In a moved that negated the need for an arbitration hearing, the New Jersey Devils offered center, Travis Zajac, a new multi-year contract but not specific details were disclosed.
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 …read more

It was announced yesterday that Jacques Lemaire will be, once again, behind the coach’s bench for the New Jersey Devils and I really don’t know how I feel about this one.  Lemaire led the team to the Stanley Cup in 1995 but that was 14 years ago.  I should have suspected this might happen when he resigned from his position with the Minnesota Wild while Brent Sutter left the Devils to coach the Calgary Flames.
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 …read more

New Jersey Devils goaltender, Martin Brodeur, is going to be honored in a very special way – the New Jersey State Senate will be celebrating “Martin Brodeur Day” tomorrow (June 18, 2009) in a special ceremony at the State House. 
"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 …read more

TSN is reporting that Brent Sutter is no longer the coach of the New Jersey Devils and has cited personal and family reasons as the motivation for stepping down.  I don’t know if anyone is shocked but I’m a little surprised since he did still have a year left in his contract.
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, …read more

Last night, Game 7 between the Carolina Hurricanes and the New Jersey Devils almost caused me to have a serious accident.  I was keeping an eye on both this series and the one between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals and each of them were pretty close.  When the third period began, I decided to finish watching it on the treadmill. 

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 …read more

After yesterday’s action, the last two undecided series in the Western Conference are both tied up and I honestly couldn’t tell you which way this is going to go.  So far, I’ve been surprised so I’m not going to make any guesses.
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 …read more

Martin Brodeur continued his journey into the NHL history books by tying the NHL playoff shutout record (23) set by the legendary Patrick Roy.  He displayed some goal tending that was brilliant and even manic, at times.  At one point, he didn’t have a stick and the puck was going wide but he still launched his body to make sure the Carolina Hurricanes had zero chance of scoring.  Amazing.

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 …read more

The New Jersey Devils lost to the Carolina Hurricanes with 0.2 seconds left in Game 4 and it was not without controversy.  Of course, it is heartbreaking to lose a game with so little left in regulation but it was how the game was won that caused all the trouble.

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 …read more

The Game 3 battle between the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes went to overtime yesterday and the Devils relied on a little home-ice advantage to buoy their efforts.
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.

“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.  …read more

After recovering from an embarrassing 4-1 loss during the series opener, the Carolina Hurricanes rebounded to tie the series by winning last night’s game against the New Jersey Devils in overtime.

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,” …read more