Maine Devil

Center Ice starts October 8, 2003 for this hockey season. My digital plan offers 1/2 season for $109, full season $159 and if signed up before 10/31 then it's $139 total 4 payments $34.75 each. My DirecTV is showing the game tonight as I posted on MSG. No Blackout in NY/NJ. It won't be long now just 7 more days for the regular season.

Hey, according to the program guide of DirecTV tonight's pre-season game is on MSG at 7 PM the Devils against the Rangers.

How about the Devils held Boston to 1 shot for 20 minutes starting at the 11 minute mark of the first period and out shot Boston 28-18 and lost 1-0 ? Still pre-season not to worry. Flex Potvin had his night.

Fighting during pre-season for rookies is a way for young players to make the team or show themselves off. The Devils are not known as a hitting team or as a hard hitting team and certainly not a fighting team. The Devils don't get prospects for fighting and there aren't any fighters left of the veterans. Don't worry fighting will stop when the real season begins and there won't be any at playoff time. As for hitting that's something the Devils have to learn to do that is take the body. But that's like the PP it doesn't fit into a defensive team's strategy. Marshall should have known better he is experienced and . If he got hurt shame on him.

The owners created what ever financial problem they presently have, if in fact they even have one. It's time for them to open the books, both sets and start to manage the hockey business as businessmen and not children. The players can't be faulted for being given these salaries or taking them if in fact the salaries are the problem in the first place. Hockey is a difficult game to watch in person because of the speed and therefore it is very hard to watch for some on TV. The real money made in most sports leagues is the revenue from TV. The NHL has a problem with TV revenues and ability to get a good or decent TV contract. So they suffer because of the control of the TV contract. Revenue sharing as suggested earlier in this thread is the answer for the smaller teams and Canadian teams with the dollar difference and financial balance that is necessary to sustain the NHL for the future. The richer owners don't want revenue sharing so they will accept a strike to rid themselves of the small market teams and Canadian teams that can't compete against the US Dollar vs Canadian Dollar. In the meantime the fan will suffer because of the negatives in the final season before the lockout and NHL hockey will be less when all is done.

Interesting posts regarding Joe and his signing. Lou shouldn't have signbed him because he wasn't worth the money for the entire season. His play early on really doesn't matter. PepperKorn said it very well about his petering out as the pressure come on. That should have been observed during the years he played with the Devils. Any comparison with Almo is wrong, Almo was talented and not a flash of his old self at the wrong time. I wish Joe well as I do every player that leaves the Devils. They all leave for the same reason, MONEY. With the Devils losing money and team financial value coming down annually Lou can't waste money on maybes at $5 M.

Thank you ESB for the information regarding the sale of the Yankee/Nets teams. It would appear that the Devils don't fit into anyones plans right now. That's too bad because without the basketball and hockey teams together it will be difficult to get something going re: arena in NJ. Unless the Corzine group get the Nets and keep them in NJ. Devilminder is right the Devils should come to Maine. Could go to Banger a hockey town because of the Black Bears (University of Maine hockey). Portland has an AHL team. I just can't imagine that there isn't a buyer in NJ (many wealthy people in NJ) for the Devils to keep them in NJ somewhere if not at CAA for a while.

ESB do you know what's happening with the sale of the Nets and maybe the Devils? Corzine was interested in the Nets. I don't know that there was a buyer for the Devils. They should be packaged for NJ. Thanks for info.

Marty mentions other Devils as the choice for MVP but he is really talking about himself. He wants another notch in his belt. One could say that the MVP is the player that rises to the occasion during the playoffs to the finals. With Marty it's expected so his has a disadvantage because his play is expected. In addition there are those that still believe his records are based on the constant total defensive play of the Devils and the players in front of him. Marty was the MVP IMO for the 2002/2003 Devils season. he kept them in many a game.

