Thu 27 Sep 2007
Y’know, so as not to confuse with regular season stuff.
There’s a rumor that the Devils played a pre-season game last night, a 6-1 whomping of the Islanders in Lowell, Mass.
I would have livecapped it, except I guess we weren’t to know the game existed, as it was not broadcast on TV nor the interwebs.
BUT, we do know that one Brian Gionta netted at hat trick (two goals of which came on the power play) and one John Madden scored two goals of his own. Andy Greene and Karel Rachunek added a pair of assists each - holy defensive contributions, Batman! - and Martin Brodeur played two periods, allowing one goal on 15 shots.
It’s a shame the game wasn’t broadcast, sounds like it was a fun one to watch. The Devs wrap up their pre-season with a Saturday matchup against the Islanders in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
Alas, with only one preseason game to play, it’s that time of training camp that all the young dudes (and some of the old dudes) dread. Cuts were announced today and the following players will be spending more time at Paul E. Tsongas Arena than just last night’s pre-season game:
Jason Smith, Rod Pelley, Mike Mottau, Grant Marshall, Frank Doyle, Niklas Bergfors, Benoit Mondou, Mike Pandolfo, Pierre-Luc Leblond-Letourneau, Petr Vrana, Ryan Murphy, Ivan Khomutov, Patrick Davis, Barry Tallackson, Jason Rhyznar, Jari Viuhkola, Sean Zimmerman, Olivier Magnan, Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, Ian Moran, Olli Malmivaara, Mark Fraser, Jordan Parise, Dave Caruso, and Steven Gionta.
Phew.
My guess is that with Doyle and the elder Parise heading north, Kevin Weekes is okay enough to spell Marty for the final preseason game.
And don’t fret Bergfors fans, there’s a good chance Niklas will be around Newark in the near future…especially if the injury bug hangs around.
UPDATE: Hold the phone! Sounds like cuts may not have been made…yet. According to Tom Gulitti, Louie Lams has not made a final decision on who stays and who goes. Expect an official announcement sometime tomorrow.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
I was suprised that Bergfors was sent down, he seemed to have impressed Sutter. With Langenbrunner and Janssen this seems to leave the team with the minimum set of forwards(12) including Noah Clarke, who I hadn’t heard anything about thus far in the preseason. I figure he’ll play with Brylin and Rupp on the 4th line
September 27th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I was thinking about that myself, Mike. Which makes me wonder if we may see Bergfors early on in the season anyway, just to get him into a little NHL action before going back down to Lowell for seasoning.
September 27th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
it sure looks like this will be the lineup on opening night against the Lightning
Elias - Zubrus - Gionta
Parise - Zajac - Clarkson
Pandolfo - Madden - Asham
Clarke - Brylin - Rupp
Vishnevski - Martin
Matvichuk - Rachunek
Oduya - Greene
(White may miss the first week or so)
Brodeur
Weekes
September 27th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
So Clarkson made it but Bergy didn’t. So sad. But hopefully we’ll see him get called up a couple times.
September 27th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Interestingly enough, I don’t see Corrente’s name on that list. Could it be that he might play the role of 8th defensman?
September 27th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
It seems to me like Sutter is focused on adding a lot of grit throughout the lineup, something Clarkson brings that a finesse player like Bergfors doesn’t.
Hopefully he’ll get the call up soon though. Parise-Zajac-Bergfors? Oh man that’d be a sweet line.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
Aaron,
Corrente may be up because of White’s injury, but he could very well be sent back to juniors, or develop in Lowell. I don’t think he’s really made the team.
September 27th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
I’m so happy Clarkson got to stay, to bad for Pelly and Bergfors, Hopefully they’ll get their chance soon.
And just for personal hopes, I would love for this to be the first year of the dynamic brotherssss. (Gio, Pando & Parise)
When is Cam supposed to have surgery? Poor guy, its not good to leave a dislocated shoulder alone for so long…
September 27th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
Wait, wait, wait, who the hell is this Noah Clarke kid? Definately thought Berg would be there. Maybe they want him to get his scoring touch down in Lowell, because being on the 4th line won’t do him much good.?
September 27th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
You know, I think they sent Pelley and Bergfors down now as opposed to later so they wouldn’t have to worry about them going thru waivers and having another team snatching them. ‘Cause, I mean, more teams would be interested in those two than Clarke.
September 27th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Tiffany –
Neither Pelley nor Bergfors can be claimed by another team through waivers. If they’re sent down, they’re sent down. No waivers for them.
September 27th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
Huh. I swear someone said they could. So I’m still confused as to why they were sent down instead. But according to Gulitti, no one has been sent down yet. So I dunno.
http://njmg.typepad.com/devilsblog/
September 27th, 2007 at 6:39 pm
According to Lamiorello last week, Corrente is ticketed for juniors regardless of how he performed in camp. They said they were going to keep him around as long as possible to get a good look, but he won’t be on the squad until the spring at the earliest.