After a weekend of driving through the mountains of Cobleskill, you can imagine I had more than a fair amount of time to think about…well, absolutely anything.  Aside from the usual day dreams about Chinese takeout and when my next Dunkin’ Donuts rest-stop will be, my mind inevitably ended up on the ice.

Typically, I wouldn’t have a problem with that, but with the off-season still flaunting its ugly style it can tend to get a little frustrating.  Well, I’d like to announce that I’m tired of waiting for something news-worthy to write about.  That being the case, I’ve decided I’d like to spill whatever has been on my mind as of late.

Sound good?  Too bad, here goes…

IS IT WORTH IT TO GET EXCITED?

Part of me says YES, and the other part of me thinks its counterpart has an addiction to sniffing glue.  You see, it’s easy as a fan to get wound up over signing a player of Brian Rolston’s caliber, but it’s not so easy (or enjoyable) to know that realistically Lou Lamoriello hasn’t done much to improve his squad other than sign Rolston & Holik.  Granted, some weeding was also done in the Black & Red garden, but the current selection of crops leaves me with a sinking feeling that the team still isn’t ready to compete.  Why do I feel that, you ask?  Look no further than the blue line.

With Paul Martin as your reigning #1, and Johnny Oduya as our token puck-mover, I just have a hard time feeling confident about our defensive corps.  Even guys like Halischuk and Corrente competing for a spot out of training camp, it’s going to take a lot more to keep the Devils from becoming a part of a few embarrassing highlight reels this season.

WILL LOU MAKE ANOTHER MOVE?

If I knew the answer to this question, I wouldn’t be typing to you from my ground level living room/bedroom.  Then again, when it comes to Lou, the highest of the hockey insiders still probably wouldn’t have a clue.  Would I like to see another move made?  Absolutely.  One involving a defen

seman?  You bet!  Again, reality donkey-punches me in the face and I’m forced back down to earth, knowing that another roster tweak isn’t likely.  Barring a few minor additions out of training camp,

it looks like the current Devils roster will be the one that takes the ice October 10th at The Rock.

HOW MUCH DOES MARTY HAVE LEFT?

It just wouldn’t be a legitimate pre-season breakdown without asking this question.  It seems th

at year in and year out, it rears its ugly head.  The funny thing is that every single year, the answer remains the same.  Marty is Marty. He will bring his usual lights-out game with him no matter what the situation is.  Kevin Weekes will play sparingly or when necessary, unless the team happens to be 39-1-1 at the All Star Break.

WILL THE OFFENSIVES WOES CONTINUE?

It depends.  Obviously, Brian Rolston could boost even the weakest offense.  Which is good, because I think the Devils are the proud(?) owners of that title.  The real question is: what kind of year will his support have?  Rolston has already proven what he can bring to the table, it’s the veteran Devils that worry me.  If anything, they’ve been consistantly inconsistant. 

Let’s take Patrik Elias for example.  Dude is either lights-out or a dud christmas light.  Gionta is no better, and Travis Zajac left much to be desired in his Sophomore campaign.  Perhaps the only reliable forward the Devils currently boast is Zach Parise.  Likewise with returning captain Jamie Langenbrunner.  John Maddens surprising 2007-2008 season was likely a one-shot-deal (that went high and wide…BA-ZING!!), and Dainius Zubrus will need to step it up in order to be effective in ‘08-’09.

In all, Rolston is a great addition and I’m beyond excited to see how many times he will make my jaw drop.  The downside is that he won’t be able to do it by himself, and that’s where I start to worry.  The boys are going to have to either shape up or ship out in order for the team to be successful.

CAN BRENT SUTTER REALLY LEAD THIS TEAM?

I say yes.  Brent Sutter was under fire for a lot of the choices and decisions he made last season and although I was often the one tearing him a new one, I feel confident with him behind the bench.  I feel he, like his team, will have to change some things about his game to be successful but in the end is still a leader the Devils can feed off of and will learn much from.  If they’re not too stubborn to listen, that is.

*****

That’s all I got for now.  I’m sure there are tons more questions that fans like myself ask themselves every day about the team.  Got one?  Feel like sharing?  I’d love to hear them and voice my own opinion about whatever it is us Devils fans like to shoot the breeze about until the puck drops.

Keep it bookmarked at 2MA, the season is nearing and we’re just getting started!!

Why oh why cant there me more Michael Ramos’ out there for us to torment? Would like to issue our sincerest apologies for the lack of action on 2ma recently, but there just hasn’t been anything to report on.

