Battle Of Hudson covers the Rangers and Devils, who's intense rivalry heated up in the 90's. With fresh faces added, they battle for supremacy in NYC and NJ..
Tonight is Game 34 of 82 for the Rangers. They’ll host the ultra talented Maple Leafs at The Garden. It’s the first of three meetings this season. They’ll also play in Toronto on December 28. The third game is next year.
It feels like forever since the Rangers played on Monday. A frustrating 5-2 loss to the Predators, who at least kicked the crap out of the Islanders the next day. That doesn’t matter. The loss to Nashville was a disappointment because they had a huge edge in play and shots, but didn’t take advantage of their opportunities. Nashville made the most of theirs and added a pair of empty netters.
In that game, Alexandar Georgiev took the defeat despite not really giving up any bad goals. He’d still probably want the first one back due to it going five-hole. Even if the puck deflected off Brady Skjei, it’s one he’s stopped before. The other two were complete breakdowns. Roman Josi used Adam Fox as a screen on a rush and Mattias Ekholm converted a breakaway with a good shot off the far post. It happens.
With a few days off, David Quinn decided to go back to Georgiev for tonight, citing his career numbers against Toronto. He won the last two last season by standing on his head. That the coach would use that recent history speaks to where the goaltending situation is on Broadway.
Normally, Henrik Lundqvist would get the not following some time off. Especially with a two-game losing streak (0-1-1). But he will sit out again which means he’ll likely get the next start on Sunday. The Blueshirts have three games in four days with a back-to-back Sunday and Monday.
The numbers have been mentioned in other publications. I’m not going to repeat them. Georgiev has been more consistent than Lundqvist up to this point. In fact, Larry Brooks cited their statistics side by side in a New York Post column that appeared earlier today. Since Feb. 6, Georgiev is 17-10-5 with a 2.72 GAA and. 920 save percentage. Lundqvist is 9-16-5 with a 3.20 and. 903.
That’s a significant difference. It’s not time to declare Georgie the number one goalie yet. He’s still only 23 and in Year Two. As critical as I’ve been on Lundqvist, he has a proven track record. It’s just that as he climbs the all-time wins list where he still sits fifth ahead of Marc-Andre Fleury, he’s not as consistent. Even in an otherwise brilliant game in Anaheim, he gave up two tough goals that really hurt the team in a 4-3 shootout loss.
So, is the end near for the 37-year old future Hall Of Famer, who’s been the franchise’s best goalie ever? It’s hard to say. I’ve seen plenty of banter about asking him to waive his no trade clause to take a shot at winning a Cup elsewhere. There are a few Western Conference candidates that come to mind. However, he was approached by management about this scenario once and turned it down.
I don’t see the organization buying out the final year of his contract. The $8.5 million cap hit was always going to look bad near the conclusion of his deal. Former architect Glen Sather paid him on merit without considering the long-term future.
Things change. Now, the Broadway Blueshirts are a few years removed from their last serious playoff run. They’ve been rebuilding for a while. It’s netted some positive results with the additions of Kaapo Kakko, Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox, Ryan Lindgren, Filip Chytil, Brett Howden, Libor Hajek, Jacob Trouba, Brendan Lemieux, Tony DeAngelo and Georgiev and Igor Shesterkin. First round picks Lias Andersson and Vitali Kravtsov are in Hartford.
With a bright future that includes K’Andre Miller, Nils Lundkvist, Joey Keane, Tyler Wall and Morgan Barron in the system, there are sure to be more changes coming. Unfortunately, that could include Chris Kreider who could be traded soon. He can test the market next summer.
General Manager Jeff Gorton and Team President John Davidson will have tough decisions on key restricted free agents DeAngelo, Lemieux and Ryan Strome. It’ll not be easy.
As for tonight, it should be interesting to see if the Rangers can rebound against a dangerous team like the Leafs, who feature Auston Matthews, John Tavares, Mitch Marner, Morgan Rielly, Tyson Barrie and William Nylander. They have the firepower to do damage.
It would be wise if the Rangers don’t get into a run and gun match against the Leafs. A track meet would favor the deeper scoring Leafs. New York has leaned heavily on Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. They can use some help from a supporting cast that still includes Kreider along with ice cold Pavel Buchnevich, who gets his chance to play with Panarin.
Nobody is scoring aside from the Bread Man, Zibanejad and the defense. That must change. Quinn continues to mix up his lines in a desperate attempt to find the right combos. At least from the start, Zibanejad centers Kreider and Jesper Fast. Kakko will start on the third line.
I’ve seen some decade in review things sporadically including podcasts and whatnot, plus the NFL’s 100th anniversary stuff but it didn’t really occur to me to do a decade in review for the Devils until I saw someone bring up a good point on a message board, basically a month into the decade the trade for Ilya Kovalchuk happened and thus the 2010’s were off and running into contreversy and infamy for Devils fans.
Having been sufficiently sparked into writing something different (not to mention being compelled to stay home from tonight’s game due to the lousy weather/team) I’m spending my free time today going back down memory lane. Disclaimer: I wound up dwelling on the 2011-12 and 2013-14 seasons a little more than the rest for obvious good and bad reasons, respectively – but the rest I tried to give a more concise overview since the totality of reviewing ten years is freaking long!
It’s not going to be pretty most of the time but hot damn, a lot of stuff did happen in the 2010’s for the Devils. A lot bad, some good and some macabre.
2009-10 – As the new decade opened, the Devils were where they usually were for the previous fifteen years, in first place looking to contend for a Stanley Cup in coach Jacques Lemaire’s second go-around with the team after the hideous departure of previous coach Brent Sutter to Calgary, in what would turn out to be a foreboding of things to come. It wasn’t always then-GM Lou Lamoriello’s way to make the splashy trade but he did it at certain times – Doug Gilmour, Alexander Mogilny – and would do it again in 2010 with Kovalchuk. At the time it was looked on as a rental trade, although rentals certainly cost more then compared to now. Even so, the price of Johnny Oduya, Nicklas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier and a first-round pick didn’t seem all that prohibitive…though looking back, it’s funny that it turned out to be Oduya and not either of the two highly thought of prospects who was the biggest player of consequence going the other way. While Bergfors flamed out of the league inside of two years and Cormier had a bunch of inconsequental call-ups, Oduya lasted nearly a decade as a solid middle-pairing defenseman on good teams. As it turned out we only got 27 regular-season games and five playoff games out of the trade itself, as the Devils had a poor second half and flamed out of the playoffs in just five games against the Flyers with Lemaire resigning.
2010-11 – Even as bad as the second half of 2009-2010 seemed at the time, it was nothing compared to the first half of 2010-11. Shockingly, the Devils re-signed Kovalchuk – usually not something Lou bothered doing with most free agents – much less to the tune of 17 years and $102 million. Lou himself referred to the commitment ownership (then Jeff Vanderbeek, a fan who would wind up spending beyond his means) wanting to make to this player, tacitly implying it was an organizational decision. In hindsight, it was the first sign not all was well in Devils land. Even more shockingly, the contract was ruled illegal due to violating the spirit of the salary cap, with the decision being upheld by arbiter Richard Bloch. Although team and player agreed to a slightly modified 15 year, $100 million deal the damage was done as the Devils were fined, and penalized a 3rd round pick in 2011 as well as a first round pick where they would have to choose a year to surrender it by 2014.
As if the summer which included a coaching change – from Lemaire to long-time assistant and former franchise icon John MacLean – plus the Kovalchuk re-signing saga which took two and a half weeks, and the contract saga which spanned nearly two months wasn’t contreversial enough, the Devils still had to face their cap issues even with a modified Kovy deal. Having Bryce Salvador go on IR before the season for what turned out to be an inner-ear concussion that would cost the venerable defenseman the entire season was convenient cap-wise but not so convenient on the ice. New Jersey still had to field woefully short rosters of less than twenty players until Brian Rolston got put on IR for sports hernia surgery. While the cap problems dissapeared, the real ones weren’t going away as Kovalchuk looked on his way to being a $100 million bust, even getting himself scratched for a game by perennial tardiness and the team cratered, going 9-22-2 under MacLean before he was fired after just thirty-three games right before Christmas.
Lou more or less begged Lemaire to come back and after a rocky first eight games, Lemaire did turn around the ship to an inspiring level although there were casualties, mainly captain and longtime mainstay Jamie Langenbrunner (traded to Dallas just two weeks after Lemaire came back), who’d been at odds with Lemaire for the previous several months and his play had declined towards the end of his career. At one point Lemaire led the Devils on a 23-3-2 run, and they somehow went from 26 points out of a playoff spot to just 6 before finally fading back out of the race in mid-March. Still, at least there was hope restored going into next season, even if we had no idea what to expect from Lou’s latest coaching hire in Pete DeBoer – who’d recently been dismissed after three playoff-less seasons in Florida.
