Finding the right captain for the right team is one of the hardest assignments in hockey. It’s not simply about identifying a star player and giving him a patch, it’s about delegating assignment. New Jersey fans of the 90’s were lucky enough to see the great Scott Stevens command the throne while becoming the man synonymous with "Devil’s Hockey". In Stevens 12 years of captaincy he set the tone for each and every game with his snarl. When Scott Stevens was on the ice you better believe everyone on the other team was scared. Stevens became notorious (and sometimes hated) around the NHL for bone-crushing and sometimes dangerous body checks. Although many viewed some of his play as dirty none can argue the impact he had on his franchise’ success. Stevens was the "enforcer of enforcers" and we may never see another player like him in today’s "new NHL". Since Stevens retired in 2004 the state of The Devils captaincy has been in turmoil, we just haven’t found the right player at the right time. We promoted Patty for a season and he just wasn’t the right fit; a great player but not the right fit. The Devils tried a veteran in Jamie Langenbrunner, but the team just never found the postseason success they had hoped for. Enter…Zach Parise.

After being signed by The Devils in 05’ Parise has been a man on a mission. In just his second full season he raised his points total to a respectable 62 after a 32 Point Rookie season. He’d follow this up with a 65 point year that had fans just a little worried as it raised questions about how high this guy’s bar really was. The next season, the 08-09 season, Parise answered that question emphatically by putting up a 45 Goal, 94 Point campaign that got him on everyone’s radar. That was the year where the potential truly blossomed and Zach Parise truly became Zach Parise. In his time with the Devils he’s shown all the characteristics you want in a team leader, his work ethic is truly something to be marveled at as night in and night out you see this guy giving 110% on every single shift. The Devils dump the puck in, there’s Zach pressing hard on the fore-check. The Devils are on a penalty kill; Zach makes a big play to get a clear. Parise is more famous for his goal scoring and passing abilities but what goes unrecognized is his abilities as a leader.

Since being tagged by GM Lou Lamoriello to be captain in 2011, Parise (The 9th Captain in team history) has been a role model for the rest of his teammates. Not that he’s any older (or wiser) then they are, but his style of play is inspiration alone. His effort level is that of a player that is just trying to survive in the NHL, not of a superstar, but what makes him a special player is his dedication to consistency and his determination to win. Not to say that I think players take nights off but there are times when a team (or certain players) looks flat and they get beaten (often badly) because of it. I’ve never seen a game where I thought Zach took the night off, and that’s the type of man I want as my leader, one that leads through example. This coming offseason The Devils organization better dig deep and sign him long term because he’s a generational talent and letting him go could cripple this organization for years( and possibly decades) to come. Although financially things appear grim I believe Parise wants to be the Devil’s captain, but he also wants to be paid according to his worth. Although it may mean Zach having to give New Jersey a slight "home-town" advantage, I see Parise being our captain for the foreseeable future. Who knows, when it’s all said and done we may be saying his name along with Scott Stevens’ when we talk about all-time great New Jersey Devil captains.

Poll

Will Zach Parise Be A Devil Next Year?

