Jerrydevil

This thread is a little creepy.

The Isles will hold off the Sabres.

My vote is for Jay Pandolfo. This is the ideal role player. Good checker, good penalty-killer, and he pops in a goal every now and then. Basically, he's John Madden without the Selke hype.

Neal Broten, Ken Morrow, Slava Fetisov.

bg, Here's what I think about the Flyers....once they hit some adversity in the playoffs, they won't hold up. I don't see a lot of character there. Plus, they're the slowest team in the East, right alongside the Rangers. Oh, yeah, and the goaltender merry-go-round thing. They can bruise with the best of 'em, but I don't think that's enough. Their bodies are big, but their hearts aren't nearly as big. That's why I think the Devs would beat them in the playoffs.

Or, you could just say you were wrong.

Matteau, I was not assaulted at the Wachovia Center, LOL! In fact, I met a few nice Flyer fans and talked hockey. Imagine that! I got a few comments about the Devil gear, that's about it, no big deal. That's to be expected. My problem is when the team encourages the fans to throw things at opposing fans. No good. Even visiting fans don't deserve that. This is an NHL game, not Iraq.

LOL! I'm definitely laying off the Kool-Aid when it comes to the "hits to the head" issue.

Sorry I made you cranky, PK. You can have open-ice hits with a no-hit-to-the-head rule. I can't believe there are people who believe Stevens wasn't trying to KO Lindros. That's naive.

I agree that you can't prevent concussions in a violent game on a hard sheet of ice. But you can cut down on the head injuries if you penalize all hits to the head. People take that notion to extremes, saying that the physicality in hockey will be lost with that rule. It's not true, but players will be more responsible when they're hitting people if the head is off limits. That's a good thing. How many times have we said that players don't have respect for each other when they wave the stick around like sword. The same goes for hitting high IMO.

Lindros took it right on the chin.

I hate this question because: 1) If the Devils move to another city, they're dead to me 2) It's hard to root for another team when you've poured your heart into this one

I don't rank Philadelphia as much of a threat as Tampa, Ottawa and Toronto. I want Philly in Round 1. We will send them packing.

It's all in good fun for fans with common sense and common decency. But what the Flyers are doing is encouraging the idiots to misbehave. Shouldn't the team be above that nonsense? And there are a few idiots in Philadelphia. To be fair, there are idiots in NJ, too. I know, they used to sit above me in Section 228.

I think blaming Lindros and Naslund for having their heads down is a major-league cop-out. People are more concerned about protecting Scott Stevens' legacy and reputation than the health of NHL players. It's a JOKE. You know why Stevens hit Lindros in the head? Because he wanted to knock him out. And if there was a rule against hits to the head, he wouldn't have unloaded.

We creamed Carolina the last time we played them and yet Carolina just beat the best team in the East record-wise, Tampa. It's the NHL, if it was predictable, Vegas wouldn't allow you to bet.

NJ96, there's no reason, in my mind, why the NHL can't require players to respect each other's melons. I'm a big Scott Stevens fan, like every other Devil fan. He hits according to the rules. I don't like the liberal rules. Hits to the head are dangerous, and avoidable most of the time. Players know when their opponent is vulnerable. Just like players are responsible for keeping their sticks out of players' faces, they should be responsible for keeping their checks out of players' faces.

I agree with Lindros: all hits to the head should be penalized. It's about time they start protecting the brains of players in this league.

I'll bet Lou weighed the cost of a defenseman against the chances of the Devs going far in the playoffs without Stevens or with a rusty Stevens. Sometimes, you just have to fold your cards.

NJay, I listened to the local sports radio show on the drive home, and I couldn't believe the balls on some of these callers. One guy wondered, "Who in the East is gonna beat us?" It's funny. Because this Flyer team is good, but not "Cup" good. Their 1995, 1997 and 2000 teams were a lot better.

I agree, RD, it's cheap and the Maple Leafs oughta know better. What the Flyers did was worse. They're basically saying that it's open season on visiting fans, even if they're minding their own business. Bush league stuff.

Yesterday was disappointing. But I'll go out on a limb....if the Devs draw the Flyers in the first round, the Devs will send them home. They are bigger than the Devs (a lot bigger), but the Devs can skate circles around that team....the Devs HAVE to make that team pay for commiting penalties, though. Yesterday, they didn't. There's a reason why the Devs grossly outshot the Flyers yesterday: they can't deal with the Devs speed, and as long as the passes are crisp and the legs are moving, the Flyers will have trouble with that. Bring on those jerks. That's my positive contribution.

What can you say about a franchise that encourages violence against visiting fans? It's despicable. There were two instances of this yesterday, both occurring during stoppages of play. First, they stage a gag in which an unsuspecting Devil fan gets a beverage dumped on his head. Later, they show a clip from Animal House when the fraternity is reviewing the pledges. When Flounder's picture is shown, the frat guys throw stuff at the projector. Well, the Flyers "cleverly" put the title "Devils fan" underneath Flounder's picture. Yeah, it's an attempt at humor, but it's classless, but not surprising considering the history of the team and who the GM is. Still, an NHL team should know better than to encourage bad behavior.

Wow, 400 wins. That's not sarcasm either. Tremendous accomplishment. But anybody could have won 400 in the Devils' defensive system! THAT'S Sarcasm.

Redrum, I am hearing you. I doubt Stevens is coming back, and even if he does, I think the Devils will struggle to win a round. No way am I killing Lou for not trading for a tough defenseman. It'd be nice to have Sean Hill or Brendan Witt, but I have no idea what the cost was. Someone reported Hill wanted an extension as a prerequisite for waiving the no-trade clause. If that's true, then screw him. I don't want that guy for two or three years. And Witt had to cost a lot in a trade....he doesn't make much and he's a good player. I'd love to see Hale step up, but