Devils Add Another Old Face In Shanahan

Future Hall of Famer and ex-Devil Brendan Shanahan has agreed in principal in a contract with the New Jersey Devils.

Shanahan, who turns 40 years of age on January 23rd, was not re-signed by the Rangers after scoring 52 goals the past two seasons for the Blueshirts. Several other teams sought after the veterans services, including the Flyers, Blues and Penguins. In the end, salary cap issues and a willingness for Shanahan to stay in the New York area was his deciding factor in signing with the Devils.

The 8-time all-star has played in 1,490 career games and has accumulated 650 career goals, which ranks 11th all-time. Known as a power-play specialist, he is expected to help a struggling Devils power-play which currently ranks 20th in the NHL. A three time winner of the Stanley Cup, Shanhan brings even more experience and leadership to a Devils room stacked with veterans and is expected to see regular ice-time as a forward most likely on the third line with Brian Rolston and center John Madden.

Shanahan who was the Devils 1st round selection and 2nd overall selection in 1987, joins Brian Rolston, Bobby Holik and Scott Clemmensen as ex-Devils to sign with their former club this season. He is well remembered by Devils fans for his decision to leave the Devils in free agency to sign with the St. Louis Blues on July 25, 1991. A move that resulted in Hall-of-Famer Scott Stevens arriving in New Jersey for compensation.

Shanahan, who started skating in New Jersey on Saturday, will not join the team until the contract is settled. It is expected that he will eventually sign a pro-rated contract at a salary of 1.5M for this season.

Parise Added To All-Star Roster; Clemmensen Shafted Over Pathetic Choice In Goal

Today the NHL All-Star reserves were selected and some tough choices had to be made. Fortunately for the Devils, Zach Parise will be attending the All-Star game in Montreal this year, while Patrick Elias and the rest of the Devils will be staying home and relaxing for a few days.

The team selected for the East and West Conferences had no bad choices, but one selection boggles my mind and that is Henrik Lundqvist. The people who made the selections could not find a better goalie in the Eastern Conference than a guy who ranks 25th in save percentage and goals against. Henrik is 3rd in the league in wins with 20, oh ya but wait 7 have come via the shootout so really he has 13 wins. Now in the past I would say that Lunqvist deserves to go, but not with the kind of year he is having. There must be someone with better stats than this guy.

Hey I know somebody, how about Scott Clemmensen? Yeah, this guys has 15 wins and only 2 via the shootout so he has 13 wins as well in 11 less games I might add. Clemmensen also has a goals-against average (GAA) that ranks 7th in league that is 0.40 lower than old Henry and a save-percentage that ranks 9th in the league.

Now I will be realistic and did not believe that Clemmensen would get the All-Star nod, but if he has these numbers that blow away that flopper they call a goalie across the Hudson than is there not someone else with a stronger track record that is far more deserving than Lundqvist this year?

I know so! Shame on you NHL!!! Gary Bettman and the NHL All-Star selection committee you all get a game misconduct for being stupid.

Why The Devils Need Two Points Against Atlanta

The Devils came up short in last nights comeback against the Carolina Hurricanes and have not played stellar hockey over the past eight games. The Devils are 4-4-0 in their past eight games and even their wins against St. Louis and the Senators have not come easy. The only clear cut victories were a 4-2 win against the Rangers and a 4-1 win over the Canadians.

Despite the weak performances lately the Devils remain two-points behind the Rangers and Flyers and a win against the Thrashers on Thursday is needed before the Devils head out on six game nine day road trip.

One of the Devils problems under Brent Sutter has been their inability to play a complete 60-minute game of hard hitting, quick puck movement and hard forechecking hockey that he expects night in and out. This has been evident over the past eight games with every player and every line (Yes even Zach Parise). It has not been one thing that stands out, it may be one thing one night and one thing another.

For example, over the past two games the Devils have given up 3 PPG against in 8 chances, while in the previous six games they had killed off 19-21. In that same time the Devils have 3PPG for in their last 7 chances, but in their previous six games they had only gone 2-for-23 on their power-play. Other times it has been the Devils long streak without scoring a goal or maybe the top line of Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner scoring like crazy one night and the next night not even seeming as if they can sniff a chance.

Over this time the one player who has shown to be the one true reliable constant is Patrick Elias (2G-7A in last 6 games). Let us hope Sutter can get his team back on track to playing 60-minutes of hard hockey or we could looking up at Philly and the Rangers by the end of the month.

Devils Power Past Sens

The Devils escaped with a much needed two-points against the down and out Ottawa Senators on Sunday night at the Rock. Down 3-2 late in the 3rd period, Mike Rupp drew a penalty and gave the Devils a power-play with 5:20 remaining in the hockey game.

