Preseason Recap

After going 1-2 in their first three games, the Devils won the final three, making their final record 4-2. Jamie Langenbrunner, Cam Janssen, and Colin White are all out indefinitely. Langenbrunner is expected to return in late November/early December, while it's unknown when Janssen and White will be able to play. Rookies Rod Pelley, David Clarkson, and Nicklas Bergfors all seem to have made the team.

Preseason scores:

G1, L 3-2 vs. Flyers
3rd:
Zach Parise (PP) (Karel Rachunek, Andy Greene)
Andy Greene (PP) (Aaron Asham)
Full Box Score

G2, W 3-0 @ Boston
2nd:
Pelley (Barry Tallackson, Vitaly Vishnevski)
3rd:
Rachunek (Johnny Oduya, Travis Zajac)
Tallackson (Bergfors, Oduya)
Full Box Score

G3, L 3-4 @ NYR
2nd:
Dainius Zubrus (Olli Malmavaara)
Parise (Clarkson, Brian Gionta)
Gionta (Malmavaara)
Box Score

G4, W 3-1 @ Flyers
1st:
Bergfors (Rachunek, Greene)
3rd:
Pelley (Sergei Brylin, Oduya)
Bergfors (Gionta, Jari Viuhkola)
Box Score


G5, W 6-1 vs NYI
1st:
Gionta (unassisted)
John Madden (Arron Asham, Matt Corrente)
Zajac (Parise, Clarkson)
2nd:
Gionta PP (Rachunek, Parise)
3rd:
Gionta PP(Greene, Rachunek)
Madden PP(VIsnevski, Greene)
Box Score

G6, W 2-1 @ NYI
1st:
Zubrus PP (Gionta)
2nd:
Parise PP (Greene)
Box Score

White and Janssen Injured

Colin White was hit above the eye durning 2 on 1 drills in practice today. He and the ice were covered in blood. When coach Brent Sutter went to find him in the locker room after practice was over, he was gone. No word on where exactly he got hit, and how bad it is yet.

Cam Janssen disloacted his shoulder during the preseason game on Monday during a fight. The jersey was pulled over his head and he got a beating. His shoulder popped out while he was trying to throw a punch. He got it back in, but he was involved in another fight minutes later where it popped out again and he missed the rest of the game.

New Captain for 07-08 Season?

Head coach Brent Sutter has announced that there might be a new captain and assistants this season. There's a good chance Elias will wear the C again, but Sutter wants the players to work for it- nothing will be handed to them. Several players have been brought up as options for the new leaders, including

Patrik Elias- Wore the C last season, but didn't have a great season, despite leading the team in points and assists. He admitted the C effected his play in the beginning of the season, but he got more comfortable as the season went on.
John Madden- Usually wears an A, but could change that with hard work during camp and the preseason games. Many thought he would wear the C after Stevens.
Colin White- Same as Madden, but might not be the best on ice leader on the team.
Jamie Langenbrunner- Also an A, and showed a lot of leadership on a line with Travis Zajac and Zach Parise last season. A current groin injury might prevent him from impressing in camp and getiing it, though.
Jay Pandolfo- No letter unless one of the above is injured,although he shows leadership on the ice. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem like a top choice in this race.
Sergei Brylin- Pretty much the same situation as Pandolfo. Is a great leader, but he probably won't get it.
Zach Parise- An excellent player who many believe will be the captain in time, but he's a little young right now. He'll wear an A, if anything.
Martin Brodeur- Goalies can't be captain, but some think they should have three alternates, and make Marty the honorary captain of the team. I can't really see this happening, although if goalies could be captain, we wouldn't even be talking about this right now.
Cam Janssen- Why not? He brings energy to the team with his two minutes of ice time a game. And he'll lead the league in goals, assists, points, +/-, PIMs, and game winners, all with his 2 minutes on ice a game. Book it.

I think Elias, Madden and Langenbrunner are the three best choices of those listed, but Langs's groin problems might also cause a problem with him having a chance as captain.

Dowd to Flyers Camp

Jim Dowd will be at the Flyers' trainging camp this season. Better them than us. He's 39, and was never the best. So thanks for the memories, but see ya Jimbo.

Erik Rasmussen was offered an invite to training camp by none ofther than Lou, which he turned down. I don't think anyone is too disappionted about that eiter.

The Devils currently have four open spots on the third and fourth lines, assuming the first two lines will be made up of Elias, Zubrus, Gionta, Parise, Zajac and Langenbrunner, with Madden and Pandolfo holding their spots on the third line. Asham, Janssen, Rupp, Clarkson, Pelley, Viuhkola, and Brylin will be the top candidates for those spots, but several prospects, such as Bergfors, Vrana, and Tallackson could make the cut, along with NHL vet Grant Marshall.

Just some news

The Devils will not be doing anything special to show off their new jerseys. They will be seen for the first time during their first preseason game on September 17.