Nonetheless, things should certainly rev up by the end of the month as the youngins will report to training camp September 15.  Not a lot of room on the big boy team, but Matthew Corrente, Niklas Bergfors, Fedor Fedorov, Matt Halischuk et al. should make a strong case for wiggling themselves in there.

That should be enough excitement to rip 2ma out of the doldrums and rev us up for the coming season, so keep checking back in the coming weeks as we try to whip ourselves into form for another year.

The Devils seem to be poised to open training camp with a plethora of mediocre defensemen ready to patrol the blueline, but today the weeding has begun… Vitaly Vishnevski has become the first blueline-casualty as he has been placed on Waivers.

I can’t say I’m surprised, it seemed like Vish was constantly lost when on the ice last season, and often found himself a healthy scratch. His biggest fault in my eyes was constantly taking himself out of position because he was looking to lay a big hit. It’s been his Achilles ever since he was drafted (Anaheim/1998).

Well, there’s a spot open on the blueline - which will definitely make training camp that much more exciting.

Did this move open the door for Matt Corrente… ?

Ahh, pre-season. Music to any starved hockey fan’s ears. Well, the Devils provided some relief by releasing their 2008-2009 Pre-Season Schedule which looks a little something like this…

…four games at The Rock is tantalizing, however I’m a little disappointed that there aren’t any games scheduled for Bridgeport, CT or at Sovereign Bank Arena.

The real fun gets under way October 10th from Prudential Center with the New York Islanders coming to town.

EDIT: My apologies for the absolutely horrid quality of the image.  Gotta love Photobucket.

Start up your countdown calendars, folks.  We’re exactly 85 days away from the Devils home opener 2008-09.

It’s been confirmed that the Devils will open play next season with a division matchup against the New York Islanders on Friday, October 10th, 2008.  I guess they took pity on us for giving us a red-hot Ottawa team to open the Rock last year, so they went the complete opposite this year.  I’ll take it!

The full schedule doesn’t get released until tomorrow, but other little tidbits are coming out as we speak.  Following the Devils home opener, the boys will travel to Pittsburgh to partake in their opening night festivities the following evening, October 11th.  The Red N’ Black will also be the road team for Dallas’ annual New Year’s Eve matchup on December 31st.

Remember, the schedule changes go into effect this year - only six games each against division opponents (down from eight); the same 40 games against non-division conference opponents, and 18 against the other conference - one either home or away against each team; three of those teams will be played both home and away.  The Devils three home-and-away Western Conference opponents will be Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas.

I’ll be back tomorrow with the full schedule.  And maybe even charts!  Or, y’know, some sort of lame graphic.  We’ll see.

Welcome back, Mr. Holik!! (…You too, Brian!)

NEW JERSEY SIGNS BOBBY HOLIK, 1 year, $2.5 million.

2MA COLLECTIVELY SAYS: Welcome back Bobby!

NEW JERSEY SIGNS BRIAN ROLSTON, 4 years, $20 million.

STEVE SAYS: I couldn’t be happier with this signing. Rolston fills alot of our needs all at once. We get a top-six forward who can play center AND QB our power play. He’s been here before and has played in a similar system with the Wild for the last few years. Attaboy, Lou.

JOSH SAYS: Exactly what Steve says.

JOE SAYS: $^&! YEAH!!!!!

PATRICIA SAYS: Well, actually, Pat says nothing, as she’s off doing cartwheels somewhere. She’ll be back with actual words on the deal later.

———————–

Vancouver signs Darcy Hordichuk, two years, financial terms undisclosed.

Philadelphia signs Nate Raduns, one year, financial terms undisclosed.
Philadelphia signs Glen Metropolit, two years, financial terms undisclosed.

Rangers sign Patrick Rissmiller, terms undisclosed.

Philadelphia sign Ossi Vaananen, 1 year, $1 million.

Columbus signs Mike Commodore, 5 years, $18.75 million.

St. Louis matches Vancouver’s offer sheet on David Backes, 3 years, $7.5 million.

Chicago signs Brian Campbell, 8 years, $7.1 million per year.

Buffalo signs Patrick Lalime, 2 years, $1 million per year.

Philadelphia trades Denis Gauthier and a 2010 second round pick to Los Angeles for Pat Hersley and Ned Lukacevic.

Ottawa signs Alex Auld, two years, $1 million.

