devils102

I've always like Fisher, but his age is a concern. I'm really not sure what to do with this forward group. Really wouldn't want to be Lou going into this off-season. I'm not sure how you make this team significantly better.

I would put Clowe in over Harrold. I feel like Clowe has played well as a Devil when he's been healthy. I'm not sure I'd go so far as to say the team would be better without Jagr or Zids here at the beginning of the year. But it's been great to see Josefson and Larsson really prove they have a place in the NHL.

I'm pretty sure the Harrold decision was in case Severson wasn't ready. Hopefully we'll see Ryder or Havlat next game. Severson was OK. One of his weaker games that I've. But I'm sure he'll be better in the next few games.

Josefson had a nice game again. He's quietly playing himself into another NHL contract.

Not a hopeless third period, but I think it will still be tough to tie the game nevermind score more than one.

Not looking good tonight guys...

What a cliffhanger Great post. Jagr was fun to watch on the ice and his interviews were awesome. I always got the impression he genuinely enjoyed being a Devil.

I was watching the Florida Panthers/Blackhawks game and Jagr came up on the jumbo-tron wearing a Panthers jersey. So that's how I found out about this haha. Jagr looked good last night. Gonna be hard to sell the team on being in the playoff chase now. Although Jagr's days were clearly numbered. So does Boucher come up now? Or do we just see more Gionta/Tootoo/Bernier/Zubrus with some Sestito on the fourth line?

Was that against Columbus and the Devils lost 2-1 or something? I think I remember listening to that game. There was all kinds of rumours that Miro Satan was going to New Jersey that year as well. As for the Datsyuk trade, even if it had gone through I think the Devils would have looked pretty similar the next season unfortunately. No Gomez and no Datsyuk.

Maybe... but the winning streak has more to do with goaltending than anything (although we have been limiting a lot of the more quality chances).

Yeah I think that's what it boils down to. It's hard to be a championship team that wins solely on goaltending, offense or defense. All the teams you mentioned were at least pretty good at all three the year they won. And Lou does mention a couple of times in the article that offense is the team's biggest need right now.

I can understand why people want this team to tank. I just don't have the stomach to cheer against the Devils, especially against certain teams. I'm worried about tomorrow's game. Montreal could run this team off the rink.

I don't mind that the team is doing well mainly because we have a young defence that needs to get better, and that's hard to do with zero expectations. At least the expectation here is that the team wins. Sure, the guys probably know in the back of their heads that the season is a loss. But at least there's pressure from above for the players to play well and get better. Draft picks are great, but they don't always play out the way they should. And even if they do, it doesn't always guarantee success (Oilers).

Devils looked terrible on that 4 on 4 and for most of the night really.

Gotta cheer for Cory at this point. Crazy performance.

I wish sports reporters were under more pressure to get on-the-record sources for stories. Rumblings could mean anything really. Still, interesting topic of discussion. I don't dislike the idea of Oates as GM. I feel like the Devils will go outside the organization and do a broader search for that job though.

The breakaway challenge was brutal. The rest that I saw was fine. Too bad Patty didn't get to do more, but I don't what he would have competed in... accuracy?

Definitely when it comes to the instigators/agitators I agree. Enforcers used to be able to straighten those guys more effectively. I remember wishing the league would let us just flatten Avery in the '08 season... instigator rule be damned. There's really no answer to those guys now. When it comes to enforcers actually preventing cheap hits like this one? I'm less convinced enforcers would change much. I have been following hockey closely since only about the '00-'01 season so that's well after the instigator rule was removed. So if tough guys were drastically more effective earlier than that I wasn't around to see it. In years since the NHL has started using suspensions and fines to crack down on headshots (and the number of enforcers have declined)... I can't honestly say I've noticed a difference between the number of dirty hits now compared to say the early 2000s when there were more fights. I have no numbers to back that up. It would be interesting if somebody tracked suspend-able hits but given how much the game has changed that's impossible I guess. Another thing to consider -- Rinaldo is arguably one of the guys who is supposed to hold guys accountable. He's known mostly for his yapping but he fights. If a Penguin had nailed Giroux from behind I wouldn't be surprised to see him jump in. It seems like the enforcers often need to protect their teammates from each other. Get rid of the enforcers and there's less of need perhaps?

Sorry to disagree with a few of you, but the only difference an enforcer would have made is that Rinaldo would have got punched in the face after the play. Would that have stopped him from doing it again? It never stopped Tie Domi. Never stopped Ulf Samuelsson. Never stopped Brashear. Never stopped Darcy Tucker. Dirty players have been around for a long time and it doesn't matter how many times someone punched them in the face they were still dirty players. Don't get me wrong, if that way a Devil player getting hit, I would loved to see Rinaldo get smoked by someone. I think it's good for team moral to know that guys will stick up for each other. But it has nothing to do with player safety. As for the hit itself. I thought after watching the clip with Rinaldo it would at least be boderline, but it was a pretty clear hit from behind. Rinaldo may have aimed for the shoulder instead have hitting him flush, but he still jammed a guy's head right into the boards. And he jumped. Pretty easy one for the league.

Congrats to Elias. As others have said I would prefer the most deserving players go regardless of which team they are on. There's probably someone more deserving than Elias on other teams who may have appreciated going.

Wow I can't believe how bad we were the first half of 2010-2011. Unreal.

I think he's a good coach. Other than our cup winners he's up there for me. I am one of those spoiled fans whose only been around since 2000. So for me the pecking order starts with Jacques Lemaire, then Robinson (despite the debacle of 2005-06), Pat Burns, and then big bad DeBoer. Had more success "updating" our system then Sutter. And the Maclean experiment showed how a talented team can really struggle under the wrong coach. Julien was good here, but he had a great team that already played the system he was brought in to coach. Hard to judge a coach based on a successful regular season with no playoffs. Having said that the "Deboer Era" has been a disaster as the team sucked. But as others have said, it's not completely his fault. What's amazing is that even in the crappiest stretch of Devils hockey in 20 years, we've had a deep playoff run. The Rangers are having their best stretch of hockey in 20 years and they have accomplished exactly the same thing.

I've only seen the third. But this is the best I've seen them in a while. Certainly the most offense we've generated while in the lead in a while.

The coaches first job will be to convince these guys that they still need to out-compete the other team. They aren't winning any battles out there. That blown icing call at the end with Greene and Harrold should be unacceptable. You can't hit a couple of posts and pretend you just didn't get the bounces after losing nearly every puck battle all night long.

OK maybe that's my bad. I remembered seeing them both out there on the PP recently but I may be confused. Either way, hopefully this will be the last time. You're right that they are not PP players at the NHL level.