A plane crash near the city of Yaroslavl in Central Russia has claimed the lives of at least 43 people, according to Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry. The majority of victims are believed to be members of the Kontinental Hockey League club, Lokomotiv.

The names that might have been and the names that are coming out that were on the plane is absolutely devastating. The team's head coach, Brad McCrimmon, played in the NHL and most recently served as an assistant coach with the Detroit Red Wings before taking the Yaroslavl job in May. Defensemen Karel Rachunek, Ruslan Salei and Karlis Skrastins, as well as forwards Pavol Demitra and Josef Vasicek all spent a good deal of time in the NHL. Forward Alexander Vasyunov played a handful of games with the New Jersey Devils this past season. Vasyunov has been confirmed to have lost his live in the plane crash.

This offseason has been full of devastating news for NHL and former NHL Players. My heart, my prayers and my thoughts go out to everyone affected by this tragedy. The hockey community is a small community and a tragedy like this certainly rocks the foundation of the game we've come to love.

Living in Northern NJ, we know the devistation that Hurricane Irene brought to the area. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those effected.

Yesterday, Travis Zajac underwent surgery to repair his left Achilles tendon which he tore working out off ice. Although the surgery was a success, Zajac will require three months to recover. For a team that was already lacking at center, that is not good news.

In my opinion, the Devils already needed to acquire a first line center to play alongside Ilya Kovalchuk. As good as Kovalchuk is, he requires a playmaker who is able to skate quickly, feed him the puck and set him up to shoot his wicked one timer. Finding such a player has proven to be no easy task as it seems that top line centers are just about as difficult to come by as puck moving defensemen these days. Now, Zajac (the closest person on the Devils’ roster to be considered a top line center) won’t be able to become reacquainted on the ice with Zach Parise until November. This leaves the Devils in the unfortunate predicament of needing to find not one top line center but two…and quickly.

Stay tuned…as I hope there will be something to report regarding filling these vacancies soon!

(NOT SO) FUN FACT:

Travis Zajac holds the team record for consecutive games played with 401. That streak, inevitably, will be coming to an end on October 8th when the Devils open their season.

When you browse Bloguin, you will find many great sites covering all different sports. It’s what really makes this network great. Crossover Chronicles is a featured blog on the network and they do a lot of great articles and worth a daily read (even though they don’t cover hockey!!).  I was over there the other day and they are doing a great series on 4 jerseys you gotta have for a particular sports team. Of course they are talking about basketball but I thought it would be great to run with that idea for my own team. So here we go.

You Gotta Have:

Scott Stevens – He is the greatest captain in the history of the New Jersey Devils and the first player to have his jersey sent to the rafters. There are many moments from Stevens career that float around in our memory and every guy that has worn and will wear the C after Stevens, immediately gets questioned if he can lead like Stevens did. I do believe that if you ask any Devils fan what the top 4 jerseys that a fan has to have Scott Stevens would make the top of that list almost every time.

Can’t Go Wrong With:

Marty Broduer – It is hard to argue against having the jersey of one of the greatest goalies to play the game in your collection. I remember right before Marty got to the Devils, it seemed like every hot girl that liked the Devils owned and wore a Scott Niedermayer jersey but once Marty got to NJ, that all changed. Once Marty walks away from the Devils and the game (which hopefully will be at the same time), no one will be able to argue what Marty meant to this franchise.

Oh, That Is Awesome:

If you want awesome, you have to go with an original Red and Green jersey. In the past few years, the Devils have embraced their past and brought back the “Christmas Tree Jerseys” for one game a season.  But if you are going to own a retro red and green jersey, whose name do you put on the back of it? I’ll vote for none other than Johnny MacLean. Yes, he sucked as our head coach but he did put the goal that sent the Devils to the playoffs for the first time in their history. Joe Cirella took the a shot that was blocked by Darren Pang who gave up a juicy rebound to John MacLean and the rest was history. Weeks later, it would be that same John McLean that would score with four minutes left in Game 7 to knock out the Washington Capitals and lead NJ to the Patrick Division title.

