John MacLean is finally coach of the Devils. It’s a solid move for the team, signing a guy with no NHL-level head coaching experience but who is a genuine Devils hero. In other words, what he lacks in experience he makes up for in street cred. But the experience issue was obviously a significant concern [...]
John Madden of the Blackhawks is finding time to stir things up. Right in the middle of the Stanley Cup finals, he managed to take a shot at the Devils, his old team, calling the 2009-10 Blackhawks the best team he’s ever played for: This team is way deeper. Just take a look at the [...]
It’s not surprising that the Flyers are struggling against the Bruins. Without Jeff Carter and Simon Gagne, Philadelphia isn’t that hard to defend. When Arron Asham is your offensive powerhouse, things are tough. Asham was playing on the Flyers third line, reunited with Claude Giroux and James van Riemsdyk. Those guys are pretty much the [...]
The Devils season is over after last night’s loss to the Flyers. When a team implodes like the Devils did, it’s easy to blame the coach for the failings of the team, but in this case, Devils coach Jacques Lemaire needs to a lot of the blame for yet another early playoff exit for New [...]
It might be a bit early to wonder about this, but will going to the Devils wind up costing Ilya Kovalchuk money in the off-season? Kovalchuk has just two goals in the playoffs, including a powerplay goal in last night’s loss to Philadelphia. Daniel Carcillo, the Flyers fighter, has the same number of goals. So [...]
So the Flyers are off to a strong start, huh? Last night’s 2-1 win over the Devils was fascinating. It was yet another strong game from Flyers goalie Brian Boucher. Boucher has been solid in his recent starts, even doing a great job in very tight games, when it looks like the Flyers might not [...]
I’m going to jump on the Pat Burns for the Hockey Hall of Fame bandwagon since we talked about it last night on RinkSideRants. Kevin Allen did a nice job summarizing the case for Burns in the Hall, as did Frank Rekas. But even without the Jack Adams awards and the wins, Burns should be [...]
The Devils are 3-2 in their last five games and, in general, have looked much better than they looked going into the Olympic break (2-5-1 for February). A lot of that February malaise was a combination of adjusting to the return of injured players and learning to play with Ilya Kovalchuk. But one other factor [...]
Everyone is looking at Atlanta, wondering where they’re going to trade Ilya Kovalchuk. But don’t forget to keep an eye on New Jersey, a team that also might be active before the trade deadline. Not so much for Kovalchuk, but for a goal-scoring center who can help out on the powerplay. I don’t think Kovalchuk [...]
David Pollak had an interesting take on the Sharks’ recent troubles, via coach Todd McLellan: The team simply wasn’t playing frequently enough to establish a rhythm. The Sharks have won their last two, with a victory over Anaheim Thursday and a win over Dallas last night. Since there were quite a few days between the [...]