• Of Course!
• No Way Jose
• Depends Heavily On How This Year Plays Out

  182 votes | Results

The second half of the NHL season got under way for both The Rangers and The Devils Tuesday night, and the two sides looked hungry for points. The action got going quickly with the first real good scoring chance coming late in the 1st period, but Devils Backstop Martin Brodeur was up to the task as he made a series of acrobatic saves with three Rangers crashing the zone. However with under a minute to go in the first the Rangers were the beneficiaries of a bad bounce (sort of a theme in this game) and capitalized by scoring the all-important first goal. The Devils were resilient (all night long) and refused to lose hope which was key because there chance would come early into the 2nd period on a nice individual effort by none other than Captain Zach. Parise gained the Rangers zone off a nice entry pass by Danius Zubrus and after being stopped initially Parise did the dirty work, got the rebound, and fired it home just inside the top crossbar. The game would continue to be played at a high level and it seemed apparent that the team that didn’t make that one mistake would win this game. That mistake nearly came in the first minute of the third period off a nifty steal by Ilya Kovalchuk that resulted in a shorthanded breakaway, but Ranger’s goalie Martin Biron came up big and kept the score leveled. It was a big save because less than two minutes after that Brian Boyle was able to tuck home a rebound to put the blue shirts out in front 2-1. The Devils continued to fight and they would have a possible season changing moment because of it. On a power play with only 5 minutes left in regulation the Devils David Clarkson broke into the Rangers zone and made a sweet drop pass to Patrik Elias who proceeded to execute just a beautiful saucer pass over to a streaking Ilya Kovalchuk and he did the rest; putting the finishing touches on a tremendous team play. The goal was very emotional for him and the fans, but the hype was short lived. No more than a minute had passed by when Ranger’s All Star forward Marian Gaborik made a nice speed move to gain the Devils zone, he then waited patiently (it was a very smart hockey play) until offensive- minded defenseman Michael Del Zotto could pinch in, receive a nice saucer pass (very similar to the one Elias threw just a minute before) and beat Brodeur blocker side. The goal was undoubtedly a "softy" but I have to credit The Rangers for striking back so quickly, it showed a lot about their team’s character. But this goal would not tarnish a great night of hockey at "The Rock" (The Prudential Center) because with less than a minute left in the 3rd The Devils would finally get a bounce there way (I told you bad bounces were a big theme here) and they capitalized big time. Andy Greene was just trying to get the puck in deep so that the Devils could set up their power play (it was a 6 on 5 because Brodeur was pulled) but the puck hit a weird spot on the boards and bounced right out in front of the net and onto the stick of David Clarkson who controlled the puck and beat Biron glove side. It was Clarkson’s 17th goal (tying a career high- take notice of him fantasy owners!) and none were bigger than this one. This was a very skilled goal and a huge goal for the Devils who had come in losers of three straight.

The Devils and Rangers would each get one really good shot at ending the game in the Overtime period, but rightfully so this game went to a shootout. The Devils have been superb in the shootout this season sporting a league best 8-2 record going into this one and a lot of that credit goes to Ilya Kovalchuk. Kovalchuk (typically the first Devil’s shooter) came out and made it look real easy beating Biron five-hole and in doing so making himself 8-9 this year in shootouts; that’s right 8 for 9. This goal would prove to be the winner as Martin Brodeur came up with big stops on Derek Stepan, Brad Richards and the dangerous Marian Gaborik to seal a feel-good win for the home team. In a game where the Devils could have walked away empty handed they found a way to get a big two points and keep a rival from getting two points (The Rangers did get 1 point for reaching overtime however). The Devils could not have hoped for a better way to start the second half, now let’s hope they can turn this well earned momentum into a sustained winning streak.

Poll

What Seed Do You See New Jersey Ending Up with in The Eastern Conference?

• 7th or 8th
• 5th or 6th
• 3rd or 4th
• 1st or 2nd
• Out Of Playoffs

  124 votes | Results

For those of us caught in between the Time Warner MSG war and unable to watch the Devils or other teams MSG covers.

I am mad as H-E-Double hockey sticks and not gonna take it anymore!

I really don't care who's in the right, but it is time to make them both pay.

My campaign is simple, If you own stock in either of their companies......SELL IT!!!!

It's not just enough to switch to DirectTV or Fios.

Many of the 2.3 million caught in this battle have neither option which makes MSG suck.

MSG also pulled this with Dish Network.

Time Warner is too cheap to come to terms with NFL Network, so I feel pretty confident MSG is gone for good too on Time Warner.

The way to make them pay is make February 14th National FU MSG and Time Warner day if they can't resolve this by then.

The way this works is simple, if enough of us who own MSG or Time Warner stock who are sick of this crap sell their stock on February 14th, it will drive down the stock price due to the volume.

This will in turn trigger computer selling of both stocks by Hedge funds, Pension managers and Investment banks, further driving down the price. People will begin shorting both stocks once this occurs, driving the price even further down, forcing both MSG AND Time Warner to have to use assets to cover any loans from drop in stock backed price.

The reason I have chosen February 14th, is we can show them the same kind of love they have shown us.

If we can get enough affected people on board we can make them pay for the missed games.

Even if you are not affected by the MSG TWC standoff, you might want to climb onboard if you own Time Warner or MSG stock or risk facing a huge loss in value of your stocks in these two rotten greedy companies February 14th.

Tell everyone if you've had enough, post to facebook, twitter about this, make a website, make this go viral if you are sick of it, send it to everyone in your email list, or make a comment link to this post in any story you can comment on that is related to this standoff or any teams affected by it.