Oh, That Is Funny

I don’t know if I’ve ever seen anyone where a Glenn “Chico” Resch jersey, but someone should. Sure, he wasn’t a spectacular goalie but he’s part of the Devils history.  Resch played in Colorado for part of the 1980–81 season and the 1981–82 NHL season before the franchise moved to New Jersey to become the New Jersey Devils. Even though the Devils didn’t win many games, Resch shouldered a heavy load over the next few years. He was our franchise first goalie and he’s been a staple in our broadcasting booth for many years, so why not add a Chico Resch Jersey to your collection!!

Let us know what you think and lets us know which jerseys you own!!

The Devils placed both defenseman Colin White and RW Trent Hunter on waivers today. Lou Lamoriello later confirmed that the Devils plan to buy out their contracts if they clear waivers. If the players clear waivers by noon on Tuesday, their contracts could be bought out for 2/3 the remaining contract value spread over twice the number of years remaining. All in all, this would save the Devils $3,333,333 in cap space for the upcoming 2011-2012 season. The players would then become unrestricted free agents and free to sign with any other team.

By placing Hunter on waivers, the Devils have more or less proved the theory I had put forth in my post on Thursday regarding the trade which brought Hunter to the Devils from the Islanders in exchange for Brian Rolston. In that post, I postulated that the Devils made that trade simply to clear cap space. That’s evident now. But regarding Colin White, this move might be slightly more surprising to many people. White has played his entire professional career for the Devils – a career which has spanned 11 seasons and included 2 Stanley Cup championships. Lamoriello described placing White on waivers as “difficult” but a business decision. White had been informed that this could happen if he wasn’t traded, and, although they tried, the Devils weren’t able to trade him.

While White had been a member of the 2000 and 2003 Stanley Cup championship teams, his play declined significantly after he suffered an eye injury in 2007, and he has never been the same player since. Personally, I was never that impressed with White’s quality of play. I remember him making an inordinate number of mistakes and sloppy passes. I was actually sitting in a section of Continental Airlines Arena during the longest playoff game in Devils history (against Tampa Bay in 2003) from which quite a few Devils fans would yell “You suck, White!” every time he touched the puck. But with the eventual losses of Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rafalski from the back end, White slowly emerged as one of the Devils’ top defensemen. I think this may have been more by default than by virtue of his play. But for all of his mistakes and idiotic plays, White was usually able to atone for them by being physical. The dude could fight. Unfortunately, the operative word there is “could”. Past tense. Since his eye injury in 2007, White has rarely engaged in any fights and, quite frankly, hasn’t had that many impressive hits, either. Add to that the fact that he’s not a very fast skater, and one could see how this move by the Devils is a good one.

I respect Colin White as I respect all Devils who have contributed to winning the Cup…and White’s even contributed to two Cup wins. And White was nothing if not loyal to the Devils for over a decade. As such, I truly wish him the best of luck. But it’s time to move on and make room for a younger, faster and more physical crop of defensemen on the roster. Truth be told, this move is probably way overdue. What do you think? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section.

FUN FACT:

Colin White was one of only three Devils remaining from the 2003 championship team. The other (and now, only) two are Martin Brodeur and Patrik Elias. With White’s departure from the Devils, this now leaves Brodeur and Elias as the only two current Devils who have their names on the Cup. This should, hopefully, result in the Devils being a very hungry team!

It’s hard to believe that after all of the favorable and recent maneuvers made by Lou Lamoriello (finally convincing Brian Rolston to waive his no-trade clause and, even more remarkably, finding a team willing to relieve the Devils of his contract - thereby freeing up over $3 million in cap space for the 2011-2012 season; inviting Zach Parise to sit at the Devils’ draft table during this year’s draft; refusing to name a another captain after Jamie Langenbrunner was traded in January 2011) that the Devils and Parise have only agreed on a one year, $6,000,000 deal. While no other terms of the deal have been disclosed, based on the rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Parise is not free to sign another, longer extension until January 1, 2012 and remains eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2012. Also, since one year deals are forbidden to contain a no-trade clause, this deal doesn’t contain one.

