thighway

Hischier to miss start of camp due to leg injury

Toronto in Buffalo.... basically a home game for the Maple Leafs. Toronto in many buildings is sickeningly full of their fans.

I would have taken a shot with Lapierre.

Shakir was ranked 28 by Sportsnet a few days ago. While picking him 20th seems like a stretch, it certainly isn’t a mid-round pick stretch.

Hall keeps it going! Team at 4 in a row!

United’s performance is the same as the Devils last night.... sitting in Columbus airport with Andrew Gross and Chris Ryan... working on a 4.5 hour delay.

Boarding plane in 5 minutes for Columbus! Looking forward to the game - Go Devils!!!!

" Hynes's bad defensive zone system " This drives me nuts... was hoping they would have made one assistant coach change at the end of last season in order to do something different (better) with the D zone system. Even with the better team this year, the coverage issues in our zone will continue to be exposed against the better teams in the NHL. Happy New Year everyone! Looking forward to a great second half to the season (pretty much impossible to be worse than last year's second half!)

Shots after 1 are 14 to 5 Pens. They have been positionally better than us through 1. Top line spit up a bit... For the Stephen Gionta lovers out there, Cangialosi is all over the ice using his speed. Pops almost had one, one of maybe three good chances Devs had to score. Santini looks solid and confident. Speers is fast! (Guess we already knew that)

Sissons with the own goal (couldn't handle deflection) 3-0 Pens

Poor coverage.... Damn. 2-0 Pens

Bad play in front - goal Pens

Lineup: Quenneville - McLeod - Speers Studenic - Speers - Bratt Gignac - Cangelosi - Popugaev Baddock - Mandat - Guay McDonald - Butcher Sissons - Santini Chainey - Dyblenko Appleby Cormier

At Harborcenter for the game... Nico scratched today.

Making room for Kovalchuk?

This is unbearable to watch. A coaching change is absolutely necessary, including the assistant coaches. The system this team plays is terrible, and NOTHING is changing. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results .... proves this coaching staff is insane. Some examples: 1. They play too close to the goalie/hash marks in their own end, giving the opposing team too much space and allowing them to do as they wish, dominating zone time. 2. Not sure what happened to the commitment to a hard forecheck from the beginning of the season. Guess they thought that wasn't needed anymore since they were 9-3-3 at that point. 3. The penalty kill also plays too pensive and does not force enough. 4. The idea of having 3 guys play a triangle on the penalty kill and let the forth guy run around at the point looks awful and is ineffective. 5. Who in their right mind would continue, game after game, to use Josefson on the power play??? "He's great at the half wall" my ass, enough of this crap. There is NO offensive instinct in this kid. I like his work ethic, play him in penalty kill (not with current system), and 4th line. Whatever. Just STOP expecting any offensive output from him. Enough. Please. 6. Seeing Josefson, Kalinin, and Bennett on the power play is like saying to the opposing team "We don't really want to score on this power play. Here's hoping you don't pot a shortie! Cheers!" 7. Kalinin, Josefson, Zacha and Bennett combined have 1 more goal than Wood, yet Wood isn't worth a look on the Power Play? Do these coaches really watch game film like they claim to? The fact that the system is being overhauled completely at this stage says that the coaches don't know what to look for on game film. Maybe these systems worked in minor hockey, or lesser pro levels, they DO NOT work at the NHL level. 8. Whoever came up with the idea of that drop pass in the neutral zone on a power play needs to be fired with cause and with no pay effective yesterday. This horse crap play is the worst idea I may have ever seen getting continual usage by this team. Ok, maybe the continual play of absolutely non-offensive options may top this... I don't know. We have fast skaters, skate the damn puck into the zone already! 9. Attention John Hynes, in the NHL you are allowed to change your goalie at any point during a stoppage in the game. When you keep getting smoked it might be helpful to show the whole world you are paying attention and care, changing your goalie is one way to do this! 10. I have watched every game for years, and have been a fan since 1982. This is the worst 2 month stretch I can ever remember because it looks hopeless. Maybe I am having an anger memory block, I don't recall the Johnny Mac days being anywhere close to this bad. Yes we lost a lot, I don't remember constantly and continually getting hammered. This is embarrassing. Something has to change. Trying to convince the players to stick to some system that doesn't work at the NHL level isn't going to happen. I was in California for the Ducks and Kings games.... they played really well vs the Ducks even though they lost. The Kings game was money not well spent on my part. They were horrendous and have been ever since (minus the one game they shutout the Rangers). They should have lost on Thursday. They should have lost the Leafs game, the Nashville game, any of the other wins they may have had that I can't remember since the Cali trip. Something has to change. As a loyal fan I now only laugh when the opposition scores rather than get pissed off like I used to, that's a bad sign. Ok time to take a breathe and get over it.....

Been a while since I posted... flew to LAX this AM and am in Anaheim now (wearing white/road Brodeur jersey)... any more roster changes and I may have to lace 'em up! Am excited to see how hard the team can push given the changes. Hope they can riffle off 30+ shots again. Go Devils!!!!

John MacLean? Oh, nevermind.

Cool

Why bother.

Absolutely, you are correct.... being a big Devils fan and not knowing what Washington is like to Away Team fans, I wanted to start here...

Hi All, I am making the trip from Ontario for the home and home with the Caps in November, and need some help for my time in Washington. Where are the best places for pre-game eats / drinks and post game? (Keeping in mind I will be rocking my Devils jersey) Any other general Washington area tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

Kovy's here for the next million years, hopefully Zach, Zajac and the "kids" Palmeiri / Josefson / Tedenby are all here for the long haul. That is forward talent for quite some time.... aka years to come. As for "D", your Mid Pairing comment is exactly why I suggest we use the pick to get a potential Doughty (unless RNH is available). For whatever reason, I am big fan of Hamilton....

RNH if he is avail..... Otherwise, I would go Larsson, Hamilton or Beaulieu (in that order). We have forward talent for years to come, and depth D but no #1. I don't think we go BPA, I think we need to draft what we need (and 4th overall is way to high for our future goalie). Though RNH and Larsson would fit BPA if still available at 4th.

Just got in from being at this game......I don't know if this has been mentioned... but.... KOVY was given penalty kill time tonight!!!!!! This to me was huge and I made it known to the dumb ass Leaf fans around me. Kovy is getting more confidence and is now more reliable in all situations. I was shocked at first, then totally impressed. He did good..... Hedberg rocked the hizzy.... solid effort!!! Our 4th didn't do what it normally does in my opinion (Mair played), and we got the shaft on a few calls tonight, but overall a solid effort. I wish PP didn't suck worse than my 15 year old Hoover though. Kovy flew tonight, it is crazy how Elias is EVERYWHERE, Zubs is a count on guy, 4th line is fun to watch, Zajac is crazy good on faceoffs, the D is reliable.....and this is a big one.... they GET to rebounds, clear out players from in front, etc. Noticable difference from the earlier stages of the season. Damn is was good to scream happy things at the ACC tonight............Woooo Hoooooo................