughs with Brodeur/Clarkson, Jagr and Zubrus, anyone and Zubrus. BUT...the last few years this was a veteran team, a lot of new faces from free agency not living up to expectations. The team had unreasonable expectations. There was a lot of losing. There was an uncomfortable goalie situation for a season. That isn't a Deboer or Lamoriello thing. It's just your job not going well. I can't speak to the Leafs situation. There's a lot of losing so far, but that was expected. The Devils could start losing soon, and the perceived looseness of the Devils may be considered a negative. There is no formula here, and whatever happens can be spun in an direction.
  12. There is no good way of doing this that satisfies everyone. A few years back people were sick of playing their division rivals almost every second week, and then some fans only had the opportunity to see Ovechkin or Crosby once every 4 years, and if there was an injury, it really suck. Most Eastern fans weren't thrilled to see the Oilers, but now it would suck if they had to wait 3 seasons to see McDavid (this is taking into account his injury). People want Edmonton to come to town. Chicago and LA were uneventful road teams, but most fans are lining up to see those teams now. As for the state of the league, I think the game is hurting a bit, but mostly in Canada. I'm sure the league is getting a little nervous with NHL ratings decline. And as for the Devils, it's really because this team is not very good, and there is just little do discuss right now. I mean the Devils have Lee Stempniak not only coming here on a PTO, but now playing the 1st line and being one of the leaders in ice-time for forwards. That kind of sums up where the Devils are right now. The things worth discussing are just minor. Can Gelinas ever be a regular in the NHL, do the Devils have something in Kalinin? This isn't to say what we were spending a ton of time arguing last year was anything more serious, but the expectations that we had about the team and players certainly were.
  13. Hope that's the case, but you bring in these "lunch pail" players that former AHL coaches have affection for, and they end up hanging around more than you'd like. Time will tell.
  14. This is the most pathetic quote and article written in some time. Why stop at the disappointing 2012 team, Gio? I actually think this team resembles the 2003 Cup winning team. It's not so far fetched.
  15. Congrats to all the Mets die hards here. What an absolute insane, out-of-nowhere season. Hope to be enjoying some Jays-Mets games next week!
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