As our off-season rolls along, I think we can safely chuck Jack's 1st year. The kid was in his boy body, 1st yr in the NHL.. yada yada. He has really 8 months to workout, eat right, improve everything. I think we can consider next year as really what to judge him as in his near rookie season. I'm not saying judge what he'll be as an NHL-er, but as a guy starting out. I think we'll see at least 50pts from him, and I'm just fine with that.

eh, probably is. I wonder how many Rags fans would be Devils fans had they lost to NJ in 94, and never won a Cup since.. while NJ beat them in 94, maybe wins the Cup in 94..95..2000..2003.. the 06 domination of the Rags, the 2012 Conf Finals win.. wow this is refreshing to type.
but seriously, from just the mid 90s era, a wonder if any Rags fans would turn if they never won.
In full transparency, when I was.. I think 6 in 94, I only had basic channels, didn't really follow sports. Roller hockey was picking up in central Jersey, with half the kids Rags fans, some Philly, good chunk NJ. But.. my buddy rooted for the Rags after 94.. cuz they won. So I was like.. ok sure, Rangers rule-Devils drool. After 95 it was a different story.. and we got into arguments with the neighbor about how the DEVILS RULE and the RANGERS drool lol.
so yea, for some kids, Devils winning over the Rags in 94 .. the Rags never winning.. maybe some dump the Rags cuz of perpetual suck and pickup Devils cuz of perpetual awesome.
- MartysBetter88

I have to say the 94 and 95 seasons was an extremely exciting time to be a Devils fan. Despite losing in 94. And even more so than when they finally made the playoffs in the late 80’s. It was a really special time for hockey in the metro area and the rivalry was at it’s BEST (IMO). If you can YouTube all 7 games of the 94 conference finals, you will see the excitement I speak of.

But I do agree, the Devils win in 1994 and not Rags and we would have a much larger fan base.

I have to say the 94 and 95 seasons was an extremely exciting time to be a Devils fan. Despite losing in 94. And even more so than when they finally made the playoffs in the late 80’s. It was a really special time for hockey in the metro area and the rivalry was at it’s BEST (IMO). If you can YouTube all 7 games of the 94 conference finals, you will see the excitement I speak of.
- Crushers68

It was an amazing time in the ATLANTIC division.
No Metro yet and sadly the Patrick Division was history.

Your useless fact of the day is that in the 93-94 season the NJ Devils OUTSCORED the NY Rangers by 7 goals and of course allowed 11 fewer against. In fact NJ had the best goal differential in the league of +86 (306 goals for vs. 220 against). We were #2 in offense (behind Detroit's 356! goals) and #2 in defense (behind Buffalo's 218 goals against).

Buffalo was coached by John Muckler who held on until 95 and was replaced by Ted Nolan; who lasted two season before being replaced by LINDY RUFF who coached them from 1997 to 2013.

But yeah (frank) THE RANGERS! But read the book Battle on the Hudson.

Having watched a lot of the 1994 NJ-NY playoff series recently I have to say it is unbelievable what an UGLY brand of hockey was being played back then. I just watch and wonder why NOTHING is a penalty.

It was an amazing time in the ATLANTIC division.
No Metro yet and sadly the Patrick Division was history.

Your useless fact of the day is that in the 93-94 season the NJ Devils OUTSCORED the NY Rangers by 7 goals and of course allowed 11 fewer against. In fact NJ had the best goal differential in the league of +86 (306 goals for vs. 220 against). We were #2 in offense (behind Detroit's 356! goals) and #2 in defense (behind Buffalo's 218 goals against).

Buffalo was coached by John Muckler who held on until 95 and was replaced by Ted Nolan; who lasted two season before being replaced by LINDY RUFF who coached them from 1997 to 2013.

But yeah (frank) THE RANGERS! But read the book Battle on the Hudson.

Having watched a lot of the 1994 NJ-NY playoff series recently I have to say it is unbelievable what an UGLY brand of hockey was being played back then. I just watch and wonder why NOTHING is a penalty.
- Queenie_5_hole

Good points for sure. I didn’t remember us being so offensive but nice to see.