Thank you for your time to read this and participation in this event should you choose to.

I think that, despite the doom and gloom that's been posted on here recently, everyone knows that Parise will only truly leave NJ if he wants to leave NJ. I'm confident that we have more than enough resources to accommodate him. And in this post, I'll do a (minimal) amount of work to prove it.

Obviously we've heard about the financial troubles of the Devils - I'm not able to address those. I'm also not able to address what we're actually paying our players today (i.e. - Kovy's $12mm) - But from a cap perspective, using CapGeek.com, I can see that we will have roughly 24,090,000 in cap space to sign parise next year.

Of that cap space, we have a few players we'll need to sign:

Parise, Brodeur, Taormina, Fayne

A few players it would be nice to sign:

Hedberg, Sykora, Ponikarovsky, Steve Bernier, Ryan Carter

And a few players we should not sign:

Salvador, Foster, Cam Janssen, Brad Mills

So - giving conservative estimates of the minimal cap hit for players we should sign:

Brodeur - $1.5mm
Taormina - $900 K
Fayne - $2.5 mm

That would leave us with a little under $20 million in cap space to potentially throw at Parise. Whatever is left over we can use to fill in the gaps in our line up. The Devils organization has a fantastic mix of cheap veteran talent and cheap up-and-coming talent that should do the job nicely. I hope that this has helped to brighten your day as i has mine.


source - http://capgeek.com/charts.php?Team=20

Defending the Blue Line, a group that your very own Zach Parise and Bryce Salvador both support, is up for an award directly from the President of the United States, and we need votes from the people... we need votes from you. The contest was going very smoothly, until this morning. One of our competitors has made a huge push today, and is threatening to take our lead.

We don't want that to happen.

So here I am, asking for your help. The process is very simple. Go to the Joining Forces Community Challenge DTBL page and click "vote." You will need to register, but that process takes less than a minute. Once confirmed, your vote will be counted, and you will be given the chance to share your vote on Facebook or Twitter.

The voting is open to one vote, per day, per person. The voting window resets each day at midnight eastern, so if you are willing to help, be sure to go back each day and vote again.

We would appreciate any support we can get, and would love the support of the Devils fan base, a group that has given our organization a great deal of support in the past. Would you do us the honor of casting your vote to help us out?

For your reference, you can visit Defending the Blue Line's website HERE, should you need more information.

Sorry for the distraction from hockey talk, but we really could use all the help we can get.

I read an article here about the Blues being interested in trading for Parise.

Now, don't get me wrong, I want Parise to stay more than anything, and in hindsight I wish he was the one with the Kovy contract. But lets face the facts, the possibility of Parise being moved is at an all-time high, between the approaching trade deadline and the billion articles about the financial clusterf**k that the Devils are in.

So, facing the facts and admitting the reality of the situation, I can't help but hope that Lou will make the right choices. I hate to see the Devils in the middle of the pack; I think they can be far better than just an early round playoff team, and I personally wouldn't mind another season or two of lackluster play for the sake of rebuilding. Since the lockout, other teams, such as the Blackhawks, Penguins, and even the Oilers (now, finally) have used the draft to reconstruct their philosophies in order to keep up with the changing league. Instead, we have traded to gain our club, which hasn't seemed to work. This, (and again, I wish it were Kovy who we had this problem with) could be our chance to set up an amazing team for the future.

I've spent the last few weeks going through rosters trying to figure out some great trade combos so that we wind up winning out in the end, but I totally forgot about the Blues. He wouldn't work in LA, although Bernier in red would be awesome; and Minnesota, as far as I am concerned, doesn't have the prospective depth that I think we need with the exception of Matt Hackett, and he is just not worth Parise.

Here is the potential trade I would consider:

Parise and maybe a second round draft pick, or a prospect like Tedenby, for Halak, Jaden Schwartz and their first round draft pick.

Here is why this would work for both teams:

The Blues are solid at center for the good part of the next few years with Backes, Arnott, Steen, McDonald, Oshie, and Berglund, and could use more depth at wing.

They are also solid in net (at least for this season) with Elliot. Although Halak didn't live up to expectations, he is still a great goalie with a ton of potential, and could carry our team as a starter until some of our prospects are ready to take the lead.

