I recently launched a new blog for my "other" hobby: sports cars. The blog is called Traction Control Off, and as an introduction and segue between blogs, I wrote a guide giving each current Devils player (and one former Devil) a corresponding car based on their role as a player.
"How many fingers am I holding up? That's how many lockouts the NHL will have suffered by time I'm done here.
You're welcome, David Stern!"
For the, uhh, millionth third time in the Gary Bettman era, the NHL faces the possibility of a lockout that would shorten, or worse-yet cancel another season of NHL hockey. In case you didn't know, Bettman worked for David Stern in the NBA before becoming NHL commissioner in 1993. The first lockout happened in the fall of 1994 (yes, right as MLB was finishing up a strike of their own) and forced the 1994-95 season down to 48 games. But I'm not complaining, because there was a happy ending to that season. Then, exactly 10 years later, the entire 2004-05 season was lost to a lockout. So here we are in 2012, desperately hoping to avoid a third lockout in a 20 year period. Gary Bettman told us not to be worried three weeks ago, but now says he's prepared for a lockout. But this can all be avoided. I've arranged a few helpful tips for the NHL and NHLPA to prevent another lockout.
Well, the easiest way to settle the labor war is to lock Gary Bettman and NHLPA director Donald Fehr into a room, and whoever comes out alive after an hour gets whatever they want in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Make sure the next CBA has a no-lockout clause, similarly to players' no-trade clauses.
Have the NHLPA hire someone who's been in a sport that never locks out. Okay, anyone but Donald Fehr...
Tell Ryan Suter and Zach Parise that they won't be able to make their salaries...oh, right, they have massive signing bonuses that pay them even if this very sort of thing happens. Never mind...
Put Dany Heatley on the NHLPA's player committee and tell him that if there's no CBA in place, he can't inevitably request a trade to Edmonton. Or Pittsburgh.
Chances are that if you have a Twitter and follow hockey, you've probably heard a rumor started by @HockeyyInsiderr, you just may or may not know. For some reason, many people continue to follow him and believe his idiotic rumors. In fact, the mysterious character that "HockeyyInsiderr" is has amassed over 21,000 Twitter followers.
Anyway, I usually ignore people like him. I've never followed him, and I never will. While I disagree with what he does, which is essentially trying to create rumors (like Brodeur for Semin two years ago and Parise for Malkin last summer) and inflate reports to boost his follower count, he doesn't force anyone to follow him. If people follow him, that's their problem.
There was a little extra buzz surrounding him recently. Why? Well, usually when he's wrong about something, he's able to cover up and pretend that never happened. He was unable to do that this past week. On July 3rd, the night before Zach Parise and Ryan Suter signed with the Minnesota Wild, "HockeyyInsiderr" boldly tweeted that there was a 95% chance that Parise was heading to the Penguins and Suter had pretty much agreed to go to Detroit. He was the laughing stock of Twitter the following day. His sources must have misguided him. Eventually, he got into some kind of Twitter dispute with some members of the media, including TSN analyst Darren Dreger.
Well, the dust has cleared. Zach Parise is in the past, as far as Devils fans are concerned, and it's time to move on. Unfortunately, timing was awful for the Devils this summer. Their star captain hit the free agent market, and the free agent market itself was extremely thin, thus inflating the demand for those players and driving their prices up. Add to that the Devils' financial problems and the potential for a lockout in the fall and this was a disaster waiting to happen. There really aren't any high-end players who can make a difference in the NHL next season left on the free agent market...except for one: Alexander Semin.
The more I think about it, the more I like the idea of bringing Alexander Semin to New Jersey (not that it's my call, but you get the point). First of all, there are two alternatives if the Devils don't sign him: do nothing and hope for the best next season before hoping to cash in on the 2013 free agent group or make a trade for Bobby Ryan or Rick Nash, which would cost the Devils trade assets that they really don't have, such as young forwards (which is already a scarcity) and first round draft picks (the Devils will have to give theirs up in 2013 or 2014).
So that leaves the Devils with two realistic choices: Semin or nobody. Now, Semin is always associated with two things: awful jokes regarding his last name and lackadaisical on-ice play. There's not much anyone can do about the first one, but hopefully a few facts will change your mind about the second part.