Tampa Bay signs Olaf Kolzig, one year, $1.5 million.

Colorado signs Darcy Tucker, 2 years, $4.5 million.

Vancouver signs RFA David Backes to an offer sheet, 3 years, $7.5 million. Compensation if St. Louis does not match is a second round draft pick.
Vancouver re-signs Kyle Wellwood, one year, $997,500.

Florida signs Corey Stillman, 3 years, $10.6 million.

Chicago signs Cristobel Huet, four years, $5.625 million per year.

NY Rangers sign Aaron Voros, terms undisclosed.

Pittsburgh signs Eric Godard, terms undisclosed.

Tampa Bay signs Adam Hall, 3 years, $1.8 million.

Toronto signs Jeff Finger, 4 years, $3.5 million per year.
Totonto signs Curtis Joseph, one year, $700,000

Phoenix signs Todd Fedoruk, 3 years, financial terms undisclosed.

Detroit signs Ty Conklin, one year, $750,000.

Montreal re-signs Andrei Kostitsyn, 3 years, $3.25 million per year.

Phoenix signs Kurt Sauer, four years, $1.75 million per year.

Colorado signs Andrew Raycroft, one year, $800,000.

Washington signs Jose Theodore, 2 years, financial terms undisclosed.

Minnesota signs Andrew Brunette, terms undisclosed.

Nashville trades Marek Zidlicky to Minnesota for Ryan Jones and a 2nd round draft pick.

Chicago trades RFA Rene Bourque to Calgary for a conditional 2nd round draft pick.

Boston signs Blake Wheeler to an entry-level contract.

Tampa Bay signs Radim Vrbata, 3 years, $3 million per year.

Anahiem re-signs Corey Perry, 5 years, $5.325 million per year.

Edmonton trades Raffi Torres to Columbus for Gilbert Brule.
Edmonton trades Joni Pitkanen to Carolina for Eric Cole.

Pittsburgh re-signs Pascal Dupuis, 3 years, $1.4 million per year.
Pittsburgh re-signs Mark Eaton, 2 years, $1 million per year.

Detroit re-signs Brad Stuart, 4 years, $3.75 million per year.

New Jersey re-signs Bryce Salvador, 4 years, $2.9 million per year.
New Jersey re-signs Jay Pandolfo, 3 years, $2.5 million per year.
New Jersey re-signs David Clarkson, 2 years, $837,500 per year.
New Jersey re-signs Barry Tallackson, terms undisclosed.

4 years, about $2.9 per season, according to TSN.

The poetic Mark Everson from the Post has quotes from Brian Campbell’s agent confirming that Lou has been on the phone discussing signing him

There are also plenty of rumors swirling involving the Devils interest in Brian Rolston, Marian Hossa, Radim Vrbata, Darcy Tucker and others, but none as concretely confirmed as Everson’s tidbit on Campbell.

Keep it hear for updates all day/week and for the triumphant return of Patricia Greuter! Woo

Uh yeah, so I just wrote this massively long post previewing free agency and WordPress ate it when I went to save it and publish it to the site. Seriously, if you could have seen the look on my face ten minutes ago, you would’ve cried. I imagine it would have looked like ten sad-eyed puppies looking down at a dropped ice cream cone.

So at the moment my anger at blogging templates is slightly outweighing my excitement for free agency.

At any rate I present to you my angrily abbreviated free agency preview. As Devils beat writer extraordinaire Tom Gulitti points out, we’ve got some cash to throw around. More than $18 mil to be less than exact. That’s a lot o’ benjamins, so let’s hope we can outdo last years lesson in mediocrity.

Here are my picks for the ‘08 Fabulous Free Agency Frenzy (trademark pending):

Who Stays: Jay Pandolfo, Bryce Salvador

Pando was off to a great start before his injury last year, he’s the consummate Devil and he deserves a new contract. I’d be seriously surprised and upset if we let him go. I think Bryce, despite his injuries last year, could be a solid lockdown 3 or 4 d-man.
Get the Eff Outta Town: Aaron Asham, Karel Rachuneck and Sergei Brylin

Karel and Aaron who? These guys just sucked last year, end of story. Unlike Pando, Brylin just looked like he was out of gas last year. He’s been great over the years, but I’d like to see the Devils part ways with him. Sorry Sarge. Despite my feelings, he’ll probably be back courtesy of a player option for next year.

