Devil Dan 56

And to think. This guy almost kept the Devils out of the finals. What was he on the list of Flyers 'goaltenders-of-the-future-who-will-lead-us-to-the-Cup'? The 3rd one? 4th? 125th? Another funny thought. He had nearly half of his 13 career NHL shutouts during that one shutout streak in the 2003-04 season. He had 5 straight, right?

I think I may be headed to the game in Bridgeport. I'll be with Islander fans, though, if I do go. I'll get to hear all bout how Billy Guerin will lead them to a Cup.

Well, it was gonna happen sooner or later. But I think the Bruins made the right choice, if it was between him or Tim Thomas. At least Thomas is exciting to watch. He made some amazing saves last year... but then again, he didn't make alot of the more routine ones. Isn't Thomas just holding onto the back-up spot behind Fernandez until Rask is ready anyway?

Phoenix is going to start the season with Tellqvist and Aebischer in goal? Wow. So, Wayne spent the last 11 years of his playing career Cupless, and now has this duo of back-ups in net. It would be awful poetic for the Pens to put in 13 goals on them, leading Crosby to comment on how bad the team is by comparing it to, oh jeez, i don't know.... a cartoon character of some sort.

Yeah, its a real stretch for an excuse to have a banner lowering and re-raising (with the 740). But I guess it's all thats left to bring in the fans. Maybe they should just try not trading away young talent before it has a chance to mature.

Jeez. I mean, talk about living in the past. Should we ask the Wild if we can bring Lemaire back for a game next year? OH!! I know!! We'll ask Chico to sign a one game contract for opening night. Ok, I'm done. No point kickin the Isles while they're down. I think the saddest part may be the ceremony for the lowering and re-raising of his "739 Wins" banner if they win that one.

When you get super excited when you see the headline "Devils Sign..." even when the last words are "... Grand-Pierre."

The problem is if Brodeur plays like he did last season in the regular season, he'll be worn down and have a repeat performance of the last few playoff years. The Marty that played the Canes in 06 and the Sens on 07, and to an extent the Flyers in 04, wasn't the top notch Marty we know and expect.

I don't know how Finnish League numbers compare to the NHL when a player comes over, but Viuhkola had 45 points in 37 games last year, and 39 in 46 games the year before that. He may be a pleasant surprise. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=49094

Elias just had a rough year. Look at the way he played the year before this after he came back from the hepatitis, and how he played against the Rags in the playoffs that year. Remember the soccer kick pass?? He'll be fine. Although, I do agree I don't see him as a captain.

I actually didn't find Montreal too bad. Of course, I was wearing a Brodeur jersey, and up there, he's like Jesus with a better glove hand. But I went to Philly last year to see the Isles and Flyers. It was the last week of the season, Isles won, Flyers were in dead last by a long shot, and it was a full house with the Flyer fans still talking smack. So, they support their team, and I'd hate to have to deal with them this year, with a better team. My friend got heckled by an 8 year old. 8 Year Old: "Islanders suck!" My friend: "Your team is in last place!" 8 Year Old: "But the Islanders still suck." My friend: (confused pause) "Didn't your parents teach you to respect your elders?" Man I can't wait for the season to start!!

When 5 months into the season, the back-up starts and 15,000 people say, "who the hell is that guy?" When somehow it's YOUR teams responsibility to get Toronto into the playoffs on the last day of the season. When you can't wait till you can one day purchase the Christmas tree jersey with #29 BRODEUR on it.

Me and 3 friends of mine do all of our hockey road-tripping together. Only problem is I'm a Devs fan, 2 of them are Isles fans, and the other is a Canadiens fan. Needless to say, there's a lot of compromising on road trips. We try to hit Montreal atleast once a year. We'll be headed there this year to catch the Isles and Rags there on the same weekend. We're also planning on Devils in Boston and an Ottawa game of some sort, so if anyone has any advice on either of those cities, let me know.

I was at that game with 2 Isles fans. When that goal got scored, my one friend looked like he was gonna break down and cry. The other one shoved me when I started high fiving other Devils fans. He sat there and gave me the Look of Death for the entire overtime and shootout. I'm kinda glad the Isles won, or else that would have been a very uncomfortable car ride home... Oh, and because it meant Toronto's season was done...