As another part of my 2011-12 NHL season in review, I'm taking a look at each Devils player's 2011-12 season. For those players heading into free agency this summer, I'll weigh in on whether or not I think the player should be re-signed. For everyone else other than Eric Boulton, they're probably coming back next season.
Johan Hedberg - #1
Season stats: 27 games, 17-7-2 record, 2.23 goals against average, .918 save percentage, 4 shutouts
Historically, the backup goaltender to Martin Brodeur never played much. He'd usually get five starts over the course of the entire season and come in to relieve Brodeur from time to time, but for the most part, he'd just a benchwarmer. That all changed during the 2008-09 season, when Brodeur missed 50 games with a torn bicep. Since then, the backup goaltender role in New Jersey has become more important (mostly because they actually get to play games nowadays).
This was Johan Hedberg's second season with the Devils. He won his second straight player's player award at the team awards in April, as his value to the team was apparent on and off the ice. On the ice, he put up tremendous numbers, and allowed Pete DeBoer to not over-work Brodeur. Hedberg also carried the team early in the season when Brodeur missed some time with another injury. Without the strong play of Hedberg, the Devils' Stanley Cup run may not have been possible.
Grade: A
Hedberg is everything a team could ask for in a backup goaltender and so much more.
Contract status: Unrestricted free agent
Should he stay or should he go?
Hedberg should stay. DeBoer should do exactly what he did this season with these goalies next season. Brodeur and Hedberg have become one of the better goalie tandems in the NHL, and they combine to just 79 years old!
I've decided to use the main page for some of my Devils opinion posts over the coming days. I'll be looking at individual performances this past season and I'll put my fictional GM hat on and preview the off-season, followed by a special league-wide post, with the help of some of the best bloggers in the NHL.
Well, the season is now over. For me personally, there's a number of emotions running through my head right now. I'm extremely disappointed at the result of the Stanley Cup Finals, yet I'm proud of the Devils and encouraged at the future of the team. I'm a bit saddened, knowing that this group will never play on the same ice again, but I understand how the business of sports works. But this was a very good season. The Devils accomplished a lot this season. They missed the playoffs just one spring ago. This year, they were a bounce or two away from winning the Stanley Cup. Not bad.
"Ask Lundqvist if he'd like to join us. No really!"
Last week, I broke down the LA Kings' 2011-12 season to date, and now, we know who they'll face in the Stanley Cup Finals: the New Jersey Devils. Of course, this means I will be able to provide a completely neutral post with absolutely no bias whatsoever. ... Okay, seriously, stop laughing at me.
So how did the 2011-12 Devils come to be? Here's a look back:
April 12th, 2011: Despite just a 3.6% chance to win the Draft Lottery, the Devils win the lottery and move up to 4th in the draft order. Gary Bettman immediately fires everyone who planned the draft lottery in rage.
June 24th: The Devils draft Adam Larsson with the 4th overall pick. Ten minutes later, Larsson realizes his Twitter account is now history.
July 19th: Lou Lamoriello is mocked by the entire world for hiring the recently fired Panthers coach, Peter DeBoer, because obviously not hiring a "trap" defensive coach turned out to be a huge mistake.
July 20th: In a bizarre unforeseen turn of events, Lou Lamoriello does not fire DeBoer the day after hiring him.
July 28th: The Devils trade Brian Rolston and his humongous contract to the Islanders for Trent Hunter.
August 1st: The Devils waive Colin White...and Trent Hunter.
You see that quote
above? That was Ilya Kovalchuk earlier this season. Head coach Pete
DeBoer insisted that the Devils are an "elite" team, and he
proclaimed that many months ago. DeBoer seems to be the most liked Devils
coach in years. This could be the best Devils team in years. The
next 4-7 games will play a huge role in determining if these Devils are as good
or better than the last championship team in 2003. Round 3 of the 2012
Stanley Cup playoffs are about to begin, and of course, it's Devils-Rangers for
a chance to go to the Stanley Cup Finals. *Whew.* Take a deep
breathe everyone.
So how did both of these
teams get here?