2011-12 – The angst heading into this season didn’t come from Kovalchuk but courtesy of the team’s other star winger, Zach Parise. While Lou did give him the C befitting his stature in the locker room, Parise had missed most of the previous year due to injury and only signed a one-year deal to get to free agency. His contract status hung over the team like a black cloud throughout the year. Parise also didn’t play well early due to injury rust and the team struggled to stay at .500 through 25 games (12-12-1) before slowly taking off, going 36-16-5 the rest of the regular season, including a six-game winning streak heading into the playoffs. Salvador’s inspiring return to play every single game that season – not to mention his surprising playoff heroics – was indiciative of a year where almost everything went right on the ice and acquisitions such as Marek Zidlicky, Alexei Ponikarovsky and a couple of unheralded fourth liners in Steve Bernier and Ryan Carter fortified the team, as did the surprising return of Petr Sykora, the once-beloved Czech winger who was traded off a decade earlier.
Our season of good feeling hit a wall early in the postseason as the Devils fell behind a mediocre Panthers team 3-2, headed to overtime in Game 6 at home with more first-round dissapointment looming on the horizon after three straight playoff defeats in the first round to the Rangers, Hurricanes and Flyers from 2008-2010, every time being eliminated at home. However, Travis Zajac’s OT goal staved off elimination, then a couple nights later down in Sunrise Adam Henrique’s double OT goal did more than that, it won the series in dramatic fashion and foreshadowed even bigger celebrations ahead. After disposing of the Flyers in a surprisingly easy five games in the Conference Semis, the Devils would face an even bigger archnemesis in the Conference Finals – the Rangers.
To say the teams’ first meeting in a Conference Finals since 1994 was Armageddon wouldn’t be too much of an overstatement. Pretty much every time the Devils and Rangers play in the playoffs there’s something memorable about it, from the teams’ first-round series in 1992 when a young Martin Brodeur made his playoff debut in a seven-game loss, to the aformentioned 1994 series which went down as one of the best playoff series of all-time and another painful Devils defeat just short of their first Finals. 1997 saw an older, lesser Rangers team upset the Devils in the Conference Semis in a five-game series and kept alive the myth of being our playoff daddies. They still had 3-0 in the playoffs to hang over us even through the dark ages for them and our golden years. Finally in 2006, we got them memorably in a four-game first-round destruction, but they got their revenge just two years later ousting us in five in the dubious Sean Avery series.
If Brodeur was green in 1992 for his playoff debut against the Rangers, he was thought to be a gray shell of himself in 2012, going up against the reigning Vezina winner Henrik Lundqvist at his peak. Even though the Rangers had home-ice the Devils had pretty much played step for step with them since Thanksgiving, if not slightly better so I figured it was a pick ’em series. While the Devils were fortunate to get through the second round without too much trouble, the Rangers had to scratch and claw their way through two seven-game wars just to get to the Conference Finals. It was with this backdrop that the teams met with a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals on the line, and the series wouldn’t dissapoint. After the teams traded wins in the first four games, the Devils took a 3-0 lead in the pivotal Game 5 at the Garden. As they’d done all year, the Rangers circled the wagons and tied the game, leading to many moments of consternation by yours truly.
However this was a different Devils team, there would be no what if, no regret and no 1994 reprise this year. After our fourth line had been quite pivotal in our first-round series against the Panthers, they stepped up again with Carter’s late third-period goal proving decisive. Still, the Devils had to win Game 6 at the Rock, and it was at this very game in 1994 at home where the team tripped up on the doorstep of the Finals. Almost as if giving the Devils a chance to exorcise all the demons in one fell swoop, it was eighteen years to the day of the memorable Game 6 in 1994 where the Devils would make their own history this time with both young and old contributing – the old of course being Marty who had his final run of greatness that Spring, outdueling Lundqvist the way he couldn’t quite outduel Mike Richter at the top of his game in 1994. While the young was rookie Henrique, who found the spotlight with his double OT winner in Florida but did more than that in Game 6 against the Rangers, he claimed a forever place in Devils history with a walk-off goal barely a minute into a tense OT. Henrique’s goal was further immortalized by an iconic call from Doc Emrick who’d recently stepped away from broadcasting Devil games full-time but was on the mike for this memorable moment in team history.
You could argue that series was the best non-Cup win in Devils history. Maybe our seven-game classic against Ottawa in 2003 is up there, it certainly contributed to a Cup win though. Certainly older fans would rate MacLean’s goal in Game #82 of the 1987-88 regular season to clinch the franchise’s first playoff berth in that category as well. Whatever the case, the Devils were in the Finals for the fifth time in the Lou era during a nineteen-year stretch where the franchise had its fits and starts but was generally a model of excellence. Against a then-upstart Kings team though, the 2011-12 Devils finally met their match. Would that series have been different if the Devils had managed to win either of the first two games at home (both OT losses)? Probably. Despite falling behind 3-0 in the series the Devils gamely fought back to force a Game 6 in LA but cruelly, a major penalty on Bernier ended Game 6 before it could really start as the Kings scored three times and began their own impressive run as a model franchise for the next several years.
2012-13 – All the fun of the Spring of 2012 temporarily shielded the two dark clouds hanging over the franchise – the impending FA of captain Parise, and the almost sure lockout that was going to cut into the next season. I mean, when you have Gary Bettman on one side and the NHLPA imports Don Fehr over from baseball after their own labor wars, that was just begging to be another drawn out fight. Ironically much like after the 1994 Conference Finals, a lockout delayed the start of the next season till January again in 2013. However, the Devils’ fate in the lockout season was sealed a bit before it began when Parise decided to take $98 million and link up with buddy Ryan Suter NBA-style to go home to Minnesota. Almost as ominously, Kovalchuk was slow to return to the states after the lockout as he was playing in Russia during it and clearly wasn’t all that enthused about coming back. Given all of the drama around this player since we acquired him, I took that as a serious red flag while others were more willing to forgive and forget once he returned for the short season.
Although the Devils actually got off to an 8-3-3 start in 2013, it was a mirage as injuries to Brodeur and Kovalchuk sank the team back down to mediocrity and out of the postseason for the second time in three years. Not to mention, another contreversial decision in the 2012 offseason would have reprecussions for years to come. Remember that first-round pick the Devils had to surrender for the Kovalchuk contract penalty? There were still two years to pick a first-rounder to give up – but with the Devils’ trip to the Finals and Parise’s status in serious doubt, me, everyone and their grandmother was begging Lou to give up the 2012 first-rounder. Having pick #29 in a weak draft seemed like an ideal time to get a less than ideal penalty out of the way, but Lou stubbornly deferred the penalty and made it worse by attempting to troll the hockey gods picking Stefan Matteau, son of former 1994 Ranger tormentor Stephane. Although he made the team straight out of camp, he never really did much as a pro and only played 44 games for the Devils before being dumped two years later, and he hasn’t gotten out of the AHL much since.
2013-14 – If Lou’s 2012 offseason was contreversial, his 2013 offseason was truly head-scratching. Things started on a high note with the NHL Draft held in Newark during the summer. Holding the #9 pick after crashing out the previous year, Lou pulled a fast one on everyone in attendance and it led to a memorable ‘I think you’ll want to hear this’ response from Bettman to the fans booing his presence at the podium, as he was about to announce the Devils’ shocking trade for Cory Schneider.
I admit I was in favor of the deal at the time, but again I didn’t know what Lou knew was coming down the pike either (which I’ll get to in a minute). With Marty now 41 years old after an injury-plagued 2013 season, there had been talk for years of needing a ‘succession plan’ for the great Brodeur in goal. With fellow 40-something Johan Hedberg being the other NHL option with only chaff at the AHL level, trading for a young highly-regarded goalie such as Schneider seemed like another Lou coup and you had visions of passing the torch from Brodeur to Schneider the way the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers once went from Joe Montana to Steve Young at quarterback.
There were two issues with the trade though, one was that Brodeur still had another year to go on his contract and trading for Marty’s replacement while he was still on the roster was always going to create an uncomfortable dynamic. Sure enough, instead of the 50-55 starts Cory probably should have gotten, he got just 43 to Marty’s 39. While Cory’s splits were far better than Marty’s, somehow Brodeur’s winning percentage was far better, bitterly dividing the fanbase and to a certain extent management over who should play, as some bizarre fits and spurts of both guys being the starter or co-#1’s didn’t serve either well and led to Marty’s departure at the end of the season after two decades as a franchise icon.
Perhaps the bigger issue with the trade in hindsight though, is that just a few weeks later Kovalchuk stunned the hockey world by announcing he was walking away from the final twelve years on his contract with New Jersey to return to Russia. While Kovalchuk’s departure took the fans by surprise, Lou knew from the moment Kovalchuk was vacilating over coming back in the winter that his return to Russia was likely after the 2013 season
Given that Lou knew Kovalchuk’s departure was imminent (and indeed it came out Lou knew as soon as the end of the 2013 season Kovy was leaving), why was he then continuing to make win-now moves such as trading for Cory with a team that was no longer win-now after losing Parise and Kovalchuk in back-to-back offseasons? Especially factoring in the financial troubles of owner Vanderbeek, which came to a head soon after the 2013 draft with the sale of the Devils to co-owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer in August. Lou spent desperately that offseason, splurging on a long-term deal for Ryane Clowe as well as short-term deals for Damien Brunner, Michael Ryder and the one-man traveling band himself Jaromir Jagr.