While this deal essentially just extends the negotiating period that the two sides have been in by avoiding the arbitration hearing which was scheduled for August 3rd, it’s still a disappointment for this Devils fan. After I got over my initial shock and letdown that no long-term deal was reached, I have to admit I became angry. And, no, not at Lamoriello…but at Parise (and his agent). Here’s why…

Realistically, the Devils have until the trade deadline in February to sign Parise to a long-term deal unless they risk the chance of him hitting free agency and bolting…leaving the Devils with nothing in return. If the trade deadline approaches and Parise still isn’t signed, I think the Devils will have no choice but to trade him as a rental to some other team (not unlike the way Ilya Kovalchuk was traded to the Devils in 2010) in order to ensure that they receive something of value in return for him. Otherwise, the risk that Parise could walk on July 1st is just too great. This deal also only works in the Devils’ favor if they are willing to negotiate with Parise during the regular season (something the Devils rarely do).

I understand that it’s the player’s right to hold out on signing any deal unless that player feels he is receiving the amount of money he thinks he deserves. And, regrettably, I wasn’t a fly on the wall during these negotiations, so I have no idea what was discussed. However, it’s obvious that Parise signed a contract with the shortest term possible – one that conveniently avoids an arbitrator determining what he is worth and one that carries him through this year until he attains UFA status. Let’s not forget that Parise was injured for the majority of the 2010-2011 season and underwent knee surgery. He hasn’t played enough since then for anyone to know if and how much that surgery has affected the quality of his skating or play. There’s a big question mark surrounding Parise after this past season, and this one year deal provides him with the opportunity to prove to the entire hockey world that his play hasn’t been negatively impacted by his surgery. To put it another way, it affords Parise the chance to “up” his value as far as the Devils and any other team is concerned. Because of the question mark surrounding Parise, one could argue that this one year deal also gives the Devils a chance to evaluate Parise. And that’s certainly true. But I really do not think, based on every indication provided by Lamoriello since the beginning of the summer, that the Devils wanted Parise to sign anything less than a long-term deal.

On July 19th, Tom Gulitti reported here that Parise was looking to see what kinds of deals Steven Stamkos and Brad Richads signed and then find comparables to try to receive a similar deal. That’s all good and great if Parise’s play and other intangibles are, in fact, comparable to those of Stamkos and Richards. I guess we’ll find out soon enough if that’s indeed the case. But despite the insistence of both sides that this one year deal is the best possible outcome right now for both parties, I nevertheless have a bad feeling about this as far as the Devils are concerned. Maybe it’s that the nightmarish memories of what happened with Scott Niedermayer and Scott Gomez are rearing their ugly heads, but unless a deal is reached by the trade deadline or Parise is traded for something of value, I really don’t see this ending well for the Devils.  I hope I'm wrong.

FUN FACT:

As mentioned above, the Devils rarely negotiate contracts with their players during the regular season. Two notable exceptions to this policy have been the contracts that were negotiated with Scott Stevens and Martin Brodeur.

In an ironic twist of fate, what will quite possibly be considered as Brian Rolston’s most helpful move he ever made as a Devil will also be his last. Rolston agreed to waive his no-trade clause, resulting in a trade sending him to the New York Islanders in exchange for RW Trent Hunter. (The trade is conditional upon Hunter, who underwent knee surgery for a torn MCL on February 8th, passing a physical). Rolston has one year remaining on his five year contract with a cap hit this season of $5,062,500. Hunter has two years remaining on his contract at a $2,000,000 cap hit per season.

Clearly, this trade was made so that the Devils could clear cap space and the Islanders could reach the cap floor. With the additional $3,062,500 in cap space now available to the Devils as a result of this trade, it’s highly likely that the next headline we’ll see regarding the Devils is that they have agreed to a long term deal with Zach Parise. If this is indeed the case, then we would have Rolston to thank for enabling the Devils to sign Parise for basically the remainder of his hockey career. After all, Rolston did agree to waive his no-trade clause to make this trade happen.

