The New Jersey Devils had a wild, crazy, and successful season last year. The year was filled with many memorable moments that will never be forgotten. From the outstanding play of Scott Clemmensen to the return of Brendan Shanahan to Martin Brodeur’s record breaking 552nd victory. All of these great moments and more are highlighted right here in a video off NJDTV.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy the greatest New Jersey Devils’ moments of the 2008-2009 NHL season.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbWLd7o302Q

After weeks of rumors and talks about Shanahan signing with other teams, Brendan Shanahan agreed to a one year, $1 million dollar contract to stay in New Jersey.

The signing took so long to occur because Lou Lamoriello wanted to make sure that Shanahan was fine with the role that new head coach, Jacques Lemaire, would be giving him. Shanahan said that he would be fine playing in whatever role the Devils want him to be.

The re-signing of Shanahan is great news for the New Jersey Devils.

Although Shanahan is up there in age,he still has a lot that he can contribute to the team; he is 40 years old and will be entering his 22nd NHL season. He brings veteran leadership and can be a very good role model for the young players that will be playing for the Devils this year.

Last year, Brendan Shanahan joined the New Jersey Devils in mid-January and played in 34 regular season games, where he recorded 6 goals and 8 assists for 14 points. Additionally, he played in all 7 of the Devils’ playoff games and went on to tally 1 goal and 2 assists.

Shanahan is a future hall of famer and has had an extremely successful career. He has scored 656 goals and 698 assists in his career, which gives him a total of  1,354 points. He’s a very high quality hockey player, who also performs great in the playoffs. In the playoffs, Brendan has scored 60 goals and 74 assists for 134 points.

Brendan Shanahan has won 3 Stanley Cups in his career and hopes to win one more here in New Jersey. It is his will to win and compete which ultimately led to him deciding to return for another season.

This re-signing pretty much guarantees that Brendan Shanahan will end his career in New Jersey, which is poetic being that he began here as well.

The organization, players, and fans are all thrilled that Brendan Shanahan is coming back. Unlike last season, Shanahan will play the full season and will go through training camp which can only make him better. Shanahan still has a lot to contribute to the team and he should make a big impact.

It is with great honor that I say, “Welcome back to the Devils Shanny!”

There have been so many rumors flying around about who the next coach is going to be, that it is tough to tell who Lou Lamoriello is going to hire. However, there have several names popping up more than once and I believe that the New Jersey Devils’ search for a coach is going to come down to three names.

Jacques Lemaire, John MacLean, and Mike Haviland.

Each coach brings something to the table and they all have some bright sides as well as some downsides.

Jacques Lemaire:

Lemaire knows the game of hockey very well. As a player, he played 12 seasons in the NHL with the Montreal Canadians. Lemaire won the Stanley Cup eight times and he was an outstanding playoff performer. He was very accustomed to winning as a player and when he became a coach, he also taught his teams how to win.

His first coaching gig came in 1983 when he took the head coaching job of his former team the Montreal Canadians. He coached them from 1983-1985. Lemaireled the team to the playoffs in back to back years, but both trips resulted in losses in the conference finals and the semifinals.

In 1993, he stepped behind the bench of the New Jersey Devils. He immediately impacted the team in his first season. He lead the Devils to the conference finals and they almost made it to the Stanley Cup Finals, but they lost in overtime of game 7. The following season Lemaire would lead the Devils all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where the knocked out the Detroit Red Wings in four games. The victory was Jacques Lemaire’s first Stanley Cup as a coach.

After the Stanley Cup victory, he was never able to lead the team back to the finals and he no longer coached the team after the 1997-1998 season.

In 2000, Lemaire took the head coaching job of the Minnesota Wild (first head coach in team history). He experienced moderate success in Minnesota. He never really had a strong team, but he was able to lead the Wild to the playoffs three times in his eight year stay with Minnesota. He stepped down after this year, and there has been a lot of speculation that he will take the head coaching job of the team where he had the most success, the New Jersey Devils.