The Habs are retiring assistant coach Larry Robinson' number during a game against the Sens on November 19.

The Prudential Center is coming along nicely. Pictures are being updated frequently on their site.

Fromer Devils VP and GM Max McNab passed away at the age of 83 on Sunday.

Scott Neidermayer is still unsure if he'll play this season. Either way, he will miss most, if not all of training camp.

And finally, in case you haven't been keeping up with the Canada/Russia Under 20 series, coach Brent Sutter and the Canadien team are 6-0, with game seven tonight. Devils prospect Alexander Vasyunov has been one of the few bright spots on the Russian team. The game can be watched here.

Keep on voting

Round three of the logo contest: Devils vs Habs

Also, remember to watch the Devils Fifteen to Remember tonight, from April 5, when Brodeur collected his 48th win, an NHL record in the final meeting of the Devils and Flyers last season.

Martin Finally Resigned

Paul Martin has signed a 3 year deal worth 11.5 million (3 this season, 4 in 08 and 4.5 in 09).

Finally, a decent defenseman signed.

Vote Devils

Vote for the Devils.

http://nhllogos.blogspot.com/2007/08/poll-devils-vs-maple-leafs.html

Asham Signed

The Devils have signed ex-Islander Aaron Asham to a one-year, $700,000 deal. I think we have enough fourth liners now to play a different one every night.

Well, I'm sure Janssen's happy about this.

Parise Resigned

Zach Parise has signed a four-year deal worth $4.5mil.

Assistant Coaches Announced

Larry Robinson, John MacLean and Tommy Albelin will be backing up new head coach Brent Sutter this season.

This was a good loss.

Who knew there even was such a thing? Lowell defensemen Alex Brooks and Jim Fahey have parted ways with the Devils. Brooks signed with the Blues and Fahey withe the 'Hawks. Trust me, I'm not crying.

To make up for their losses, which also includes Dan LaCouture who is now a duck, and Dan McGillis and Scott Lachance, who won't be resigned, they signed vet defense man Ian Moran and German defenseman Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre (try saying that ten times fast). I think it's safe to say these signings are for Lowell. If not, we just might set a record for most and lamest defensemen on a team during one season.

Marshall Resigned

Why? That I do not know. He's signed for this season, and will be making 475,000. Hopefully he'll be back in Lowell. I have nothing against him, but there are a ton of younger, more/just as talented players waiting to get a shot with the big guys.

New Coach?

UPDATE: According to TSN, the Devils will be announcing Sutter as their new coach today.

Now to get off topic. Souray signed with the Oilers for 5.5 mil. a season for 5 seasons, with a NMC for the first three years.

It's awesome," Devils winger Zach Parise said. "I'm pretty excited about it. He coached Team Canada in the world juniors. Travis (Zajac), who was trying out, said a lot of guys liked him. I think this is great for us."

Judging by that quote, I think it's safe to say Parise is/will resign(ed).


Rumors are flying around that Brent Sutter will be the Devils' new coach. He previously coached junior team the Red Deer, and was apparently a favorite of Lou's for the position for the past few coach hunts. This dude had her heart set on Pat Bruns, but Sutter is, supposedly, the same hard core type of coach, and is good from kids. Kids as in younger players. I'm not saying it's definite, and I won't until I see it from a reliable source, like TSN or the Devils site. After the Souray ordeal, I'm not believing anything until it's made official, again, by a reliable source (NHL Line doesn't count).

It's out

The schedule for the 2007/08 season's out. I'd post it, but it's too long.

Word on the street is Lou's in Minnesota getting Martin and Parise to sign their contracts. Minard, McGillis and Lachance won't be kept. I have no problem with that, they're all a little old. If they haven't made it the NHL yet (or played well on that level), then they never will. Pihlman will be playing in Finland, but we still have his rights. Hopefully Lou will use that in a trade. Dowd wants to return for another season, but LL isn't sure if he will or not. I'm overusing Lou, but he'll most likely be talking to Rasmussen, too. I still smell a trade coming on. Eight defensemen, most of which are barely decent number 2's. It's good for injury, but we have Fraser and Malmivaara for that. Maybe two of them for a good number two? Who knows.

See ya, Sheldon.

Update: He's signed for the next three seasons, and will get 1.4 Mil. this season and 2 per for the last 2. And Janssen's signed for three seasons. I love Cam as much as anyone else (maybe more, judging by the hate I've seen for him by some people), but I think Lou has officially lost his mind.


With Vitaly Vishnevski now on the team, I think it's safe to say we won't be signing Souray, unless Martin isn't resigned or Lou plans on having Oduya down in Lowell. Not enough cap space, and enough defensemen. But if Lou plans to trade for Souray, then we're looking at a whole other story. Well, I don't know how long we have him for, but he'll be making $1.4 mill this season.