With only 20-seconds remaining on the power-play Jamie Langenbrunner picked up a loose puck at center ice and came thru the blue-line and blasted a shot over the right pad of the Senators goaltender. Langenbrunner has started the new year off right with two goals in two games and now has seven on the year.

The Devils headed into overtime where again they drew a penalty, as Chris Phillips held up Patrick Elias in the neutral zone. The first wave of the power-play just missed as Parise and Elias both had great opportunities that just went wide. Then with 36-second left on this power-play Travis Zajac got the puck to Rolston at the point and he just lined up and fired it as hard as he could through Auld for the game winning goal. The goal was Rolston's 6th of the year and he as well as Langenbrunner and Gionta have been picking up their scoring as of late.

The line of the night was easily the Zubrus-Elias-Gionta line that accounted for the first two Devils goals. Down 1-0 late in the first Elias saucered a pass at the blue-line to Zubrus who tipped a one-timer to Gionta who blasted a shot off of Auld and Zubrus pounded home an easy rebound. The second goal was just as pretty, as Gionta sent a puck across ice to Elias who centered a pass to Zuburs to circled around the net and tapped the puck into a wide open net.

The Devils have been playing well of late and getting contributions from all four lines. They will need to keep it up as after this week against Carolina and Atlanta the Devils head out on an eight game road trip.

Notes:
-Some Devils are having great years and have picked up their games from last season, here are a few:
Zubrus: Last Year (13-25A-38pts) This Year (10G-13A-23Pts)
Elias : Last Year (20G-35A-55pts) This Year (17G-26A-43pts)
Zajac: Last Year (14G-20A-34pts) This Year (10G-18A-28pts)
Clarkson: Last Year (9G-13A-22pts) This Year (7G-7A-14pts)
- Some other worthy stat comparisons are the Devils who have better plus/minus ratings this year compared to last:
Langenbrunner: Last Year (-1) This Year +10) - difference +11
Zajac: Last Year (-11) This Year (+12) difference +23
Gionta: Last Year (+1) This Year (+14) difference +13
Mottau: Last Year (-11) This Year (+14) difference +25
White: Last Year (-5) This Year (+10) difference +15

Three Devils Who Should Be Playing On All-Star Weekend

Voting for the starters of the NHL All-Star game just concluded the other day and what a mess this was. At one point it looked as if the Canadians would have five starters in the all-star game, with only three actually being close to deserving on a nomination. The Pittsburgh fans flew in and saved the day by voting for Crosby and Malkin in their place. There is no doubt that those two are absolutely deserving of the honor. And that is what this should be an honor, of who played the best in the first half not who is the most popular. So where does that leave some of our Devils?

Well I see three Devils deserving of going to Montreal. Zach Parise should be a lock and if he doesn't go this thing is a real sham. Parise is 5th in the league in points (46) and 5th in goals (22). He has been one of the most dominant players in the league this year and no reason not to see him in Montreal on All-Star weekend.

Next is Patrick Elias, once one of the top forwards in the league has returned his game to the high level we have come to expect from him. Elias who has only scored 21 goals/69 pts. in 2006-2007 and 20 goals/55 pts. in 2007-2008 is primed to easily surpass those marks this season. Elias's 17 goals ranks 18th in the league and 15th in points (41 pts.) Clearly his among the top forwards in the league with Jeff Carter, Marc Savard, Alex Ovechkin, Nicholas Backstorm, Mike Richards, Phil Kessel and Ilyga Kovalchuk.

Last is the biggest surprise of them all, Scott Clemmensen. When looking at all the goalies in the Eastern Conference Clemmensen is a clear top candidate for the All-Star team. Clemmensen has a 2.17 GAA, which ranks 4th in the league and only the Boston duo of Thomas and Fernandez have lower GAA in the Eastern Conference. Clemmensen also ranks 7th in SV% with a .926, with only Thomas and Fernandez ahead of him again as well as Anderson from FLA. His 14 wins ranks 10th in the league, while every goalie but two ahead of him has played at 5 more games.

Now I know there are more flashy names like Fag Boy Lunquvist (NYR), Ryan Miller (BUF), Cam Ward (CAR) and Marc Fluery (PIT). I mean Fluery missed being named the starter by 29,000 votes and he has a 3.01 GAA, only 11 wins in 22 games and a poor .904 Sv%. So hopefully whoever decides on who is in and who is out really picks the best players.

Then again who are we kidding, the Devils never get respect on TheFourthPeriods.com Power Rankings the Devils are not even in the top 10, but hey still have the Rangers ranked 8th and the Pens ranked 6th. This just proves some people don't know shit about hockey and yet they get paid to write and evaluate it.

