Todd Cordell: New Jersey Devils: On Albany's Playoff Run, Lappin & Zacha

Fun series.

I wish santini had of played though. I guess it was in his best interest to go to the worlds instead or they didn't want to send to many guys home that had worked hard all year for players who arrived at the end of the season.

Great series, just sucks the baby devils got stuck playing toronto in this round. Now its off to the draft and trying to get the oilers to take adam larsson for the 4th overall pick. Looks like the devils are starting to come out from the darkness of the lamerillio era?

Great series, just sucks the baby devils got stuck playing toronto in this round. Now its off to the draft and trying to get the oilers to take adam larsson for the 4th overall pick. Looks like the devils are starting to come out from the darkness of the lamerillio era?
- devfan30

Adam Larsson sucks, we would be lucky to get a 6th rounder in 2017

Adam Larsson sucks, we would be lucky to get a 6th rounder in 2017
- dmarsden2988

Lol, weak troll bro

Lol, weak troll bro
- PapaSquat

Lol it's sarcasm the other guy is a swede hater

Adam Larsson sucks, we would be lucky to get a 6th rounder in 2017
- dmarsden2988

Larsson plus a 4th for a 5th IMO.

So upsetting to see so little of Pavel Zacha in this series although I agree with the Devils decision not to rush him. Winning a championship in Albany is probably at the bottom of the list of expectations for this kid. Hopefully the injury is nothing too serious and we can see him ready to go for the start of training camp in about 4 months. As for the rest of the team, excellent year! Would have loved to see these guys advance to the conference final given my obsession with Devils hockey but now the boys could rest up and prepare for what's next.

Severson looked great on the back end. These couple weeks in Albany helped tremendously with his confidence. Let's hope his strong play translates into training camp and even more so that he is still wearing a Devils uniform come the start of next season. Depending on the return, Shero would be a fool to give up on this kid at such an early age. New Jersey needs scoring help up front, yes but they also need it from the back end. The Devils ranked near the bottom of the league in production from defenseman last season and Severson is without a doubt New Jerseys most offensively gifted defenseman. Unless Shero is offered a deal that would blow his socks off, I'd hold onto Sevy.

Boucher is another one that looked solid! Really liked his play and more so his progression, not just in Albany but in New Jersey as well. Bouch is starting to show signs of what had us Devils fans excited about when he broke Stamkos' single season goal record in Sarnia a few years back. He took a bit of a fall behind the play last night after finishing a check and had to be helped off the ice putting absolutely no pressure on his left skate. Let's hope it's nothing to serious and that he is also ready for the start of training camp.

Nick Lappin has been a pleasant surprise. Not sure about his contract beyond this season but I'd be interested to see if he could make New Jerseys roster to start the year. If he continues to play the way he has been, he would be an instant upgrade in the bottom 6.

All in all it was a good year for both teams in the Devils organization. Huge step in the right direction to building a championship team. Let's hope Shero stays smart and continues to build through the draft.

Larsson plus a 4th for a 5th IMO.
- smellmyfinger

Good luck with that. Straight up for Fayne is more realistic.

Good luck with that. Straight up for Fayne is more realistic.
- Wildschwein

Fayne was a 7th rounder. So how about Larsson and a 6th for Fayne and a 7th and we will retain 1 mil per year.

Fayne was a 7th rounder. So how about Larsson and a 6th for Fayne and a 7th and we will retain 1 mil per year.
- smellmyfinger

Deal, but only because I respect your Avi.

Deal, but only because I respect your Avi.
- Wildschwein

Totally off topic speaking of an Avi but how on earth do I add one?! I've tried legit like 20 different things and they all get declined for not fitting lol

Totally off topic speaking of an Avi but how on earth do I add one?! I've tried legit like 20 different things and they all get declined for not fitting lol
- Youwont_noballs

You gotta shrink it to an absolutely tiny level.

You gotta shrink it to an absolutely tiny level.
- smellmyfinger

Tried that and then it said that it was still no good because it wasn't 70 pixels or something like that haha

Tried that and then it said that it was still no good because it wasn't 70 pixels or something like that haha
- Youwont_noballs

You on a Mac?

You on a Mac?
- smellmyfinger

Nope, I tried it both from my phone and my PC lol as you can see I kinda gave up haha

DOOMED

DOOMED
- shvingter88

got a good feeling about this next season.

DESTINY 2017

Hopefully third times a charm lol any one know how santini has looked at the worlds

Hopefully third times a charm lol any one know how santini has looked at the worlds
- blizzzard

Haven't been paying much attention to be honest, I been watching the NHL playoffs and up until last night the AHL playoffs lol sorry

got a good feeling about this next season.

DESTINY 2017
- Pomegrant

I'm more of DESTINY 2019 guy myself, but I respect the optimism.

Zubrus looking pretty good playing for PDB tonight.

Zubrus looking pretty good playing for PDB tonight.
- smellmyfinger

I really didn't give this Sharks team enough respect in general. Pavelski and Burns are full fledged stars and Jones holds his own as a top goalie.

Too bad we couldn't see Gomez, Havlat, Zubrus and Martin all in one series.

Zubrus looking pretty good playing for PDB tonight.
- smellmyfinger

PDB isn't a bad coach regardless of what some may think. He took a decent team in New Jersey all the way to game 6 of the Stanley Cup and while they lost that series, that's nothing to hang your hat on considering just how good that Kings team was that year. What happened after that was not in PDBs hands. He had a couple guys in Parise, Kovalchuk and even Clarkson get homesick. Parise his captain and heart and soul of that team ran off to Minnesota while Kovalchuk, his superstar ran off to Russia. The loss of Clarkson may have taken back seat to the loss of the other 2 but let's not forget, Clarky scored 30 goals that year and had a huge post season. PDB struggled to put back the pieces of that team as would any coach in the NHL after a loss like that. The one thing that made PDB lose the fans was his love for veterans. Devils fans were ready for a new era of some development and too many nights PDB was rolling out guys past their prime over guys like Larsson. PDB is NOT a developmental coach. He is a guy who has a very unique system that requires the guys he likes to use to pull off, hence why he landed on his feet in SJ and is 3 wins away from a Stanley Cup birth. With all that said, I agree with the firing of PDB only because he was not what New Jersey needed, not because I thought he was a bad coach. I been a PDB supporter since day one and I'm rooting for SJ to go the distance this year.