As you probably know by
now, the Devils needed a second overtime of Game 7 to beat a pesky Florida
Panthers team in the first round of the playoffs before dismantling a fatigued
Flyers group in five games to advance to the Conference Finals. The
Devils have excelled playing 5-on-5, as they're scored 24 of their 36 goals
this post-season 5-on-5, and they've surrendered 13 goals against 5-on-5.
That 1.85 5-on-5 goals for/against ratio is the best of the 16 playoff
teams. Basically, the Devils will succeed if they stay out of the penalty
box and continue their dominant forechecking game.
Proof that it is, in fact, possible to score on Henrik Lundqvist.
True to form, nothing comes easy for this year's edition of the New York Rangers. This isn't your "older brother's" Rangers, who boasted the likes of Shanahan, Jagr and mega-free agents (although they rely on Gaborik and Richards for much of their offense). This is a very hard-working, "blue-collar" hockey team that likes to play physical and wear down their opposition. They ran into two opponents who have tested them to the brink of elimination, in #8 Ottawa and #7 Washington, but the Rangers squeaked by both series in seven games each, and now face the Devils in the Conference Finals. The Rangers have scored 19 times 5-on-5, while allowing 17 this post-season so far.
Seriously, how could I not make this the cover picture for the series?
Here’s the beauty of the playoffs: both the Devils and the
Flyers are coming off emotional, physical and at times crazy series (for many
different reasons), but it’s time to quickly forget the past and get ready for
the next series.Of course, these two
division rivals know each other very well, and they’re about to get even more
familiar with each other.It’s the #5
Flyers and the #6 Devils, and the winner will reach the Eastern Conference
Finals.
First of all, let’s quickly recap what happened between the
Devils and Panthers. Many people thought
this would be a quick series and that the more skilled Devils would blow by the
Panthers. I picked the Devils to win in
5, but everyone who knows either team knew that it would be a tough series, and
it was just that. The Florida Panthers’
first trip to the playoffs since 2000 was a very competitive series. They gave the Devils everything they could
handle, and were one goal in double-overtime of Game 7 away from knocking off
the Devils.
The Devils played one of the best periods of hockey you’ll
ever see in Game 1 against Florida. They
scored three times, had 26 shots on goal and established themselves as a true
force in the series. While they didn’t
score after the first period of Game 1, they held on to win 3-2 and took the
lead in the series. They played a bit of
a lackadaisical Game 2 until the third period, when they attempted to overcome
a 3-0 deficit with two quick goals early in the third, but fell short, 4-2.
"Hey, Boulton, we shoot at THAT net this period..."
This afternoon, the Devils held their annual team awards, which as always, was rigged. Zach Parise won team MVP (umm...), Adam Henrique and Bryce Salvador tied for unsung hero and Johan Hedberg won the Player's Player award for the 179th straight year. So I'm here to fix all this rigging nonsense. Here's the uncensored version of the Devils' 2011-12 team awards.
Team MVP Candidates:
Peter Harrold - Without him, the Devils would have to let Adam Larsson play, and according to Pete DeBoer, that's a bad thing. Plus, Peter (Harrold) has so much experience winning in Los Angeles.
Mattias Tedenby - While he only lasted 43 games this season, he managed to pick up a -15...plus/minus rating (not golf score). The Devils' shortest player's lack of offensive production made sure that the Devils didn't have a third line that could score until the All-Star break.
Kurtis Foster - Although he was terrible in his own end, the Devils' power play's best stretch of the season came with Foster at the point, which according to someone, somewhere, makes him better than Marek Zidlicky.
Winner: Harrold. Why? Well, for starters, he's the only one of the three left on the Devils' NHL roster...
On Friday, Zach Parise scored his second career NHL hat trick as the Devils slammed the Capitals, 5-0. By my count, that's the 9th hat trick by a Devil since the 2004-05 lockout, which is one short of the necessary 10 for a DGA Top 10 Video Special, so I chose not to do one.
...
Just kidding. Actually, I cheated. Thanks to Gordie Howe, there's another kind of hat trick: the Gordie Howe hat trick. I used the two Gordie Howe hat tricks this season and added the other 9 Devils hat tricks since the lockout (which is actually 11 videos), and here we go: the 17th Top 10 Video Special in the series. Enjoy (also enjoy my attempts at awful titles for some of the hat tricks).
