Archives for December 2007

Oh this should be FUN again… But with an 8-4-1 month isn’t bad for a team that used to just SUCK in December all the time, and there was a lot to like about the way this season has panned out for the Devils, as a subtle rebuild is actually working out as this team slowly goes from a defense first team of hall of famers to more a current NHL style of offense-first, and actually a fun, but mildly frustrating team to watch!!!

Forwards:
Patrik Elias:
Played his best game of the year and didn’t score and got hurt too… that kinda summizes Patrik to this point doesn’t it?? The overly talented enigma, plays and plays hard every night… maybe he’s playing too hard, maybe it’s the line shuffling.. I don’t know what it is.. but 5 of his 8 goals ARE winning goals, so when he does put it out it COUNTS (uh-oh he’s using the stat book to base the month of a goal scorer.. must be football season!) but hot damn it’s not that he doesn’t bust his nuts every night…took losing his A a bit personally and maybe it’s kicked his ass in gear… or he’s like most hockey fans and doesn’t take the season too serious until the football season ends (it’s such a damn long season that if you go crazy about games in October and November you’ll be getting Vicodin IV’ed in through your strait jacket come April!)… he was a bit better this month though, the move to center helped him have more talent around him if not his game… Grade B-

Travis Zajac:
Oh where have you gone oh Travis Zajac…. he’s on the Parise line and he’s STILL not producing…it’s not a good thing for this team… when you’re top offensive center is John Madden LOOK out…one goal and one assist is NOT going to cut it for what should be our top or even second center he has to bust out of the sophomore jinx sooner or later (I think we all also saw Parise’s jump from year one to year two and the good first month made us think he was gonna do the same!).. needs to get his ass in GEAR… Grade D+

Brian Gionta:
8 points in 13 games is eh (and for the people who say I spend too much time on stats, please GO LOOK at how few goals a game this team scores, and I know most of this is because our defense BLOWS and has NO transition game for the forwards), but his game also got a bit better when he got with Elias and Zubris (well for the five minutes a game the coach allows it)…no power play goals, and when you’re the teams top pp guy, and the team can’t bribe a hooker to buy a power play goal… that’s a problem too… again I aim a lot of the team’s problems at the defense, but the forwards need to take heat too…Grade B-

Zach Parise:
A little less consistent this month, but how could he NOT be …. He had an AMAZING November, and the whole team took a bit of a step back in the goal scoring department this month… can’t blame Zach for it though, he’s still the most dangerous player on this team and it’s not even close! (hell the whole team only scored 27 goals in the MONTH, that’s pretty brutal and scary bad too)… not his fault one bit though… Grade A-

Sergei Brylin:
Got more ice time this month and seems better fitted as the fill-in for Pando role then what he was trying to do on the 4^th line (the way this team is set up now the 4^th line needs to MASH BRAINS and that’s not Sergei’s game).. the 7 goal pace for the season is still not all that good, but go figure he has his best game of the season the day after I blast him and say it’s over… so is it time to blast him and say it’s over? I dunno… but it’s still pretty close and he’s gonna be back in the same “what the Farooq do we do with him” role when Pandolfo comes back…. Grade C

Dainius Zubrus:
I swear I could say this about the whole team, but like so played better basic hockey all month long… was a factor with and without the puck… but this damned team seems cursed for offense now, no one stands out on this damn team except Parise and they all seem to score in the same weird little bunches…I think he’s still been a good addition to the team at least… Grade C+

Jamie Langenbrunner:
You KNEW he was gonna slow down with the point frenzy after coming back.. and much like the rest of the team was spotty at best (it’s scary how when you use the reference tool of the game log to see a breakdown and to remind you a little of who did what and when, and to see how many guys up top went 3-5 games with no points… this team can’t be having that)… even re-uniting Parise/Zajac and Langenbrunner for last year’s magic doesn’t seem to be helping right now, seriously this team needs a puck moving D-Man NOT named Schneider and NOW… but Jamie was OKAY.. not great… not BAD on the month… so I guess that kinda spells out… Grade B-

