some thoughts after the first few devils' games...

travis zajac is awesome. he plays smart in both ends. he wins faceoffs. he's pretty big (6'3, 200 lbs). true, he benefits from playing with parise (and kovalchuk this year), but he has earned a spot on that line. in fact, he was drafted so that he could play with parise. it's not like where any winger playing with joe thornton immediately scores 35-50 goals (see: murray, glen; cheechoo, jonathon; guerin, bill). and he keeps up with both of them. I'm not sure that he's going to be a 30 goal scorer more than a few times, but I really like the way he's developed. plus, he's still a year or two from really hitting his prime. I worry that he'll be too expensive to keep in a few years if parise gets resigned for the 6-7 million he'll probably get.

I know I would have preferred kovy to start the season on a line with arnott and elias, but I really think the hidden logic behind playing him with parise and zajac is that arnott/elias probably can't really keep up with him. at least not by game 20 at any rate.

at one point during the pens game I saw urbom and fraser on this ice together and it scared the crap out of me. surprisingly, a goal was not scored at that moment. I think that urbom will be good, but he needs some real seasoning. I think he needs to be a 9 games in the nhl and then down to albany kind of guy (to push off his eventual free agency in favor of some experience), but I just don't think it will happen because of the sudden flood of injuries and the fact that he's better than fraser (now injured), corrente (now recalled) and colin white (by february, anyway).

I think that corrente is more of a lost cause at this point and should probably be playing as that 5th dman over urbom. that might seem a little counter-intuitive, but hear me out: everyone projected corrente, a first round pick, to be a solid 2-3 defenseman, possibly following in the scott stevens line of big hitters who can actually put up some points (everyone forgets that stevens had 900+ points in his career). it just hasn't happened and it doesn't really look like it will. his ceiling has probably dropped to that of a 3-4 defenseman on a crappy team. he's had several chances to make the team and stay on the team and he just hasn't been able to do that. so we let him play, possibly showcase him as trade bait, use him as a utility 4th line winger but most importantly, let urbom develop in the ahl for a year. keep in mind, he's only 19 and spent last year in juniors. I don't think it's a matter of getting used to the north american ice, so much as it takes a lot to be a really good defenseman. he still needs to grow into his, possibly still growing, body. have larry robinson make some trips out to albany and mentor him somewhat, then bring him up next year as a 20 year old. that's what I would do, but again, circumstances might not allow for that to happen.

I think taormina is ready to be here as far as his development, but man I've seen him make some poor decisions. I don't want to just harp on negatives; he's also made some smart ones, too. he's definitely had some good passing, good breakouts and is seeing time on the powerplay. I just don't think the best place for him to figure this stuff out is in albany at this point. he'll get time with robinson and stevens, hopefully watch some games from the press box with them in his ear, and that will help him the most. he's definitely got potential but right now he's a liability a little often. he'll get there, though, and we'll have andy greene 2.0 in another year or so. the important thing for him now is that he's been given the opportunity. maclean saw him play last year in lowell and wants him around for a reason, which is good because he'll get a better chance than greene his first few years when he was either dealing with an injury (I want to say he broke his hand after a nice start to his career) or a butthole deserter of a coach (sutter) who liked to scratch him. because he's a butthole.

congrats to adam mair for finally getting signed. he deserves it for sticking around without a contract and, frankly, he'll be a good utility guy for the team (3rd or 4th liner who can play center or wing). he's got some solid veteran experience with several good sabres teams. but seriously, now that you're getting paid again, work on the teeth, dude.

after watching the pens game and reading the pre-game interview with paul martin, I'll probably have another rant about him in the future. I know it probably seems like there might be some kind of unhealthy obsession there. I'm neither confirming nor denying that. that is all.

zubrus and clarkson should not be on the same line. they serve the same purpose in crashing the net and boards, digging pucks out of the corners, screening the goalie, etc. useful, sure. but when put together you just have 400 lbs of people running into each other. comical, yes. graceful, no.

also, I just want to pimp this espn hockey preview from dj gallo at espn. it's far better than anything scott burnside would ever write.

speaking of burnside, I'd also like to apologize for something briefly. as a devils fan who spent the last 4+ years living in atlanta, I failed in my mission to find scott burnside and punch him in the face. the paper he wrote for was only a few blocks from my school and I would always keep my eyes peeled for him, but alas, it wasn't to be. I feel like I let everyone down just a little. my bad.