Game 7 Aftermath

This is a pivotal off-season for the Devils. I think Sutter is the right coach and hope he’s the coach next year. I really like how he has changed the style of play over the past few seasons. Stevens, Daneyko, and Niedermayer are long gone, you can’t sit back and jam up the neutral zone, now the team’s strength is clearly its forwards. But this is also where I get puzzled, Sutter wouldn’t match Zubrus’ or Zajac’s line agaisnt Staal, he kept going with Madden’s. I switched over to the Caps-Rangers game during both intermission and saw Fedorov score the winner but that wasn’t the impressive part, it was how the Caps played in the last two minutes that was. Simply put I think the Rangers got over the red line with the puck once, the Caps had them pinned in their zone and Lundqvist was never pulled – in a 2-1 game 7. I don’t think we need to discuss the last 2 minutes of the Devils game but that was clearly not what happened.

The style of play Sutter wants to play is clearly a more up-tempo, puck possession game, and moves were clearly made this past off-season to shift the team in that direction, but more need to made. This team belongs to Zajac and Parise now, not Brodeur and White (the only one left from our “championship” defense, and he was the #4 or 5 on those teams but I digress…). When the Devils were at their best this season, they didn’t care about who the other team sent out on the ice, they dictated the play. They didn’t try to do that enough in this series. Are Staal, Whitney, and insert winger X, scarier than Parise, Zajac, and Langenbrunner? Can’t Elias and Gionta match up on these guys? Madden, Pandolfo, and Shanahan played well but why let the other team dictate the play when you have those other 5 forwards and Rolston? The only other puzzling moves by Sutter (their long-term) are, the Martin-Oduya pairing. For better or worse they are the two best offensive defensemen (and maybe even defensemen period) on the same pairing and why does Oduya not consistently play on the power play? Watching Mottau try to get the puck out of the zone last night was painful at times, and I can’t help but thinking if the pairing was Oduya and White that puck is out of the zone. But all this may be a symptom of the roster. The Devils (more Lou I guess) need to either embrace Sutter’s desired play and get the players necessary or let him go.

A glaring need is clearly an offensive defenseman who can man the first power play unit – I love Martin but the stats clearly indicate he can’t do it. This of course would fit right in with Sutter’s style as would re-signing Gionta and letting Madden walk. I commented a few days ago about Gionta. His goals have dropped and the 48 were clearly a hot year, but he’s 20 4 or 5 years in a row now and his assists are still high. He clearly has heart (something that I can see some other players being questioned on) playing a more physical game than players that are twice his size and he’s a consistent second line scoring threat. On Madden, I love him and he’s done a lot for the Devils but I can’t deal with the line matching anymore, it has been our undoing every season since the lockout. Madden isn’t as effective without such a task and he’ll cost a few million. The bigger reason however is that when the Devils looked like world beaters from January to early March they didn’t match lines, they let Parise, Zajac, Elias, et al dictate the game – and remember all this was when Clemmensen was in goal. Which brings me to that question, re-sign him and give him 30-35 games next year. Marty is 37 going on 38 and had some, ummm, lapses in this series. Clemmer “saved” the season and had the Devils looking like Stanley Cup contenders. He’s not the long term answer but he deserves it and I think the team played better with him in net. If possible it would be nice to add even more scoring depth at forward – but a #1 offensive defensemen is the priority.