Advocating the Devils

For the past two weeks, my life has revolved around preparing for finals, holidays, and upcoming spring semester, resulting in my inactivity. With finals out of the way and a lengthy break on the horizon, I’ll be able to post stuff more frequently from here on out. It seems to be business as usual for the Devils, who currently have a league best 26-8-1 record.

The Devils had an interesting game the other night, a 5-4 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. After giving up three goals in six shots in the first period, Jacques Lemaire was finally bold enough to pull Brodeur, who started for thirteen consecutive games. Yann Danis made nineteen saves and gave up one goal as the Devils rallied from being down 3-1. Overall, the Devils played a solid effort, but did not seem to be able to get the puck in the net as much as they’d have liked, especially in the first period, when the Devils out shot the Thrashers by a ratio of four to one.

Zach Parise, who leads the Devils with fifteen goals and thirty-nine points, has not scored a goal in eleven games. While Parise’s slump hasn’t gone unnoticed, I personally see no reason for him or the team to be worried for two reasons. First, it isn’t like Parise’s production has been completely bare, since he had ten assists in the past eleven games. The team’s also gone 9-2 since Parise last scored, during which they’ve averaged over 3 goals a game, showing how the team’s depth is able to make up for any slack their top players may leave.

As well as the Devils have been doing, it’s certainly brought a great quantity of excitement and confidence to the fan base. While things are going well in Devil Land, I’m sure things aren’t perfect for everybody and with more than half the season left to play reserved in an unpredictable future, there are a few questions worth pondering that could affect the team in different ways.

Should the Devils trade Paul Martin…? This has been a controversial subject amongst Devil fans for it seems just as many like the idea as there are that oppose it. Paul Martin is titled the Devil’s top defenseman, who is currently set to become an unrestricted free agent July 1st. Many are speculating Martin will seek a long term deal and salary raise (he’s making $4.5 million this year). While supporters of such a move believe Andy Greene’s breakout performance thus far could render him the team’s new top defenseman, it’s uncertain if Greene’s the real deal because you don’t know if his current play is him reaching his anticipated full potential or a fluke. Paul Martin hasn’t played a game since October 24th, has two assists and a plus-1 in nine games this year. It’s unfair to say the Devils have improved during his absence, since they were 6-3 at before his injury. Not only can’t you overlook the possibility of undermining his value to the lineup upon return, but in the event Martin becomes trade bait, don’t expect a superstar coming from the other end. Paul Martin is a solid player, but has had no higher than six goals or thirty-seven points in a season (5G 32A career-high), which, along with him in a contract year, cuts into his overall trade value, unless he were to be the base of a package deal.

Should Zharkov Stick with the team…? After Danius Zubrus and David Clarkson were sidelined with long term injuries, the Devils continued to utilize their farm team and called up twenty-one year-old Vladimir Zharkov. After making his NHL debut, Zharkov’s made his presence felt as he’s had six assists in twelve games, going plus-five. After tallying his first NHL point (Dec 4th Vs Tampa Bay), Zharkov’s had points in six of the last ten games and has recently been involved in the mix of the team’s top six forwards after debuting on the third line. Zharkov plays conspicuously and energetically, since he always seems to try to make something happen when he’s on the ice. He’s also undoubtedly been one of the most effective in season call-ups for the Devils in the past few years. Unless unforeseen injuries lurk in the future, the team is expected to reach full health between early and mid-January, when David Clarkson and Danius Zubrus are likely to reoccupy two regular lineup spots. This leaves the Devils with fifteen healthy forwards, meaning at least two will have to either be traded or sent down to Lowell. Out of the group of Pelley, Zharkov, PL3, Peters, Pikkarainen, and McAmmond, Zharkov and McAmmond are the only two able to return to Lowell and avoid going through waivers, making them the two most likely candidates, which is ironic because these two have the highest point totals out of the group with six and eight in the least amount of games, respectively. Like I said, Zharkov seems to have earned a regular spot on the roster and lineup, however due to the convenience of his ability to return to and fro from the minors at will gives me reason to believe he’ll be the odd man out soon as the team returns to full health.

