There's only one more game (tonight) until the All-Star break. The four-day event which contains a draft, a skills competition, and an exhibition is in Ottawa this year. No Devils will be there, as Adam Larrson and Adam Henrique will opt out due to minor injuries. This will be the Senators first time hosting the event. They get to remove themselves from a group of cities and teams that have yet to host NHL's second biggest regular season event (the Winter Classic being the other).

The Devils had the luxury of hosting an All-Star Game in 1984, only a couple years after their move to New Jersey. Two Devils were apart of that (defender Joe Cirella and Glen "Chico" Resch who we are all aware of). Here's the introduction of the Wales Conference. What I hate about this video is the announcer's tone when introducing Ranger players as it was held at the World's Most Overrated Arena which happens to contain asbestos. The two Devils heard cheers and boos as well.

Now, the Devils are in a new home. A home in the middle of it's 5th year of operation. Newark, NJ joins the list of six cities yet to hold the event. The Prudential Center joins of a longer list of new arenas yet to hold one. Only seven NHL arenas have opened since 2000. Of those seven arenas, only the Wild and Stars have held All-Star games. Will Newark get one? Will the Devils host one soon?

My guess is yes, but not for a few more years. With Pittsburgh's new arena and the Garden being renovated, these will most likely be on top of the NHL's list. They have not announced last year's yet, though rumors are it may be in Columbus or Anaheim. I remember hearing Devils Chairmen Jeff Vanderbeek mention during one of his Jersey Tours a couple summers back that the organization will apply to one. I don't know if they have or if they haven't.

I think the organization should get on this in the next few years. Why? Well a couple of reasons.

One is the exposure. It's already a top selling arena in the world. But more is always better. It would help local exposure in hockey as well. Fans from around North America would see the jerseys of all teams across the state. The local media would hopefully ride this and give exposure to the Devils.

Another is finances. A four day event can bring in some "mula". It could also increase season tickets sales (since it may be the only way to get tickets to the All-Sat game at a reasonable price). That would surely help the Devils finances problems if they are grave as the rumors (and they are rumors) suggest.

The City of Newark has been under a reconstruction itself. It's no longer the crime infested city in a toxic state. Laugh all you will outsiders, but I walk my 3 blocks from the light rail station to my car after every game at 10 p.m. every Devils home game. The restaurants around the arena are fun, the Gateway Center also has some quick bites, and transportation is never an issue. The biggest is the new Courtyard Marriott being built right next to the Rock.

I feel once the hotel is finished, and few more pre/post game spots open, the area around the arena will be ready for prime time.

So I ask you. Will the Devils get an All-Star Game soon? What do they need to do to get one? What does the Newark area need to do? In lieu of the weekend break coming up - I ask you: What do you think?

The Devils have just passed the mid-way point of the 2011-2012 season. There is much to discuss about this team: their strengths, their weaknesses, their inconsistencies, etc.. One major talking point has been goaltending. This season, head coach Pete DeBoer had many questions regarding the Devils situation. Would veteran goalies Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg share the helm? Would the future Hall of Fame netminder go back to his days of taking the majority (not 70-75 games) of starts.

I was responsible for the goaltending portion of this season's ILWT preview. I stated Marty would get close to 60 games, even 65 with Moose getting the rest. I also stated that Marty starting both games on back-to-backs should be held to a minimum, which they have. DeBoer has stated he will use both goalies in this instance. Around the end of November, I compared both Marty and Moose. At that point, they played in about the same amount of games. I wanted to see if they would continue to share to helm.

Well at roughly the midpoint of the season, how has DeBoer used his goalies? He was only faced with an injury dilemma in November when Marty was injured with a sore shoulder. How have each of the goalies been in consecutive starts or more? How have they been in a more sharing role (back and forth)?

There's more after the jump including a poll.

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Despite the rollercoaster win against the Senators, the New Jersey Devils did suffer a loss during yesterday's game. Defenseman Andy Greene did not play in the game to undergo x-rays on a lingering foot injury he suffered a handful of games back. It turns out he suffered a broken toe and will be out four weeks. This is the first injury for the Devils defense where a player will be out quite some time. Four weeks puts his return a week into the new year. Looking at the Devils schedule, he could miss around 14 more games. The Devils did make some roster moves to accommodate Greene's injury - they called up Matt Taormina and Alexander Urbom.

The Devils defense overall this season hasn't been what most of us expected it to. It's been inconsistent. At some points, they have shut down teams and made good individual plays yet at the same rate they have left opposing players wide open on the weak side and left goalies Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg out to dry with odd-man rushes and breakaways.

Offensively, the defensive unit has combined for 5 goals and 26 assists in 27 games. They seem to have some trouble getting pucks on net when shooting along the blue line. Hitting bodies and missing the net won't get goals or generate chances.

So what did Andy Greene bring to the Devils and the defense so far this season? What will be the biggest loss in terms of Andy Greene's contributions? What will Taormina and/or Urbom bring to the table? Who else on the back unit has to step up to at least keep the Devils defense inconsistently consistent?

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After two games under Pete Deboer, the New Jersey Devils stand at 1-1-0. Both games are tough to compare, as one was an awful game against the Philadelphia Flyers and one was a very much sharper game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Some fans were worried after being shutout, yet they have calmed down after a much better performance. As DeBoer said in his post game on Monday, the NHL season "is a marathon," and it's going to take a little bit to fix the kinks, dots the t's and cross the i's. I mean...yeah..you got it. One problem that was shared during both games though was discipline.

