GorillaBiscuits

Different era? I doubt average scoring is much different from 2003 then what this year was expected to be.

Edit:
2003 - 5.309
2012 - 5.320

You're not going to beat teams in 2013 with a defensive center with a 40 point ceiling. In 1995 the Devils could with their system. The 2003 team was just coached magnificently with a system that worked nearing the end of the trap era.

Ask yourself if they'd have won a round sans Parise with Josefson as a second line center last Spring.

In 2003 New Jersey won with Nieuwendyke as their 2nd line center with 45 points in 82 games. He wasn't exactly known for excellent defensive play.

In 1995 Carpenter was on 32 point pace for 82 games and NJ won the stanley cup.

I would feel confident lining Josefson up against a lot of 2nd lines in the NHL with him getting the better of them.

That was a different era of hockey, though. In 2003, Grant Marshall was playing on the 1st line at times and Pascal Rheaume as a regular in the lineup. in 1995, they rode lightning in a bottle with Neal Broten, who was no where near a top 3 forward or top 6 to a playoff spot and cup.

In 2013, a 42 point 2nd line center on a team with no offensive depth hoping for a playoff spot/Cup run isn't something i'd feel comfortable with. This team needs offense and sending a defensive player up into an offensive spot in the lineup can't be something to pin hopes on. It's bad enough i think we're going to see them think Steve Bernier and Ryan Carter are 3rd liners.

Spring 2010 when we got Kovy and were in a race to win the division attendance was way up

You could also look at it like we only draw as well as we do because of how we spend and thus produce.. But that argument basically admits that the Devils will be like the Blue Jackets or Islanders in terms of attendance if we're ever in a situation where our owner won't spend to make the team competitive and worth watching.. Might as move the team to Quebec right now and we can all become Rangers fans

Could they be in that position? Possibly. It does scare the hell out of me if the Devils went into a 3+ year or so span of them being a non-playoff team and not a very competitive organization at that. They're not like the Rangers who can withstand a history of failure and dissapointment. The Devils could never go 7 years plus a lockout of no playoffs like the Rangers. Even the other Original 6 teams like the Bruins, Blackhawks and the Wings pre-1990 or so floundered went through attendance and support issues over the years. The Rangers and Maple Leafs and Canadiens and even the Flyers will always thrive. That's not even getting into the NHL's favortism of these markets to begin with.

Ask yourself if the 1995 Cup win kept them here. I believe without the Cup, they'd be in Nashville.

The problem with the NHL is the haves and have nots are so pronounced that teams don't even have to win to be a billion dollar enterprise. That Forbes ranking is eye opening even if you don't believe the numbers. Even with numbers off a bit, it's still a staggering gap.

The long term key to the Devils in NJ is corporate ownership with a president/COO who understands the sports landscape in the 21st century. if that can be combined with any type of success on the ice, the Devils fortunes would change dramatically. Jeff Vanderbeek for all intents and purposes should sell this organization or find corportate backing because this team can not be a bottom 10 or even 15 payroll and regress into a period of worthless hockey.

Interesting, thanks for posting that. Hopefully he really did improve his shot and can become the 2nd line center. I'd be fine with those projected numbers when you factor in his quality defensive game.

I hadn't seen FenHARO+, FenHARD+ and FenHART+ yet so here is a glossary if anyone else needs it.

A 42 point 2nd line center isn't going to cut the mustard, even as a quality defensive player. Not on this team as currently constructed.

Isn't it a bit of a catch 22 for the Devils.. Winning brings in fans who bring in money, which needs to be spent on talent so that the team wins and brings in fans

When has this ever happened? This organization has never drawn the way it should given it's run of excellence and the dense population of the market in which they play in. They've cultivated a much larger fanbase then they had in 1995, but they still can't sell the building out on a regular basis even with a state of the art building.