The Devils didn’t play a very good game against the Thrashers for some reason but they rebounded nicely vs the Hurricanes and then went in and took care of the Rangers in MSG. Seems that the Devils are playing more focused hockey away from The Rock this season.
Forwards
18 Niclas Bergfors – Grade: The kid is really starting to impress me a little bit. He seems to work hard for the puck and that paid off in his first goal of the season Thursday vs the NY Rangers. Grade: B- (C)
23 David Clarkson – Kind of a quiet week but did pick up an assist on the Bergfors goal. Grade: B (A)
16 Matt Halischuk – Still not sure about this kid and he’s on my very short list of guys that go once Elias is healthy– Grade: C- (D)
15 Jamie Langenbrunner – A goal and 3 assists this week, can’t ask for much more. Grade: A (B)
22 Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond – Only played two games, didn’t do much but I think he’s a better option than Andrew Peters. Grade: C-
21 Rob Niedermayer – Picked up 2 assists this week. He continues to be very consistent. Grade: B (B)
20 Jay Pandolfo – He’s out there, playing his typical Defensive style but didn’t find the point column this week. Grade: C+ (B)
9 Zach Parise – There he is… 5 goals and 2 assists this week. We knew he’d wake up! Grade: A (B+)
10 Rod Pelley – 1 shot but he’s winning face-offs., can’t complain about that. Grade: C (D-)
25 Andrew Peters – Played in the Atlanta game only, didn’t win the fight he started. Can this guy do anything? Grade: F (F)
17 Ilkka Pikkarainen – Not really playing much. He sat for the Carolina and Rangers games. Grade: F (F)
12 Brian Rolston – No points this week. He’s supposed to be excellent under Lemaire yet this guy can’t find his way off the third line. Third liners don’t get paid 5 million a year. He has to wake up soon. Grade: D- (C+)
19 Travis Zajac – He was taken away from his usual line mates yet continues to find his way onto the scoring sheet. That’s what a star hockey play does. Grade: A (A)
8 Dainius Zubrus – Found his way onto the ZZ Pops line and got the game winner against the Rangers. Grade: B (C)
Defense
6 Andy Greene – Logging decent minutes, not contributing in the scoring but doing a decent job keeping the other teams from doing so. Grade: C (C)
7 Paul Martin – He’s playing the most of all the D guys and staying out of the box. Grade: B- (B-)
27 Mike Mottau – He’s your average D guy but he took on Avery which ups anyones grade because Mottau isn’t usually a fighter and he had a nice defensive play on a wide open net vs NY. Grade: B (C)
29 Johnny Oduya – Didn’t we give this guy a ton of cash this summer? Contract weighing him down? He’s not doing much out there. Grade: D- (D)
24 Bryce Salvador – Assisted on both goals in the loss vs Atlanta but he’s contributing. Grade: C (D)
5 Colin White – Another average week for Colin White but he continues to play very disciplined hockey. Grade: C (C)
Goalie
Marty Brodeur – Marty is getting older and over the past few years, we noticed that it takes a little time for Marty to get going. He’s a good goalie, and at moments he’s great but we are 8 games into the season so we haven’t seen the real Marty yet. He didn’t have a great game against the Thrashers but got the SO vs Carolina and did well vs NY so each week he is getting better. What more can we ask? Grade: B+ (B)
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