Devils Start Off 2009 On Strong Note

The New Year rang in and the Devils started it off with a strong decisive 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadians. Three Devils (Brian Gionta, Jamie Langenbrunner and John Madden) who at times in the first half of the season, struggled to put the puck in the back of the net started 2009 off with a bang.

Brian Gionta started off the scoring with his 10th of year. Despite being tied for 3rd on the team in goals, Gionta could have even had more goals in the first half. After a later 1st period goal by Zach Parise, John Madden made the score 3-1 in the 2nd period. The goal was Madden's 4th of the year and his first since he netted two goals against Dallas on October 22nd, 32 games ago. Jamie Langebrunner finished off the scoring in the 3rd period with his 6th of the season. Langenbrunner of all three has been really snake bitten, missing numerous glorious opportunities of late. Despite his lack of goal scoring this season the Captain has come through with 20 assists.

With the win the Devils have moved within two points of the New York Rangers with three games at hand and three points behind the Flyers with two games at hand on them. There is a good chance if the Devils take care of business against the struggling Senators today and then take e care of the Hurricanes and Thrashers next week the Devils could in first place.

Notes:
- The Lowell Devils after a long losing streak, won three in a row before last nights 3-2 loss to the Worcester. Former Devils Claude Lemieux scored his 3rd goal of the season in the game last night.
- Colin White missed his third straight game with an injury. There are reports he return today against Ottawa, but should be back next week. The Devils have had the luxury, esspecially on D to sit players who are injured until they are 100% because of their depth.

Devils Split New Year's Road Trip as They Finish December 9-4-1

For many the holiday season came and went and many will be sad to see the month and another year end. The New Jersey Devils will be among them as the Devils finished December with a 9-4-1 record by splitting their first real road trip west of Pittsburgh this season. On Tuesday the Devils finished off the St. Louis Blues as Zach Parise scored two goals and Brian Rolston added his fifth of the season in the 4-3 win. New Year's Eve presented more of a challenge in Dallas, as the Devils were left punch drunk as they got pounded by the hard hitting Stars in the 4-2 loss.

The month of December was the Devils best to date this year. The big surprise of the month and year has been the play of Scott Clemmensen. Clemmer started all but one game in December going 9-3-1 only allowing more than 3 goals-against once, the 8-5 win against the Rangers. The entire month Clemmer only allowed a total of 26 goals and had a save percentage that would rank among the tops in the league at .931 save-percentage.

Despite being shut-out twice and setting the franchise record for longest time without scoring a goal, the Devils stepped the offense up into a new gear this month scoring 43 goals. In fact the Devils were 8-0-0 when they scored 3 goals or more.

The tandem of Elias and Parise have become one of the top scoring duos in the league. Their combined 38 goals ranks 2nd among all duos behind Philadelphia's Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne's 45 goals. Their 84 combined points ranks 4th behind Malkin/Crosby (PIT-109pts.), Ovechkin/Backstrom (WAS-91pts.) and Savard/Krejci (BOS-86pts.). This month alone the duo combined for 17G-21A-38Pts.

The super-duo had help as other teammates came through with some offense as well. Zajac had 6G and 11pts, Langebrunner and Gionta each chipped in 2G-10A for 12 pts and Brian Rolston returned and scored 4 goals in the final eights of the month. Even David Clarkson started to kick-up his offense as he had 2G-4A-6pts, and 5 of the points have come in the last eight games of the month.

The biggest difference and the reason the Devils have the chance to overtake the Rangers and Flyers in the coming weeks is the play of their specialty teams. The power-play has been better as they were 10-for-50 (20.0%) in December and the penalty-kill which was one of the worst in the league killed off a respectable 45-of-52 (86.53) chances this month. But there is still room for improvement as they both still rank around 20th in the league.

Notes:
-Marty Brodeur has begun off-ice workouts and his expected return may be moved up to late February. More will be known by the end of January.
-The three Devils prospects at the World Juniors Championships have played well through the preliminary rounds first four games so far. Mattias Tedenby (SWE) has 1G-2A-3pts and a +2 rating, Patrice Cormier (CAN) 0G-1A-1pt and a +1 rating and Mike Hoeffel (USA) 1G-2A-3pt and a +3 rating.
- With the games in St. Louis and Dallas, the Devils played their first multi-game road trip west of Pittsburgh. The Devils will play nine games on the road in January including a trip out west to face the Kings, Ducks and Canucks and them come back eastward to play Columbus before playing the Islanders and then making another trip to Nashville. The Devils are currently 10-5-2 on the road and are 7-2-1 in their last 10 road games.