One of the biggest moments last game that lead to the win against the Canes was killing a 5-on-3 powerplay around two and half minutes into the 3rd period. The game was tied at 2 apiece - Nick Palmieri was called for tripping at 1:02 and then Patrik Elias ran into Cam Ward at 2:18. A 44 second 5-on-3. Uh oh...

Yet the Devils managed to stay alive in the game for those 44 seconds - and per the play-by-play summary, the Canes barely did anything. Not even a shot attempt (I do remember a couple missed shots though). A couple minutes later, Ilya Kovalchuk sunk his own rebound and the Devils never looked back the rest of the game.

I wanted to a take a moment to look at the penalty kill, as well as the powerplay which scored a goal on Monday (Parise's empty netter). I'm aware it's only two games in and it's tough to make any type of solid conclusions, but there's been a good amount of talk around these parts about the lines, and parings - but not much about special teams. After the jump is a look at the PK lines, the PP lines, some very small sample size stats, and some thoughts on all.

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Per Tom Gulitti,  Zach Parise has been named the captain of the New Jersey Devils. Parise is the 9th captain in team history, following Don Lever, Mel Bridgman, Kirk Muller, Bruce Driver, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, current Devil Patrik Elias and Jamie Langenbrunner.   The captain's role was left open after the trade of Jamie Langenbrunner to Dallas last year.  Both Langenbrunner and Elias, among others, had lobbied for Parise to be the next Devils captain, despite the uncertainty regarding his future with the team.  Parise is a unrestricted free agent at year's end.

Gulitti also reports that Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias will be alternate captains.

Was Parise your first choice for captain?  Sound off below!

In Saturday's Devils in the Details post, I ended the list of links with an open question. I also asked this on Twitter under @InLouWeTrust on Friday night:

Let's say Martin Brodeur wants to re-sign with the Devils for one more season. How much would you sign him for?

I had this on my mind given that I found that Martin Brodeur just continuing to play in the NHL puts him in a small group of players in the history of the league. Brodeur's in the final year of his contract.  Since he's 39 and not many goaltenders continue to play into their 40s, it's up in the air as to whether he would return.  I don't think he has anything left to prove and if he wants to call it career, then I would be fine with that.  Of course, Brodeur may want to return, which is also understandable.

Whether the Devils should bring him back and for how much will hinge on several factors.  Brodeur will perform will be one factor.  A second factor will be his health, whether he can avoid injuries and handle the workload that comes with being a NHL goaltender. A third factor will be the team's depth at goaltender; whether Brodeur is a better option than anyone else in the system.  A fourth factor will be the team's financial situation - the salary cap and actual funds - as to whether Brodeur will fit in their plans.  There are several other factors, and it all underscores that the question won't be answered until the summer of 2012.

As for comparable situations, two players came to mind: Nicklas Lidstrom and Teemu Selanne. Both returned for their respective teams for more than respectable salaries: $6.2 million for Lidstrom and $4 million for Selanne.  I'm not saying they don't deserve it; but that both could be some indication of what kind of salary to expect for Brodeur should he want and get a new deal with New Jersey after this season. Or maybe not, given that Brodeur plays a different position, Brodeur deferred money in his current contract back when it could still be done, and that Brodeur sees himself as a company man for the Devils.  After all, Brodeur doesn't even have an agent. It's possible he could take less money.

Anyway, I asked the above question and after the jump, here are some the responses I've received.

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If anyone remembers last season, the Devils tried using Ilya Kovalchuk on the right wing. While it did show promise at time in the pre-season, it never really worked out because of other uncontrollable circumstances, such as the coach being a complete imbecile (/shakes fist at MacLame for the Nth time) and bad luck. A couple of weeks ago, John asked the question about who will play alongside Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise. Most of the readers felt that Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise should play on different lines. However, John did mention that the Devils could move Kovalchuk to right wing again- while he didn't say it's the most attractive option, there are a few factors that might make it work out this time.

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Occasionally, I'll get e-mails from readers with a question.  I was asked this one recently and I figured it's a good enough question to pass along on the site: Is Ilya Kovalchuk a franchise player right now?    This is a good question not only because it is open for debate, but also because a deeper question must be answered first: What is a franchise player anyway?

For some, the answer will be a simple "yes" to the headline question since Kovalchuk's getting paid like one.  If the management of the New Jersey Devils didn't think he was a franchise player, then they wouldn't have given him so much a big contract last summer.  On top of that, Kovalchuk's been a star on this team since his arrival last February.  He's been one of their marquee players; playing tons of minutes while featured heavily in what marketing the team does.  He is a focal point for the media and for other teams among other Devils players. No one's promoting "See Andy Greene and the Devils take on (Team X)," after all.  As a result, he must be seen as a franchise player given how much attention he gets on top of his contract. These are all fair points to hold.

However, I have to disagree with that basis because of that deeper question. A franchise player, in my opinion, isn't someone who gets the most money and the most attention.  They are a player whose role on the team is important on the ice and shapes their identity.   Ilya Kovalchuk does not currently fit that description on the New Jersey Devils; so I have to say "no" to the original question.  However, I don't think this is bad and I don't think it's binding either. I'll explain further after the jump.

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