And yes, those clutch and grab days definitely slowed down the games and unless you took someone’s head off it was never a penalty. Good times

It was an amazing time in the ATLANTIC division.
No Metro yet and sadly the Patrick Division was history.

Your useless fact of the day is that in the 93-94 season the NJ Devils OUTSCORED the NY Rangers by 7 goals and of course allowed 11 fewer against. In fact NJ had the best goal differential in the league of +86 (306 goals for vs. 220 against). We were #2 in offense (behind Detroit's 356! goals) and #2 in defense (behind Buffalo's 218 goals against).

Buffalo was coached by John Muckler who held on until 95 and was replaced by Ted Nolan; who lasted two season before being replaced by LINDY RUFF who coached them from 1997 to 2013.

But yeah (frank) THE RANGERS! But read the book Battle on the Hudson.

Having watched a lot of the 1994 NJ-NY playoff series recently I have to say it is unbelievable what an UGLY brand of hockey was being played back then. I just watch and wonder why NOTHING is a penalty.
- Queenie_5_hole

That just shows you how you've adjusted to the new NHL. I love mid 90s hockey. I love the physicality and yes.. grabbing and holding etc. Don't wana be held? move faster, be more evasive, make better plays- all of which still happened. In today's game you'll have half the game with 1 of the teams a man down.. which is stupid. Penalties should be deviations from the norm, instead of on the verge of being called with every rush into a zone. I want to see 5 on 5, not special teams.

That 94 team was really good.. but so was that 94 Rangers team. A very special series and it's too bad we didn't win back to backs, and 4 Cups in 10 years, let alone 3 Cups in 7 years.

That just shows you how you've adjusted to the new NHL. I love mid 90s hockey. I love the physicality and yes.. grabbing and holding etc. Don't wana be held? move faster, be more evasive, make better plays- all of which still happened. In today's game you'll have half the game with 1 of the teams a man down.. which is stupid. Penalties should be deviations from the norm, instead of on the verge of being called with every rush into a zone. I want to see 5 on 5, not special teams.

That 94 team was really good.. but so was that 94 Rangers team. A very special series and it's too bad we didn't win back to backs, and 4 Cups in 10 years, let alone 3 Cups in 7 years.
- MartysBetter88

Well to be fair, it was the playoffs and I think the refs were more reluctant to call anything then during the regular season. But it is funny how the game looks different over the years. I mean the evolution of goalie equipment alone is remarkable.

Lav shouldn't have even been there in 2006 but the Sabres were playing there AHL defensive core that Conf. Championship because everyone one was hurt and still took them to 7 games.

Just saw that Vancouver signed their defensive prospect Rathbone out of Harvard. As part of the new NHL collective bargaining agreement, Rathbone beat today’s July 15 deadline that allows his contract to technically start in 2019-20, meaning he gets to burn a season of his three-year deal without even playing a game. Ivy league games have been pushed back to 1/1/21, if at all.

I hope the Devils at least reached out to Walsh under these rules.

Nostalgia for the old days is really clouding people's opinion of the game. If you go back and watch those cup games against Detroit the games are really boring. There is no room for any type of offensive creativity and the games drag on forever. Winning is the most important factor to fun, so I'm not complaining about how we won games in that time period but I think saying the game was more interesting then is BS.

I take a hard pass at 5 mill for lav.. I actually don't hate him as much as others and think he's okay but just that. ok. Average. Not worth the salary I agree with the owners after all they are the ones paying not us and 5 mil is a lot of money..i jus don't understand why they didn't pay gallant what he wanted now that's a coach you pay 4 mil or more for..unless of course he didn't want to..
But I don't believe that. Why would he pass on an nhl job only 31 of them and hes not guranteed another one..