Predictably Clowe – who’d already had serious concussion problems – couldn’t stay healthy and was out of the league after two years and just fifty-six games of a five-year contract. Brunner I was skeptical of given another good organization like Detroit didn’t want him back, and he not so surprisingly didn’t work out either. Ryder got off to a hot start early in 2013-14 but quickly cratered and things didn’t get better for the rest of his two-year tenure here. Jagr was the best of Lou’s offseason signings by a country mile, at first I thought his 24-goal, 67-point +16 was the last solid season of his NHL career but looking back, he actually managed to put up a 27-goal, 66 point season in 2015-16, at age 43 in Florida. He and Marty were both one of a kind in terms of their durability and longevity at their positions and if there was one highlight that season it was getting to see them play together and have fun making light of their status as the oldest players in the league.
Even with Jagr providing some fun, that season was ultimately a frustrating last gasp of the Lou era as the team finished with 88 points, five out of a playoff spot – in no small part due to the ghastly 0-13 shootout record which is forever going to be what I associate that season with. If they went 5-8 or 6-7 in the shootout maybe they make the playoffs, although it would have been hard to see us doing much in them considering we didn’t have much scoring besides our old man brigade of Jagr and Patrik Elias and still couldn’t figure out who to play in net on a nightly basis. With the team out of contention in the final days, Brodeur got to play the finale at the Rock and say goodbye since everyone knew this would be it for him as a Devil, although he didn’t want to retire and indeed did wind up coming back for six forgettable games with the Blues before finally hanging them up for good.
2014-15 – With the team just missing the playoffs the previous year, Lou doubled down on his win-now approach by signing Mike Cammalleri in the offseason to improve the team’s scoring, and he did lead the team in goals by a mile with 27. However, this season represented true rock bottom for the Devils at the end of the Lou era. DeBoer was fired midway through the season, literally on Christmas Day although it was only announced the day after. Taking his place was an unwieldy contingent of Adam Oates and Scott Stevens as more or less co-coaches with Lou overseeing them on the bench. Lou had come down from the GM perch to sit behind the bench before but this was definitely different than his previous sojurns in 2006 and 2007, where he was clearly the man. Now he was just a wistful soul overseeing others run the sinking ship, wondering how things cratered so far and so fast.
Pretty much the less said about 2014-15, the better. My season recap linked above (I tried to do it with all the seasons to provide some additional context) is more of a recap than you even need for this sorry campaign. At least the offseason got off to a decent start as the Devils got to ‘keep’ their first-round pick after all, or rather the NHL partially expunged the infamous penalty for the Kovalchuk contract, giving us pick #30 in the first round as a replacement for the #11 pick we had to surrender for the illegal contract – mainly due to the player leaving and new ownership – although keeping the picks that turned out to be washouts such as Matteau and John Quenneville probably wouldn’t have served us as well as forefiting Matteau and keeping the eleventh pick in 2014 would have. Lou won the battle but lost the war by not surrendering #29 in 2012.
On the ice, New Jersey finished with 78 points, a season point total which actually flattered them – the goalie Lou acquired to be the successor to Marty could only prevent a sinking ship from completely cratering long before it did. To his credit, Cory put up sterling numbers in his first season as the unquestioned starting goalie with 68 games played, a 2.26 GAA and .925 save percentage but with an offense that couldn’t score (Henrique led the team with a lousy 43 points), a defense that couldn’t play a transition game and a GM/coach who lost his way, Cory’s presence was pointless as the dark ages began in earnest.
2015-16 – Things came to a head once and for all after the disasterous 2014-15 season when Lou was strongly pushed by ownership to cede his position as GM to Ray Shero, then showing he didn’t exactly want to stick around as a hood ornament upstairs, he resigned as president three months later to take the GM job in Toronto. Shero made immediate and sweeping changes, hiring John Hynes as head coach and cutting ties with the past by not asking Stevens to return as an assistant or hiring Marty in a front office role. Along with Lou, Stevens and longtime chief scout David Conte going by the wayside, captain Salvador retired and longtime stalwart Danius Zubrus was released. To say this was a changing of the guard would be an understatement. Neccesary on some level after things had bottomed out, but still unsettling for Devils fans who’d known nothing but success for a two-decade run.
Shero and Hynes had a long honeymoon period during their first year and despite stripping down they found some early success with a motley crew of castoffs and reclamation projects…such as winger Lee Stempniak (16 goals and 41 points in 63 games after a PTO camp invite), defenseman John Moore who was deadly in the three-on-three OT, and fan favorite grinder Bobby Farnham – who scored several unlikely goals early and even got his own goal song for crying out loud. Clearly Shero’s best move of the offseason was his draft-day acquisition of Kyle Palmieri and the Jersey native broke out with a 30-goal, 57-point season.
While nobody really thought the Devils were a serious threat to even contend for a playoff spot, they peaked at 29-21-7 on Valentine’s Day and were up to that point more fun to watch than any of the post-lockout teams. Though the team eventually fell off, the Devils still finished just above NHL .500 and had a nice sendoff for Elias during the home finale. Though he was only able to play sparingly in what turned out to be his final NHL season, his three-point performance on April 9 against Lou’s retooling Leafs at the Rock was a pretty good swan song to go out on. Although he wouldn’t officially announce his retirement for nearly another year, everyone in the building felt this could be it for a beloved icon.
2016-17 – After all the changes the previous year, it truly felt like a new day in Newark, never more so than with Shero’s stunning acquisition of star Taylor Hall for defenseman Adam Larsson right after the draft, one for one as Bob McKenzie famously and succinctly put it. In some ways 2016-17 crested with that trade though, as the second post-Lou season reality of a long rebuild hit and the surprising success of the previous year was nowhere to be found. Although the Devils started a respectable 10-6-3, they cratered in the fall and finished 28-40-14 with just 70 points. This season’s cast of reclamation projects like P.A. Parenteau and Beau Bennett didn’t gel quite as effectively as last year’s, to put it mildly.
Hall had a forgettable first season in the red and white, putting up 53 points in 72 games – and no doubt wondering whether he was cursed or not when his former team (the Oilers) out of nowhere made the playoffs, and even won a round. Lou’s Leafs certainly did better than the Devils in the second season of their so-called Shanaplan, as they made the postseason themselves. The only bright spot of the whole year for Devils fans came after the season was over when the Devils stunningly won the lottery from the #5 spot and were able to draft Nico Hischier at #1 overall. Perhaps better times were ahead after all…
2017-18 – Optomism was abound with the drafting of Nico, who had a strong camp and made the opening night roster, putting up a solid 52-point debut playing every game as a rookie teenager. Also debuting in October for the new-look Devils was college FA signing Will Butcher, and sixth-round breakout Jesper Bratt. All the new blood gave the Devils a much-needed jolt of enthusiasm at the start of the season and they responded with a 9-2 start, keeping the good times rolling through Christmas where they crested at 22-9-5, before falling off with a six-game losing streak and dropping ten out of twelve overall. Although Hall was in the midst of a career season, goaltending threatened to derail the team as Schneider’s injuries were starting to pile up while backup Keith Kinkaid struggled mightily in the first half of the season before putting together a team-saving and career-saving surge in the second half when Cory became unusable.
Still, Shero recognized this season was one where they needed to try to cash in and give the organization some hope with a successful playoff run. He made a good hockey trade but one that made Devil fans a touch melancholy, dealing 2012 playoff hero and social media darling Henrique for Sami Vatanen to improve the D. Deadline deals for Michael Grabner (a trade with the Rangers no less, a first in franchise history!) and Pat Maroon had mixed results with Grabner turning out worse than expected while Maroon proved to be a valuable role player down the stretch with 13 points in 17 games after being liberated from Edmonton. After struggling his first year and being questioned by Shero whether he wanted to remain a Devil, Hall responded with a career season putting up 39 goals and 93 points in 76 games, time and again scoring big goal after big goal.
In many ways, the season came down to a pivotal six-game road trip in early March with the team at 34-26-8 and hanging onto a playoff berth by a thread over the surging Panthers. Needing to get hot again to stay in front, the Devils responded with an inspiring crunchtime surge, going 4-2 on the trip and 10-2-1 overall (many of them nail-biting wins) to clinch a playoff spot after winning the penultimate game of the season, ironically against the Leafs at the Rock. Although Tampa Bay made sure our playoff stay was short-lived, the Devils at least put together one last show for the fans in Game 3 of the series.
