New Jersey Devils Season Preview

Overview

The New Jersey Devils enter the 2008-2009 season with a new, yet familiar look. The new faces Lou Lamoriello brought in are well known in New Jersey and have enjoyed great success with the franchise. After a disappointing playoff performance against the rival New York Rangers, The Devils will look to their past and rely on their present to redeem themselves.

Key Additions- Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik
Key Subtractions – Sergei Brylin, Karel Rachunek, Arron Asham, Vitaly Vishnevski

Coaching

Brent Sutter last season brought a very aggressive fore checking program to The Devils and although it did result in more scoring chances, very rarely did those chances go in the back of the net. Of course Mr. Sutter’s biggest obstacle for this upcoming season is to get the right line combinations going, and get the offense scoring. Of course this has been the task for every Devil’s coach with the exception of Robby Ftorek in the A-Line days.

Offense

Patrick Elias has finally met his match for the team lead in points in Zach Parise. Parise looks like the spark plug of the offense now, with every combination thriving when he’s a part of it. With a breakout season last year look for Parise to keep racking up the points. And while Parise is getting better and better, so should the production of his line mates.

The signing of Bobby Holik and Brian Rolston raises questions on what Sutter will do for line combinations. Does Bobby Holik slide into his old role with the team allowing John Madden to take on a more offensive role after his career year last season? Do Brian Rolston and his 30 goal potential automatically make it to the first line? If so who gets demoted to the second, Elias Gionta or Parise? This is a problem Sutter should be thrilled to have now that New Jersey may have some decent scoring depth and someone to support Langenbrunner and Zajac.

Along with scoring depth, they also have two suitable shut down lines with any mixture of Pandolfo, Madden, Clarkson, Rupp, Zubrus, and Bobby Holik. Zubrus seems to have replaced Sergei Brylin on the Devils as the Russian who can play from the 1st line to the 4th line. He’ll fit in anywhere, use his great size along the boards, but he will never be an offensive weapon on the Devils.

This could be effective lines for The Devils to open the season with.

Parise Elias Gionta

Rolston Zajac Langenbrunner

Pandolfo Madden Zubrus

Rupp Holik Clarkson

Defense

The Devils shed some salary on the defensive side by cutting loose Karel Rachunek and Vitaly Vishnevski and used that cap space to lock up Bryce Salvador. Salvador was a nice addition to The Devils and his solid play and grit will fit in nicely for a full season. Paul Martin and Colin White had the duty of trying to replace a core group of defensemen that nearly built a dynasty. From the looks of things, Colin White will never be a ruthless stay at home defensemen in the Daneyko or Stevens mode, and Martin will never be an offensive stalwart like Brian Rafalski or Scott Niedermeyer.

Regardless of whom Martin and White failed to live up to; they are the back bone of the defense. Martin paired up most of the season with Johnny Oduya who at times showed flashes of great offensive ability. To round out the bunch is Mike Mottau, Sheldon Brookbank, and Andy Greene. With names like those it is rather obvious that The Devils will be relying on their system and Martin Brodeur.

Keep an eye on undrafted Finland born defensemen Anssi Salmela. The 24 year old was signed in the offseason and is projected to have an offensive upside. If Devils are lacking that punch from the blue line, which they probably will, expect a call up to see what he’s got.

Paul Martin- Johnny Oduya

Mike Mottau -Colin White

Andy Green- Bryce Salvador

Goaltending

Regardless of how many goals Brian Rolston scores, regardless of how many people Bobby Holik cross checks, it all starts and ends with Martin Brodeur. Building a resume to rival anyone who ever put on a pair of goalie pads, Brodeur hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down and The Devils success as usual rides on him. I do believe this is finally the year the work load lessens, with playing 78 and 77 games back to back. He is 36 and it’s time to finally put the question to rest ‘Would Brodeur have performed better in the playoffs if he played less games in the regular season’. 70 games are fine, 73 at the max.

Parting Shot

Another upcoming season with the same questions being asked. Can the offense score some goals, and will Brodeur be able to keep this record breaking pace going. The Devils started off last season on the road for weeks while their new arena had the finishing touches put on it. They dug themselves in a hole and had to play above anybody’s expectations in the second half to have a respectable showing in the playoffs.

This season The Devils have to start off better than last year and they must compete against The Rangers. Last season the blue shirts absolutely owned The Devils in the regular season and it spilled over into the playoffs. If The Devils even had a .500 record against The Rangers last season they would have won the Eastern Conference. Things should be easier this time around for The Devils and Marty Brodeur… no Sean Avery.