General Manager Lou Lamoriello had the following to say about the deal: “During his previous three seasons in the National Hockey League, Travis Zajac has proven to be among the top young players in the game, and has developed into one of the core players on our team.  We are pleased that we were able to work out a long-term agreement.”

The 24-year-old enjoyed some career highs during the 2008-2009 season and I’m not surprised that the Devils want to keep him.  He recorded 20 goals, 42 assists, 62 points, and a team-leading plus-33 mark in 82 game.  He also scored a goal and had three assists in the playoffs (in seven games).

With Brent Sutter leaving to take over the reins with the Calgary Flames, it will be interesting to see how a young player like Zajac responds to the slower-paced, methodical style of returning coach, Jacque Lemaire.

image: TSN

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When 63-year-old Lemaire stepped away from the Wild, he said that he had taken them as far as he could but, apparently, after he watched the playoffs, he decided that he wanted to coach hockey again.  Sorry, but that just sounds flip-floppy to me.  Maybe I’m being too harsh but I’m just not a big fan of coaches coming back to a team to relive their glory years.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it’s an embarrassing disaster.

He seems happy about it, though.  He said: “I never thought I would be back.  I said at that time when I was leaving after five years, and it was five great years, I wanted to cherish this for the rest of my life and the rest of my career, but I never thought one day I would come back.”

Here’s the thing, I know that the Wild made the playoffs three times under his leadership but a lot of people find his old-school methods boring and sometimes incompatible with the new rules and style of playing.  On the other hand, he has proven that he knows how to win – in his career as a player, coach and executive, he’s been on the winning side of the Stanley Cup finals eleven times.

I know a lot of people are unhappy with this decision and are saying that Devils hockey is about to get more boring than ever but I’d like to give Lemaire a chance before I make up my mind.  He says that he intends to be with the team for at least two seasons so he’ll have plenty of time to prove himself.

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"On behalf of the entire Senate, we’re proud to honor Marty Brodeur as our ‘adopted son,’ said Senator Richard Codey. "He has kept Devils fans entertained for nearly 20 years and given our state something to be proud of. He’s a first-rate athlete who can now claim the distinction of being in a league of his own."

I can understand why he’s being recognized, of course.  The netminder now holds the record for most NHL wins after surpassing the legendary Patrick Roy.  He’s had an amazing career and I’m glad to see him getting the praise he deserves.

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Of course, everyone is wondering if he’s going to be making a move to the recently vacant head coach position with the Calgary Flames since the general manager is his brother, Darryl Sutter.  Since he’s breaking his contract, the Flames would have to talk to New Jersey Devils’ GM, Lou Lamoriello, in order to get permission to speak with Brent Sutter.

I don’t know if that is the plan but it could work.  I would prefer to see Darryl lead the team but Brent does have playoff experience and since he coached the Devils for just two years and lead them to the post-season both times.  They have a decent 97-56-11 record as well.  Still, it’s not like he brought his team to the Stanley Cup Finals (like Darryl did) so it might not even be much of an improvement.

I’d still like to see Darryl reclaim his spot behind the bench.  I feel that we would see a marked improvement in the performance of goaltender, Miikka Kiprusoff, who seemed to just fall apart with the last two coaches.  I will be very interested to see what develops in the next few days.

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With the score at 3-2 for the Devils with just a few minutes left, I was pretty sure this was a done deal.  I started to think about how the team would do in the next round and I even muted it and started listening to my iPod.  I was surprised, however, to look up with just about 90 seconds left in the game to see things heating up.  I quickly unmuted it just in time to see a crazy good place that ended with Jussi Jokinen beating the Devils’ star goaltender, Martin Brodeur.  I couldn’t believe what I had just seen!  The Hurricanes had tied the game with just over a minute left in Game 7!

I took a swig from my water bottle and got composed.  I figured I would call my son down to watch overtime with me in the basement.  I seriously almost wiped out on the treadmill when the Canes scored AGAIN with about half a minute left in the game.  You could see the shocked Devils fans filing out of the arena and I can’t even imagine how the team felt. 

I don’t know what happened but that was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in all my time as a hockey fan.  I had wanted the Devils to win but after seeing the determination of the Carolina Hurricanes (particularly Tim Gleason), it’s hard not to deny that they deserved to win. 

The Carolina Hurricanes will face the Boston Bruins for Game 1 of the semi-finals this Friday.