2018-19 – You would think the Devils would have wanted to carry the momentum of their previous season toward bigger and better things the following year. Instead it became a year where the organization arguably rested on its laurels from top to bottom. Still sitting out free agency and letting more cap space sit unused in the fourth year of the Shero regime, the do-nothing offseason set a tone. In some ways it felt like the beginning of Rocky III where Rocky gets too big for his britches and no longer thinks he has to do the same work he did when he got to the top.
Lou would have turned over in his grave (if he were in fact not still alive and well) over the Devils being in a reality TV series – Behind The Glass on the NHL Network which provided insight to the team’s preseason Hard Knocks-style, only with four half-hour episodes instead of two hour-long episodes. Instead of boot camp, the Devils traveled the world in a preseason that saw the team play an exhibition game in Switzerland against Nico’s former team, then a regular season game against the Oilers – where they got off to a grand start whipping Edmonton 5-2.
Maybe that was the real problem, the fact the Devils started the season so impressively winning the first four games by a combined score of 17-4 perhaps gave them a false sense of security. Reality hit, and hit hard soon after. Cory’s long winless streak to end 2017-18 extended into this season as well, and his career appeared to be over after an early December meltdown against Vegas at the Rock, while Kinkaid turned back into a pumpkin and eventually got unceremoniously dumped at the deadline for a 5th round pick…in 2022. Hall followed his Hart season up by putting up 37 points in 33 games – before going on the shelf with a knee injury, never to return after December. There wasn’t much to enjoy about 2018-19 other than goalie Mackenzie Blackwood’s solid 23-game debut and role player Blake Coleman’s 22-goal breakout as the Devils finished with a dissapointing 72-point season.
2019-20 – No full season recap to link yet, but there might as well be one. Certainly it was an eventful offseason in Newark starting with winning the lottery (again!) and drafting Jack Hughes, then pulling off a seemingly masterful trade for one-time Norris winner P.K. Subban. Another trade for Nikita Gusev, free agent signing of glue guy Wayne Simmonds and early in-season extension for Hischier meant last offseason’s do nothing was replaced by a ‘let’s ****ing do some stuff!’ offseason. However, similar to the 2011 offseason, the black clouds surrounding Hall’s lack of an extension and imminent free agency were still looming in the background.
Black clouds quickly turned to storm clouds as the team got off to an 0-4-2 start and things didn’t improve much thereafter. After rebounding with a solid second half of the season and good World Championships, Cory left the opener due to injury and it was a harbinger of bad times to come for both he and the team, as the Devils blew a 4-0 lead against the Jets and never really recovered. Cory was released after six terrible games, and is struggling even more in the AHL, his career seemingly over now after an inevitable buyout of the last two years of his contract this offseason. Also released – or rather fired – was coach Hynes, the final straw coming with back-to-back noncompetitive losses at home against the Rangers and in Buffalo. Not that things have really improved yet under assistant Alain Nasreddine, who needed six games to get his first win as a head coach.
All that’s left are the selloff trades, with the first – and biggest – domino falling just a couple of days ago with the deal of Hall to Arizona, and Shero’s admission that there wasn’t really much of a negotiation towards a new contract, seeming to confirm online speculation that Shero in fact wasn’t willing to go beyond five years for Hall. I’m not sure I disagree with that, but it makes the win-now moves this offseason all the more puzzling and most have backfired, particularly Subban who has gone pointless in twenty straight games.
As the decade comes to a close the Devils are at a crossroads, seemingly on their way to another couple of years in the wilderness at least, wasting the ELC years on Hughes’ contract. Not that he’s played at anywhere near a star level to this point but still if you are going to build the team around Hischier and Hughes, eventually some actual building needs to start taking place and not just teardowns.
While our 2000-2015 drafting under Conte was a big reason for the falloff at the end of Lou’s tenure I’m not sure what to make of new scouting director Paul Castron either. His results have been underwhelming to this point. Our prospect pool may be better than it was, whatever that means (not like the AHL team is doing any better than the NHL team now) but eventually these guys are going to have to make an NHL impact for Shero and Castron to be a successful pairing here and get the Devils out of the purgatory they’ve been in for much of the decade.
At the beginning of the decade the Devils were a model franchise with a standard of excellence and a clear identity, but by the end of it they were just another losing team in purgatory who shed their identity and lost their way. What will the ’20’s bring…more of the same or a turnaround back toward greatness?
The Rangers probably felt like they deserved better than a 5-2 home defeat to the Predators last night at The Garden. They fired 41 shots on Nashville backup Juuse Saros. However, he was the difference in finishing with 39 saves to outplay Alexandar Georgiev.
The Predators were opportunistic. They cashed in on their scoring chances to put three pucks past Georgiev on only 22 shots. All three came off the rush including a back breaking goal from Mattias Ekholm, who came out of the penalty box and beat Georgiev high stick side for a 3-1 lead in the second period. That proved to be the game-winner.
Interestingly, captain Roman Josi scored 5:07 earlier following a controversial minor penalty for elbowing on Ryan Ellis. He elbowed Pavel Buchnevich in the head and only received two minutes. It was a horrible miss by refs Kelly Sutherland and Jean Hebert. Ellis should’ve served a five-minute elbowing major and been ejected for a dangerous blow to the head.
Fortunately, after he was checked out for concussion protocol, Buchnevich returned to the game. If the Department of Player Safety doesn’t fine and suspend Ellis for the dirty hit, something’s wrong. Those are the kind of plays they want to eliminate.
Hockey is a funny game. You can play well and lose, or get outplayed and win due to your goalie. We’ve seen the Rangers win games they had no business winning due to Georgiev stealing them. They had many chances on Monday night to score, but didn’t take advantage. Give credit to Saros, who was the best player on the ice. He stole the game for his team.
The Rangers went 0-for-4 on the power play despite firing 11 shots on goal. Saros stopped them all. The special teams failure came back to cost them. If you want to point to an area they lost, this was it. Nashville was 0-for-2 on the power play. But their penalty kill led by Saros got the job done. They also scored two goals after New York power plays expired. A momentum killer.
Rocco Grimaldi opened the scoring when he made a good move to get off a shot that deflected off Brady Skjei’s skate and by Georgiev. It looked like he still could’ve had it. It went through the five-hole. Obviously, he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been recently.
On the next shift, a Nashville turnover in the neutral zone allowed Mika Zibanejad to come in two on none with Chris Kreider, who beat Saros low for his eighth to tie the score 34 seconds later.
Following Kreider’s goal, the Rangers spent a lot of time in the Nashville zone dictating the play. They were way better except on the scoreboard. Despite a 15-8 edge in shots, they were only tied after one period.
It was at 8:01 of the second where Ellis caught Buchnevich up high in the helmet with an elbow that sent him to the locker room. Following their failure to score on a dubious minor penalty that should’ve been more, the Blueshirts gave up a go-ahead goal to Josi on the rush. On a play started by Kyle Turris, Dan Hamhuis got the puck over to Josi, who skated in and fired a good shot through a screen to beat Georgiev for a 2-1 lead at 10:16.
In a period where there were quite a few penalties including a ridiculous misconduct to Brendan Lemieux, the Rangers failed again on a man-advantage. Ekholm was serving two minutes for cross-checking Kreider. But 12 seconds after it expired, a smart Nick Bonino lob pass got behind to Ekholm, who came out of the box and broke in to score on Georgiev for a 3-1 Predators lead at 15:23. That was a back breaker. It was the best shot Nashville scored on with Ekholm going high, far side inside the post.
I should note that prior to the consecutive tallies from Josi and Ekholm, Panarin thought he had one early in the period. But the officials were right as his quick wrist shot hit the far goalpost and then the puck took a unlucky bounce and stayed out by rolling right on the goal line. Had he scored there as the team thought, that might’ve changed the game.
In the third, Buchnevich took a ill advised minor penalty in the offensive zone for holding. One of those lazy penalties he’s done a few times this year. Even though he returned and played better offensively speaking by getting opportunities on Saros, he again didn’t register a point. That’s nine games in a row without a point. His last came on Nov. 29 at Boston. It’s inexplicable.
With Saros locked in and the Predators sitting back, it took until Zibanejad fed Panarin for a very good shot for number 20 with 2:42 left in regulation for the Rangers to make it interesting. Panarin has a five-game goal streak. He’s halfway to his first 40 goal season. Wouldn’t it be something if he did it? What a player.
Not the result we wanted, but this Panarin snipe is worth taking a couple looks at. pic.twitter.com/R4A0boT6P7
But with Georgiev again going to the bench for an extra skater, a poor Buchnevich dump directly behind the net allowed Josi enough time to turn around and fire the puck down ice 200 feet for an empty net goal with 1:49 remaining. It was a bad dump in by Buchnevich because he fired the puck in too quickly. He would’ve been better off going for a soft dump in the corner which would’ve allowed his teammates to get in on the forecheck and have a chance to recover the puck. But he didn’t. And Josi got his second of the game to make it 4-2.
