Why an Elias Fan Page? Why Not?

by John Fischer on Dec 6, 2008 8:42 AM EST Comment 3 comments

You may have noticed there is a big button on the side for the Patrik Elias fan page. Namely, it's because I'm a fan of Elias and that he's reaching out is a great thing. And he's doing it in so many ways in just the past few months. A personal website was launched this season (in Czech); Elias' facebook has been active; and he's even got a Twitter. He's being interactive with the fans, which is great for him and the Devils, as it's a good and easy way to promote himself and the team. And the fans get to connect with him on some level, hear about what's going on that you may not always get with Gulitti or Chere & Stephenson, who you should be reading anyway if you're a Devils fan online.

Anyway, back in October on the old site I wrote up my rationale of why Elias is important to the team, so I'll restate it and slightly update it here:

Patrik Elias has pretty much cemented himself as a big part of the team's success from this decade. He's been a part of 2 Stanley Cup teams. Only John Madden, Jay Pandolfo, Bobby Holik, and Colin White remain on the team with as many rings as Elias (of course, Brodeur has more, but that's not my point).

He's been the key player in two famed, ruthlessly efficient, and somewhat short-lived lines: the A-Line with Jason Arnott and Petr Sykora and the EGG Line with Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. Elias holds the franchise record for most points in a season (96 in 2000-2001), most points in the playoffs (23 in 2000-01), he has take over the franchise lead in assists this season with 377, and he's the second leading scorer in Devils history. And after last night's win over the Flyers, he's tied for with Mats Sundin and Jaromir Jagr with the most overtime goals in NHL history with 15.

Elias has battled bravely to recover from Hepatitis A and came back in 2005-06 with a roaring 38 game season (and an equally roaring playoffs). He was the first European captain of the team, and remains as one of the top offensive threats on the New Jersey Devils. Zach Parise has been a revelation this season, but with Elias playing extremely well and producing points; it makes the Devils better on offense as a whole. And even when he isn't scoring, he's at least shooting the puck and trying to make the difficult pass to set up a great play.

So why shouldn't you and I be proud to be a Patrik Elias fan when he's accomplished so much in the past 11 seasons and during this one? He was important to the team's success and remains as such now.

All FanPosts and FanShots are the respective work of the author and not representative of the writers or other users of In Lou We Trust.

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I own an Elias jersey

with a “C” on it from the year he was the captain. I think he’s a wholly underrated player.

by Tyler Bleszinski on Dec 6, 2008 11:12 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I sort of agree with that statement. I think because of his big contract and past history, he should be expected to lead the offense. On the other hand, he doesn’t get enough credit that even when he’s in a scoring slump, he’s still shooting, trying to set up his teammates, and still giving an effort out on the ice. I’ll never forget the last ever game at Continental Airlines Arena where the Devils were mostly in a fog playing the Ottawa Senators in Game 5; the only Devils skater out there who looked like he was looking to do something about the loss was Elias.

As far as wholly underrated players this year, there’s one who plays with Elias and he isn’t Zubrus. I’ll make my case on Monday.

by John Fischer on Dec 7, 2008 11:38 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

An outsider's view

I see the Devils occasionally (when they play the Isles plus a little more), the thing about Elias that impresses me is the many smart “little” plays and anticipations he does that don’t show up on the stat sheet or at least are not directly quantifiable through statistics. One of the joys of hockey’s relatively unstructured nature is watching a player’s mind at work as he reads and reacts/anticipates the play.

Can’t remember who pointed to his goal totals earlier this season and scoffed at him, but to me linemates, coaches, even ice time (and luck) go up and down over time, but “hockey smarts” (or whatever it is that is so observable yet hard to quantify) does not really go away. Pretty much no matter what kind of stat season he’s having, Elias usually catches my eye.

Lighthouse Hockey: a New York Islanders blog with hip issues.

by Dominik on Dec 9, 2008 10:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs