Sat 22 Sep 2007
While perusing the Devils website roster this evening, trying desperately to figure out how to correctly spell Vitaly Vishnevski (Y in the first name, I in the last), I noticed something odd.
Johnny Oduya is no longer in the Devils lineup.
Instead, Mr. Oduya has been replaced by the less loveable sounding John…Oduya.
Naturally, this is terribly disappointing to me.
Johnny Oduya rolls off the tongue; John Oduya, on the other hand, not so much. Plus, “Johnny O” is far more fun to say than the putrid “John O.”
Maybe Johnny John decided that with the Devils making an obvious effort to get bigger and tougher, it was time to drop the carefree, tender Johnny for the more serious and ripe sounding John. Consequentially, the playfulness of Johnny Oduya is a thing of the past. Don’t be surprised if he’s downright scowling in his bio picture this year as opposed to the somewhat goofy grin of last year.
That said, I still miss the “ny.”
Or maybe I simply have too much time on my hands.

September 22nd, 2007 at 7:35 pm
No, you’re right. “John Oduya” just doesn’t work. Then again, “Johnny” wasn’t so good last season, but maybe if “John” can do better we can adjust, who knows.
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:31 am
Maybe he should go the Mike Jefferson route and change his name to Johnny Danton. It seemed to work out for good ole Jefferson, don’t you think?
September 23rd, 2007 at 7:36 am
it’s ok, he’ll always be our Johnny O
lol
September 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 am
Oduya should have beaten the snot out of Avery.
I am hoping that Lou trades John or Johnny.
Go Devs!
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:46 am
Hmmmmm, now who are We going to call Johnny O? Johnny O Maddog? not the same roll off of the tongue. Maybe with the loss of the ny, some stupid penalties will be lost as well.Let’s just hope with the Danton name change route Johnny o, oops excuse Me John does not end up in jail at FT.Dix.
September 23rd, 2007 at 11:49 am
Ps. Gomer’s Rangers are off to a flying start with a 5-0 loss, I watched bits and pcs and He looked awful, the new # I think made Him the invisable Man.
September 23rd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
This got me excited. I thought we traded him at first.
September 23rd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Honest question, what’s with the doubt on Johnny boy? People want him traded, think he sucks? I got to disagree. Besides what he did in the playoffs, which I attribute to lack of experience, I thought he was one of our best defensemen last year. He was steady, rarely was caught out of position, played hard, made plays. I like Johnny boy a lot, a whole hellava lot more than P Martin.
September 23rd, 2007 at 9:16 pm
on the bright side he dropped the “NY” out of his name.
September 24th, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Its been like that for a while now, the first time I saw it was the first time I realized his name is actually John and not Johnny as many of us were raised to believe.