#10: Henrique and Kovy score, assist and scrap
On January 10th, 2012, the Devils played a miserable game in Calgary. They lost 6-3, but at least Adam Henrique had a coming out party...of sorts.
On February 4th, 2012, Ilya Kovalchuk duplicated the feat, except Kovy's fight was much more dramatic.
#9: Maddog Rags on New York
This is the lone playoff hat trick of the countdown. It comes against the New York Rangers, as the Devils went on to sweep the Rangers and capped off their 15-game winning streak.
#8: Gio's lone trick caps crazy game with the Leafs
Unfortunately, video footage of Brian Gionta's third goal of the hat trick exists, but he made it count, as he tied the game at 6. The Devils won, 7-6 in overtime.
#7: Pando scores three...in one game!
Jay Pandolfo scores the first hat trick in Prudential Center history. It's his only career hat trick and it came in a 6-1 win over Tampa Bay. It came on Halloween, 2007.
Ilya Kovalchuk's unbelievable season thus far got me thinking about Devils of the past. Sure, we all know that no Devil has ever reached 50 goals or 100 points in a single season, but what about the greatest individual seasons that have occured? I put together a list of my Top 10, with a small sample of their excellence from either that season or a season close to it. Here's what I came up with. It's the 16th DGA Top 10 Special in the history of DGA.
Before Zach Parise, the Devils had another American-born captain that wore #9. Kirk Muller registered a career-high 94 points in 1987-88 (which is also Parise's career-high in points to date), and helped lead the Devils to their first-ever playoff birth in the spring of 1988.
1989-90 wasn't MacLean's best offensive season, although it was his second of three consecutive 40-goal seasons. But having used Muller's 1987-88 season, I needed an excuse to show MacLean's goal that sent the Devils to the playoffs for the first time in 1988. Also, MacLean set the Devils record with 11 game-winning goals in 1989-90. Since I couldn't find a goal from that season, enjoy this one.
#8 - SCOTT GOMEZ: 2005-06 (82 games, 33 goals, 51 assists, 84 points, 244 shots on goal)
Although 2005-06 will be remembered for Brian Gionta's epic season, it's fair to say that Gio doesn't score 48 goals without the help of his center, Scott Gomez. This was the prime of the EGG line, and coming out of the lockout, it was the line that carried the Devils through a 15-game winning streak at the end of the regular season and past the Rangers in round 1 of the playoffs. Also, this is proof that Scott Gomez hasn't always been useless.
As bad as the 2011-12 Devils have been on the power play, including allowing the most shorthanded goals in the league, they've been that good while they're shorthanded. Adam Henrique's shorty last night in Calgary was the Devils' 10th shorthanded goal of the season. 10 of anything means it's time for a DGA Top 10 Video Special. Here's the 15th Top 10 Video Special, and it's the Devils' shorthanded goals this season in chronological order. Enjoy.
#10 - PARISE'S FIRST PENALTY SHOT - October 21st, 2011
The Devils' first shorty this season actually came on a penalty shot. It's the first penalty shot Parise ever took in the NHL, and it succeeded.
#9 - PATTY'S SHORTY - October 22nd, 2011
The night after Parise's penalty shot goal, the Devils scored another shorthanded goal. This time, Ilya Kovalchuk found Patrik Elias in Pittsburgh.
#8 - ZACH'S SLAP-AROUND - November 16th, 2011
This goal in Buffalo was the first of many shorthanded goals involving Parise and Adam Henrique. I call it the slap-around as Zach spins around and blasts it in.
Besides the obvious (the Devils have two more wins than at this point one year ago), the Devils are off to a much better start than last season. If you don't believe me, and even if you do, just see below for proof.
Last season: Ilya Kovalchuk thinks he's set up for a breakaway pass, but then realizes that he's in the defensive zone while the play is at the other end of the rink. This season: Ilya Kovalchuk has fixed the play in the other end of the rink part, but he's taking shots at his own goalies now.
Last season: The Devils tried everything last season: getting blown out, not scoring and blowing two-goal leads. This season: So far, the not scoring is still a problem and they haven't yet had a two-goal lead...to blow.
