So do I think a defensive mentality will hinder the Devils? So far, no. Teams will score more goals against them, but the Devils still are very good defensively, who can boast as good a top 6? They aren’t the best, but few teams have this kind of depth at the blue line. Not to mention Sean Brown, David Hale, and Tommy A waiting to play.

They also still have a very good group of skilled forwards, they never had a star-studded roster, but have usually managed to score some goals. They were their best offensively under Robinson, and I expect them to pull their weight offensively, especially with Gomez, Mogilny, Elias (when healthy), and I expect Gionta, Madden, Langenbrunner and Parise to pull their weight as well. You still have Brilyn with the odd goal, and (maybe) Kozlov, garbage goals from Rassmusen and Marshall, and Malahkov should keep the PP scoring.

Marty seems to be as strong as ever, and while he is getting older, we still have some talented goalies waiting to play. Marty should have a blast dropping bombs to the forwards on the PP. The pad size shouldn’t be a factor for him.

I still fail to see why the Devils will not be a Playoff bound team. Who is really that much better than them? It certainly isn’t Toronto or Pittsburgh.

And this new rule changes, i think marty likes them a lot, with now on the PP he can make a bunch of bomb passes, he did it a lot last night.

yea, so it’ll be an interesting season

Anyways, I have been thinking about their lines, I figure it will look something like this by mid-season:

Elias- Gomez- Gionta
Pandolfo- Madden- Langenbrunner

These two are definite.

Brylin- Parise- Mogilny
Oliwa- Rheaume- Marshall

I figure Kozlov will be traded, if not, he and Parise may be swapped, or he may be thrown into the mix as a winger with Gomez’s line, or with Mogilny, perhaps seeing some PP time. I figure them to rotate their 4th line, adding rookies when they need scoring, Rassmusen and Marshall when they need balance, and Oliwa and Langdon for for big checkers.

On the blue-line:

McGillis- Rafalski
White- Malakhov
Matvichuk- Martin

I could see Matvichuk with Rafalski too, giving him a good stay-at-home defenseman that he likes playing with. White and Malakhov played together last time Vlad was in Jersey, I figure to see them together again. Martin will be paired with either Matvichuk for veteran assistance, or McGillis to round out the 3 units.

I expect to see strong play on special teams, they have Gomez, Parise and Elias as play-makers, Mogilny as the big finisher, Gionta and Langenbrunner as tough scoring grinders, and Rafalski, Malakhov, Martin and McGillis who can all play the point. On PK, you have Madden and Pando, who are both fast, skilled, and smart, with Elias, Brylin, Langenbrunner, Rheaume and even Gionta who can all step in and play on the 2nd unit. They are (for the most part) fast, skilled and responsible. They should rack up some Shorthanders.

With Friesen gone (not a huge loss really…) I expect to see his friend Kozlov, who really isn’t a big part of the Jersey-style of play, and who really hasn’t done anything for the team. That, with his salary and trade value, I expect him to be gone before guys like Langenbrunner and Brylin, who have been here for years and always contributed in some way or another.

This team is good enough to compete, they have as good a defense as any other team on paper. If Larry can get them to gel and play as a unit consistently, they have the talent to really do damage at both ends of the ice, especially with Marty back in net.