30 teams in 30 days: New Jersey Devils
Finished: 3rd eastern conference
Playoffs: Lost in 1st round to Carolina
Leading scorers: Zach Parise 94, Patrik Elias 78, Jamie Langenbrunner 69, Travis Zajac 62
Who did they add?: Yann Danis, Cory Murphy, Rob Davison
Who did they lose?: Scott Clemmensen, Michael Rupp, Brian Gionta, John Madden
Overview: The Devils, one of the most consistent teams in the eastern conference in recent years, used to be a team that relied on defense and goaltending in the form on Martin Brodeur. When Brodeur when down to injury, and missed the better part of 3 months, the Devils proved that they could do it with offense. Stepping up were two young guns, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac, with help from wily vets Jamie Langenbrunner and Patrik Elias. The Devils have an offense that can score, defend well, shut down the oppositions top lines and be tough and gritty. David Clarkson can assure you of that. The defense isn’t as strong as it was in the days of Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski, but they are still quite able to perform in the NHL. Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya head the group of 6, followed up by new addition Cory Murphy, Bryce Salvador, Mike Mottau and Colin White. This is a solid group built for the new NHL. They are all mobile and can move the puck while also staying at home in their own zone. The goaltending is, as always, led by Martin Brodeur, one of the best in the game. Backing him up are Yann Danis and Kevin Weekes. The Devils look to be in good shape for next year, with many solid, young players coming up from their farm system, but they also lost a lot in the offseason. The Devils will make the playoffs this season, but look for them to fall off a little bit in the now very competitive atlantic division.
Winners or losers?: The Devils would be big winners in my opinion if they resigned John Madden. He is one of the best defensive forwards in the game and he does it all. Their defensive game takes a big hit with this loss, and they will be hard-pressed to find a way to supplement it. They also lost their goaltending saviour, of sorts, in Scott Clemmensen. He held down the fort admirably while Brodeur was gone and if a such thing happens again, they will have to trust in Kevin Weekes and Yann Danis to put up similar numbers as Clemmensen did last season.
