Wait, aren't you guys supposed to be a sports blog? (Catching up with the Devils, Part III)

Predictions

-Zach Parise, he of the team-leading 25 goals, will end the year with 30.

-Brodeur will win the Vezina. The other nominees? I, along with the other SUS hockey experts have no idea. So let’s just call the committee lazy and say that Luongo and Nabokov will be the competition. Apologies to Ty Conklin.

-Along those lines, John Madden will win the Selke. 2 ironies here: #1: Madden will win this award not because he’s playing exceptional defense this year, (he is, but that's not the point) but because his offensive statistics are good enough to qualify him for the award of being the best defensive forward. This is a good award, but the way it is decided is retarded. Either way though, he’ll win. Oh, and irony #2: The Devils will have two award winners after only having one all-star this year.

-The Devils will finish the year at 48-26-8, 104 points, good enough for first overall in the East. While we’re here, let’s give the rest of the seeds: 2.Montreal, 3.Washington, 4.Pittsburgh, 5.Ottawa, 6.Rangers, 7.Boston, 8.Buffalo.

Final thoughts

1. I’m pretty sure I like this Salvador/Jannsen trade. It’s nice to have another defenseman to possibly play with Paul Martin as our 2^nd defensive pairing. This gives us 7 more than competent defensemen: White, Mottau, Martin, Oduya, Salvador, Rachunek, and Greene. Sutter tends to use 7 defensemen and can continue this trend in the playoffs with Vishnevski and Brookbank (Tthank God!) to spare. It’ll suck to see Jannsen go, but it’s not like fighters get playing time in the playoffs. Plus, we still have 3-4 fighters for next year.

2. I noticed this when looking over the St. Louis roster: is Paul Kariya really playing in St. Louis? I had no freakin clue.

2. Has anyone seen the Joe Louis special on HBO? I saw a few minutes of it, pretty solid. More importantly, when he fought Max Schmeling, Hitler’s prized fighter, this might be the first time in recorded history that Blacks and Jews came together for a common cause. The second time? Obama's presidential campaign.