Fittingly, Ellis scored a second empty netter with over five seconds left for the final score. He shouldn’t have even been out there. But that’s the kind of game it was. A total waste. They better show some balls and suspend him. It would be a colossal failure if Ellis got off and played tonight at the Islanders, who you figure will make mince meat of the Preds, who aren’t that good.
That’s gonna do it. There isn’t a whole lot else to say.
Taylor Hall was finally traded today by the Devils. AP Photo via Getty Images
It’s finally done. Taylor Hall is officially no longer a New Jersey Devil. The ’17-18 Hart winner, who carried the Devils to its only postseason appearance since 2012, was traded with minor league forward Blake Speers to the Coyotes in exchange for three prospects, a 2020 first round pick and a conditional third.
The three prospects are defenseman Kevin Bahl, center Nate Scnarr and right wing Nick Merkley. Of the trio, Bahl sounds like the key player to the deal for Devils GM Ray Shero. Ironically, the Coyotes kept better D prospect Victor Soderstrom and Bahl’s Ottawa 67’s junior teammate Noel Hoafenmayer. Please refer to Hasan’s excellent piece on the three prospects as they were rated well by Corey Pronman in Arizona’s system.
The Devils will retain half of Hall’s remaining salary ($6 million AAV). So, that enabled them to get a better return for a potential rental with the 28-year old scoring left wing expected to test the market next summer. He turns unrestricted on July 1.
Even though he went through some struggles due to the off ice distraction of not knowing his future, Hall still was leading the Devils in scoring with 25 points (6-19-25). He was a healthy scratch the final two games of the team’s road trip at Colorado and Arizona. Two teams heavily involved in talks for Hall. To their credit, New Jersey played well in both games and posted a 2-1 win over Arizona to earn interim coach Alain Nasreddine’s first win.
Poetically, it turned out to be Hall’s new team. The former Oilers 2010 first overall pick came over to the Devils in a straight up deal for defenseman Adam Larsson on June 29, 2016. A trade many hockey pundits laughed at due to not understanding how Edmonton could deal a player of Hall’s caliber one for one for a defensive D in Larsson.
It’s interesting that the Oilers made the playoffs in ’16-17, even reaching the second round. Larsson fit in while Hall didn’t find his footing right away. However, things changed in Year Two. He was brilliant in posting 39 goals with 54 assists for 93 points in 76 games to carry the Devils to the postseason. So remarkable was he that Hall became the only Devil to win the league MVP. He edged out Nathan MacKinnon. It was well deserved. In a five game first round defeat to the Lightning, he had two goals and four assists.
An injury riddled ’18-19 tarnished his third year in Newark. He still was over a point-per-game with 37 points (11-26-37) in 33 games. With Shero adding first overall pick Jack Hughes along with PK Subban, Wayne Simmonds and Nikita Gusev, the Devils had higher expectations. But they never materialized. Instead, the team severely underperformed which led to coach John Hynes’ dismissal. Nasreddine replaced him.
It wasn’t long before rumors started circulating that the Devils were listening to offers for impending free agent Hall. They knew they weren’t going to keep him. So, it made perfect sense to start seeing what the market was. With Hall sitting out for precautionary reasons, it was obvious to everyone his days were numbered.
He finishes his Devils career with 76 goals, 132 assists and 198 points over 211 games.
For New Jersey, they’re probably not done selling. As Hasan has alluded to in previous posts, both Simmonds and Sami Vatanen could be available before the trade deadline in late February. Each can hit the market next summer. Both should have value to contenders. Even captain Andy Greene could be a candidate to get moved for the same reason.
For the Devils, it now becomes about evaluating what they have. Michael McLeod tallied two assists in their win over the weekend in The Desert. Jesper Boqvist scored a goal. With Hughes the centerpiece plus Nico Hischier and Kyle Palmieri, they have to figure out who belongs as part of their rebuild.
What seemed like an interminable wait over three days for all parties involved once Taylor Hall got pulled from the lineup before the Devils’ game in Colorado on Friday is finally now over, and the deal is done. This afternoon, the Devils consummated a trade of their former MVP to Arizona in a blockbuster five-player and two pick deal.
Everyone knows what we gave up, at least with Hall I already said my piece on him in prior blogs – good luck in Arizona and happy trails. It was obviously best for him and for the team to get this done before the holiday roster freeze which was looming in a couple of days. Given Arizona’s cap situation, the Devils retained 50% of his contract in the trade. Also going to Arizona is AHL player Blake Speers. Believe it or not back in 2016 the small winger was somewhat highly thought of, making the Opening Night roster straight out of the OHL at 19 years old – but lasted just three forgettable games, and after being sent back to the OHL he’s toiled with no success in the AHL over the last three years, putting up just 28 points in 115 games. So no great loss there.
We know what this season has become, and what the trade of Hall represents long-term but today’s about moving forward and what we got back. First, the pick(s), a first-rounder was an absolute requirement IMO in a Hall trade and the Devils got that. Most likely it’ll be a 2020 first-rounder in the 12-25 range unless Arizona collapses and wins a draft lottery, then the lotto-protected pick defers to 2021. As I’m not a big believer in Arizona, the pick from them might wind up being a better pick than other teams such as Colorado who were also in on the Hall negotiations, but that’s nitpicking. Also the Devils got back a conditional third-rounder, which could turn into a second-rounder if Arizona wins a playoff round (or Hall re-signs there), or even another first-rounder if both those things occur.
Now the players…anyone who thought we were going to get some team’s crown jewel for a rental player when other teams couldn’t even negotiate an extension with Hall were fooling themselves. Arizona’s package was almost certainly the best they were going to get back though, headed by 2018 2nd-round defenseman Kevin Bahl, who’s a 19-year old with serious size (6’7, 240 pounds), plus some skating ability and he’s put up 20 points in 28 OHL games. Bahl will be in action for team Canada during the upcoming World Junior Championships. According to HNIC’s Elliotte Friedman on Saturday, the two teams were haggling over Bahl’s inclusion in the deal, if that’s the case guess GM Ray Shero got his way.
Merkley – a winger, was a 2015 first-rounder who has some scoring potential (in 2017-18 he put up 18 goals and 39 points in 38 AHL games) but his production’s fallen off a little the last couple years due to injuries. Schnarr – a righty shooting center, was a 3rd round pick in 2017. Probably organizational depth with one goal and nine points in 22 AHL games, but it is his first action there after a 102-point season in the OHL last year. For what it’s worth, the Athletic’s Corey Pronman rated Bahl, Merkley and Schnarr the Coyotes’ 3rd, 5th and 7th best prospects over the summer although their system overall ranked just 17th among 31 teams.
Anyone expecting a sure thing back for a rental Hall was kidding themselves. As regrettable as this day is on some level I’m just glad it’s over. And if you’re a believer in scouting director Paul Castron, then at least allow yourself to dream about any of these kids potentially making an impact at the NHL level someday.
Gotta admit, as jaded as I have been about this team and their new head coach, you don’t have a soul if you can’t smile at this clip of the players giving Alain Nasreddine the puck for his long-awaited first win.
What makes it cool is he was only looking to give the puck to Kyle Palmieri for the game-winning goal till he got surprised by the captain and an approving locker room. From what little I’ve listened to his pressers so far, Nas seems certainly more introspective and communicates better than his former boss at least. And give credit where credit is due, the last two games the Devils have played well in trying circumstances at Colorado and Arizona, two West contenders (ironically both among the rumored teams for Taylor Hall’s services).
Sure they still haven’t actually scored goals yet, but at least they’re playing with the passion that’s been missing for most of this season. And while they tried to play up-tempo under John Hynes early in the season, going back to the up-tempo approach along with playing younger players more could just be what the doctor ordered. One good result and two good games aren’t going to solve all the team’s woes, for one coach Nas still needs to solve the puzzle on what’s wrong with PK Subban and his dissapearing offense. Perhaps playing better defensively will eventually start to get the offense going, Subban did have a +2 in the Devils’ 2-1 win last night…baby steps.
Also coach Nas (and GM Ray Shero) need to solve the puzzle of backup goalie, you can’t go on with goalies having a 4+ GAA and .850 save percentage literally giving the team no chance to win in non-Mackenzie Blackwood starts. Even in Colorado you could see the difference as Louis Domingue’s soft goal torpedoed the team in spite of Blackwood’s solid relief work afterward with nineteen saves. Blackwood’s somehow managed to get his save percentage near .910, an achievement considering this team’s season and his own bad start.
As the team, fans and hockey world still sits and waits on the inevitable Hall trade, the games go on and stop for nobody. Hopefully there’ll at least be something to watch in the second half of this season, honestly this year has been even more frustrating than 2010 was although not quite as inept. It just felt like all the hope got sucked out of the season immediately with the 0-4-2 start, and all the bad feelings about this team’s losing the past several years came to a head. At least last night was a moment to smile at…baby steps.
