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Luke was so good, he is going to be a superstar like his brother. And shout out to mcleod, he really stepped up this post season. He was downright an anchor for the team to stabilize from at points.

McLeod has been absolutely outstanding all playoffs

What an overall absolutely amazing season that none of us remotely expected. Such a huge turn around from last season, the biggest ever. Most wins ever, Hughes with the most points ever. Beating the rangers in 7 for the 1st time. Actually playing in May. Beats the absolutely misery of the past decade with nothing to give a sh!t about besides stupid draft lottos and draft picks that I don't give a fvck about besides hoping they turn out good. I had an absolute blast attending home games this year and watching this team. Love seeing our fan base rejuvenated. Was nice to finally balance out all those miserable nights I've spent watching dog sh!t hockey the past decade at the rock. Thank you Devils!!!

Just got back. First thing…shared intermission brews with @Lateralous and @MadDog2020 and that was a blast. Great meeting Lateralous for the first time and seeing MD2020 again. Obviously lots to love about this game…especially so many guys finding the net…maybe now the damn dam breaks for both Nico and Timo. Not going to kill VV but at the same time pucks are just not finding him during these playoffs. Luuuuuuuuke…just keep playing him Lindy. Guy might indeed be one of those fast-trackers who can handle the NHL quickly. And is it possible to healthy-scratch Brewnet?! It’s getting dangerously close to feeling like he’s getting advice from Recchi at this point.

Had to dvr. Just finished watching. What a wild game. Congrats Devils!!! A few thoughts: 1. Luke was missed in games 1 and 2 and I absolutely love his game even despite a bad turnover on PP. 2. I like the 7D roster. Canes forecheck is hard to handle. 3. Canes got beaten bad, but this team can always find another gear. They never lost composure, so don't be fooled by the score. Game 4 will be much tougher. 3 SHG must never happen again. 4. VV makes me nervous 5. McLeod is amazing Let's go Devils!!!!!!!

MB3’s son is out of surgery (was 8.5 hrs long) and though he’ll have a long recovery ahead, at least this part is over. Passing this along as he asked me to let everyone know. Also wanted to thank all for the well wishes and prayers. Hope they all get through the tougher days still ahead.

This will get deleted almost immediately, but hi there -- MB3 checking in. I'm hoping DM will let it stay up, I'm just going to say my piece and delete this account. It was weird celebrating a fun season without some people I've been talking Devils-hockey with for nearly two decades. I've had several people reach out to me on HFBoards and Reddit, gotten a few texts from old guys I was close with here. You guys rule. The last time the Devils won a playoff series I was celebrating with you guys while studying abroad in Europe. It's been 11 long and dark years. I won't get into the ban. I can disagree with the specific reason I was prema-banned but I cannot disagree that it was eventually deserved. I've had it coming for years. SD's had it coming for years, too. Mfitz -- I still strongly feel that he did not deserve the ban, and I'm sad for him. He got caught up in a messy situation and was unfairly lumped into the MB3-SD category. He didn't cross a line. I've lurked (hard to go cold-turkey from a place that you spent every day at for 17 years of your life) and I see some of you are pushing for him to be reinstated. I encourage you all to continue that, I think he deserves it. The board is better with him. You'll probably find it funny that the singular most unusual friendship was created from the ban. Me, SD and Mfitz are in a group-chat. We talk every single day. All day every day, weirdly enough. We talk bout the Devils, about stupid stuff, about life decisions, about our families, about our jobs, about SD drinking milk out of bags and about Mfitz being repeatedly hit on by his daughter's friend. Mfitz is a hottie. It's goofy and stupid and goes off on tangents that every one of you here could've predicted. There are many reasons I'm posting this. I think all of you know that I became a dad 18 months ago. I grew up with a lot of you, and this information feels like it should be shared. My son will be undergoing an emergency brain surgery on Wednesday, May 24th. It is a dangerous and risky surgery for a dangerous ailment that would've killed him within the next few years -- so it is necessary. If you have a minute to say a prayer, or send good vibes, or whatever your affliction might lead you to do, I'd appreciate it. I'm not asking to be reinstated. I'm just popping by to say hello, since it feels weird that I haven't done that in months. If/when DM or msweet is reading this, I will log off from this account and I will not continue to post from it. I'm not trying to sneak my way back on here. Go devils -MB3.