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The New York Rangers had an opportunity to eliminate the Washington Capitals but, with Sean Avery back in the lineup and coach John Tortorella suspended for one game, it looked like they were a bit lost.  The Caps took full advantage of the situation, winning the game 5-3.

It’s not that the Rangers didn’t try hard (32 shots on goal) but they just got outplayed.  The Caps really showed that they want to stay in the playoffs and they came out strong, scoring three goals in just the first period.

Similarly, the Carolina Hurricanes were eager to hold off the New Jersey Devils and they did it in a big way.  Yesterday’s 4-0 win was the biggest victory the Hurricanes have had this series and I’m stunned that they not only continued to beat goaltender, Martin Brodeur, but I’m also disappointed that the Devils didn’t try harder (28 shots on net).  It was a game filled with penalties for both teams but the Devils really outdid themselves, spending more than 30 minutes in the box.  I hope their coach has a long talk with them because it was pretty ridiculous.

Tuesday, April 28 is going to be a big night in hockey with these four teams battling to advance to the second round.  I hope they bring the intensity because there will be no more chances.  Leave it all out on the ice, boys!

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The Hurricanes definitely tried everything they could to score on Brodeur, who had to make 44 saves.  His counterpart, Cam Ward, also came up big (41 saves) but it just wasn’t enough to stop the Devils from skating away with a 1-0 victory.

The most amazing part?  Brodeur was way too far out of the crease (20 feet) when he collided with Chad LaRose whose skate caught him in the back of the ankle, leaving a 4 inch cut.  “It cut right through my sock,” Brodeur said. “It was more of a bruise. It’s not like it sliced. It just hit me. At first I wasn’t sure because I could see the blood. When you get cut by a skate, you don’t know what’s going on. I’m not that tough. I probably wouldn’t have continued if I had to take stitches.”

The Devils and Hurricanes face off again on Sunday, April 26, 2009.

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With less than 10 seconds left in the tied game, Jussi Jokinen tried to take a shot on goal but the puck ended up circling around to Joni Pitkanen who passed it to Dennis Seidenberg, who then launched a hard blast from the point.  Jokinen was there to deflect it into the goal with two-tenths of a second remaining in the game.  The play immediately went to review which, I think, everyone expected.

As soon as it was ruled a goal, Devils goaltender, Martin Brodeur, freaked out.  Okay, to be fair, he started losing it the second the puck trickled past him but he managed to keep his composure.  The problem was that Brodeur had been bumped outside the crease by Jokinen right before the goal.  "’I had time to reset myself.’ That’s always the same answer. It doesn’t matter which referee," Brodeur said. "It’s the easy way out for them to say that. It’s hard. You want to play your game. You want to do what’s right and be in the best position you can. With these guys (Carolina), they go to the net. They play hard," he added. "I am not complaining about how Carolina is playing. They don’t take liberty. They’re pretty fair about it. They got to the net. The referee has to do their job. Today was pretty awful."

What does a Brodeur-style freak out look like?  Watch this video to see his reaction to the ruling on that final goal.

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It was a great night for Zach Parise (NJD) who scored for his third straight game but it was a a rebound shot by Travis Zajac in OT (assisted by Parise) that led the Devils to a 3-2 victory over the Canes.

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“We know how we need to play and how we want to play. When we play that way, it’s a lot more fun for the players,” Devils coach Brent Sutter said.  “They won a game in our building — obviously, we were going to have to come here and get that one back. It’s nice to get it back with your first game. Now, we can get focused for Game 4 and see what happens.”

I think that if the Devils get on a roll, it’s going to be hard to stop them.  I really am not too optimistic about Carolina’s chances in this series but you never know.  I didn’t predict they’d win the Cup a few seasons ago and they surprised me.

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During last night’s 2-1 victory, Canes goaltender, Cam Ward, stopped 33 shots and helped buoy the team to their first playoff win since they took home the Stanley Cup in 2006.  Devils netminder, Martin Brodeur, made 30 saves.

It was all tied up when, at 2:40 overtime, Carolina d-man, Tim Gleason, chose the perfect time to score his first goal of the season.  “It was a good pass by Joe Corvo,” Gleason said. “He laid it right out there for me. Eric Staal had a great screen in front of the net. I closed my eyes and shot that thing as hard as I could.”

The series just got a lot more interesting.  I was beginning to think that it was going to be a sweep for the Devils.

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