Bright Side:Jacques Lemaire is a very good coach. He has won the Jack Adams Trophy twice in his career (1994 and 2003). Lemaire is known for his great work with young players and balancing youth with veterans (something the New Jersey Devils currently have). He allows for rookies and veteran alike to play up their full potential.

Most importantly, Lemaire has had success in New Jersey before. He made the most out of a no name team in 1994 and 1995, and he lead them to great success in the playoffs. There’s no reason that this can’t happen again if he becomes the Devils’ next coach.

Down side: Lemaire uses a very old fashion system with all the teams he coaches. He uses a strategy dedicated to defense; a strategy known as the trap. The trap reduces scoring and it makes the game very boring for fans in attendance and fans watching at home. What Lemaire fails to realize is that the trap is not as effective as it once was. The new NHL is now more open, faster, and it encourages scoring. The new rules sort of prevent the trap from being successful.

Lemaire would bring this system in and it would take away from all the excitement that New Jersey Devils’ hockey has displayed in recent years.

Another down side about Lemaire is the fact that he is inconsistent with lines. He is known to shift players up and down lines. When he does this, he never allows for chemistry to form and everyone knows that if a line has great chemistry it makes for winning hockey.

For example this year the Devils’ top line, the “ZZ Pops” line (Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner) had great chemistry and the Devils’ were successful because of it. With Lemaire there would be no more consistent lines and it would destroy all of the good things that Brent Sutter did for this team.

John MacLean:

MacLean is one of the greatest players in the history of the New Jersey Devils. He was selected 6th overall by the Devils in the 1983 NHL draft. He spent most of his career with the Devils and had great amount of success. Devils’ fans will always remember him for scoring an overtime goal which launched the Devils into the playoffs for the first time in 1988.

John MacLean currentley holds the Devils’ franchise record in goals (347), power play goals (92), power play points (197), and game winning goals (55). When his career came to an end in 2002, he finished with 842 career points (413 goals and 429 assists).

Shortly after he retired, he joined the Devils coaching staff as an assistant coach in 2002. He has remained an assistant coach ever since. MacLean has been a candidatefor the New Jersey Devils’ head coaching job once before in 2007, but Lou gave the job to a more qualified Brent Sutter.

Many fans believe that this year could be the year that John MacLean becomes the head coach of the New Jersey Devils. If MacLean is passed over again, then it will become very clear that Lou Lamoriello does not see him as head coach material.

Bright Side:John MacLean knows this team very well and has been with the organization for many years. John Maclean can build on what Brent Sutter did and he can possibly help take the Devils to the next step and help them go deeper into the playoffs. The system they play would not have to change and the players would not have to worry about learning a new style of hockey.

MacLean is a fan favorite and many people would love to see “Johnny Mac” get a shot at coaching the team and see if he can be a successful coach in addition to being a great player.

Down side:  MacLean has never been a head coach before, so it’s very unclear how he will do in this position. Can he deal with all the pressure that comes with being a head coach? Can he win the respect of the players? Can he be a winner? There are way too many question marks about MacLean, but we won’t get the answer to any of these questions until he gets a shot at head coach.

Mike Haviland:

Haviland is a New Jersey native out of Middletown, and has been a hockey coach for many years. He was a great hockey player at Elmira College and was even drafted by the New Jersey Devils.

Sadly, Haviland suffered a career ending shoulder injury. After this he got a degree in marketing and he was salesman for nearly two years. However, hockey was always his passion and he spent a lot of time as a youth hockey coach, until one day he caught a break and landed an assistant coaching job with the ECHL Trenton Titans.

He would later work his way up to head coach of the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies in 2001-2004 and he head coached the Trenton Titans in the 2004-2005 season. Haviland would then move up to the AHL in 2005 when he was head coach of the Norfolk Admirals, the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. In the 2007-2008 season he coached the other minor league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, the Rockford Ice Hogs.

His big break came this season when the Chicago Blackhawks brought him up to be the assistant coach of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Bright Side: In eight years of coaching, Haviland’s teams have never missed the playoffs and he lead his ECHL teams to championship victories twice. Basically the guy is a winner and he always has been.