How are the Devils different from last year…? For three straight seasons, it seems to be the same story. A slow start is followed by a stretch of regular season dominance over the division, and for the conference and league. Lest we forget how the Devils play descended in the final quarter of the season, leading to an early playoff demise for two consecutive years. Like last year, Devils fans ask themselves how they can secure their hopes of seeing the cup return to the Garden State by compiling reasons to differentiate this team and their chances from last year’s squad. There was a lot of hype last year about the “new” team and proportionally blown out beliefs the Devils would be playing into June because of a well rested Marty and how they finally found their scoring touch. The big picture shows last year’s team and the roles of most players weren’t really different from the prior squad, not that the new faces on this year’s team should be reason to label the Devils an automatic contender. Basically, Lou’s summer plans seem to be carrying through with youngsters like Niclas Bergfors, Rod Pelley, Mark Fraser, Andy Greene, and arguably Vladimir Zharkov stepping in and effectively contributing in different ways, while other new faces like Rob Niedermayer and Dean McAmmond were brought in and are surely doing more than expected. The Devils entered this season with a simplified core of authentic talent that took time to get going, but appears to be picking up where they left off from last season and have a lot of upside. The youth injection in the Devil’s roster and lineups assuredly give them new energy and hype each night, which is something the team’s lacked in recent years. The Devil’s new core is focused around younger players expected to remain in the organization long term such as Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, David Clarkson, Paul Martin, and arguably Niclas Bergfors and Andy Greene, while they have a seasoned supporting cast of veterans and youngsters such as Patrik Elias, Brian Rolston, Jamie Langenbrunner, Vladimir Zharkov, and Johnny Oduya. Overall, you can say the main difference is the Devils have refurnished the structure of their team and could be set to remain competitive for the better part of the upcoming decade. Whether or not this replenishes past successes ultimately remains to be seen.

Is Brodeur being overplayed…? Earlier in the season, I said you wouldn’t hear a peep out of me regarding this topic…I lied. Out of the thirty-five games the Devils played this season, Brodeur’s started in all but three and has played in the past fifteen consecutive games. My redundant concerns regarding Brodeur’s overuse were awoken when he gave up three goals on six shots in the first period against the Thrashers. While most Devils fans will dismiss the incident as a bad game, especially after Marty went on to make history the following night against Pittsburgh, I won’t entirely overlook Marty’s massive workload, which is likely resulting from his desire to “get his records out of the way” might be starting to get to him. Yann Danis is likely the most capable backup the Devils have had in years, whose yet to lose a game or give up more than three goals after two full periods of play. With forty-seven games left, Brodeur is currently on pace to play seventy-four. Without anymore records, at least any I know of that he’s close to surpassing, I see no reason why Danis should not be able to partake in at least ten to fifteen games to give Marty some degree of rest so he can be fresh for the playoffs, especially if it looks like he’s going to become Team Canada’s starting goaltender in the upcoming Olympics. Sure, you can say I might be looking into things too much to say Marty’s being overplayed after one bad game, especially after the performance he put up in the following game, but who says that one bad game in Atlanta isn’t foreshadowing a potential slide in his play if he continues manning the workload he’s poised to endure at season’s end? At his age, you need to handle a goaltender of Brodeur’s skill delicately and know he cannot be treated like the younger goaltenders he’s competing against in that the team and organization can’t have an apathetic attitude about his handling. Brodeur’s role is essential to the team as he has been and continues to be the backbone of the organization, so keeping him fresh and healthy and not taking his skill for granted are three things that can’t be overlooked…which I’m sure has been a redundant theme to Brodeur’s regular season play in recent years.

Four scoring lines…? When Jacques Lemaire was being interviewed about the Devil’s 1995 Stanley Cup championship team, he mentioned how that team was solid in all aspects, especially of the offense’s ability to deploy four scoring lines. Regardless of what style the Devils play or how many goals they score, they’ll always be reputed as a “boring”, “trapping” team as long as Lemaire’s behind the bench. If Lemaire is attempting to mimic the structure of the 1995 team, he could be on the right track. In the past seven games, the Devils have been getting a broad range of offensive contributions up front than in recent games, where most of the team’s output has come from their top six forwards. Since their 4-2 victory over Carolina, the team’s third and fourth lines, which players such as Dean McAmmond, Jay Pandolfo, Rod Pelley, Rob Niedermayer, and Ilkka Pikkarainen have mainly played on, have amounted a combined eight goals and eighteen points, which, in addition to the continual production from the team’s top six, have played a huge part behind why the Devils are where they are right now. While Jay Pandolfo and Rod Pelley have a goal and two assists apiece over the past seven games, Dean McAmmond has an impressive three goals and seven points, while Rob Niedermayer has two goals and three points; Pikkarainen has a goal and assist. I know certain lines and players can get hot at times, but certain lines and players also take longer to find their niche in a system than others. Maybe if the recent production of all four lines remain constant into February, it’ll be officially safe to say the Devils indeed have a full throttle offense, something they’ve lacked since their glory days.