Last season: The Devils cleared a roster spot to call up a forward to replace healthy scratch Ilya Kovalchuk. This season: Adam Henrique was just sent down to Albany, which clears a roster spot for.......oh please, not again.
Last season: John MacLean had the team work extremely hard in practice, in the sense that renting a party bus for the night is hard work. This season: Peter DeBoer is working much harder than MacLean, such as trying to figure out how long Cam Janssen will last on the ice without being called into Brendan Shanahan's office.
Last season: Johan Hedberg pulls to within 610 wins on the Devils' all-time goaltender wins list. This season: With his opening night loss to the Flyers, Martin Brodeur pulled to within one loss of the all-time goaltender loss record.
Last season: Mattias Tedenby is thought of by some Devils fans as the Swedish Prodigy, but obviously not by Jacques Lemaire. This season: Tedenby is stripped of that title, as Adam Larsson is now the Swedish Prodigy. As for Jacques Lemaire, well he's retired......for the time being.
Last season: In his usual hatred for the Devils, Scott Burnside predicted that this would be Zach Parise's final season as a Devil. This season: Okay, well some things haven't changed since last season........
Last season: The coach gave Ilya Kovalchuk a lot of ice time late in the season because he scored a lot. This season: The coach is giving David Clarkson a lot of ice time because he falls a lot.
Last season: "Let's throw that out" was John MacLean's favorite saying after a blowout loss. This season: "Let's throw that out" is Peter DeBoer's way of saying that he wasn't happy with someone's shift.
Last season: Nine Devils scored their first career goals, which accounted for nearly half the team's goals last season. This season: Adam Larsson will eventually score his first career goal, and his ice time accounts for half the game.
Wednesday night will likely mark the first time Zach Parise played in a Devils game since he missed 63 games after tearing his meniscus in Anaheim. He's not the first player to miss an extended period of time and return to the Devils lineup. Let's take a look at some of the other notable returns:
David Clarkson (missed two shifts in a game during the 2010-11 season due to a broken skate blade): David Clarkson's skate simply fell off his skate, forcing him out of the game for a few moments. When he returned, it was business as usual: take the puck behind the net and fail miserably while trying to score a wraparound goal.
Ilya Kovalchuk (healthy scratch for one game in the 2010-11 season): After Devils' coach John MacLean felt the best way to get Kovalchuk scoring was to bench him, Ilya responded with a goal at Madison Square Garden. To scrap MacLean's brilliance, Kovy went 7 games before he scored again, and only had one goal in the first 16 games after being scratched.
Jamie Langenbrunner (healthy scratch for 82 games one game in the 2009-10 season): That's funny, it says Langenbrunner missed just one game in 2009-10. I could have sworn he didn't show up for 82. Weird...
Andrew Peters (scratched for 3 games in the 2009-10 season): After losing a spot in the Devils' lineup to a player who actually had enough talent to try out for the Mighty Ducks' team for the movie, Peters returned by fighting an Oiler, and then making chicken-like gestures to the Oiler. Luckily for the Devils, he failed to tie his jersey down, and was thrown out of the game.
Martin Brodeur (missed 4 games during the 2006-07 season due to "rest"): Scott Clemmensen actually played 6 times during the 2006-07 season, including 4 starts. It didn't matter though, even though he missed an entire 4 games, Brodeur still led the NHL in wins, saves, shutouts and won the Vezina trophy.
Colin White (missed two months in the 2007-08 season): After returning from his eye injury, White recorded six hits in a 2-1 win over Pittsburgh during his first game back. His vision was blurry at best, so you'll believe me when I say he really didn't mean to hit anyone that night, including a fan in the parking lot after the game.
Patrik Elias (missed 44 games in the 2005-06 season): Patrik Elias had 8 points in his first four games back in the Devils' lineup upon his return from his illness. Geez, with a recovery that fast, you'd think it was in the food he ate or something...
Paul Martin (missed 50 games in the 2009-10 season): Returned for Retro night against the Penguins. Prior to the game, Martin made a deal with Ray Shero agreeing that if the Penguins conveniently turned a puck over in the neutral zone and had Marc-Andre Fleury allow a bad goal, Martin would sign with Pittsburgh that off-season. In a crazy turn of events, that exact senario played out.
