Devils After Ten
Record: 6-4-0 (12 points)
Division: Third
Conference: Sixth
Average Goals For: 2.5
Average Goals Against: 2.56
Leaders
Goals: Zach Parise (6)
Assists: Zach Parise (7)
Points: Zach Parise (13)
Plus/Minus: Zach Parise & Travis Zajac (Plus 5)
Penalty Minutes: David Clarkson (18)
Goaltending
Wins: Martin Brodeur (6)
GAA: Martin Brodeur (2.57)
SV%: Martin Brodeur (.909%)
Summary
After shaking off a turbulent 0-2 start, the Devils captured three straight road victories, before splitting two home games between the Atlanta Thrashers and Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils returned to the road to capture two consecutive wins against the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins, going a team record 5-0 in starting away games, before returning home and suffering a 4-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, going 1-4 at home. Obviously, the Devil’s home woes have been a head scratcher and raised eyebrows, while their current undefeated record on the road is a trend they won’t want to tamper with. Most players are describing the instance as coincidental and not being afraid to make the plays to generate offense on the road, whereas they’ve been playing a more uptight game at home. It’s too early in the season to consider this an issue yet, which I’m sure will work itself out in time.
Overall, the team’s been playing average hockey, enough to get by, but they’ve yet to dominate a game for sixty minutes.The Devils look like they’re still trying to develop and reestablish chemistry and look like they’re missing something integral from their game, causing them to play with a sense of uncertainty as well. Although left wing Patrik Elias is due to return within the next 1-2 weeks, the Devils lost top defenseman Paul Martin and wing Jay Pandolfo for 4-6 weeks from injuries both sustained during the team’s 4-1 victory over Pittsburgh. Martin Brodeur has unsurprisingly started in all ten match ups and has looked just as superb as he does shaky. Although Martin and Pandolfo are going to be out over a month, hopes are high Elias’ return stabilizes the offense and gets their production numbers back or near where they were last season.
Offense
So far, the Devils have scored a season high four goals in back to back victories against the Rangers and Penguins. I’m convinced this team is much more capable of surpassing that output since they’ve yet to play a sixty minute game, not to mention they played their two best offensive games against two of the league’s best teams, division rivals for that matter (I’ve realized I’ve been getting a little repetitive and am working on cracking the habit). It’s all a matter of the team and Lemaire finding consistent chemistry and this team recapturing the confidence they had from last year. Lemaire has frequently juggled the lineup, during which he broke up the infamous ZZ Pop Line for experimental purposes to find new means of production. So far, it seems to be benefiting some players, hurting others, while some haven’t been affected.
The offense is being spearheaded by the spectacular play of Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, who lead the team with thirteen and ten points, respectively. Rookie Niclas Bergfors has improved every game and currently has five points, scoring his first two goals of the season in back to back match ups, while the solid play of Jamie Langenbrunner and Danius Zubrus, surprising output of center Rob Niedermayer, and continual improvement of David Clarkson have supported the respectable, but much more capable offense. The main concern I have is the team’s lack of depth, which has given me reason to believe the Devils are currently no more than a two line team. After the first seven I’ve mentioned, there’s a huge drop off in sufficient productivity that consists of deemed “scrub” players, underachievers, and rookies excusably still learning the ropes of the team and system. This could be me riding my gut instinct, but I have a positive feeling Elias’ return is going to be the final piece of the puzzle for the inconsistent offense, the boost that at least gets them near the level I know they’re capable of.
Defense
The defense didn’t look promising to begin with and Paul Martin’s injury doesn’t make matters better. In ten games, the defense has had pitiful offensive contributions, combining for two goals and ten points. Cory Murphy seems to be an early bust and was demoted to Lowell after three or four games of poor play, and hasn’t reappeared in the Devil’s lineup since, having been a scratch since he was called up following Paul Martin’s injury. Out every defenseman that’s played a game so far, I think the two best have been Andy Greene, who currently leads the defense with a goal and three points and rookie Mark Fraser, who scored his first career goal against the Penguins, but is playing a stellar physical and defensive hockey.
