In Lou We Trust, a New Jersey Devils community

Steve Lepore at his other jaunt, Puck the Media, has the numbers from a Sports Business Journal article about local TV ratings and households watching. I thought nobody cared about the Devils. Funny that the facts seem to contradict old, tired generalizations. Thanks to, er, Steve (@stevelepore) for tweeting this to me.

Admittedly, Niclas Bergfors and Patrice Cormier being traded hurt their ranking. Still, the editors at Hockey's Future seem to be pretty big on Mattias Tedenby and Jacob Josefson. Incidentally, Tedenby and HV71 are playing Josefson and Djurgardens in the Elitserien Finals.

With 88 points and 11 games left to play, the playoffs are all but a sure thing. Rich Chere asks whether there's an ideal opponent for the first round. Based on season series record, Boston and Ottawa would be good choices. Montreal would be interesting as Martin Brodeur has always been excellent against Les Habs. But that's just my thoughts. I made a poll on the front page asking you this very question. Read Chere's article and then go and vote.

I found this out during the Rangers-Devils game. The recap will be up shortly. The official site has all the details on how to be compensated for a free ticket for the postponed game on 1/8/2010. The only group this doesn't really favor are the full STHs. But if you're unhappy, there's an e-mail address where you can send your questions/complaints. Be polite, if you use it.

Jay Leach has been claimed by Montreal through re-entry waivers. The Devils' salary cap will still include half of his salary; according to CapGeek, that is $243,750. This hurts the Devils overall depth on defense as it's one less defender to call up in case of injury. The rest of the blueliners outside of Rob Davidson aren't experienced all that much with the NHL. Is it a major loss? Not really. The cap hit is minimal and as the injuries have shown, he was ultimately 9th on the team's depth chart for defenseman.

Per Tom Gulitti, the New Jersey Devils moved the young winger to their AHL farm team, the Lowell Devils, today. This leaves the Devils with, well, no extra players on their roster. This tells me that Patrik Elias must be getting ready real soon for the Devils to make this move. There was no pressure to create extra space otherwise.

Tom Gulitti confirmed from Lou what Bob McKenzie originally reported in a tweet that the New Jersey Devils placed Brendan Shanahan on waivers. Shanahan was moved - temporarily in retrospect - to a non-roster list yesterday, which allowed Ilkka Pikkarainen to be activated for last night's game. So here's a question: Will anyone pick up Shanahan?