I am very glad for Sykora> I feel he has earned a position of respect in the NHL. Now please don't put him down because of physical injuries and refusal to play as we really don't know the extent of his pain or possible further injury should he come on the ice and play. Many players for the Devils have bailed out a game of two because of injuries or sickness during the playoffs. Don't you wonder why the Devils have so many players that get food poisoning during the playoffs, especially on the road? Are the Devils management buying bad and cheap food for players? I don't think so. I think this is a Devils excuse for an injury.

They will love him on Broadway.

Titans would be a good move locally for building the Devils hockey fan base. People would watch at cheaper prices the Titans and if a star is born and goes to the Devils then that fan could start buying seats for Devils games. However I suspect, with the pending strike for 2004 for the NHL not the AHL and the possibility of the Devils moving elsewhere (new State) or going out of business if no buyers (can't keep losing dollar value of club and operating moneys) they are just cutting their losses. Albany can't be a money maker or breaking even and they haven't been winning so no or very little platoff activity must be losing money. It's too bad they can't be combined Rats and Titans and be the Devils farm.

Imagine having your first line as Forsberg, Hejduk and Tanguay (after Tanguay signed this past weekend) and your second line being Kariya, Selanne and Sakic and having a backup goalie in goal David Aebischer. If Colorado could have Marty in goal with these two lines you could ship the Cup there now. It will be thrilling when the Devils meet them this season on November 1, 2003 in CAA @ 1 PM.

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Lou did it and it was a great move because he is a center, cheaper and durable. Lat's give it a chance. The Devils didn't really need to do anything so this has to be a plus and a positive move for Lou. If he turns out to be a bad choice it didn't cost much and won't hurt the team offensively. This is still a defensive team with a strong influx of defensive minded coaches and GM that jas won them 3 Cups in 9 years. If you want a highly offensive team you must pick another NHL team.