Of course, as much as we may want to, we’re cautioned not to jump to conclusions about what the implications of this trade may be regarding any long-term deal with Parise. As Lou Lamoriello told Rich Chere of the Star Ledger today, "I don't want to mix the situations. Until something is done you're never close but I don't think anyone can question the respect we have for Zach."

And I don’t think anyone can question any Devils fan for obsessively checking Twitter looking for the big announcement confirming that the Devils have locked up not only Ilya Kovalchuk but also Zach Parise for life. This is an exciting time for the Devils and their fans…thanks, in no small part, to Brian Rolston.

FUN FACT:

This trade came as a surprise to many today and for more than one reason. It’s a very rare sight indeed to see trades happen between the Devils and any of the other teams in the Atlantic Division. The last trade the Devils made with a division opponent was with the Islanders on June 30, 2009. Here are the last times the Devils traded with the other teams in the Atlantic Division:

Pittsburgh Penguins – March 19, 2002

Philadelphia Flyers – March 11, 1986

New York Rangers – Never

I ran across Daniel DiTaranto's work on YouTube and I immediately sent him an email to ask if I could share this video with our readers. He does some great work and this is an outstanding video and really makes us wish that the calendar was changing into October and not August. Oh well, hockey will be here soon.

Mike “Doc” Emrick has been a staple in the Devils announcing booth for 21 years. You knew this day, the one where he had to change his workload, was going to come. The fact is, Mike Emrick is 65 years old and with the Devils and the Versus / NBC contracts, Emrick had been doing 110 to 120 games per season. Honestly, that is a lot of traveling and a lot of stress on one’s voice. I certainly understand why he chose to cut his workload down and I certainly understand why it was the Devils contract that he decided to not renew.

Mike Emrick is a class act, everyone knows that. In an interview with Devils reporter Tom Gulitti, he had nothing but wonderful things to say about the Devils organization and the fans. Did you know that Devils fans sent him letters and cards after his parents and his dogs passed away?  I don’t know a lot about fans of other teams but I can’t picture many doing that for their announcers.

Throughout the day on Thursday, many fans shared their favorite Doc Emrick moments on Twitter. Of course the moment most of us will remember is the call at the end of the 1995 Stanley Cup when he proudly announced “The Championship to New Jersey! The Devils win the Stanley Cup!” He, like the rest of us were just as proud of this team because he watched this team struggle and then grow into Champions. Mike Emrick has a passion for this game and it oozes over the microphone when he announces the game. He can’t help it, he just loves the game and as a Devils fan, I feel privileged that we got to hear him call our games for the past 18 years, 21 in total. I will certainly miss him and I can guarantee when the Devils get to play on NBC/Versus this season, I will certainly be tuning in just to hear Mike Emrick announce a Devils game again.

In an interview with Tom Gulitti, Emrick noted that before the last four games of the 2010-11 season, he had not done a meaningless Devils’ game since returning to announce for the Devils in 1993 because the only other time the Devils had missed the playoffs in the last 18 years, they weren’t eliminated from playoff contention until the last day of the 1995-96 season. That is a crazy statistic in my mind.
I close this out by saying Thank You Doc for all you’ve done over the last 18 years. It has been quite a ride and this organization and its fan will certainly miss you. You are one of a kind!!

On Tuesday, the Devils announced that Peter DeBoer had been hired as the new head coach of the New Jersey Devils. We share with you, our thoughts and analysis on the hiring of Peter DeBoer.

Darren's Thoughts and Analysis:

The Devils hired their coach this afternoon and it came in the form of a coach that has NHL experience. I do think they learned a valuable lesson from the MacLean last season. So what do we know about Peter DeBoer?  He recently spent 3 years coaching the Florida Panthers and was relieved of his duties as their head coach at the finish of the 2010/2011 season. DeBoer never led his Panthers to the playoffs, going 103-107-36 in that span but to be fair, the Panthers haven’t made it to the playoffs since 2000. However, each season saw his team decline and their record get progressively worse.