Souray?

All this Souray junk deserves it's own post. Long story short, NHL Line is the only site to have anything regarding all of this. I don't know how trustworthy this is, because I've only recently heard of it, the writing has a bunch of mistakes in it, and they reported that Briere had signed with the Canadians. I'm not totally buying it, mainly because they've been saying a signing will be announced shortly for the last three days, and it's been their main story since then. Not that there's anything wrong with that. You never see the Devils with a "big" story, but with Vanek signing that offer sheet from the Oilers, then Buffalo matching it, you would think that would be forgotten or something. I've heard some people suspect Lou's waiting for Parise and Martin to sign their contracts before announcing a Souray signing to prevent what happened with Vanek and the Sabres happening with them. I could see why. If we announce that we signed Souray or anyone else for that matter before Parise and Martin were signed, and that were to happen, a team would know how much to offer so that Lou couldn't match it. Well, we'll see what happens, but if you ask me, this site is as reliable as the National Enquirer.

Signings

The exclamation mark is officially out. Clemmensen's out, and he's been replaced by kevin weekes. More Ranger trash. Now, If you've read nearly anything I've written about Lowell, you know how much I dislike Frank Doyle. I'd rather have him warming the bench for a lot less $$ than the 1.375 he'll be getting over two years. Needless to say, I won't be a Devils fan when he plays- unless we're playing the Rangers or Flyers.
Let's take a look at his stats from last season, shall we?
GP: 14 W: 4 L:6 OTL: 2 GAA: 3.39 SV%: .879
I'm sure you're all up to date with Clemmensen's 6 games, 1 win, 1 loss and 2 shoot out losses. He had a GAA of 3.15 and a SV% of .889. Being that it's almost gaurenteed that Clemmer would probably be willing to take the minimum, I'd take him any day.

Oh, and nothing else on the Souray rumors.




First off, happy Fourth. Now, down to business. The Rachunek rumors have been confirmed by both TSN and the Devils. There are rumors floating around about us signing Sheldon Souray, but it's yet to be confirmed by a reliable source. Weather this is true or not, our D's gonna be pretty hot next season. As hot as an ice cube..


Oh my. Lukowich to the Lightning for three years. So our defense is Oduya, White, Greene, Matvichuk and possibly
Rachunek (TSN has yet to confirm us signing him, so I'm not entirely sure).

Update: 20.4 million over the 6 seasons.
Finally, a big name! The Devils have signed Danuis Zubrus for 6 years, with financial terms not disclosed yet.


Well, Oduya signed the same deal as Greene, 2 years at 600,000 per, and I heard Janssen will be getting 550,000 for I don't konw how long. We also signed ex Ranger Karel Rachunek for one season for 1.5 mil. The Pens got Sykora for two seasons, so my hopes of getting him are gone. I'll keep updating as I find out more.


Here's one Deivls signing- Oduya has been resigned for I don't know how long or for how much.
Update: Nothing on the $$ or the length, but it's not on TSN's list of signings, so I don't have a clue as to what's going on.



Talk about bleeding red and black- Gomez signed a 7 year deal with the Rags for $7.35 mil. per season. Well, I hope they enjoy over paid players- then again, they must, going back to that Holik deal. How nice would it be to see Janssen pull one on him next season? Maybe Rupp, White, or Matvichuk or Clarkson. Anyone. If you ask me, it's be worth someone getting susended over. See ya, Gomer, and I hope you're as good as you were here there.



Brian Rafalski has signed a 5 year $30 mil. contract with the Red Wings. So as of right now, our defense consists of White, Greene and Matvichuk. That seems promising. No word on Gomez of the other UFA's, but I'll keep you posted.

Rupp Signed

Mike Rupp has signed with the Devils for 2 seasons, at $500, 000 per. Lou's close to closing a deal with Rafalski, and Odyua will be a UFA come Sunday. Oh, and the cap will be $50.3 million this season.

Well, since it's Friday, and Rupp was signed, why not make him the star this week?

Height: 6' 5"
Wight: 230
Position: Right wing
Birthday: Jan 13, 1980
Shoots: Left
From: Cleveland, Ohio

2006/07 Season:
Team: Devils
Games played: 76
Goals: 6
Assists: 3
PIMs: 92
PPG: 0
SHG: 0
GWG: 1
+/-: -10

2006/07 Playoffs:
Team: Devils
Games played: 9
Goals: 0
Assists: 1
PIMs: 7
PPG: 0
SHG: 0
GWG: 0
+/-: +1

He's in the Hall

Scott Stevens has entered the Hockey Hall of Fame. Make that he will officially enter on November 12. That's pretty awesome, for him and the Devils. His leadership and skills got him in, and, well, it was all with the Devils- I didn't see him win three Cups with any other team. Aww, congrats, Scotty.

Scott Stevens' 10 Greatest Hits