Someone's getting reincarnated as a cricket....🦗

Dear New Jersey Devils, Okay, I’ve got a four-pack of an 11%-ABV triple-IPA and a four-pack of a 13%-ABV barrel-aged Mexican stout for the game. Every time I see something I like from you guys today, I’m chugging the stout. Every time I see something I don’t like, I’m chugging the trip. Every time I feel like chugging and it has nothing to do with the game, I’m chugging. All I know is this: I’m going to have a great day…and tomorrow at work is going to be really rough. Oh, and good luck today. I suppose. Best, NJCroMag

From a facebook page I randomly saw

Dear New Jersey Devils, Please accept this inspirational parable as my best wishes for a game one victory tonight against the Hurricanes... The moral of the story, obviously, is that...uhhh...there are still parts of North Carolina where people don't wear shoes? That's...wow...that's the best I've got. I'm not very good at this, apparently. Anyway...best of luck! With eternal love, NJCroMag [AUTHOR'S NOTE: I had to Google it afterwards, but apparently, the story is about how important it is to have the right mindset and attitude to properly assess a situation. But I like my shoes theory better.]

MB3, prayers to your son and hopeful for a full recovery. I sincerely hope your son gets to live a full life. Way down in importance, I am glad the three of you found each tolerable off the forums. But as others have said, this place has been way more enjoyable without the three of you taking over all the threads. Best of luck to you too Mfitz, since I see you just attempted to register too.

Hopefully we strap Kevin Bahl to a chair this summer, Clockwork Orange style, and just show him video of that one shift he had against the Rangers where he crushed everything in his path over and over and over

There is no universe in which I would give a 30-year old goalie who already has significant wear and tear (remember, this dude plays every game) $10 million a year for 7 years. No. fvcking. Way.

Lindy confirms in the post game that Jack played though an injury tonight and was surprised he played. He refused to come out of the lineup.

I'll take it, crickets only live for like 90 days so I'll be back even quicker for the next one!

I like McLeod finding another gear for the playoffs. Playoff character right there.

LHughes broke that defensive triangle up so easily, he needs to be on the PP unit for now on

Having trouble embedding tweets right now for some reason, but Todd Cordell makes a good point on why you don’t make that trade if you’re the Devils: Kind of funny you hear the #NJDevils , for example, won't go anywhere until they get a marquee goalie and the only one still playing is Oettinger (.895 SV% these playoffs). Bobrovsky was benched to start R1, Hill has a career high of 27GP, and the Hurricanes use a $6.5M tandem. The prudent move is to see if Akira is the real deal. He certainly flashed enough to get the chance.

BOOOM ENJOY YOUR HEARTS BEING RIPPED OUT LAST MINUTE CAROLINA!

Also, Kyle Beach aside, through their inaction with Aldrich he went on to work for a high school and assault more kids. I'd have trouble living with myself knowing my inaction, due to my own selfishness, lead to kids getting hurt(to put it lightly). I'd be ashamed and deserving of disgrace. Both these dudes are dying to get back in the league-- they just want this whole thing to go away and move on from it like nothing happened. I haven't really seen/heard them own any of it. Zero responsibility. That they both must think that being out of a job for a couple years is good enough just shows how little they must give a sh!t.

These trolls are seriously 10/10

What if the fairly raw rookie goalie who just completely shut down the Rangers in 4 of 5 playoffs games, following a regular season where he had a lower GAA and higher save percentage than Hellebuyk, turns out to be the real deal?