Haviland is great with his players and he knows their strengths as well as their weaknesses. He’s open with his players and he knows how to relate to them. He has been known to pick up a player when their down and he’s a very approachable coach.

The last bright side is that he’s from New Jersey. I’m sure he’d take a lot of pride in coaching a hockey team that is in his home state. He would relate great with the young players and I’m sure the fans would love this guy.

Down Side: He has only one year of coaching experience at the NHL level. His inexperience might be what keeps Lou away. However, there isn’t too much of a downside to this guy. He’s a great coach and has proved it. I believe he’s worthy of an NHL head coaching job.

If I had to pick one coach out of these three it would be Haviland, just because of what is said about him and the amount of respect that his players have for him.

Who will Lou choose? We’ll all have to wait and see, but we will definitely have an answer very soon.

Lemaire picture courtesy of blogs.citypages.com

MacLean picture courtesy of zimbio.com

Haviland picture courtesy of icehogs.com

After taking the past couple of weeks off from writing a article, I took time to sort of let the shock wear away and to reflect on the 2008-2009 season of the New Jersey Devils.

While reflecting on the season, I recalled many great memories from the season as well as the bad moments. It’s unfortunate that such a great season will not be remembered for the great things the Devils accomplished; instead it will be remembered for what could’ve been and of course their monumental collapse at the end of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Carolina Hurricanes.

All the pieces seemed to be in place this season and for the first time since the lockout, it appearred as though the Devils were poised for a long run in the playoffs. They had their few weak spots, but every team has those. However, the New Jersey Devils’ weak areas became abundantly clear in the playoffs and it wound up costing them their season.

The first problem, which had been there all season but only got increasingly worse in the playoffs, was the power play. The power play had been awful for pretty much the entire year. They brought in Brian Rolston in the off season to be the power play quarterback, but he had a terrible season and did not help out the power play.

The Devils were right in the middle of the pack in power play rankings somehow, but like the saying goes…sometimes the numbers don’t tell the story.

In the playoffs, the Devils were only able to score on three power plays and they were never really able to cash in on the opportunities. The fact that they weren’t able to take advantage of these opportunities, proved costly when the series came to a close. For example, in game 7 when the Devils were up 3-2 in the 2nd period, Zack Parise caught a stick up high and it cut him open. As a result of this, the Devils were given a four minute power play. A power play that was very uneventful and was a flat out failure. If the Devils scored here and went up 4-2, the Hurricanes would be on the golf course instead of New Jersey.

The next thing that went wrong was the play of the “no name” defense. All of these guys had done a great job all year, and in game 1 they shut down the Hurricanes and defenseman Mike Mottau even scored a goal, which is rarely seen by a Devils’ defenseman.

However, for the rest of the series the true colors of the defense became abundantly clear. They failed to clear the zone when the game was on the line, they were often out of position, and they allowed way too many shots on Martin Brodeur.

The fact that they struggled to clear the zone cost them three games in the series. If they were able to do this simple task, the Devils would have taken this series in 5. As far as the defenseman being out of position, this was mostly directed to Colin White and Niclas Havelid. Havelid found himself out of position on numerous occasions, which lead to many goals including Jussi Jokinen’s game tying goal in Game 7. Colin White was constantly getting beat because of his lack of speed, and he often got caught of of position on the quick Carolina forwards, which also lead to goals, including the series clinching goal given up to Eric Staal.

The defense only contributed offensively one more time in the series, which was when Andy Greene took a slap shot from the blue line, which David Clarkson was able to tip in the net, in Game 5.

The goal was huge, as it turned out to be the game winner. The Hurricanes defense contributed offensively and helped the Hurricanes win games. When the Devils D stepped up offensively, they too won games; unfortunately the defense only stepped up in two games, which was not enough for the Devils to win the series.

The biggest problem of all which lead to the downfall had to be the fact that the New Jersey Devils only had two lines which consistently contributed offensively and scored goals. Take a look at the four teams remaining in the playoffs. All four of these teams have more than two lines that contribute to scoring.

