Devils gear up for ’09-10 with questions

September 12, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

With their first preseason game on Wednesday, camp began in earnest this week for the New Jersey Devils.  Normally this time of year, hope springs eternal and just about everyone’s refreshed and recharged for the new season, fans included. 

Unfortunately there’s already a bit of ominous news regarding one Patrik Elias.  Remember that groin problem that plagued him at the end of last season?  Well he had surgery on it after playing in the World Championships for the Czechs, and three months later he’s still feeling discomfort.  As a result he’ll see a specialist Tuesday and probably won’t play in the preseason, putting his availability for Opening Night on October 3 into question.

Fortunately, unlike another well-known sport that’s beginning its season this week, the NHL is a marathon as opposed to a sprint.  Even if Elias doesn’t play against the Flyers on Opening Night, at least he should be back in form and healthy soon after.  And since becoming a regular ten seasons ago, Elias has only failed to play 75+ games once - due to his hepatitis suffered during the lockout.

Among other issues for the Devils - number one on my list is Jacques Lemaire, and this is twofold.  One, will he truly do what he says and keep the best parts of last season’s forechecking team while fixing the late-season and game errors that plagued them defensively?  It sounds good in theory, but I do wonder what happens after the first two-game losing streak.  After all, last season’s forechecking style did have the Devils among the best teams in the league until they abandoned it after a late-season slump.  

My second issue with Jacques is the Martin Brodeur question.  Ironically the last coach who told Brodeur when he’d play as opposed to the other way around was Lemaire, but that was two Cups and about 300 wins ago.  Hopefully with Brodeur’s age, the fact that it’s an Olympic year with a compressed schedule (that also might see Brodeur in the pipes once again for Team Canada), and the fact they have a capable backup in Yann Danis, it would behoove Lemaire to cut back Marty’s workload from 77 to say, 67 games at the very most.

Another issue is Brian Rolston, the mercurial forward has never really shined in a Devils uniform, either when he was here as a young player or last season when injury-plagued and disillusioned with his role he slumped to 15 goals.  Now that Rolston’s ankle has apparently healed, will he rebound for a coach he thrived under when both were in Minnesota?  Someone’s got to pick up the scoring of departed Brian Gionta, not to mention it’s hard to envision Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner and Elias combining for 100+ goals again, as talented as all three are.

And wither Rod Pelley…true, it looked as if John Madden outlived his usefulness a bit for most of last season until a stretch revival with a line of him, trusty sidekick Jay Pandolfo and ageless Brendan Shanahan.  Still, can the likes of Pelley and Danius Zubrus replace the intangibles of #11 (now in Chicago)?

At least the season began on a happy note for the valued season ticket holders at the Prudential Center this afternoon, as the Devils hosted a team barbeque which all players and coaches were present at, not to mention owner Jeff Vanderbeek and GM Lou Lamoriello.  Free food and drink (other than beer, which you had to pay for) was offered, and everyone had the opportunity to get pictures and chat with all of the Devils’ major figures.  Almost fittingly, clouds forced the barbeque indoors – which I guess would be my forecast for the ’09-10 Devils – cloudy.  Don’t get me wrong, they should still be a playoff team with a high point total.  But we have seen this script before, it would be nice to at least extend the movie this year.