Jay Pandolfo:
It’s actually frightening to the point of stopping people from sleeping the fact that the Devils actually miss his OFFENSE now… I’m really scared by that.. and I mean dark alley in Harlem kinda scared while wearing a white sheet….but it’s fitting that his injury was in true Pandolf-ian fashion and now he’s sorely missed on this team… Grade INCOMPLETE

John Madden:
6 goals leads the team for the month, and he’s really the #1 and most consistent do any and everything center we’ve got now, and I still wonder if that’s the best thing for this team (no knock on Madden of course) .. has found his shot, offense and even the net under the Sutter system and may be the best beneficiary of said system.. there was a lot to complain about in this month (which is crazy cause this team IS in first place and all)… but not much to complain about from Number 11… Grade A

Aaron Asham:
I’d call him AA, but that insults Arn Anderson on SO MANY LEVELS it’s not even funny… but each time I see him on the ice I keep thinking… “Whatever” and really his ice time (which tells you what the coaches think of him) and his stats would call “whatever” a damned improvement… he’s been disappointing this year… and his botch on the penalty shot kinda tells you all you need to know about him this season…. So what’s the Grade Equivalent of “whatever”… oh yeah… Grade C-

Mike Rupp:
Everytime I see his name I become Agent Smith From the 3^rd Matrix movie.. WHY… WHY…. WHY DO YOU PERSIST MISTER RUPP!!! Played 5 games too many this month and to hear me scream I DID NOT TRAVEL 3500 MILES and 5 HOURS BY PLANE AND ANOTHER THREE BY CAR TO SEE YOU SUCK! Just sums up his whole time as a Devil this time around… I can’t wait till Cam comes back so you can swim in a pool of AIDS until it kills you!!! Grade F

David Clarkson:
The most fun and energetic player to watch all month long… he really is Randy McKay with a little spunk and I love seeing this kid on the ice… he’s learning what it’s like to be a stand in front pain in the ass (the flag incident in practice last week shows you they know what they need to teach this kid to move up to the next level still) and even though he’s not burying the chances like he will in the future.. any guy who goes out and punches Bill Guerin in the face gets a higher grade by me!!! He’s Sean Avery… WITH class!! Grade B+

Rod Pelley:
With John Madden being counted on for more offense, he’s being counted on for more defense and has stepped into the role pretty danged good! Still kills penalties too and the coaches are finding better ways to use him each month… may never be a 20 minute… or goal.. guy… but he’s a nice 4^th liner and defense-only guy who will get lucky and add some points! Grade B-

Defense:
Colin White:
Had a ROUGH night in Vancouver (he wasn’t the only one, I swear if I meet one more idiot Canuck fan who wants to cancel Marty’s 3 rings after one bad night I may go Chris Benoit on someone… is it still too early to make that reference?), but aside of that he is what he is.. I’d like to see him on the ice a little more (he’s doing about 17 a game … we need that up to 20-some, but the 7-D system is affecting that a bit)… and isn’t going to overwhelm you in any way, but plays good and hard every night… maybe eases up a little to avoid dumb penalties, but I’m sure the eye injury has tamed his aggression also… Grade B+

Paul Martin:
Talking of playing 20 plus minutes a night… here’s your guy… getting better and more relied upon as the season goes on (also the responsibility of the A shows the faith the team has in him)..he’s the do everything guy on this team… wish he was better at breakout passes but is also showing signs of being ready to jump into the play at good times, and is the one guy I think can improve and add more offense to this team from the blueline… hopefully that too comes as the season moves on… another good month for our by-defacto top defender! Grade A-

Johnny Oduya:
Played good on my birthday (see if you guys weren’t such asses to him he’d play good on YOUR birthday too.. even the smartass who’s gonna say well I was born in August… well just for you he’s gonna score a hat trick in a roller hockey game in Newark JUST FOR YOU!!!).. didn’t make the major mistake this month (which too is a good sign), and when played in the 7-D rotation wasn’t being overplayed or asked to do stuff he can’t… has a decent shot… may see some pp time, hell it can’t be any WORSE can it? It’s not even liking him to piss you guys off anymore… he’s been pretty solid!! Grade B-