On the fourth and final game of a Western road trip, the Rangers weren’t perfect. That much is true. Even though they jumped out to a quick two goal lead duel to the Ducks looking sleepless, they were severely outplayed in a bad second period by the Anaheim hosts.
However, a strong third period should’ve been enough to win the game in regulation. Especially with a brilliant Mika Zibanejad getting his second of the game with a sweet finish to beat John Gibson early. Instead of getting the two points and making it a very successful three of four, they watched a inconsistent Henrik Lundqvist give up a bad goal to Anaheim defenseman Hampus Lindholm with under two minutes left in regulation to force extras.
For the most part, Lundqvist was brilliant in making 39 saves including 17 of 18 in a lopsided second that saw his team get outshot 18-3. The issue is he gave up two questionable goals of the three permitted in a disappointing 4-3 shootout loss to the Ducks. He clearly could’ve had the second and third ones, which would’ve guaranteed a 3-1-0 road trip. He just didn’t make the key stops.
Even if you want to blame the defense, the truth is Lundqvist isn’t the same goalie anymore. It’s a narrative MSG doesn’t share unless you listen to the radio broadcast like I did. Dave Maloney was quick to point out that Lundqvist hasn’t been on top of his game by referencing goals to noted snipers Erik Gudbranson and Lindholm. He also was all over Kaapo Kakko for refusing to shoot the puck on a wide open scoring chance in a horrible second. Kakko tried a pass across to Artemi Panarin, who fanned on the shot. Panarin continues to play unbelievable. He notched his team-leading 19th goal to give the team a 2-0 lead before four minutes had been played.
The fast start happened right away. On some forecheck pressure from Pavel Buchnevich that forced a Ducks turnover, Zibanejad wound up with a breakaway and went forehand deke backhand to beat Gibson only 10 seconds into the game. It was a filthy move and finish by the number one center who’s heating up. He followed a two goal game in San Jose with another pair. On the road trip, Zibanejad had five goals. He also scored the only Ranger goal in the shootout that Lundqvist couldn’t protect.
With Anaheim shaky from the start, a defensive lapse allowed Ryan Strome enough room to retrieve a loose puck and make a great backhand pass for an open Panarin that he finished at 3:59 for a 2-0 lead. It looked like the floodgates would open. However, Gibson made some big stops when his flat team needed it.
An Adam Fox minor for hi-sticking Ryan Getzlaf swung the momentum. On the power play, the Ducks were able to convert when Jakob Silfverberg deflected home a Lindholm point shot with three seconds remaining on it to pull within a goal. Rickard Rakell helped set it up. He’s probably one of the most underrated players in hockey. But he plays for a mediocre team and doesn’t get much fanfare. Kinda like Silfverberg, who did in Lundqvist with a backhand in Round 4 of the shootout.
Getzlaf gets all the attention because he’s their captain and helped lead them to their only Stanley Cup a dozen years ago. But that was a loaded championship team that featured Hall Of Fame defensemen Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger. Plus Hall Of Famer Teemu Selanne, former sidekick Corey Perry and the popular Jean-Sebastien Giguere. That was a great roster. It would destroy a lot of teams today.
To be fair, Getzlaf remains productive. He entered the game leading the Ducks in scoring with 25 points (10-15-25). He’s closing in on 1,000 points. For his career, he has 948 (271-677-948). From the famed ’03 NHL Draft, Getzlaf is still going strong. Only Eric Staal has more points (997). Patrice Bergeron is third with 839. It looks like all three centers will make Toronto when their careers are over.
In terms of what happened to the Rangers between the first and second periods, I don’t know. Maybe they got tired. It was the fourth game out West. But each game was spread out without any back-to-backs. So, it shouldn’t have been a problem. They just couldn’t grab back the momentum. Instead, Lundqvist never recovered to stop a Gudbranson point shot that tied it up just 1:02 into the second. Rakell (2 assists) and old Rangers killer Adam Henrique set it up. Maloney killed Lundqvist for it. And for good reason.
When the other team’s Twitter feed notes that he came way out of the crease and couldn’t recover, it’s not a good thing. This is as bad as I’ve ever seen Lundqvist look on a goal against. What was he doing? NYR Twitter went into overdrive on it. I only heard it on the radio as called by Don LaGreca, who I have tremendous respect for, and further broken down by Maloney. A down the middle former captain who doesn’t make excuses like Steve Valiquette. Sorry Vally. But he’s went out of his way to defend Hank this season while suggesting Alexandar Georgiev be traded like the senile Larry Brooks, or one of the popular blogs that just isn’t seeing things the same. More fans are.
Personally, I have plenty of admiration for what Lundqvist has achieved. He’s the all-time franchise leader in wins (456), games played (875), shutouts (63) and total minutes (51,248) among Blueshirt goalies. He’s got several records that’ll probably never be matched due to the notable change with more tandems now en vogue. The days of leaning on one netminder are close to extinction. Although you wouldn’t know it by the way both Montreal and Toronto operate. If you subtracted Carey Price from the Canadiens, they’d be awful. Ditto for Frederik Andersen of the Maple Leafs. To an extent, Marc-Andre Fleury of Vegas too although they’ve discovered that Malcolm Subban can play.
Do I feel that Lundqvist is defended way too much by the media and online, etc? Yes. He’s not the same guy he was in ’12, ’14 or ’15. It happens. No elite goalie can stay at the top forever. Even the legendary Martin Brodeur eventually fell apart after his great postseason at 40 at our team’s expense. The Devils haven’t recovered since due to replacement Cory Schneider having too many injuries and not enough help. He’s in the AHL struggling mightily. Sad. Taylor Hall is about to be traded.
For all the talk about Lundqvist pro or con, he’s nearing the end. Maybe he can be revitalized on expansion Seattle in 2021. By then, he’ll be 39 and unrestricted after his contract expires. That’s if Team President John Davidson doesn’t make a very hard decision. The one that some people don’t want to acknowledge. If you dare call out the goalie, the homers come out of the woodwork. They’ll blame everything else but King Henrik. I blame the organization for creating the alter ego which Brooks started for fun in the New York Post. It’s taken on a life that’s become insane. Some fans only go to see him. Not cheer the team. It’s about the logo on the front. Not the back.
While Lundqvist alternates starts with the younger and more unflappable Alexandar Georgiev, who wins more than he loses and is steadier, Igor Shesterkin is continuing to perform extremely well in the AHL with the Hartford Wolf Pack. At what point do they decide to recall the soon to be 24-year old Russian to see what they have?
These are questions that need to be asked. Especially regarding the franchise’s future. They have to also make a decision soon on college prospect Tyler Wall. Plus Olof Lindbom is in Sweden. Goalie depth isn’t an issue. You also have Adam Huska backing up Shesterkin at Hartford. Like defense, it’s a organizational strength. Ditto for center. At some point, they’re going to make some trades to maybe add more scoring help for Panarin and Zibanejad.
Plus the impending UFA of Chris Kreider likely signals the end of a good team guy that’s first in tipped goals the past few years. He’s always a good quote following tough losses like today. If he is moved at next February’s trade deadline, that’s a valuable player you don’t replace. There will also be intriguing decisions on key restricted free agents Strome, Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Lemieux. Three key players who have all been instrumental on this roster through 32 games.
Had Lundqvist been able to stop Lindholm’s shot off a rush that had a small screen for a second Anaheim power play goal with Brady Skjei in the box for tripping, the Blueshirts get the win. And Zibanejad’s second tally at 1:14 of the third would’ve stood as the game-winner. But he couldn’t quite close it up with the puck going through his arms. He only got a piece of it.
In the three-on-three freefall, Gibson robbed Zibanejad of a sure winner on what sounded like a great move. From the sounds of it on the radio, I was expecting to hear that he scored and won the game in overtime. Instead, it went to the shootout. Here was Silfverberg’s winner that followed Gibson denying Kakko in the top of the fourth:
Like predecessor Ondrej Kase, who extended the skill competition with a brilliant forehand deke backhand high glove, Silfverberg was able to change the angle to notch the winner. His backhand wasn’t as high, but did the job to beat Lundqvist, who hasn’t won any of his last four starts (0-2-2). His last victory came against Carolina on Nov. 27. Ironically, his best game of the season in which he made 41 saves at MSG.
For the year, Henrik Lundqvist is 7-7-3 with a 3.13 GAA and .912 save percentage. While the save percentage is fine, he’s not as consistent. Something that happens with aging goalies. Will he always be appreciated for what he’s accomplished including a Vezina when he was at his peak in ’11-12? Absolutely. I think that point has been lost. Something the well respected Kevin DeLury highlighted in a Tweet.
Lundqvist is unfortunately a victim of his own success. NHL goaltenders give up bad goals all the time. He just hadn’t for the first 13 years of his career. Some Rangers fans forget that.
