INSIDE HOCKEY

Toronto suffered more than just a loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday night.  After the game, the media learned of Brendan Burke and Mark Reedy’s passing.  The two were involved in a fatal car accident near Richmond, Ind.

Brendan was the son of Toronto’s President and General Manager Brian Burke.

Brendan was known in hockey for taking strides in being open about his homosexuality.  In sports, being open about your sexual orientation is frowned upon.  Brendan refused to be silent about who he was and came out to the world… he was a gay hockey player and he was proud of it.

His father supported him wholeheartedly, the way any child hopes that their parent would support them on a matter that is so important to them. 

Now the Burke family, the Maple Leafs and the entire hockey community mourns the loss.

Kovalchuk is a Devil

All week long, the hockey world was abuzz with news that Ilya Kovalchuk was up on the trade block.  But where would he go and what would Atlanta get in the exchange?

Rumors were abounding on Sunday when Atlanta’s GM Don Waddell came to New Jersey to meet with the LA Kings GM Dean Lombardi.  What no one knew was that New Jersey became part of the trade mix on Sunday for the first time.  It became even more apparent that New Jersey was the frontrunner when Waddell was in attendance at Wednesday’s Lowell Devils vs. Hartford Wolfpack game at Prudential Center.

By Thursday night it was official.  Kovalchuk was traded to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for rookie Niclas Bergfors, defenseman Johnny Oduya, the hockey realm’s most controversial player of the year, prospect Patrice Cormier, and a first round pick in the 2010 draft.

The winner in this trade is by far the New Jersey Devils.  Bergfors had not scored a goal since Dec. 30, 2009.  He has great potential.  But for New Jersey, he could only find that potential when he was on the top line with Travis Zajac and Zach Parise (they can make anyone look good).  Oduya was a player that many had believed was not performing well enough on the blueline after suffering from a groin injury.  Then there is Cormier. 

Cormier was suspended for the remainder of the season after delivering a serious blow to the back of Mikael Tam’s head.  Lou Lamoriello approved of the decision to have Cormier sit out the remainder of the season and think about the seriousness of what had transpired, as well as help him to understand that he had to be accountable for his own actions on the ice.

With the trade, Lou washes his hands clean of Cormier.

It is rare that Lou goes after a big name in hockey.  The New York area usually leaves the big names to the Rangers, like their most recent acquisition Olli Jokinen, to add to their already heavy-name lineup.

In Martin Brodeur’s book Brodeur Beyond the Crease, he says that Lamoriello approached him after the Pavel Bure trade and said, “You know what’s the difference between us and the Rangers right now?  The difference is the Rangers will get the best player available.  We’re going to get the best player for our team.”

That rings true even to this day.  Brodeur continues,

You make a personnel decision by considering the implications for the entire team.  The best player may not be right for you.  Everybody has a personality, and the people creating a team have to do their homework as to the type of person a player is.

The addition of Kovalchuk to the Devils has gained approval from every single hockey fan in the league.  It officially makes the Devils the most serious contender for the Stanley Cup this year. 

Kovalchuk and Parise make a very dangerous combination on the power play.  In even strength, they could even be more crippling to other teams.  That’s the kind of performance that Kovalchuk has already been able to show in one practice.

“Having him is a huge weapon,” Brodeur said of Kovalchuk.

“He’s an exciting player,” Dainius Zubrus said of his new teammate.  “In Atlanta, playing against him, you had to know where he was because he’s the shot.  You have to respect it.  He’s good.  He plays hard.  He’s as good as anybody.”

It took the team the majority of the game to get acclimated to the new addition to the lineup.  When they finally clicked, the Devils all of a sudden became the team that New Jersey has been waiting for.  It’ll get even better when Patrik Elias and Paul Martin finally return to the lineup (which will be at any time now).

New Jersey Devils vs. Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3

Kovalchuk was warmly welcomed by Devils fans.  From the first moment he stepped foot onto the ice as a New Jersey Devil, fans throughout the arena cheered.  The net has been booming with Thank Yous to Lamoriello from Devils fans everywhere.

As for how Kovalchuk felt in his first game as a Devil, he said after the game that he felt a little nervous at the start of the game, but as things rolled on, it was back to play as usual for him.

All throughout the game, Lemaire switched up the lines.  Kovalchuk started off with Rob Niedermayer and Jamie Langenbrunner, to later skating with Jamie and Zubrus.

Zubrus ended up being a winning combo in the mix with Kovalchuk and Jamie.  At 13:20 in the first period, he tallied the first goal for the Devils with Kovalchuk and Langenbrunner assisting.  Zubrus’ goal marked Kovalchuk’s first point as a New Jersey Devil.

But after Zubrus’ goal, anarchy started to form out on the ice.  The mass confusion as to what anyone was doing was befuddling.  The calls made by the officials were just as confusing as the Devils play.