Andy Greene:
Hot damn he made some nice keeps of the blueline on the power play in the Buffalo game… this kid has the skills and the mobility and he makes good plays… still kinda young and needs to be one of the guys to produce from the defense corps (NO points in the month on a team DESPERATE for a pp guy and transition type defender ala Rafalski is not gonna get it done)..I just wish he were more a part of the answer as opposed to part of the “what the hell is up with the defense” question… they’ve been a lot better on defense, but they need to be like the old days of good defense breaking out good OFFENSE too…. Grade C+

Sheldon Brookbank:
4 assists and 4 fights in the same month… it’s an improvement! Ice time is getting less and less each game though… and doesn’t seem to do anything all that much better then any of the other D in our shuffle right now, get the feeling him and Oduya might be shipping in and out of the line when Rachunek comes back…not really his fault, but hey then again… if Elias and Pando are still out… DRESS EIGHT D… playing 2 D on the wings of the 4^th line… still better then one Rupp and no clue!!! Grade C-

Mike Mottau:
Good lord he’s our pp quarterback…. And using that word with him brings back more thoughts of Chad Suckinson and Vinny Testaverde, then Al MacInnis or even Brian Rafalski… again it’s not hating the guy, and I don’t… hell his goal against Buffalo was the first damn goal I saw in person since flipping D-Day! But I really worry if this is the best offensive defenseman we got, but he’s still been a nice steady surprise this year… even if he’s still in over his head a little bit… Grade B-

Vitaly Vishnevski:
Each month I keep wondering why we don’t see more of him every night, he’s ok with the puck… he doesn’t line up and kill people with hits as much as we’d like… but it just seems the coaches don’t love him for some odd reason, he’s not the defensive beast we do need back there and no he doesn’t bring the puck up… or out without chipping.. but he does put the fear of the MONSTER hit into people, and it’s something no one else really does in the back pairings….wonder if he will ever win the staff over enough to jump him to a top level of minutes… Grade C+ (still need MORE of him)

Karel Rachunek:
He’s still “eh” to me… or dare I say… “whatever”.. got hurt and it was just when I was starting to pay attention to him more, I suppose he’s still ok, but he’s like a lot of these guys in the same as what we got but just older, I don’t really think he’s the answer or the cure to what Devil problems there are when they come back…. Grade C+

Goalies:
Martin Brodeur:
Playing too damned much again (though the schedule was spaced out nicely with the Western Canada trip and all to make travel time a must) but it’s hard to complain with the results (though it was still a joke he was allowed to embarrass himself and put me through more hell in Vancouver where he couldn’t stop a beach ball or get me off the burger line)… wasn’t all too good in the Islander game and again maybe should not have played.. but unless we see 3 in 4 nights… or it’s February, Marty’s gonna be out there burning himself out all over again! Grade B+ (if you had flown all the way out to Vancouver to see that mess you’d have failed him… and oh yeah… it was your 35^th Birthday Present too… you’d hold a grudge!)

Kevin Weekes:
Holy shit he actually PLAYED in December?? I swear it’s racism keeping the black man down and all!!! He wasn’t bad in his LONE game of the month, but really needs maybe 2-3 starts a month to be fairly rated… typical Devils backup goalie…. INCOMPLETE

Coaching Staff:
One by one he is fixing the problems on this team…. The defense is playing better… penalty kill is improved… I even love how he handled the Asham situation… the only big black eye on the team now is the 0-8 with the Rangers and Islanders but that too HAS to come around, I really like the changes and adapting this team is doing and making as they try to become a more complete team throughout the season, and even as much as I am not a fan so far of the result… letting kids like Mottau take fire in the shit on the power play is the right move for this team now! Now only if someone could break Mike Rupp’s leg… or better.. send him back to Albany! (I know it’s not our farm team anymore that’s the POINT!) Grade B+