BUT, these are the Florida Panthers we are talking about. A team that consistently had a low-end roster.  He’s never had the benefit of coaching guys like Kovalchuk, Parise and Broduer at this level but has had success at the junior level. However, when you have a team that has talent on its roster, expectations come along with that talent and it will be interesting to see if DeBoer can deliver on those expectations.

We do know that that DeBoer coached David Clarkson and the Kitchner Rangers to the 2003 Memorial Cup so I would imagine this is a happy day for David Clarkson. He's also coached Mark Fraser and Travis Zajac at various points of their careers. I think that DeBoer is the type of coach that finds a happy medium of both offense and defense in his style, meaning we can’t categorize him as an offensive or defensive minded coach. Hiring DeBoers does make the Janssen signing last week an interesting one because with DeBoers here, I can’t believe that the Devils would look to move Clarkson, which is a rumor we’ve been hearing since Janssen signed. I’m guessing Janssen will probably find himself in Albany next season.

Deep inside I have to say I am a little surprised at the selection because we didn’t really see his name on the list until today. For me, the Devils appear to be in a “win now” mode and I am not sure that Peter DeBoer is a “win now” kind of coach but I could be wrong because I know so little of him. The bottom line for me is that I find it difficult to see what Jaques Lemaire accomplished last season and want anyone but Jaques Lemaire but I welcome Peter DeBoer to the NJ Devils and hope he is one great coach.

Debra's Thoughts and Analysis:

When I first heard today that the Devils hired Peter DeBoer as their new head coach, naturally, my initial
reaction was: “Who?”.

I honestly have to say that I’ve never heard of the guy before and certainly not in conjunction with
any rumors regarding who was being considered for the job. And this fact alone was a definite plus
in my eyes. I have to admit that none of the names that had been bandied about in the press as the
next possible coach made me very excited. The vast majority of them (Ken Hitchcock, Michel Therrien
and Craig MacTavish, to name a few) all seemed a little too “veteran”, in my opinion. Now, I have
no problem with veteran coaches. After what Jacques Lemaire did for the Devils last season, I thank
god every day that there exists at least a few good men out there with the wisdom and experience to
literally undo and clean up the messes left behind by the John MacLeans of the world. But considering
the fact that Lou Lamoriello stated that he was (once again) looking for a long term coach and that
many of the recently successful coaches in the league have been of the younger/edgier variety, I had
hoped that the Devils would choose a younger coach. One who would presumably be more inclined to
think outside the box and implement a system designed to compete effectively within the confines of
the “new” rules established in the post-lockout NHL era … (an era during which the Devils have had very
little postseason success thus far).

Of course when a team hires a non-veteran head coach, the chances increase significantly that the
team is getting an inexperienced head coach (a la John MacLean from last season’s debacle). So, I was
pleased once more to learn that DeBoer had been the head coach of the Florida Panthers for the past
three seasons. As a matter of fact, his very first season coaching in the NHL, he coached the Panthers to
93 points – the second most points in franchise history. I know what most people are probably thinking
… this is the Panthers that we’re talking about. Who cares if he coached them to the second most points
in their history? He didn’t coach them into the playoffs. Exactly. This is the Panthers that we’re talking
about – a team with very little talent and not much support fan-wise or money-wise. DeBoer actually
did a pretty decent job with what he had to work with. If he does a decent enough job with the talents
of Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, Martin Brodeur and Patrik Elias, he may just be the answer to all of our
prayers.

None of this matters at all, though, unless he can earn the respect of all of the players. As we are all too
familiar with from last season, you could have a plethora of talent, but if the coach can’t command the
locker room and communicate well, it could all go to waste. As was also demonstrated to us last year,
when one player is unhappy and plays poorly, the rest of the team can fall like dominos. It’s essential
for DeBoer to not only earn the respect of his players but to respect his players, as well. I really hope
that he can make and keep them happy because it doesn’t matter what we think of him. The only
opinions that matter are those of the guys on the ice.