I am kind of glad this signing of Nieuwy is over. It's been a roller coaster for some of you. I didn't feel he was worth bringing back based on his performance the past two years during the season and especially during the playoffs. The Devils won without him on the ice or in the locker room. They can hire a leader for the locker room a lot cheaper than Nieuwy that doesn't have to skate, win face offs & score. Lou will get someone, if the team is in position for a run at the cup, in March 2004. In the meantime he will go with what they have and see how it plays out. I agree with his decision regarding Nieuwy. I am glad it's over. Let's get on to the season starting. If Lou needs a center later he will get one. Let's see what happen in the early regular season. Remember this is a defensive team not an offensive team. It's strength is in defense, its President & GM plus coaches are defensive minded. It's all about defense for the Devils.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/hock...vils/index.html New Jersey Devils Preview By Jon A. Dolezar, SI.com Devils at a Glance Head coach:Pat Burns 2003-03 record: 46-20-10-6 After a summer spent sipping champagne out of Lord Stanley's Cup, the New Jersey Devils are ready to hit the ice and fend off all comers. They first may have to fend off their critics who chide them for playing a boring style of hockey, but as long as they score more goals than they give up, what's the big deal about how they do it? The ring is the thing, and the Devils have three in the past nine years, thank you very much. Some organizations get by on talent alone, but in New Jersey, the Devils rely on hard work, impeccable leadership and a time-tested system as much as the skill in the locker room. Sounds an awful lot like The Sopranos, doesn't it? The Devils' resurgence to the top of the NHL was remarkable because a good chunk of the roster was remade within a calendar year of falling to the Avalanche in the 2001 Stanley Cup finals. Popular scoring-line players Jason Arnott, Bobby Holik and Petr Sykora were jettisoned as the team went for a speedier core of forwards. The drive surrounding the Devils' organization starts at the top and works its way down to the worker-bee players who are asked to buy into the system. CEO Lou Lamoriello is notoriously stern and can be paranoid about maintaining his veil of secrecy. Head coach Pat Burns can be cantankerous and hates losing more than most bench bosses. Together they remade a roster that was bounced in the first round in 2002 and turned it into a Stanley Cup champ a year later. Lamoriello didn't even have much time to savor the Devils' Cup win before he had to turn his attention to the NHL Draft and free agency period. "I think you enjoy everything immediately," Lamoriello said. "But then you have to put it behind you becuase you know it's not going to help you in September. Nobody is going to know what you did last year. You kind of allow yourself to get complacent if you sit around thinking about your success too much. But when winning gets old, it's time to get on the beach with a cigar." So long as Martin Brodeur is in goal for the Devils, Lamoriello may be savoring victory cigars in June rather than retirement cigars on the beach. Jeff Friesen, LW -- Friesen couldn't live up to the hype in San Jose or Anaheim, and his first three months in New Jersey weren't much to write home to Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan about, either. Lamoriello has built the Devils around the philosophy of not having just one go-to guy, but even he can't deny that Friesen's impressive postseason run raised his value in the eyes of the organization. Friesen scored just seven goals and nine assists in his first 35 games in a New Jersey uniform, and once again looked like the talent tease he was in his first two NHL stops. But he scored 16 goals and 19 assists to go along with a plus-17 rating in the final 46 games of the regular season and a seemingly new player was born. The Bruins and Lightning did a good job keeping Friesen in check in the first two round of the playoffs, but he exploded for three game-winning goals in the Devils' seven-game triumph over the Senators in the East finals. The momentum carried through to the Stanley Cup finals, where Friesen tallied three times in the first two games, including the game-winner in Game 1. That gave him a remarkable four game-winning goals in a seven-game span, solidifying his position as a clear difference-maker on the occassionally offense-starved Devils. Friesen credits playing alongside Joe Nieuwendyk for much of the season as a reason for his second-half and postseason surge. "It felt great to be such a big part of the team's success," Friesen said. "Joe really saved my career in a sense, and he taught me how to work hard to be a great player." On a team that gets criticized for not having enough offense or for playing too rigid of a system, Friesen's fleet feet and hard shot make him among the top offensive threats. Defensive depth -- Logic dictates that the defending champs likely have fewer weak spots on their roster than other franchises, and it's really nitpicking to even criticize the Devils' depth on the blueline. It's hard to find a group of top-four defensemen any better than Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski, Scott Stevens and Colin White, but the Devils lost the next four on the depth chart after that impressive quartet. Gone from last year are Tommy Albelin, Ken Daneyko, Richard