The best example is the Detroit Red Wings. This team is overloaded with depth, and lines one through four contribute night in and night out. Depth is what you need for your team to be successful in the playoffs.

The New Jersey Devils lacked depth. The first two lines were the only ones that ever did anything offensively. These lines included the “ZZ Pops” line (Zach Parise-Travis Zajac- Jamie Langenbrunner) and the “E-Z Going” line (Patrik Elias-Dainius “Minus” Zubrus-Brian Gionta). Occasionally they’d get goals from David Clarkson (who’s the team’s enforcer), Brendan Shanahan, Jay Pandolfo, and from Brian Rolston (who turned out to be one of the biggest busts of the season).

However, many other players never stepped it up when the team needed them the most. John Madden, Dainius Zubrus, Bobby Holik, and Mike Rupp were the guys who are supposed to be the veterans, but they played like they’ve never been to the playoffs before. They played a major role in why the Devils’ season ended so early.

All of these problems lead to the downfall of the New Jersey Devils in the first round of the 2008-2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Game 7 loss is a game that the players and fans will never forget. How do you play well for an entire game and then you fall apart in the final 1:20 of the biggest game of the season. It never should’ve occurred, but when your team has weak spots they tend to rear their ugly heads in the most inopportune times.

Thinking about this loss still stings. In all my years of watching sports I have never seen anything like it. The New Jersey Devils have a lot to fix in the offseason. They’ll need to patch up these areas and put together a team that can go deep into the playoffs.

There are many question marks heading into the offseason. Who won’t be back next year? Will Brent Sutter return as head coach? Is Brodeurstill the goalie he once was? Will there be some new players added to the roster? We’ll find out the answer to these questions in the near future.

For now, we’ll just have to enjoy the rest of the NHL season, and for Devil fans everywhere it’s another year of wondering what if?

Many people consider Game 7 to be the most exciting game in hockey, as well as in other sports as well.

On Tuesday night, the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes will face off in game 7 at “The Rock” in Newark, NJ. Just a little farther down south, there will be another game 7, only this one is between the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitols

It’s all or nothing for both teams and anything and everything is possible. Funny bounces, shocking plays, heart-stopping action, questionable calls, and many other story lines all play out in a game 7. Legends are born for the winning team, while those on losing end may never recover. For all of these reasons and more, I believe that there is nothing more stressful, fun, exciting, frightening, and heartbreaking, than a game 7.

The concept of the game is simple; win or go home. There is no tomorrow for one team, while the other gets to taste glory and move on in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

For a fan, it is one of the toughest situations to be in. You root for your team all year and one game stands between you having the greatest feeling in the world and having the worst feeling imaginable. Let me give everyone a few example of what I mean. Seeing as I’m the New jersey Devils write here on THW, i’m going to present some Devils game 7 examples. I’ll get the bad game 7 memories out of the way first.

This clip goes all the way back to the spring of 1994, when the Devils faced off against their hated cross town rivals, the New york Rangers, in the Eastern Conference Finals. The Devils had led the series 3-2 when the Rangers came back and forced a game 7 at the Garden. This was one of the most intense games of all time. The Rangers led 1-0 for most of the game until the Devils tied the game at 1, with just 7.7 seconds left in the game. One overtime was not enough to settle this game and it went into a 2nd overtime. What happened in that 2nd overtime will always haunt Devils fans, while it goes down as one of the greatest moments in Ranger history. Stephane Matteau beat Martin Brodeur on a wraparound to push the Rangers into the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zErbl0ciCZs

This clip sickens Devils fans everywhere and is very painful to watch. That’s what being on the losing end of a game 7 can do to. However, when the Devils lost in game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals, that was much, much more painful. There’s nothing worse than being inches away from your dream and then watching it crash and burn before your very eyes.

Now enough of the bad game 7 memories. Here are a couple of great game 7 experiences for the Devils.

The New Jersey Devils have two great game 7’s which come to mind.