One big takeaway from these playoffs is there’s no question Jack is a true franchise player. There was not one ounce of drop off in his play. Love Nico but thank the gods we hit that 2nd lottery.

I always love how people always gotta come in and make folks feel bad for being mad about losing. Yea, season is a success all things considered. Easily a massive W. But let me fvcking be mad in this moment while they're getting spanked lol.

Over the past 8 years or so, I've considered myself one of the "draft prospect guys" on this board. I had no idea the lottery was tonight. If that's not a sign that it's a great time to be a Devils fan, I don't know what is. I could hardly care any less where Bedard, Fantilli, Michkov, etc. end up.

I just saw the draft lottery is tonight. Sure is nice we’ve been focused on actually playing hockey in May instead of all that. Hockey gods please send Bedard to Anaheim and not Columbus.

Teehee

Look how long it took the insanely talented Leafs core to even sniff the 2nd round. If the Devils can’t figure out CAR you just have to tip your cap to Brind'Amour and his team. There’s a reason they finished 2nd overall in the league, and made us feel like they literally never lost at times during the season.

A banner Nashville would be proud of!

Not even a question.

Classicccccccc

The buck stops with the head coach. You are the HEAD COACH. If sh!t goes down on your watch, YOU are responsible. Because great leaders fvcking LEAD, and that means taking responsibility for the sh!t that happens under your watch whether or not you are directly at fault. Period, end of story. So there is no ‘victim of circumstance’ here, because Joel Quenneville, when presented with the information that Brad Aldridge was sexually abusing a player on the team, chose to ignore it. A leader steps up and fires that motherfvcker, and calls the cops. Joel Quenneville maybe a great hockey coach, but he’s no leader. He’s a piece of sh!t, and anyone that hires him should he ashamed.

As the Rags main asset is their power play, it would be great if he went there. 😁

Yeah it’s Schneider all over again. No thanks.

Bratt can fvck right off.

We eliminated the rangers. I'm going hold onto that. I'm excited for next season. Making strides

And someone here keeps bringing up Connor Hellebuyck, but there's two HUGE problems: His upcoming cap hit for this season ($6,166,666). Guess if Fitz chose not to pay Bratt then you can take the hit, but... ...he's also a UFA the following year. You'll be paying absolute top dollar for his Age 31 and beyond seasons. Anybody want this guy at 35 years old making $9-10 million AAV with 3 years or so left on his deal? How many prime years does he have left (see Schneider, Cory)? Doesn't sound ideal to me at all...especially with the other guys the Devils are going to want to keep and pay up for. The Devils really gotta develop netminders from within and keep their goaltending costs down for as long as possible.

Dear New Jersey Devils, I decided to consult my Magic Eight Ball this morning to see if you'd do me a solid and pull out a W tonight. First answer: "Outlook not so good." Tried again: "Very doubtful." Unacceptable, went again: "My reply is no." Not good enough, kept going: "Don't count on it." Awful, did another: "Ask again later." Decided to end there. At least it was non-committal. Good luck tonight, NJCroMag

Getting swept in the 1st round would have been an embarrassment. This is just a bump in the road big picture wise.

So glad I don't have to focus on this this year (or any time soon).

I ran into the Devils tattoo guy Saturday night at the Finch concert @ Le Poisson Rouge in the Village. Super fvcking nice guy. We talked for a while after the show as well. If I ever decide to get a tattoo, it's definitely going to be from him haha. Btw, I am absolutely hammajamma'd in this photo. Been loving the emo/screamo anniversary shows that have been happening recently. This was the 20th anniversary of What It Is To Burn being released. Turns out he and I were also both at the 10 year anniversary show at Irving Plaza.

Had to dig that oldie out. Let’s go boys!

Crazy.

I retired after an abominable Rangers loss a few years ago

Despite all the early “low end #1’s” talk, these two both turned into franchise changing players just like they were supposed to.