Greene and Fraser have been the defense’s only bright spots since the rest of the corps have been mediocre or underachieving at a concerning level. You can say Bryce Salvador and Colin White are playing role, whose quality seems to reflect the state the team is in, not that they’re significantly impacting the team’s success or shortcomings, rather they’ll play well when the team plays well, and be invisible when the team performs poorly. Both haven’t stood out or shone in a positive or negative way, although Colin White’s successful point pinches and up tempo physical play in recent games is something we haven’t seen from him in some time. The biggest concern on defense has been the play of Johnny Oduya, whose logging top minutes, but has nothing to show for it. In ten games, Oduya has no points, is a minus five, and has sixteen penalty minutes, which rank second on the team. His play hasn’t gone unnoticed by the fans, who are reviving the anti-Oduya propaganda that started during his slow 3/4 of the 2007-2008 season.
Goaltending
Martin Brodeur. That’s all you can really say, since capable backup goaltender Yann Danis has yet to make his season debut. Like I said earlier, it all depends which Brodeur comes to play. It’s either the good Brodeur we saw against Carolina and Pittsburgh, or the bad Brodeur we saw against Philadelphia, Atlanta, and Buffalo. Marty has suffered slow starts every season since the lockout, which he usually shakes off around December or so. He is thirty-seven, and is facing what perhaps might be the most important year of his career. This is going to be the year when we’ll determine if Marty still has what it takes to be considered one of the league’s elite netminders or if the gears of his decline that’s been anticipated since the lockout ended have begun turning.
While he hasn’t bailed the team out, at least in my opinion (and he shouldn’t have to), he’s shown flashes of the elite goalie we know he has been, but has been canceling them out with a questionable play or weak goal. Brodeur seems to have a psychological hold on this team in that their state reflects the quality of Brodeur’s play, mainly because Marty picks up the huge amount of slack the mediocre defense leaves, resulting in him playing a much bigger role than any goaltender should have on any team. After ten games, Brodeur holds an above .500 record and looks to be returning down to Earth. The best way to describe his play is average and inconsistent, which might develop into a concern if this continues into December.
Who’s Hot
Zach Parise- Leads the team in pretty much every offensive category and injected life into the offense after a relatively slow start. He’s gotten seven points in his last three games, which could be a sign of good things to come.
Travis Zajac- Despite being separated from Parise, he’s off to the hottest start of his career, is on pace for another career year (although it’s still early), and continues to look more like a No. 1 center every game. If Zajac continues at this pace, would it be too much to say he could turn into another offensive outlet for the team to rely on along with Parise and Elias?
Andy Greene- He’s been the team’s best defenseman since his season debut. In eight games, he has a goal and three points. Aside from leading the defense in points, Greene has played a solid all around game and needs to build on what he’s started.
Who’s Not
Johnny Oduya- He isn’t off to a good start for a player that signed a pricey extension over the summer. He has no points and is a minus five with sixteen penalty minutes, none of which are fighting majors. He has to get his act together and do it quickly because if he doesn’t fulfil the role he’s expected to play, don’t be surprised if Lou or Lemaire replaces him with somebody that will.
Brian Rolston- He’s having a decent year, but isn’t living up to expectations. So far, he’s got two goals, four points, and a minus two. I’m confident Rolston can still score 25-30 goals if used properly and could help boost the struggling power play. Hopefully playing with Elias upon his return can get his name to appear on the score sheet more often. I also think he should replace Oduya at the point on the first power play unit.
Ilkka Pikkarainen- In my season preview, I said I would try to decipher Lou’s reasoning behind bringing this guy in and so far, I’ve got nothing. In seven games, Pikkarainen has no points, is a minus four, and has six penalty minutes. He’s starting to become Mike Rupp 2.0.
A little FYI, I tried to get this posted before the game against Boston, but was unable to. In response to tonight’s 2-1, let me start by saying it was great to see Yann Danis make his season debut and grab a win out of it. Danis held his own tonight and I thought he came up big a few times with some great saves. I really liked the Bergfors-Niedermayer-Clarkson line, as well as the Greene-Fraser combo, which I thought were the best line and defensive pairing for the team. Langenbrunner and Parise continued to have trouble finishing, although Zubrus’ game winning goal easily made up for it. It’s evident the game was a trapfest, however I think both teams kept the game exciting…Not get up and cheer exciting, rather more of an edge of your seat exciting. I’m assuming Lemaire is using the trap as a last resort until he figures something out and until Elias returns. Johnny Oduya was injured during the first period and left the game during the second. His status and wether or not he’ll play Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lighting is unknown.
