You could definitely make the case that the East is bad enough to where this malaise won’t matter in the end since the eighth-seed Islanders are a mere point above Bettman NHL .500, but it usually doesn’t work out that way.  Eventually you wind up paying for throwing away wins.  I remember a lot of that same talk around the 2007 Mets – another team that got off to a hot start, petered off losing far more games to bad teams than they should have, and for the longest time it seemed like they were going to get away with it because the rest of the division wasn’t challenging them either.  Of course, any local baseball fan knows the rest and their own sloppiness did come back to bite the Mets that year when the Phillies got hot late and overtook them at the death.

Some might also make the argument that three points is just as good as 1-1-1, and dropping points to Ottawa, Florida and Tampa aren’t hurting us since the former’s ahead of us and the latter two teams likely aren’t going to the postseason anyway.  I don’t really want to hear that either.  Not with a team that started the season 8-1-3, and has a grand total of four – four! – regulation wins in its last twenty games (6-8-6 overall, with two SO wins).  Or one win on the road in the last six weeks.  And don’t even get me started on the twelve total losses to the bottom seven teams in the East over that same twenty-game stretch.  These were missed opportunities to put a playoff berth in the bank.

Arguably they get one more chance to do so tomorrow night, playing the Islanders at the Rock with the opportunity to stretch our playoff cushion to six points.  Even should the Devils win that game though, I can’t say I have a lot of confidence they’ll go on a good streak and put it away for good, especially with the fact the schedule’s toughening up soon.  Injuries can’t even be used as an excuse anymore – we have almost everyone back now except Danius Zubrus – who’s due back within the next week, and Ilya Kovalchuk, who may or may not be back before the final week of the season…if then.  I don’t want to hear about injuries when the last three teams we played (and lost to) all had similar significant injuries themselves.

With just the Islander game remaining before Wednesday’s trade deadline, it’ll be interesting to see if anything gets done.  At this point I doubt anything gets done to alleviate our eight-D logjam, especially since Lou Lamoriello‘s always had a preference for having eight NHL defensemen on the roster.  Not to mention the fact most of our moveable pieces are signed through next year as well.  If Jussi Jokinen clearing waivers didn’t prove that teams are leery of taking on cap money for next year, I don’t know what will.  Calgary may want to deal Jay Bouwmeester but it’ll be interesting to see if they find any takers considering his money on the books for next year, and what kind of cap/money they would have to eat in a trade.

Odds are we won’t be able to clear Henrik Tallinder or even Anton Volchenkov (a healthy scratch last night after his disasterous Friday game in Tampa) until the offseason, at earliest.  They could trade Mark Fayne, only due $1.2 million next year, but they’d better be getting something good back if they do that considering he’s a 25-year old defenseman who was on the first pairing of a Finals team last year.  And by something good I mean a legitimate top six forward and/or a 2014 first-rounder which we could use for obvious reasons.  Of course, his trade value’s probably been diminshed by our defensive merry-go-round, and his declining play because of being in and out of the lineup all season.

Will Lou make a deal for a top six forward?  Odds are no, especially in an seller’s market where a few guys are available (with almost all of them finding their way to Pittsburgh).  In the East alone, fourteen of the fifteen teams are either in a playoff spot or no worse than four points behind.  Out West, thirteen teams are no worse than two points out of a playoff spot.  With just three teams clearly out of it there are few trades to be had in a lockout-shortened season.  Although you could probably add Buffalo to the sellers’ list considering they just dealt Jordan Leopold and there’ve even been rumblings about them trying to find a taker for goaltender Ryan Miller.  Perhaps one or two more teams slip up and lose a couple games in the next three games to fall out of it themselves.

I do think we’ll wind up sticking to the party line of ‘we’ll acquire two top six forwards before the postseason’ with the injured forwards supposedly returning before the playoffs, assuming that still matters.  While New Jersey’s gotten points in every game without Kovalchuk, they also haven’t won a game since he crumpled to the ice in the third period at the Rock last Saturday.  Amazingly enough the power play’s scored in back-to-back games, but I’m not counting on that to continue either, especially with the amount of forwards that are MIA at the moment.  Our goalscorers the last two games have been Andrei Loiktionov, Tom Kostopolous, Andy Greene, Ryan Carter and Steve Bernier (twice).  No Patrik Elias, no Travis Zajac, and sure as shooting no David Clarkson, who’s reverted all the way back to Clueless Clarkson form of 2009-11.

As Lou himself says, our best players have to be our best players.  Including Martin Brodeur, who hasn’t looked sharp at all since returning off of IR – despite nearly getting shutouts in the first two games.  He struggled similarly last year when he returned off of IR for at least several weeks.  Unfortunately in a short season with a tiny cushion, we don’t have the luxury of waiting a few weeks for Marty to round into shape before these losses do start to hurt.  This week is huge, with not only the Isles on the docket but a road game at Boston (a team we never beat anymore, despite their own recent slump) on Thursday, another home game against the Leafs on Saturday then a trip to Buffalo the next night.  

Yes, the Devils have gotten away with their sloppiness and ineffective play for the moment, but it won’t remain that way much longer if they don’t find a way to pick it up soon.