Kevin’s the voice of reason. He understands that things have changed. I also agree with him 💯 percent that they won’t trade Lundqvist, or as suggested in other spaces, buy him out. They’re going to let it play out. That’s $8.5 million reasons for more insanity and heated debates. I got partially into it with one fan, who was quick to point the finger at the D. It’s young and that means there’ll be moments of inexperience. At the moment, both Fox and Ryan Lindgren are struggling. Perhaps they’ve hit the rookie wall.
What has to be understood is that like it or not, the goalie is the last line of defense. Sometimes, you need them to steal games. Hank’s done it once. Georgiev in a few. He’s been the better goalie since last February. I am not going to bother citing the statistics. It can be looked up.
So, what will happen the rest of the way? Nothing. If you’re looking for controversy, it won’t happen. What needs to is Lundqvist picks it up. Otherwise, then the conversation could be completely different next Spring. I’m assuming no playoffs. They’re not ready yet. If I’m wrong, save this and don’t forget to let me hear about it. I won’t disappear 😉. Just ask my friends.
Just three lousy months ago if you’d asked any Devils fan what mid-December would look like, nobody would have pictured that not only would Taylor Hall get traded, but that it would happen this soon. Heck, on the eve of the season reports were coming out that Hall had authorized his agent Darren Ferris to negotiate an extension. However, the Devils got off to an 0-4-2 start and things haven’t really improved much on-ice since then. Even Hall himself got off to a middling start before being scratched on the verge of a trade with six goals in thirty games and a -11, though his 25 points show that he can still impact the game even when not playing particularly well.
As invitable as this moment has been for weeks with no extension and the team being further and further buried in the Atlantic basement, it’s still an empty, sobering feeling that it’s come to this. Our only Hart trophy winner is moving on, in part because GM Ray Shero hasn’t been able to get out of the perpetual loser rebuild cycle after five years with no end in sight. Showing Hall the team was serious about winning was an impetus for offseason moves such as trading for P.K. Subban and Nikita Gusev but neither has really worked out. Gusev has five goals and 14 points in 28 games which is meh production from the ‘best player outside of North America’, but struggled even more away from the puck early in the season. Still, even he’s been better than Subban who’s now at nineteen straight games without a point and counting. Subban would have been a perfect fit on the 2000’s Rangers…big names who flopped.
Heck, our whole team did its best 2000’s Rangers impression. Win the offseason, lose in-season. There’s only so much you can blame on the goaltending, especially when Mackenzie Blackwood’s been the only thing working for this team the last few weeks. Yes, fellow goalies Cory Schneider and Louis Domingue have been so bad they literally don’t give the team any chance to win. Our only win in their combined twelve starts was Domingue’s 5-1 win against lousy Detroit, the only team in the league worse than the Devils right now. And while John Hynes finally paid for the team’s ineptitude with his job, it’s not like things were going to materially change under mini-me Alain Nasreddine. Predictably the effort’s ticked upward under Nasreddine, other than their total no-show in Dallas the other night – allegedly affected by the flu bug. Just as predictably, the only change was to go back to the more up-tempo system of early in the season. Not that it’s done anything to change results yet, as Nasreddine is still looking for his first win as Devils coach, his career record sitting at 0-4-1.
True, last night’s game at Cup hopeful Colorado went better than expected with ‘only’ a 3-1 loss with the third goal coming on an empty-netter. Perhaps if Blackwood started the game he doesn’t give up the killer second goal which not only decided the game but injured Domingue, who either way has probably seen his last game in a Devils uniform, since he’s both been terrible and we would give up a conditional 7th rounder if Domingue played a seventh game for the Devils. Not that it’s immediately evident who would start the next non-Blackwood game. Cory’s numbers are even worse in the AHL than the NHL, which is a scary thought. Maybe make a play for the Pens’ Casey DeSmith? Shero needs to keep throwing stuff at the wall and hope something sticks, you can’t have Blackwood get worn down in a hopeless cause.
Back to Hall though, I really did want to make this post a bit more of a look back at his four-year tenure with the Devils now that it’s over. I was going to save this post for when the trade actually went down but it could be hours or even days before Hall is traded. Whatever we get for him is not likely to affect the 2019-20 Devils in any way, though hopefully Shero can extract a good package back from whoever trades for him. Ultimately the first and overriding memory of Hall has to be his 2017-18 Hart season and the many electric, meaningful goals he scored and created throughout. Whatever happens down the road, there’s something to be said for being the franchise’s only MVP, and leading the Devils to their only playoff berth in the middle of a prolonged downturn. Many of those highlights are on the clip above.
Three that stand out and I remember without even having to look up, his game-winning goal against the Caps in January that started the Hart momentum, and his late-season heroics against the Habs and Rangers that built the momentum to a groundswell. His shorthanded winner against the Habs just after coming out of the penalty box was one of the most memorable plays in the last decade of Devils hockey, since the 2012 playoff run which seems another lifetime ago now. Hall’s four-point night against the Rangers – culminating with an electric penalty shot goal – was perhaps my favorite example of his brilliance that year.
Taylor Hall has two goals (39) and four points (93) tonight. #NJD franchise record is 96 (Elias). Here's his second goal, scored on a penalty shot against the King. pic.twitter.com/EtfJAaTW5v
Even with having a dissapointing playoff series against Tampa, Hall had one more night of brilliance with three points in the Devils’ lone win at the Rock, including the game-winning assist through traffic on Stefan Noesen’s goal.
Now that we’ve relived the good times, I have to acknowledge it certainly wasn’t all good for Hall or us here. Hall’s MVP season was his second as a Devil…his first, after the infamous one-for-one trade with Adam Larsson that brought Hall here was a forgettable one for him and the team. A sulking Hall had just 20 goals and 53 points in 72 games for a bad Devils team, and had to watch his former team (the Oilers) make the second round of the playoffs without him. Shero even asked point-blank if Hall wanted to be traded that offseason. To his credit Hall said no, and recommitted himself to his new team, breaking out with a career year as a response.
Nobody was expecting Hall to repeat his MVP season last year, but the fact his season ended after just 33 games with knee issues was a dissapointment. He did manage 11 goals and 37 points in that time, but was clearly hampered by his injury in the weeks even before going on the shelf for good in late December, and his absence sent an already spiraling Devils season straight into the toilet. After an offseason of will-he won’t-he drama towards his re-signing, things seemed to be going in the right direction this offseason but the early-season flameout changed things entirely for both Hall and the franchise. I don’t even want to get into the whole fans booing the PP thing now, he’s frustrated, the team’s frustrated, we’re frustrated. He should still get a video tribute and deserved ovation the next time he comes back to the Prudential Center (unless it’s somehow in a Rangers or Flyers jersey hah).
Yes, it wasn’t his choice to come here and it is his choice to leave (at least in part) but if we can cheer role players like Stephen Gionta coming back to the Rock, we can give Hall an ovation of thanks for giving us hope in a transcendent season that won’t be forgotten. Especially when it doesn’t look like we’ll even get back to playing meaningful Spring games again anytime soon. Hall may be the biggest sale but he won’t be the only one with FA’s Wayne Simmonds, Sami Vatanen and Andy Greene all deadline deal candidates, plus given how annoyed Shero was with the players in the wake of the Hynes firing I could see others getting dealt too. Hopefully the 2020-21 Devils will look different than the 2019-20 Devils, I just don’t know if they’ll be any better.
Welp I had zero intention of either watching or paying attention to tonight’s expected housing in Colorado, with the 9-16-5 Devils playing a 20-8-3 Avs team on the road, thirteen points out of a playoff spot in mid-December. I still don’t plan on watching, especially with human red light Louis Domingue in net for the road team, but now the night just got a bit more interesting with the news that Taylor Hall is being held out of tonight’s game. With speculation surrounding a possible trade before the holiday freeze it’s certainly possible a deal’s imminent.
Of course watch precautionary mean the guy’s fighting the flu. While I do think a trade is coming sooner or later (probably sooner), I’ll believe it’s happened when I see it. Nothing’s ever done until it’s done…ask any Met fan about the infamous 2015 trade deadline for proof of that. Constantly checking Twitter the rest of the night’s going to annoy me but just like waiting to see what we got for Christmas, you can’t do anything about it but be patient. I’ll have a more detailed post when Hall is dealt, but it seems the moment of truth is upon us.
Artemi Panarin dons the Broadway Hat following his first hat trick as a New York Ranger. His four points in a comeback 6-3 win over the underachieving Sharks prove that he belongs in the MVP conversation if the Rangers somehow make the playoffs. AP Photo credit New York Rangers via Getty Images
Artemi Panarin’s hat trick highlighted a Rangers 6-3 come from behind win over the Sharks at San Jose. He scored two of his three goals in a four goal third that saw the Blueshirts rally from a 3-2 deficit by getting the last four unanswered.
We've seen enough, @artemiypanarin is the BEST PLAYER IN THE NHL!
I’ve run out of adjectives to describe the Bread Man. He just keeps producing for a team that would be nowhere without him. If you subtracted Panarin from the offense, the Rangers would probably have at least six less wins. He makes everyone around him better by creating space and knowing where to be on the ice.
