Marty's Day-to-Day

TSN.ca is reporting that Martin Brodeur is listed as day-to-day. Marty left last night's game against the Lightning in the third period. He seemed to fall awkwardly on his right leg while defending against a barrage of shots.

"I was concerned enough to leave the game," Brodeur said after the game. "The doctor looked at it after the game and he thought it didn't look too bad, but we'll see what happens.

"My skate got caught and I twisted it. I heard it twist and I couldn't get up. All my body weight fell on it. I had to be really hurt to leave the game. We were still in the game at that point."

You have to hope that Marty recovers quickly as Scott Clemmenson looked pretty shaky in his small bit of work as Brodeur's replacement.

Link: The NYSD Interview: Mike "Doc" Emrick

Great interview over at New York Sports Day with one of the best play-by-play men in the league, Doc Emrick. On the new shootout rule:

It's a fan thing. The purists don't like it - and I wouldn't have voted for it. I would have sooner had a three-on-three overtime after a four-on-four because that's still hockey, rather than setting up a contest. I've leaned on this for 20 years now. I remember Bob Clarke, when he was first general manager of Philadelphia, said it was like deciding the Super Bowl by having the two quarterbacks come to the 50-yard line and throw balls through a tire. In essence, it's almost the same thing.

At the Board of Governors meeting, it was a package. If you opposed the shootout, but liked the rest [of the rules changes], you still were in a position where you had to vote for it. That said, I think it still was a majority that voted for it.

It does happen fast. It doesn't take long. We had it the other night in a preseason game with the Rangers, but the Devils had already won the game. I don't think it had the fan intensity; even though the fans were standing and watching it, they were also about to go home. I think it'll have tremendous intensity when there are points on the line.

Game Recap: 10/7/2005

When a season first starts, you know the likelihood of winning every single game is about one in a trillion trillion, or 2^80. Nevertheless, when a team wins the first game of the season, as the Devils did on Wednesday night, for a split second you forget what it's like to lose and think it might be possible not to. Ever.

And then the harsh reality arrives like a slap in the face and you wonder what made you think such a whimsical thought. Such was the Devils' second game, an uninspired 5-2 drubbing at the hands of the rival Philadelphia Flyers -- the first of eight regular season mettings this year.

The Devs jumped out to an earlier 2-0 lead on two power play goals, but seemed to lose their drive midway through the second period. They were treading water and had a lot of difficulty getting any momentum going. It didn't help matters that Marty Brodeur ("Superman") was not at his best, allowing a couple of soft goals in addition to the phantom Simon Gagne goal that was allowed only after an extensive video review, apparently utilizing under-ice cameras that we didn't have access to.

It was only the second game, but it's clear already that the Devils still roll four lines comprised mostly of grinders with the occasional skate-shoot-score type of player that the "new" NHL will attempt to feature more of. Other than Alexander Mogilny (ALMO), who by my pedestrian math skills is somewhere around 57 years old, who else would you trust with a penalty shot? Patrik Elias has that kind of talent, but he is still recovering from Hepatitis A. He has begun skating but there is no real timetable for his return (at least that I know of). We all wish him a speedy recovery because, let's be frank, the team might need him.

Another thing that troubles me about the team is their overall lack of size. They were pushed around by the much more physically imposing Flyers forwards and defencemen, so we'll have to keep an eye on that subplot and see if turns out to be a strength or a weakness of the team.

Game Recap: 10/5/2005

In the first bit of real hockey action in some sixteen months, the Devils did not disappoint last night, routing the Penguins and the much-ballyhooed Sidney Crosby 5-1 at Continental Arena (recap | boxscore). It was a lot of fun to watch the game, and it was interesting to see the new rules played out. The most noticeable change was in the penalty-calling as the teams combined for 18 minor penalties, ten of those committed by Devils.

The wealth of power play time led to a lot of scoring chances, but I have to agree with Devs coach Larry Robinson who, when asked how he liked the flow of the game, responded "What flow?". There were so many stops and starts last night it was hard to get any real momentum, and that was just me watching the game! The league has to make a long-term commitment to calling the game as tightly as they did last night and it will pay off many fold. The short-term cost will be an increase in the number of penalties called and a decrease in the overall flow of the game, but it's important to remember that these players have been getting away with these moves for a long time and it's foolish to think they will adapt overnight. I suspect that within a month or so the players will have transitioned to the new style of play, they will cut down on the number of penalties called and the general flow of the game will be much improved.

Welcome to Devils Daily!

I was trolling through the online periodicals this morning as I am wont to do when one of my sports teams does well, and I was struck by the relative absence of of Devils blogs. There's On Fire, Devils Due and not much else. I guess if I can't read other people opining on the Devs then I may as well do it myself. And thus Devils Daily was born.

I will try to keep this as up-to-date as possible, so be sure to check back often and use the comments here to let myself and others know what you think. Cheers!