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

The Good

First place says hi. The team manages to keep on winning games, even if they're not playing so well in said games. Newark is becoming a home ice advantage, even if they're rarely there in March.

Marty. In a year when the Devils, if nothing else, have less name guys than they've ever had before, Marty looks as if he's on his way to being in serious Vezina contention, if not winning it. He may or may not deserve it, but the Vezina is won essentially on name recognition. For years in the mid-late '90's when a young Brodeur was outplaying the veteran Hasek, the vet always took home the prize. Now, with Brodeur possibly being outplayed by the youngster Luongo, Brodeur will get it. And yeah, when Luongo is outplayed by Dipietro or Fleury in 6 years, Luongo will still get it.

The offensive defensemen. To be honest, I'm not sure how I'd rate the job that our defense is doing. At times it looks like the old days of Stevens, Niedermayer, and Daneyko, and at times they look like the Rangers. But the play of the offensive defensemen, specifically Martin, Oduya, Mottau, and Rachunek has been stellar. They are moving up on the rush a lot more, something that was about as well received by Devils coaches (except for Rafalski and Niedermayer) as snitching in East Baltimore until recently. But watching the team the last few weeks, it seems as though the offensive defensemen are jumping into the rush and setting up more chances. (Side note: quick, name 2 current Devil defensemen who were on the 2003 Stanley Cup team. Or not. Only Colin White remains.)

Patrik Elias. Seems like he's starting to get his mojo going in time for the playoffs. Good to see. Though he still isn't the same player that he was before the lockout.

The Bad

Brian Gionta. Where the hell has he been all year? Technically he’s 3^rd on the team with 42 points. But for a guy who owns the team record with 48 goals in a season, he should be getting at least 30 goals every year. He’ll be lucky to get more than 20 this year.

Sheldon Brookbank. Brookbank plays defense and fights. We have 7 guys who are better defenseman (8 with Salvador) and 3 better fighters (Clarkson, Asham, and Rupp.) Why does this guy get any ice time?

The Capitals game last week. Went to the Devils/Capitals game, a 3pm Sunday afternoon game. I was still hungover from my festivities from the night before. Apparently, so were the Devils. They were outshot 28-10 in the first two periods, didn’t play offense, and didn’t play defense. In the first period alone, the Caps hit 2 posts and needed 2 amazing Brodeur saves to keep the game close. Luckily, their shipment of Pedialite arrived for the 3^rd period and their game improved. But still, an awful first two periods.

The Ugly

Sheldon Brookbank. Usually the Devil fighters are good at not getting their asses kicked in fights. Not Sheldon Brookbank. He really sucks in every possible way.

Joe & Evan live from The Rock. They broadcasted live from The Rock, 10am to 12:50pm on President’s Day. So you’d think they’d interview some Devils over the course of this time right? Nope. Daneyko, Doc Emerick, and quasi-player Kevin Weekes.

Brodeur's Minutes. The last two years, Brodeur has played about 75 games/season. He was then outplayed by Ward and Emery in the second round. It was acceptable for Brodeur to play this often when Scott "BC Sucks and so do I" Clemmensen was the untested backup. Now, we have Kevin Weekes and things are supposed to be different, Weekes being one of the better backups in the league. But like Clemmensen before him, Weekes will play in maybe 6 or 7 games all year, leaving Brodeur nice and tired for the postseason. Great.