Niedermayer took a slashing penalty at 2:50 in the second period.  Tomas Kaberle scored on the power play at 3:29.

Kovalchuk was called for interference at 8:38.  Lee Stempniak scored on the power play at 10:23.

Colin White had an off night, as he left the puck loose in front of Brodeur’s net, turned to shove away a Maple Leaf, only to have Rickard Wallin grab the puck and score on Marty for his first goal of the season at 16:09. 

Apparently, Toronto had too many men on the ice during the third goal, but no penalty was assessed.  White saw that there were too many men and relaxed a bit on the play, letting his guard down.

“The guy was still on the ice when the guy touched the puck at the red line,” Lemaire said.  “I know that Whitey saw it and maybe he thought he could relax a bit… and made the turnover.”

Toronto’s 3-1 lead at the end of the second period was disconcerting for everyone.  This was not the Kovalchuk welcome they had imagined.

As the end of the final period drew closer and closer to an end, something happened… to the Devils, that is.  Something finally happened, and the entire team clicked all at once.  This was not something I had ever seen in all of my years of watching Devils hockey.  This was the first time that the team actually made sense.

At 16:56, Dean McAmmond found the back of the net with the help of rookie Vladimir Zharkov and defenseman Mike Mottau.

“I heard some of the guys say, ‘We can come back.  We can come back,’” Lemaire said of the reaction on the bench after McAmmond’s goal.  “For the first time in the game, I saw that they were excited.”

The Devils were able to draw a penalty from Alexei Ponikarovsky at 17:38.

With Travis Zajac, Kovalchuk, Parise and McAmmond on the power play, Zajac ripped a slapshot in to tie up the game with 43.7 seconds remaining.

The Devils kept on going with Langenbrunner, Jay Pandolfo and Niedermayer on the ice.  With 18.9 seconds left in the game, Pandolfo scored the game winner on a rebound from Mike Mottau’s shot. 

“I cannot [explain the turnabout],” coach Lemaire said after the game.  “The whole game I was telling players to win battles, make plays, to be better with the puck.  We had to be better.  We couldn’t do that.  We did it only in the last 2 minutes and 50 seconds.  Then everything was working…how it happened, I just don’t know.”

The three goals with 3:04 left in the game was definitely the stuff of legend as New Jersey welcomed Ilya Kovalchuk to the Devils.

Kovalchuk received the third star along with two points in his first game.

“I think it’s great to play [in front] of this kind of crowd,” Kovalchuk said.  “They supported us all game long.  Nobody left the building.  They kept cheering us.”

Game Notes

Of special note, on Sunday, Niedermayer and Pandolfo were on the ice for each of the three goals scored by the LA Kings.  Going into Friday night’s contest, the problem person on the line showed up to finally play some hockey that not only helped his line, but also his team.  He made great plays all throughout the night, even through the chaos that ensued through the majority of the game.  If I had known this turnaround would happen, I would have complained about him months ago.

Perhaps the trade and not knowing who would go was what it took to shake up the Devils locker room.

Langenbrunner, Mottau and McAmmond all had two points each in the game.

“I have to say he was one of the best players,” Lemaire said of the young rookie Zharkov.  “Skating and puck control… he played hard defensively.  He beat people with the puck with his skating.”

Of the line switching throughout the game, the perfect spot for Kovalchuk (according to Lemaire) is the same perfect spot for almost every forward on the team…with Zajac and Zach Parise.  That could be a deadly combination on the Devils power play…something that the Devils really needed help on.

With the loss of Oduya on the blueline, Anssi Salmela has returned to New Jersey in the deal with Kovalchuk.  The Star-Ledger reported the following from Lamoriello, “I spoke to Anssi and he said, ‘I’m coming back.  I told you I’d be back.’”

Kovalchuk had turned down Atlanta’s offer of $101M for a 12-year contract and was traded to New Jersey.  If he had signed the contract, it would have been the biggest contract in the history of the NHL.

It remains to be seen if Kovalchuk will be offered an extension by the Devils.  It looks like money was not a factor for him.  Hockey was.  You can expect great things from the Russian knowing that he’s come to New Jersey to play hockey, not to make money.  That is an important element in what it means to be a New Jersey Devil.  That’s the kind of player Lou looks for.

The Devils are not about fame, money or glory.  It’s about hockey and it’s about winning.  If you want fame, money and glory… you can go across the river to the New York Rangers.

The Devils are heading across the Hudson tonight to face the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.  Game time is 7 p.m.

“It’s an adjustment when you have new players in your lineup,” Brodeur said.  “People have to learn to play [together].  It’s not like we were flying high either as a team.  We have to think positive of some of the things we did and move on for tomorrow.”