NJ Devils Week 4 – Ups and Downs

I decided to change the way I do my weekly report on the Devils. Instead of giving out letter grades each week, I am going to track whether or not the trend of their play has been up or down this week. I just felt that letter grades weren’t flowing as well because what was an A for one player was a B for some others.

M. Brodeur		Had a great game in Pittsburgh and followed it up with a pretty bad outing at home. The Buffalo loss wasn’t completely his fault
Y. Danis		An excellent start to his career in NJ against the Bruins. I hope the confidence he showed in net on Thursday tells NJ to use him more than we’ve used our backups in the past.
R. Niedermayer		Didn’t get a point this week, was robbed by Miller on a goal Wednesday night but he seems to be doing the right things out there.
R. Pelley		4th line = not still not so good.
T. Zajac		A 2 point night in Pittsburgh followed up by goose eggs against Buffalo and Boston. I am looking for a little more consistency out of this guy.
D. Zubrus		Points in 2 of the last 3 (and 3 of the last 4) including the GWG in Boston.
P. Elias	–	Injured, hopefull will practice with the team in the upcoming week.
J. Pandolfo		Got injured against the Pens and will be out 4-6 weeks.
Z. Parise		He’s a points machine and I know I can’t count on him for something every single night.
A. Peters		Why is this guy here? Spent most of the week as a healthy scratch but played in Boston, didn’t do much.
N. Bergfors		I was a sell on this guy but he’s starting to looking more comfortable at the NHL level. Got a couple of points, made some nice plays and the kid certainly has some wheels.
D. Clarkson		Picked up a couple of assists in Pittsburgh and then looked lost against the Sabres. I would have given him the red arrow but he got an important goal Thursday in Boston.
M. Halischuk		No points, don’t hear his name much, not sure what to think. Maybe Holik should give him a buzz and tell him what wearing #16 is all about. Wait, no PIMs yet, put down the phone Bobby, put down the phone.
J. Langenbrunner		Seems to be good for an assist a game, I’d like goals but points are points and I expect my first liners to get them night in and night out.
P. Letourneau-Leblond		Doesn’t have a point but I prefer this guy over Peters. Lemaire seems to swap those two but I am hoping that Lemaire gets on the PLx3 bandwagon soon.
I. Pikkarainen		4th liner, not doing anything in my opinon.
B. Rolston		Can someone explain this guy to me? $5 million a year, has 0 points this week, can’t seem to finish plays that are handed to him and he can’t find his way off the third line. Maybe he should sell hot dogs at the home games, this way NJ can get some kind of ROI.
M. Fraser		Played his first game against Pitt, got his first goal which also happened to be the first goal by a NJ D-man this year
A. Greene		Was the man this week. Only bright spot against the Sabres and picked up asists in the other games (and I thought for a brief moment he had a goal in Pitt, not Bergfors).
P. Martin		Got hurt against the Pens, like Pando, out 4-6 weeks. This one is going to hurt.
M. Mottau		Missed the Pens game due to injury but came back with 19 mins against Buffalo and 26 mins against Boston
C. Murphy		Hit waivers, then went to Lowell, then came back when Martin went down only to find himself sitting above the press box.
J. Oduya		Like Rolston, I am down on this guy. Huge contract, ZERO contribution and now he’s come home to NJ after an injury against Boston and won’t play in TB on Saturday.
B.Salvador		Seems to be doing what a d-man should, picked up an assist in Boston.
C. White		In my opinion he becomes the number 1 guy while Martin is down. He should think so to and maybe then he’ll actually play like it.

My “Player of the Week” award goes to: Andy Greene (Parise can’t win EVERY week!!)