Yeah it has been pretty tough to watch, that's for sure.
Brodeur has looked shaky, Hedberg has looked juvenile... Kovalchuk and Parise have both been invisible.
After their 7-2 drubbing at the hands of Washington (beast of the East IMO), "Captain" Jamie Langenbrunner was quoted as saying: "These games happen." Clearly in addition to cap space, the problem is leadership. Langenbrunner doesn't have it, and I for one have never been sold on him since he took the "C" right off of Elias's chest.
Their best player has been the ethereal Jason Arnott who hasn't been able to compensate for the fact that he has been out there with the likes of Rod Pelley and David Clarkson - both of whom have hands of stone. When Elias is flanking him, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.
The defense has just looked ridiculous at times. It took them two periods against Dallas on Friday to revert back to the old habit of "running around" in their own zone, which undoubtedly caused a lot of nausea at the Prudential Centre over the weekend. There were bound to be some growing pains with a younger, less experienced defense, but at present, Bryce Salvador is faking an injury to help with the cap situation (as if he really has a concussion) and Volchenkov, who was counted on to block shots, is sidelined after having done just that... with his face.
So what is the solution?
The Devils will dress a whopping sixteen players for tomorrow's game against Buffalo.
The best case scenario would be one of two things:
1) Brian Rolston does indeed have a sports hernia or some other serious but hopefully not life/career threatening injury that will land him on LTIR. I'm sure Lou will be waiting at his bedside with a baseball bat if he even thinks of getting up to put on a pair of skates...
2) Jamie Langenbrunner, who will most definitely not be brought back next season anyway, will be shipped out of town. His dollars could then be used to give Matias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson a shot with the big club. I have had enough of Langenbrunner and his "no can do" attitude, and after watching three straight playoff flops, the axe should fall first on the leader who didn't get the job done, and never really seemed to care, anyway. Where's the fire, where is the "if we don't win, we don't deserve to wear the uniform!!!" attitude that so many captains around the league have?! ... the Devils share is hanging in the rafters alongside a #4 sweater.
I wanted Kovalchuk to remain a Devil in a bad way this offseason, but here is a summary of what his acquisition has cost the franchise so far:
Trade:
1st round pick, Johnny Oduya, Nicklas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier
Contract:
$100 million
Penalty:
$3 million, 1st, 3rd round picks
Cap problems:
Bryce Salvador, delay of NHL debuts of coveted prospects Tedenby/Josefson, Dean MacAmmond (amazing depth player), Mike Motteau (terrible but would have played for nothing if the Devils could have found space for him)... etc!
Not to mention the apparent hit that the Devils reputation has taken - the fact that this thread exists at all is a testament to the hatred that the entire league nay the entire pro sports world has developed for the Devils, who used to so casually fly under the radar. Now, people associate the Devils jersey with greed, drama and treachery, and that's the biggest problem to come out of all of this... so far.
