We may not make the playoffs, but this season will help us contend for the Cup in the future.

I definitely believe this team will be a threat in the playoffs next year, but I think it will be much more of a contender in 2012-13. As has been said on this site before, this team is neither as bad as its first half record nor as good as its second-half record. There will still be issues with young defensemen playing big roles and aging forwards eating up cap space.

Whether or not the Devils contend in 2011-12 will largely depend upon the development of the youngsters – Tedenby, Josefson, and especially Taormina, Fayne, and Urbom. I don’t see big steps forward or big steps back for any of the veterans, except maybe Clarkson, who could take a step forward, and there isn’t any cap space to add other players.

I fully expect 2012-13 to be awesome, though. I see Tedenby and Josefson maturing into 60-80 pt players, Merrill sliding in as a 2nd-3rd pairing defender, and the 2011 top-10 draft pick also stepping into the lineup. Add to that the addition by subtraction of Rolston, the development of the other young defensemen and Henrique, and the role players that could be brought in with the cap space gained by Rolston, Salvador, Brodeur, and White’s expiring contracts – the 2012-13 Devils could be positively explosive!

You could run the “how many lineup changes” exercise with most of the NHL teams and come up with similar results in terms of number of players that played Opening Night and have not played in the same team’s most recent game. Some of it is teams who fell out of the race and dumped pieces on the market. Some of it is injury-related, and some of it is general ineffectiveness.

For example, your Pittsburgh Penguins.

Opening Night vs. Philadelphia

Forwards (12): Adams, Comrie, Cooke, Crosby, Dupuis, Kennedy, Kunitz, Letestu, Malkin, Rupp, Talbot, Tangredi
Defense (6): Engelland, Goligoski, Letang, Martin, Michalek, Orpik
Goalies (2): Fleury, Johnson

Last Night vs. New Jersey (lineup changes in bold)

Forwards (12): Adams, Asham, Comrie, Conner, Dupuis, Kennedy, Kovalev, Kunitz, Neal, Rupp, Staal, Talbot
Defense (6): Engelland, Letang, Lovejoy, Martin, Michalek, Niskanen
Goalies (2): Fleury, Thiessen

Same number of different players as the Devils, and the Penguins have played a heck of a lot better than Our Local Heroes, if the standings are your measure by which to judge a team. So why do I bring this up? Frankly, I don’t see so much how “this lost season will help us contend in the future”. Sure, it’s good that we’ve gotten Josefson and Tedenby acclimated to the NHL. The emergence of Mark Fayne is also promising.

But how much is that going to help, given those three players can’t do it on their own. Maybe Matt Taormina comes back strong, and maybe he was a flash in the pan. What happens if Zach Parise doesn’t re-sign? What other major moves are going to be made…. if history is any indication, Lou will have a significant trade to make this summer and that could mean the departure of someone we’re expecting to be there. How will the salary cap impact what can and cannot be done? Who will coach the team next year, what style of play will he bring, and how might that impact the current roster?

I’m all for having optimism for next year, but not for blind optimism. Every team brings up rookies who contribute to the lineup and appear to be fixtures for the long haul. Every team has its peaks and its valleys. The Devils are not unique in this.

Last year, you could have said everything you did in the main article above about the Carolina Hurricanes…. who had a wretched first half, made a number of personnel moves including the influx of young talent and departure of veterans, who made a magical second-half run that nearly got them into contention. And the last time I checked, the ’Canes are still on the outside of the playoff picture looking in, with their chances of making the Final Eight dwindling by the day.

I see your point, but it is fair to be optimistic when you have young players contributing and winning games for us.

I am thinking about the many positives of this season. Mark Fayne has been a huge surprise, Taormina was awesome when he was healthy and Tedenby and Josefson’s play was awesome at times. Palmieri and Elias also had a good season. I can’t forget about Zajac’s awesome face off skill!

Yeah we were a contender, but I’ll take a better first round draft pick this year than getting booted from the playoff’s in the first round again!