Considering that they are playing their best hockey in years, competing with the Wings and Hawks (and doing a great job), I think they'd be willing to take Parise regardless of his impeding expired contract, so long as it improves their chances in the playoffs, which it undoubtedly would.

As for the Devs, it would give us another elite prospect in Schwartz, who based on his highlight reel here, looks like a promising offensive powerhouse for the future. With him, Henrique, and Josefson, in the next few years we could have the sort of center depth necessary to compete with the best.

With Halak, as I said he isn't as good as he was once projected to be, he is still a solid goalie, one that could carry the team until we raise another Brodeur (fingers crossed!).

And with another draft pick, we could potentially have a chance at Malcom Subban, (PK's little brother) who is rumored to be a solid net-minder in the future, or we could have the chance at two wingers, or even a winger and a defenseman. With that kind of youth movement, we might be watching other teams in the playoff mix for the next few years, but it could promise a steel core of homegrown Devils, the way we did it back in the day when Niedermayer, Gionta, and Danyeko wore no other jerseys than our own.

Thoughts?

This is really something special. If the Devils were short on money, it's an excellent way to try and make some extra.

The Devils are holding "Game Day Camps."

The Men's Camp is on Friday February 24th.

The Girls' Camp is on Sunday Feb. 26th.

Ironically, I will be in Vancouver when the Devils play the Canucks during this event. The wife already said she would have let me go. I guess she figured, like me, that $300 would've been worth this experience.

Too bad I can't go, but if you can, for those of us that complain about promotions, eat this up.

NJ Devils Dream Camp (via nsjersey)

Peter DeBoer has brought a new, aggressive system to the Devils this year.

The Devils are a faster, younger team this season than they were at this point last year.

They currently sit 8th in the East.

In other words, they are a mediocre to good team right now. In my opinion, if they reach the playoffs, they have a chance to advance to the 2nd round, but I can't really see them beating Boston or Philly (even a healthy Pittsburgh) in a 7 game series.

We all know Lou likes to shake things up with coaching changes.

If the Devils make the playoffs, I think DeBoer returns.

If the Devils miss the playoffs, I am not so sure what will happen.

What do you think: Is DeBoer a lock to return next season?

Comment and vote if you wish. I find this situation interesting because Lou is not patient but is trying to change the Devils' system. Will he cut PDB some slack?

Poll

Will DeBoer be fired if the Devils miss the playoffs?

• No he won't. He will get another shot next year no matter what.
• Yes, If we are outside the playoffs, PDB is toast!
• Yes - but only if Devils completely collapse (finish 12th-15th in East)

  227 votes | Results

Happy Allstar break/injury recovery week Devil Fans, The not too distant month of March will arrive soon. It brings 17 games in 31 days (for you math geniuses, that leaves only 14 days off!) Packed into this month are a span of 10 days where they play the Islanders 3 times, the Rangers once, and the Flyers in a home/home. Yikes! Let's all pray that the Devils can appropriately take advantage of the 'easier' month of February (only 13 games in 29 days). Our lineup will undoubtedly look somewhat different from what it is now. With the trade deadline at February 27th and possible players coming off injury or getting hurt, who knows what it will look like. Will Zach be a Devil? Will he have a contract beyond this season? or will he enter UFA? Will Travis return to the lineup or will he pull a Zach? New Jersey Devils schedule This is my first FanPost, enjoy!

Poll

Where will the Devils be in the standings come the end of March?

• Comfortably in the playoff picture
• It may come down to the last day of the season :/
• I can't wait for the 2012 Entry draft...again.

  73 votes | Results

I love when Gulitti undoes his collar a bit in the comments section of Fire & Ice. Always priceless stuff that's way more intersting than his and most other devil's articles. Today's is a real gem.

Peltz is not getting the Devils. Word is he’s as disliked by the NHL as Balsillie.

By the way, Peltz is friends with Rupert Murdoch.

Do you think there’s any connection between that and these stories that keep coming from one paper.

Who would benefit from making lenders think the Devils’ financial situation is worse than it is?

Posted by Tom Gulitti on 01/26 at 03:23 PM

The Devs for the Whale!?!?

From what I understand, Peltz wants an NHL team that would play in Connecticut.

Posted by Tom Gulitti on 01/26 at 03:51 PM

dum Dum DUM! What say you?