Devilish descent
Halloween eve in Hollywood with Lou, Johnny Mac and Kovy

by Chris Kober | Hockeytalk.biz

OCTOBER 31, 2010 -- LOS ANGELES -- It’s a well worn saying in hockey that sometimes the best move a GM can make is no move at all, and Saturday night’s Kings/Devils game was, quite possibly, the most blatant manifestation of that cliché in recent memory.

The Russian winger’s unprecedented 15-year $100 million contract symbolizes a new era of Devils Hockey; an era that hasn’t started well.  

Gone are the days when a rigid 1-2-2 neutral zone trap, including one of the greatest defense corps ever assembled, lined up in front of a goaltender that could easily be considered the best of all time.  
 
As of Saturday night, the team who ushered in the so-called Dead Puck Era with its stifling defense had given up 39 goals in its first 11 games, second only to Anaheim’s 41.  
 
Lamoriello, inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame for his construction of a perennial cup contender and three time champion, has managed the team into such salary cap trouble that they were forced to play a game earlier this season with only three forward lines.
 
His defense first philosophy and hard line method of contract negotiation has waned severely since the lockout as is evidenced by the addition of Kovalchuk at a considerable cost.  Handing out long, pricy contracts to underperforming veteran forwards used to be the domain of Glen Sather and the New York Rangers, but Lamoriello is closing in on his divisional counterpart.  
 
Lamoriello’s new managerial style is likely a product of the up-tempo post-lockout NHL,  the restrictions of the salary cap and a mandate from owner Jeffery Vanderbeek.  Some pundits suspect Vanderbeek was heavily involved in the Kovalchuck signing.
 
Vanderbeek owned a minority share of the team from 2000 until 2004 when he bought the team outright.  Since taking over the team, the Devils have made the playoffs every year; however they have only managed to reach as far as the second round twice.  
 
Things have gone south so quickly this season that Lamoriello has already had to deny rumors of an impending dismissal of first year head coach John MacLean.  The GM called the idea “ridiculous” and defended MacLean to Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record by putting the onus on his players.
 
“You’re not going to win unless your best players – and this is not targeting any one or two – but your top players have to be your top players, at least 80 percent of them, night in and night out.”
 
The names one would expect to be at the top of the Devils’ scoring charts are all there, despite the fact that Dainius Zubrus leads the team in points.  However the Devils are inexplicably the lowest scoring team in the league with only 20 goals for, and many of their top players are at the bottom of the list when it comes to plus/minus.  Parise, Kovalchuk, Jason Arnott and rookie defenseman Matt Taormina are tied for the lead in goal scoring with only three goals and respectively carry plus/minus ratings of -4, -1, -9 and 0.
 
The most glaring deficiency in the Devils game is their power play, which is only converting 7.7 percent of the time, a shockingly low rate for a power play that boasts the likes of Kovalchuck, Parise, Patrik Elias and Travis Zajac.
 
To make matters worse, Parise was sidelined with an undisclosed lower body injury during Saturday’s game.  The American Olympian was sent back to New Jersey for medical evaluation after the game, and will not finish the road trip with the team as they face Vancouver on Monday and end the trip in Chicago on Wednesday.
 
The team’s mantra for correcting the wayward power play:  “We just need to be simple, and shoot the puck,” Kovalchuk said.
 
Even with all the doom and gloom surrounding the Devils, there is hope according to team captain Jamie Langenbrunner.
 
“The way we were playing early on, there was reason to be concerned.”  He said, “I think the last two games have been pretty good games for us.  We’ve given ourselves a chance in the games and sometimes it’s not going to happen and that was tonight, but our game was back in order for the most part, and that’s the important thing.”
 
“You never want to dig yourself too big of a hole.”  Langenbrunner added, “The farther down you go the farther you have to climb back up.”  The Devils have time to right the ship with 71 games remaining, but the comeback must begin now in order to extend their streak of consecutive playoff seasons to 14 this spring.