Smehlik and Oleg Tverdovsky, to be replaced by free-agent pickup Sean Brown and some combination of minor-league veteran Ray Giroux and youngsters David Hale, Matt DeMarchi and Paul Martin. "Our four top defensemen get X number of minutes of ice," Lamoriello said. "These young fellows will get the same amount of minutes as the people did last year. They will have time to develop." Martin and DeMarchi were teammates for the past three seasons at the University of Minnesota, so they know winning, too, as the the two-time defending NCAA champions. Martin has a higher offensive upside (77 assists in three years at Minnesota), but DeMarchi (473 PIM in four years at Minnesota) is bigger, tougher and more NHL ready. Both Minnesota products could be passed by Hale, whom the Devils selected with the 22nd pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Hale only produced 26 points in three seasons at North Dakota, but scouts believe the 6-foot-2, 225-pounder could become a Stevens-type player. "What we will get out of them is quality minutes every time because they are going to try to do everything to the T," Lamoriello said. "So I look at it as them making us better overall because of the enthusiasm they'll bring to the other four." It's good to have a strong weak link when you are at the top of the heap. Can the Devils repeat? As long as No. 30 is healthy, there's no reason why they can't. Brodeur has inherited the mantle as the best goaltender in the world from boyhood idol Patrick Roy. Even if the Devils don't bring back Nieuwendyk -- who they remain hopeful of re-signing -- they still have plenty of leadership and scoring. Jersey did just fine without Nieuwendyk in the Cup finals, though his presence would give Burns added depth and enable him to play John Madden and Sergei Brylin. Madden doesn't have the scoring touch or panache to his game that Sergei Fedorov, Peter Forsberg and Mike Modano do, but Madden is emerging as a world-class two-way player. The defensive work he did in the postseason against Joe Thornton, Vincent Lecavalier and Daniel Alfredsson would make Frank Selke blush with envy, but Madden is still best as a third-line center who can shut down the opponent's top line while providing the threat of a counterattack. New Jersey has played in the Stanley Cup finals in three of the past four seasons, but the East is still the more wide open of the two conferences so anything could happen. A team could come along like the Hurricanes did two years ago to challenge the Devils' supremacy, but New Jersey did nothing in the offseason not to deserve at least the preseason co-favorite role with Eastern Conference finalist Ottawa. Zach Parise, C, 5-11, 185 pounds Born: July 28, 1984 Hometown: Faribault, Minn. Acquired: No. 17 overall pick in 2003 NHL Entry Draft Zach Parise may have been the Devils' dream draftee. He's fast, unselfish, he doesn't mind playing a bit of a defense and he buys into the team system. Lamoriello didn't like the possibiliy of being pegged as an "NCAA guy", but his success in drafting and signing former college players has been ahead of his peers. Brian Gionta (Boston College), Madden (Michigan), Rafalski (Wisconsin) and Jay Pandolfo (Boston University) all are former college stars, and the Devils have spent their top pick in three of the past six years on college players. Lamoriello went back to college hockey again this summer by selecting Parise in the first round. Many people thought Parise would go before the 17th pick, so when the skilled North Dakota center still was available at that position, Lamoriello swung a deal to move up to grab the son of 14-year NHL veteran J.P. Parise. "He brings the total package," Lamoriello said. "He brings hockey sense, enthusiasm, a passion for the game, 100 percent effort all the time and tremendous character. We couldn't be more excited to have him in the organization. He's a prototype young Devil." Parise will return to North Dakota for his sophomore season, but he likely will compete for a roster spot in 2004-05, assuming the NHL can avoid a work stoppage. Forwards Line Left Wing Center Right Wing First Jeff Friesen Joe Nieuwendyk (unsigned) Brian Gionta Second Jay Pandolfo John Madden Jamie Langenbrunner Third Patrik Elias Scott Gomez Grant Marshall Fourth Erik Rasmussen Sergei Brylin Turner Stevenson Extras Thomas Pihlman Mike Rupp Jiri Bicek Defensemen First Pair Scott Stevens Brian Rafalski Second Pair Colin White Scott Niedermayer Third Pair Sean Brown Ray Giroux Extras David Hale Matt DeMarchi Goaltenders Starter Martin Brodeur Backup Corey Schwab Arrivals Player Position Signed from Sean Brown D Boston Matt DeMarchi D Minnesota (WCHA) Jeff Friesen LW Re-signed David Hale D North Dakota (WCHA) Paul Martin D Minnesota (WCHA) Ahren Nittel LW Oshawa (OHL) Thomas Pihlman LW JYP Jyvaskyla (Finland) Ilkka Pikkarrainen RW HIFK Helsinki (Finland) Erik Rasmussen LW Los Angeles Aleksander Suglobov RW Lokomotiv Yaroslavl (Russia) Colin White D Re-signed Departures Player Position Signed with Ken Daneyko D Retired Mike Danton C Traded to St. Louis Jim McKenzie LW Nashville Oleg Tverdovsky D Avangard Omsk (Russia) Jon A. Dolezar covers the NHL for SI.com.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2003/writ...oves/index.html

If Leetch is willing to take a $3 M pay cut per year, he was being paid $9 M and wanted $8 M but took 2 years at $13.5 M then Nieuwy should be thinking about a cut with the Devils. Is he worth $3 M instead of $5 M? Maybe $2.5 M.