New Jersey Devils 2008-09 preview

September 8, 2008   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

 

That time of year is almost upon us fellow hockey fans, in the next week training camps will open around the National Hockey League.  As usual there are many changes around the league, and also as usual there are few changes to speak of with the Devils. 

Nonetheless the Devils will certainly ice a better team at the start of this season than they did during 2007-08, particuarly the final painful weeks of the season where the Devils did not get a regulation win at home after late February and were obliterated out of the playoffs by the cross-town rival Rangers.

Of course there will be no changes in goal, Martin Brodeur returns for his 15th season in New Jersey, coming off yet another Vezina trophy as the top goaltender in the league, and he remains on pace to break Patrick Roy’s record for career wins sometime during the 2008-09 season.  Veteran Kevin Weekes returns as Brodeur’s seatwarmer backup.  Barring injury there’s no reason to expect anything less than a 73-9 split in games between Brodeur and Weekes though hopefully Weekes at least gets a token start at home this season (he didn’t start a single game at the Rock in 2007-08).

On defense there are plenty of changes, though most are of the cosmetic variety.  Gone from last year’s team are Vitaly Vishnevski and Karel Rachunek (thank god).  In with a new long-term contract is Bryce Salvador, who was more or less a ghost after his arrival from St. Louis because of injury but came back for the playoffs and should be a welcome addition over the 82-game schedule.  Also around for a full season is hard-hitting Colin White, who came back early last season from a serious eye injury to help stabilize the blueline.  Prospect Matthew Corrente - who also brings a physical element - may challenge the shaky Andy Greene and Sheldon Brookbank for the last defensive spot, joining the top five of Salvador, White, underrated Paul Martin, improving Johnny Oduya, and last year’s revelation Mike Mottau, who gets the most out of his limited skills.

To say the offense was a black hole last season would be kind.  Actually it was far worse than that, as the team averaged less than two goals a game over the final two months of the season last year and finished in the bottom third of the league overall in goals.  GM Lou Lamoriello was able to make one major addition to the offense in free agency, bringing back forward Brian Rolston, who blossomed into a consistent 30-goal scorer after being traded from New Jersey in 2000 for Claude Lemieux.  While adding Rolston should help, most of the Devils’ hopes of putting the puck in the net rest on a return to form from forwards such as Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta, and a quantum leap forward from Travis Zajac, who’s endured his share of growing pains on the ice thus far in his two seasons with the Devils.  Having captain Jamie Langenbrunner in the fold to begin training camp should also help after he missed the first six weeks of last season, and having 30-goal scorer Zach Parise around can’t hurt.  At times Parise looked like a star in the making last year and at times there was simply too little offensive talent around him for Zach to be a major factor himself.  In any case, Parise’s still very young - and already the best offensive player the Devils have as he enters his fourth NHL season.

You can’t mention the Devils without bringing up their checking line, a seperate entity among itself.  John Madden returned to form last season after an off year in 2006-07, and Jay Pandolfo – always a great defensive forward – was actually on pace for his best offensive season by far before getting hurt against Dallas in November.  An intriguing addition to the fourth line is long-time Devil Bobby Holik, back in town after years of exile at the Garden and Atlanta.  While Holik won’t help much offensively he does greatly improve a glaring weakness of the last few seasons – faceoff wins.  Not to mention the big Holik gives the team some desperately needed size and physicality.

While Brent Sutter did a very good job in his rookie season as NHL coach, this year should only be a step up as the team has had a year to acclimate to his ultra-serious personality and he’s had a year to evaluate most of the players on the roster.  Plus GM Lou Lamoriello‘s additions of Rolston, Holik and re-signing of Salvador and Pandolfo means Sutter will have an improved team more capable of playing his system instead of him having to adapt entirely to the Devils’ personnel.

So how much will the Devils be improved from last year?  Some of it depends on how their division rivals fare after making sweeping changes in the offseason, particularly the Rangers and Penguins.  MSG’s tenants remade their team this offseason, losing the likes of Jaromir Jagr, superpest Sean Avery and Martin Straka while gaining Markus Naslund, Nikolai Zherdev and Wade Redden, among others.  In Pittsburgh, they’re still recovering from the UFA losses of Ryan Malone and Marian Hossa, not to mention the injury to defenseman Ryan Whitney that will cause him to be sidelined for the first few months of the season.  While the Flyers made few major changes other than the draft-day trade of R.J.Umberger to Columbus, it remains to be seen how a young team deals with the burden of expectations (and whether they can avoid multiple 20-game suspensions this year!).  And the Islanders are still the Islanders, only now without the pesky Ted Nolan coaching them and with franchise goaltender Rick DiPietro recovering from yet another hip injury.