Who to Pitch for (Realistically): Brian Rolston, Brendan Morrison or Cory Stillman up front. John Michael Liles or Mark Streit in back. Georges Laraque as a back line bruiser.

We NEED a top six center and a bigtime offensive defenseman desperately, there’s no two ways around it. I like Rolston and Morrison to fill our hole at center because they already know our system and are proven vets that could fill the gap while our youth develops. I’ve really enjoyed the reemergence of Stillman over the last few years as well, and could see him easily in the same role.

There are some big names out there on D, but Streit and Liles are young and brimming with talent. I love Paul Martin, but he just hasn’t proven he can be the powerplay QB we need. If we took one of these guys and had Martin as as a solid No. 2, I think we’d be set for a few years.

uhh…Laraque is a f***ing beast. So… yeah.

I also wouldn’t mind seeing Brooks Orpik or Ryan Malone in Red ‘n Black.

Who to Pitch for (Prob not Going to Happen): Marian Hossa, Pavol Demitra, Wade Redden, Brian Campbell.

These guys would make any team better. I’m not expecting any of them to come aboard, but I wouldn’t be unhappy if they did.

Marketing Maddness Pick: Miro Satan

I’d have my Satan Devils jersey faster than you could say ‘underachieving winger.

Left Field Crazy Trade Proposal: Patrick Marleau for a package including Brian Gionta, so long as we bring in another top six winger via free agency.

If Gio stays I’m fine with it, but if something like this went down I’d get to sleep at night.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Alright, that’s it boys and girls. The other crazies at 2ma are likely to put their two cents in before long and we of course want to know what you guys have to say in the comments section. Cross your fingers!

Well it’s been a little bit, but this past weekend’s NHL Entry Draft was enough to break me out of my post season slumber. Generally if the Devils lose early in the playoffs I lick my wounds by paying attention to my other local sports love, the New York Mets. But since they seem intent on displaying the athletic prowess and the front office tact of an incontinent sloth, hockey seems like a safe bet this summer.

All kidding aside (well the Mets are still garbage) I love the hockey off season and after a brief break to catch my breath I’m ready to do my part to reinvigorate the 2ma engine.

That said, there was a draft this weekend! The weekend’s festivities in Ottawa saw our bald-headed beauty Louie Lams take 9 players through the 7 round draft, which was said to be one of the best talent wise in several years.

Lams shocked the capacity crowd in Ottawa when he announced that the Devils would select non other than DC Comics’ the Flash with their first round selection, a dimunitive Swedish born winger who by day goes by Mattias Tedenby. While this guy is on the smaller side (5′10” and 176 pounds), all reports suggest that the guy is basically the fastest skater alive. Frequently ranked among the top Scandinavian players in the draft this year, a lot of people seem to think this kid could grow into a great forward, but one we likely won’t see stateside for a few years while he develops back home. Sadness.

While it pained me to see us take a winger in the first round of a draft absolutely jam-packed with solid D-men, I’m gonna trust Lou and David Conte on this one. They clearly had their eye on this kid, as evidenced by the fact that they had his name printed on his jersey already despite trading their pick down twice.

While we missed out on the defense party in the first round, we did come fashionably late, taking St. Michael’s Buzzer d-man Brandon Burlon with one of our two second round picks. The report from NHL central scouting on Burlon is that he’s a fairly solid playmaking defenseman who needs some grooming but could grow into his own. Let’s hope so, because I don’t know about you guys but I’m not exactly counting on Matt Corrente or Andy Greene to turn into the next Dion Phaneuf.

The Devils also chose fiesty center Patrice Cormier in the second round. I like this pick, because by all reports he’s a hard-nosed player who likes to drive to the net and agitate opponents, a la Mr. David Clarkson. We can always use a few guys like this, especially considering the amount of Brian Gionta-mold wingers we seem to be stocking in our farm system.

Red N Black chose another Center with their third round pick - Windsor Spitfire’s Adam Henrique. Don’t know much about this guy save for the fact that he was among the OHL’s top center prospects in this year’s class, so I’ll leave it at that. As for the rest, lets just hope there’s some diamonds in the rough.

That’s gonna be it for your draft recap. We ain’t gonna see these guys for a while I’m guessing, as is the Devils style, but it seems like 2-3 years down the road we may have some solid new talent. As for the coming season, I’m sure as hell hoping we do a bit better in free-agency than Karel Rachuneck. Keep it tuned to 2MA who will have all of your free-agency preview action, followed by the the inevitable let-down post sometime a few days into July.