I take a hard pass at 5 mill for lav.. I actually don't hate him as much as others and think he's okay but just that. ok. Average. Not worth the salary I agree with the owners after all they are the ones paying not us and 5 mil is a lot of money..i jus don't understand why they didn't pay gallant what he wanted now that's a coach you pay 4 mil or more for..unless of course he didn't want to..
But I don't believe that. Why would he pass on an nhl job only 31 of them and hes not guranteed another one..
- Rednblackk

5 mil is more money than either of us is going to make in our entire life, but our owners are worth 5 billion dollars so I don't really think somebody needs to make excuses for them not shelling out some money to make our sports team watchable.

I take a hard pass at 5 mill for lav.. I actually don't hate him as much as others and think he's okay but just that. ok. Average. Not worth the salary I agree with the owners after all they are the ones paying not us and 5 mil is a lot of money..i jus don't understand why they didn't pay gallant what he wanted now that's a coach you pay 4 mil or more for..unless of course he didn't want to..
But I don't believe that. Why would he pass on an nhl job only 31 of them and hes not guranteed another one..
- Rednblackk

but Ruff is BAD. for a drop in the bucket, we should've got Lav if he was the other option. I HOPE I'M WRONG.. Ruff just.. yeeeeeeeeeshh

I wasn't thrilled by the selection of Lindy Ruff as the new head coach. But as time passes, I have warmed to the idea. Nico/Hughes could be his '06 Drury/Briere down the middle. Hopefully Devs can put some more talent around them. Ultimately, Ruff's success will be determined by whether or not Fitzgerald can finally fix the defense.

5 mil is more money than either of us is going to make in our entire life, but our owners are worth 5 billion dollars so I don't really think somebody needs to make excuses for them not shelling out some money to make our sports team watchable.
- Pomegrant

I understand but I think ruff is also average so why pay more? Is lav really that much better than Lindy? Maybe but I don't think so

but Ruff is BAD. for a drop in the bucket, we should've got Lav if he was the other option. I HOPE I'M WRONG.. Ruff just.. yeeeeeeeeeshh
- MartysBetter88

I think they are the same in terms of being average coaches

I think they are the same in terms of being average coaches
- Rednblackk

Net results they might be fairly close but they seem to have very different styles. Supposedly Lavy is more of a disciplinarian old school coach who’s into a very structured approach. Lindy is more personable with his players, team building type who freewheels more and has the D play very aggressive. Lindy’s Ranger D wasn’t very good defensively but was productive.

So hopefully we get finally get the fast, attacking & supportive hockey we were promised long ago.

Net results they might be fairly close but they seem to have very different styles. Supposedly Lavy is more of a disciplinarian old school coach who’s into a very structured approach. Lindy is more personable with his players, team building type who freewheels more and has the D play very aggressive. Lindy’s Ranger D wasn’t very good defensively but was productive.

So hopefully we get finally get the fast, attacking & supportive hockey we were promised long ago.
- Queenie_5_hole

You have to have the horses to play that way. Often a coach will come in and install a system and style of play that he wants to play only to find out they can't play that way. A good coach obviously tries to maximize what he's got. Sometimes that requires playing a less aggressive and more boring style in order to compete. We'll see.

You have to have the horses to play that way. Often a coach will come in and install a system and style of play that he wants to play only to find out they can't play that way. A good coach obviously tries to maximize what he's got. Sometimes that requires playing a less aggressive and more boring style in order to compete. We'll see.
- MJL

You kidding me. We are the masters of playing low event hockey.

I'd be okay with Ted Nolan as an assistant. More mediocre, but not worse than what we've had.

I'd be okay with Ted Nolan as an assistant. More mediocre, but not worse than what we've had.
- MartysBetter88

Are we turning into the Buffalo Sabers?!

Are we turning into the Buffalo Sabers?!
- Queenie_5_hole

Hockey heaven?

Hockey heaven?
- dmarsden2988

hockey purgatory

hockey purgatory
- Pomegrant

I'd be okay with Ted Nolan as an assistant. More mediocre, but not worse than what we've had.
- MartysBetter88

Oh come on