The Rangers have played 31 games. Panarin is up to 18 goals with 23 assists for 41 points. He might not be in the same category as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl or Jack Eichel, who’s emerging as an MVP candidate with Buffalo. However, if he somehow managed to carry this team to the playoffs similar to what Taylor Hall did with the Devils, then Panarin deserves to be a Hart candidate. That’s how well he’s played. He is the straw that stirs the drink for the Broadway Blueshirts.
I didn’t watch this one because I was tired. So, I napped with the radio on. I woke up with the game tied at two in the third period. The Sharks went ahead on a rare goal from defenseman Brenden Dillon. They were playing their first game under new interim coach Bob Boughner, who relieved Pete DeBoer. The former Devils bench boss was fired along with almost everyone on Thursday due to the continued underperformance of a team expected to compete in the West. DeBoer has the dubious distinction of guiding two teams to the Stanley Cup Final, but not winning. So, he’s a lot like current Flyers coach Alain Vigneault.
Unless they get better goaltending from Martin Jones, it won’t matter who coaches. Just from the analysis of an exasperated Dave Maloney on ESPN radio alongside Kenny Albert, he couldn’t believe the goals Jones gave up to Mika Zibanejad and Panarin that put the Rangers ahead 5-3. He heavily criticized Jones’ positioning and made that exact point about San Jose, who dropped their sixth game in a row. Panarin completed his third career hat trick with an empty netter.
On a night future Hall of Fame center Joe Thornton recorded an assist in his 1,600th career NHL game, it was the resilience of the Blueshirts that ruined his big night. Despite being young, they continue to respond positively under David Quinn following losses like the miserable one they had to the Kings. They improved to 10-1 after defeats by getting big performances from Panarin (3-1-4) and Zibanejad (2 goals). The hat trick was the third of Panarin’s career. His first two came versus the Rangers at MSG. How’s that for irony.
Zibanejad came up big in the final stanza. Consecutive goals off his stick tied and put the Blueshirts ahead 4-3. He converted on a power play which Maloney thought was a break. In other words, he didn’t feel the tripping penalty on Barclay Goodrow that Chris Kreider drew was the best call. You have to take advantage when the chance presents itself.
Trailing by one, they did. Panarin and Tony DeAngelo combined to set up Zibanejad for his eighth on the power play. That tied the score with 11:11 left in the third. It was a quick response to Dillon’s tally from Brooklyn native Kevin Labanc and Thornton 4:37 earlier.
Alexandar Georgiev got the start. He was back in net following Henrik Lundqvist losing a tough decision to Jonathan Quick on Tuesday night at Staples Center. Georgiev didn’t have to do anything special like he did at Vegas or in other recent starts. He was picked up by his teammates. He allowed three goals on 18 shots. So, you can’t talk about the goaltending. I know the first San Jose goal from Tomas Hertl shorthanded was deflected off a Ranger. The other two Sharks tallies came from Logan Couture and Dillon.
Even though it sounded like they played a good first period with Maloney highlighting the puck possession and 12 shots on goal, the Rangers trailed by a goal due to Hertl victimizing the man-advantage. He was able to convert his 11th unassisted for a shorthanded goal at 9:13. It sounded sloppy on the radio.
I missed the second due to shut eye. It was played entirely at even strength without any penalties. That must’ve been good to watch. I would imagine it was fast moving because the game didn’t take that long. After Filip Chytil (2 assists) and Greg McKegg set up Jesper Fast for his second goal over three games, Ryan Strome made a good pass to an open Panarin at the side where he quickly fired his 16th past Jones short side for a 2-1 lead 2:54 later. Brady Skjei, who kept the play alive by pushing the puck down to Strome, also picked up a helper. I read quite a few complaints about Skjei defensively. That’s not going to change. He’s gonna play. You may as well deal with it.
Following a Couture snipe from Timo Meier, the game was dead even entering the third. It was San Jose who surged ahead when from listening to Maloney discuss the Dillon goal, he had all sorts of time due to Jacob Trouba giving him way too much space. He backed in and it gave Dillon enough time to fire a wide open shot from the point past Georgiev at 4:12.
But that was it for the Sharks offense. They only recorded two shots the entire period. Just mystifying. How can a team with their talent be so bad? Erik Karlsson hasn’t scored in a while to hear Maloney tell it. And the normally reliable Brent Burns was hesitant to shoot the puck when I was tuning in. He’s also got a very bad plus/minus rating (-23). I know not everyone is in love with that stat. But there’s a good reason Burns is struggling. I’ve seen him get beat plenty in the San Jose games I’ve watched either on NBCSN or NHL Network. Meier hasn’t produced like they envisioned either. Thornton doesn’t have a goal yet with only 11 apples in likely his final year. Patrick Marleau is 6-5-11 in his return.
I heard Evander Kane say he didn’t think there was enough pushback from his team last week following a loss. Interestingly enough, he took matters into his own hands following an uncalled cheap shot. Kane has arguably been their best player so far. He’s got 24 points including a team-leading 13 goals along with 75 penalty minutes. Kane is a gamer. Whatever went down in Winnipeg between him and the vacationing Dustin Byfuglien, it’s in the past now. He’s not that guy anymore. I bet Buffalo wishes they could’ve kept him.
In terms of the Sharks, they’ve always been a team I pulled for due to my friend Jen. I’ve always liked them too. It’s too bad they couldn’t win that Cup against the Penguins in 2017. That was their best shot. Probably Thornton’s final chance at it too. What a shame. I guess he’s going to wind up like Lundqvist and recently retired Roberto Luongo. Not everyone wins a Cup. Just ask Mats Sundin and the notoriously omitted Curtis Joseph.
Sometimes, you got to be lucky. I’m glad Brian Leetch has a Conn Smythe and Mike Richter along with Alex Kovalev were a big part of that Stanley Cup in ’94. Of course, it doesn’t happen without Mark Messier or some of the other former Oilers including the very popular Adam Graves. Plus Sergei Zubov, who also won with Dallas in ’99.
The point being you need breaks to win championships. And you have to cash in when it’s there. The Rangers didn’t in 2012, ’14 or ’15. Neither have the Sharks, who continue to leave diehard and loyal fans like Jen (SharxGirl) frustrated. They look like they need a different goalie. Do I hear John Davidson convincing Lundqvist that it would be best if he waived his no movement clause to go take another shot at winning a championship with San Jose or Calgary? I know it’s not gonna happen.
Truth be told, the Rangers are better off without Lundqvist now. He doesn’t win enough when Quinn goes to him and isn’t that guy you want in a rebuild. If he would just swallow his pride, he’d conclude that he doesn’t want to wind up like his Swedish buddy Sundin, who held the Maple Leafs hostage until he left and wound up with Vancouver for one final swan song.
At this point, it’s clear that the team plays harder for Georgiev, who’s got a different and more laid back personality. He is still trying to prove himself since that strong finish to last season. He’s got the better numbers and is backing it up. Even on less than stellar nights like Thursday or that wild and crazy game at Montreal, he doesn’t let a bad goal affect his demeanor. He’s very cerebral.
If and when the organization decides to recall Igor Shestyorkin and give him a look due to his continued domination for Hartford in the AHL, where’s the logic in keeping Lundqvist for another year with him on the salary cap for $8.5 million? Are they really going to give in and trade Georgiev due to catering to the all-time franchise leader in just about every category? I hope not.
I would like to see a scenario where you have Georgiev and Shestyorkin both in NYC. That way they can find out who’s the better option. Before you just anoint Shestyorkin the man, he has to prove it. If they let this happen, they’d have another win win situation like John Vanbiesbrouck and Richter. They chose Richter and let Beezer go to Florida where he carried the Panthers to the Cup Final in ’96 before being swept by the Avalanche. It worked out well for everyone.
The organization also has Tyler Wall performing extremely well in his senior year at UMass-Lowell. A forgotten sixth round pick in 2016, the 21-year old from Lexington, Ontario is 10-3-4 with a 1.72 GAA, .945 save percentage and two shutouts in 17 games this season. Aside from a tough sophomore year, Wall has been excellent in his four-year collegiate career. He should be part of the future in the Rangers organization soon.
There’s not much more to say regarding the Rangers goalie situation. It’ll be interesting to see what JD and Jeff Gorton decide. Davison knows a thing or two from experience as a player about making hard decisions that impact the future. That’s how he got his shot here after the unpopular decision by Emile “The Cat” Francis to waive Eddie Giacomin and trade away Jean Ratelle and Brad Park for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. Eventually, Davidson backstopped the ’78-79 Rangers to a huge upset over the Islanders to play Montreal for the Cup. They lost in five games. Injuries derailed his career where he moved to the booth and became the best at his craft.
Things change. That’s what some fans fail to understand. If they move on from Lundqvist, they’d be doing themselves and him a favor. It’s time.
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