The first would have to be game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia Flyers in 2000. The Devils trailed the Flyers 3-1 in the series, but they fought right back and forced a game 7 in Philadelphia. This game will always be remembered for the Devils completing an improbable comeback against a rival, andthe legend of Patrick Elias was born. The score was 1-1, when Elias struck late in the third period to propel the Devils to the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSlOLojTsmY

Another Game 7 that will always be remembered for Devils fans is game 7 of the 2003 Eastern Conference Finals against the Ottawa Senators. The Devils lead the series 3-1, but the Senators were able to bounce back and win back to back games to force game 7. It appeared the Devils were going to suffer yet another loss, until they grabbed a 2-1 lead heading into the third period. Ottawa was able to tie, and it looked like the game would be heading to overtime for the third straight game, until Jeff Friesen gave Devils fans everywhere something to rejoice about and something that will be remembered for a lifetime.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQW-R8pkmsU

Every time a game 7 occurs it’s something special. There truly is no other game like it and they often result in memories that will last a lifetime. Greg Caggiano, who is the staff writer for the New York Rangers, said “Game sevens provide for either the celebration of a lifetime or a collapse of epic proportions.”

I couldn’t have said it better myself Greg. However, the question is what side of that emotion will we be on after our teams complete their game 7 tomorrow night. Will we be crushed and be forced to think about next year already or will our teams quest for the cup continue? We’ll find out tomorrow night in a game where all bets are off and the season hangs in the balance; a game simply known as Game 7.

(Picture found on…http://www.flickr.com/photos/confusionary/2602663381)

The Devils got on the board early in the game, thanks to Zach Parise’s tip in goal at 6:04 of the first period. Paul Martin fired a slap shot on net, which zach was able to tip down in the air and the puck went right in between the legs of Carolina goaltender, Cam Ward. The goal was Zach’s third of the series and just like he has done all year, he continues to play outstanding hockey.

It did not take long for the Hurricanes to strike back. Just 31 seconds after Zach Parise gave the Devils an early lead, Ryan Bayda took advantage of Jussi Jokinen’s fanned shot.  The puck came right on Bayda’s stick and he was able to bury a wrist shot right over Martin Brodeur.

The momentum did not stay with Carolina for long.

Brian Gionta took advantage of a Joe Corvo turnover, and then went on to make some fantastic dekes and he put the puck in the back of the net with just 8.6 seconds remaining in the first period.

The Devils would hold the lead for most of the second period, until they found themselves in penalty trouble.

They had just killed off a key 5 on 3 Carolina power play, and they were just about to finish killing off the 5 on 4 power play, when Chad Larose redirected Patrick Eaves’s shot right past Brodeur to tie the game at 2-2.

The score would remain that way throughout the third and just like Game 2, Game 3 headed into overtime.

Coming into the game, the Devils had a long and miserable playoff history with the Carolina Hurricanes. They had lost their last five playoff games at the RBC Center and they were 0-6 against the Hurricanes in overtime.

At 4:58 of overtime, all of those bad memories were forgotten.

Colin White had a near turnover in his own end, but he was able to get the puck to Zach Parise. Zach than maneuvered himself through the Carolina defense and he through a shot on net and waiting for the rebound was Travis Zajac. Cam Ward was able to stop the first rebound, but Travis grabbed his own rebound and buried the shot top shelf, to give the Devils a 2-1 lead in the series.

After the game Travis told reporters “In overtime we learned from Game 2 and just came out with an attitude that we were going to create chances.”

That’s exactly what the Devils were able to do. They didn’t sit back and let the Hurricanes skate all over them. They were able to create their own opportunities and in the end they were able to cash in on one.

Devil fans everywhere could not believe their eyes, as the Devils were finally able to win a playoff game in Raleigh and defeat the Hurricanes in overtime. They did so without their captain, Jamie Langenbrunner, in the lineup which was an even more impressive accomplishment.

Could this lead to a new trend for the Devils? We’ll just have to wait and see as this intense series resumes for Game 4, tomorrow night in Raleigh.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=os9uqkiX8DI