Jerrydevil

I know. He hasn't done much.

If folks don't want to believe it, fine. But the truth is that Barry did say that the Devils were bad for hockey and he did say that four Devils could play for the Rangers. I don't think Barry has taken a good look at the entire Ranger roster, even before the fire sale. I thought he was way out of line and talking out of his ass. Melrose was spewing garbage yesterday. Like sundstrom said, Melrose said the Devils don't forecheck, and anyone who watches Devils hockey knows it isn't true. We can't finish, but it's not because the team doesn't create chances! I've got news for Barry Melrose and any other "experts." Change all the rules you want. Fine with me. Commitment to defense and hard work aren't ever going away. And as long as the Devils are committed to busting their asses, playing cohesively and backchecking - making defense a priority - they will continue to have success. It won't always be pretty, but winning is never pretty 100% of the time. F Melrose. He exposed himself as the clown that he is yesterday.

I agree with the general sentiment of this thread and of Pat Burns. It is not time to panic. The Devils' lack of size against Philly is a weakness, but to ignore Philly's weaknesses is stupid. They are far from impossible to beat. Larry Brooks had one good comment: Friesen and Kozlov were invisible. Those two sucked last night, and I'm looking for a better performance from them.

Oh, yeah, it's time for Rip Van Friesen to wake up.

Ya think?

Good story. We're going to find out how resilient the Flyers are. I question that team's intestinal fortitude (as well as their goaltending), I think a lot of people do. On the other hand, I don't think the Devils' heart is in question. The team has guts and no matter who wins, I'd be surprised if the Devils didn't give the Flyers all they can handle, and more.

I have two words Redrum: DAMIAN RHODES Just playing Devil's advocate.........

That's a good point......hopefully they won't get much ice time! LOL!

Flyers in 6, we'll agree to disagree. I think the Devils' defense corps is better (even without Stevens) and I think the Devs should be a slight favorite to oust the Flyers because of Brodeur, a better defense and better team speed. Let's see what happens.

I don't know how the Devils feel, but I feel that in the Flyers, the Devils got a favorable first-round opponent. I think the Devs match up well. The "experts" like to give the Flyers a big edge because of size, but they fail to acknowledge that the slow Flyer defense is going to have trouble with the Devils' speed. They also don't acknowledge that most of the Flyers' size is on the forward line, not the backline. The Flyers also are all European on the blue line with Desjardins out.....no one talks about that either, but it's likely a factor. There's not much intimidation going on on the Flyer defense. They are vulnerable. The Devs will probably outshoot the Flyers. The questions, as always, is will we score enough? I think we will. Devils in SIX

The Devil defensemen are still better. Does Philly have ANY Canadian or U.S. defensemen? All or most are Euros.

Hey, halfshark......give it a rest and stop acting like a putz.

The spirit of April Fool's Day lives on!

Very, very well put. There's a lot of false assumptions floating around out there about Devils hockey.

I hope they give the kid a look-see this weekend. I'm not holding my breath, though. I think the Devils do owe it to themselves and the fans to see if Parise can add a dimension. Why the heck not? He may hurt Rasmussen's morale, but he may pick up morale on the second line! LOL!

I think he probably will play both of them.....if the second seed and/or the division title is on the line Sunday. No great prediction there!

This story will definitely rankle more than a few Rangers fans....whether Brooks is right or not.

Columbus sells out every game. We certainly don't. Maybe it's the Devils that should go? It's not right for Devils fans to point the contraction finger elsewhere.

Be careful, Derek. It's been two months. Theo could even behave himself for two months. Well, maybe not. But let's not go crazy about anointing Jagr as a leader just because he played hard for a gutted team for two months. It's too early to say he's a citizen.

Sue, give Jagr time. He's only been there two months.

Good God, man, do you want to give the kid a chance or not? Jagr would teach Ovechkin: 1) How to get a coach fired 2) How to sulk 3) That splitting tens is OK at the blackjack table

Redrum, if ties are your No. 1 problem, I'm glad you're not the commissioner. Ties aren't so bad.

Cracks me up every time I read it.

Good Lord. Those HF posters should get a clue.

If I had to pick a division winner to face in the first round, it'd be Philly. Definitely not Tampa. LOL!