Martin Brodeur (missed 55 games in the 2008-09 season): Brodeur took 55 games off during the 2008-09 season, but in fact, it was he that dressed up as Scott Clemmensen and won 25 games in his own absence. What he did was get Clemmesen a contract with the Florida Panthers, only to have a goals against average over 4.50 during the first half of the 2009-10 season.
Vladimir Malakhov, Richard Matvichuk and Alexander Mogilny (mysteriously disappeared after the 2005-06 season): I guess we'll never know what these players would have done in returns to the Devils. What I do know is that these players were buried in the minors at one point or another to "manage the salary cap." Hmm, Russians and salary cap problems...why does that seem like a familiar story?
Brendan Shanahan (missed 1,328 games between 1991 and 2008): When Shanahan returned to the Devils' lineup after a 17-year absence, he made his presence known right away, scoring a power play goal in Nashville. I wonder what he did during those 17 years...
Bryce Salvador (missed entire 2010-11 season due to concussion): He hasn't returned yet, but when he does, I doubt he'll be able to do what he did against Ottawa on December 18th, 2009 (skip to 4:45):
Zach Parise will return to the Devils' lineup for the Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 game against the New York Islanders. It's a shame there isn't more season left, because Parise is going to be on a mission, and if the Devils make the playoffs this season, which appears unlikely at best, they're not going to lose. Well, anyway, let's celebrate the best of the best. Here's Zach Parise's top 10 greatest moments. Enjoy. *This is part 4 of the DGA Top-10 series.*
NUMBER 10 - A snipe in the steel city
Zach Parise's career year, to date, came in the 2008-09 season, scoring 45 goals and 94 points. Here's one of those 45 from early in the year, in fact, the second game of the season, in overtime, to beat Pittsburgh, 2-1.
NUMBER 9 - A pair of spin-o-ramas
Parise has always been known to have excellent hands with the puck, and that is evident in this pair of videos.
NUMBER 8 - Who needs Datsyuk?
If you ask hockey fans who the best player in the shootout, most of them will probably reply "Pavel Datsyuk," and rightfully so, however, it would be a disservice to Zach Parise if I didn't include one of his many shootout beautys.
NUMBER 7 - Shorty against Philly
The Devils didn't have many highlights in the playoffs in 2010, but if one had to be picked, this would probably be it: a short-handed breakaway goal by Parise in game 2 against the Flyers.
NUMBER 6 - Dethrone the King
Zach Parise has had considerable amounts of success against Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers in his young career. This is just one of many memorable goals in the King's house in Manhattan.
NUMBER 5 - The 100th career goal
Zach Parise scored his 100th career goal in Los Angeles at Staples Center, and it was quite a shot. His backhander is very underrated.
NUMBER 4 -Give the trainer an assist!
As I was watching this, I screamed for Rich Stinzianno, the Devils All-Star trainer (he was the East's All-Star trainer that year) to get an assist on this memorable overtime goal in Montreal. Moments later, Ken Daneyko repeated my words on MSG's Hockey Night Live.
NUMBER 3 - Didn't Ovechkin do that too?
Earlier in the 2008-08 season, Alex Ovechkin chipped a puck by a Montreal defenseman, chased the puck and ended up scoring on his back. Parise tried his best to impress Ovechkin...without falling. This is, perhaps, "the goal" of his career, at least in terms of raw skill. It came against Colorado.
NUMBER 2 - His first career goal and first hat trick!
I couldn't choose between his first goal and first hat trick for #2, so I put them both in. His first goal is first, followed by his first hat trick (I apologize for the delay in audio feed on the second video).
NUMBER 1 - He's an American hero, too.
Okay, I know the way this game ended, but with 24 seconds remaining in the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game, Zach Parise became an American Hero, and possibly the face of American hockey at the time with his clutch, game-tying goal.
Zach becomes a restricted free agent this season, so if it gets to July 1st, beware of Glen Sather and his checkbook. The Devils need to keep this guy for a long time and put a "C" on his jersey someday. I have a feeling that when it's all said and done, he'll have plenty more to add to this highlight series, and will probably be the last player to ever wear #9 in New Jersey...as a pro-hockey player anyway.
