After four consecutive losses in which his team scored four total goals, Devils coach Brent Sutter changed up his lines again for practice today. The biggest move was shifting Zach Parise back from center to left wing and reuniting him with center Travis Zajac in hope that they recapture some of their scoring magic from last season. Brian Gionta skated at right wing on the line.
Dainius Zubrus was signed this summer to try to fill Scott Gomez's old role as the No. 1 center, but has no goals and four assists in his first 10 games and is now skating at right wing on the third line with Jay Pandolfo and John Madden. Sergei Brylin moved to center between Patrik Elias and David Clarkson on what is now the second line. The fourth line remained Mike Rupp-Rod Pelley-Arron Asham.
"It's just shaking things up a bit, trying to get a little more spark and scoring to some degree," Sutter said.
Defenseman Karel Rachunek missed practice for the second day in a row because of a groin injury he sustained in Saturday's loss to Ottawa and Sutter said he is "a questionable player" for Wednesday's home game against Tampa Bay. That means defenseman Mike Mottau will return after being a healthy scratch the last two games.
Sutter was back on the ice Tuesday after missing practice Monday for "personal reasons."
There were some interesting results in the one-on-one sprints (faceoff circle to far goal line) at the end of practice: Madden beat Parise, Paul Martin edged Elias and Martin Brodeur beat Kevin Weekes.
Rupp and Clarkson appeared to finish in a dead heat. Rupp said afterward that he thought he beat Clarkson, but Madden disagreed. "Clarkie nosed you out," he said. Rupp didn't buy it. "Nosed me out?" Rupp asked and then turned his head to show his profile, which made it hard to believe that anyone could have beaten him by a nose.
Today's lines (as mentioned above) and defense pairs:
Forwards: Parise-Zajac-Gionta; Elias-Brylin-Clarkson; Pandolfo-Madden-Zubrus; Rupp-Pelley-Asham.
Defense: Greene-Martin; Oduya-Mottau; Vishnevski-Brookbank.
At least it sounds like they're still in good spirits.
TG, how is the general atmosphere? Are they pissed off, whiny, resigned? Also do you get the feeling that they respect and listen to Sutter or that they have had enough already?
Posted by: Yaron | October 30, 2007 at 02:22 PM
these lines give me a warm fuzzy feeling. they sound look some good pairing. well, of course for the oduya/mottau line. im continuing my "oduya needs to go" mantra.
Posted by: justin | October 30, 2007 at 03:00 PM
I really like the changes; I was also thinking the same about Clarkson, Zubrus and the Parise line. I'm real interested to see how Bylin does but he is not a #1 or 2 center, but at least he hustles. I like AG-PM combo and hope the VV-SB combo get more ice time than JO-MM, which I think is clear since JO was bumped from PM's pair.
Posted by: Pat | October 30, 2007 at 03:06 PM
" Rachunek missed practice for the second day in a row because of a groin injury ... Sutter said he is "a questionable player" for Wednesday's home game against Tampa Bay."
I agree with the coach, he is a questionable player.
Posted by: kerry | October 30, 2007 at 03:25 PM
Hey -
Kerry just robbed me of my chance to appear clever!
Posted by: RangersSuck | October 30, 2007 at 04:05 PM
whats up with all these so called "personal reasons" that are causing everyone to miss practices.
TG, any insider info filtering through to the media about what these mysterious "personal reasons" are?
Posted by: josh | October 30, 2007 at 04:09 PM
Wow, you know Zubrus is a bust if they have to put Brylin on the top line. No knock on Sergei, who always works hard but it is a shame that the offense can't get itself together. Putting Parise and Zajac is always smart since they work well together and maybe Gionta can feed off of them. I have pretty much given up on Elias as most Devils fans have. At this point I just want Clarkson to start getting his game going.
I can't believe that Oduya has still not been benched. I guess Larry Robinson likes him, becuase we sure as hell don't. It's nice the Devils are going races against each other, unfortunetly they can't keep up with opposing teams so theres not much to be happy about.
Hopefully the Devils can turn it around against the Lightnings tomorrow! We just need to go back to the basics and play smart for 60 minutes. It would also help if someone gave Johnny Oduya some super-glue to keep his hockey stick in his hands. Cause god forbid he drops it......
Posted by: Zavior | October 30, 2007 at 04:09 PM
I really hope that the Johnny O pair is the 3rd pair. I actually am not as spitefull of JO as most seem to be. I think John Oduya is falling victim to "The Rafalski Effect" where a decent Offensive defenceman was forced to play to many minutes and in a role he can't be expected to play (top pairing all around Dman). Plus I am REALLY liking the instincts and skills of Brookbank. This kid doesn't hesitate to let go his shot (which from what I saw in warm ups is a very good one) and seems very stable and confident with the puck. Nice pick up with this one Lou, very Andy-Greene-esque.
Posted by: josh | October 30, 2007 at 04:16 PM
TG – Thanks for the updates as always, but at this point I don’t really give a crap what the line combo’s are until Sutter stops changing them 20 minutes into the game and just keeps the lines in tact for a game or two. We’re only 10 games into the season and he’s already tried just about every line combo possible outside of putting Brodeur up on the wing – given his shot & hearing that he beat Weekes in a sprint, I wouldn’t put it past Sutter to do something like that. He could pick line combo’s out of a hat at this point (assuming he’s not already doing so) and it means nothing until he has the patience to let ‘em play together for a little while.
Posted by: HBK27 | October 30, 2007 at 05:03 PM
The general atmosphere is still positive. They definitely had fun with the end of practice sprints. That was the main reason I mentioned them, to show these guys are still in good spirits.
And, unless they bring back Richard Matvichuk (not going to happen), Oduya has to play tomorrow. With Rachunek injured, the Devils have only six healthy defensemen on their roster.
There might be a positive in keeping the lines together for a while, too. They did generate 18 shots on goal in the first period against Ottawa, so something was working. That said, Elias actually played pretty well two years ago when the Devils put him on a line with Brylin and Langenbrunner.
I guess anything is worth a try at this point.
Posted by: TG | October 30, 2007 at 05:57 PM
Tom,
FYI, the email link doesn't seem to work. I got this error message:
Recipient address: guilitti@northjersey.com
Reason: Remote SMTP server has rejected address
Diagnostic code: smtp;554 : Recipient address rejected: User not registered with ContentCatcher
Remote system: dns;monmouth.voyantinc.com (TCP|167.206.4.200|50511|4.78.136.20|25) (*l3********************************ESMTP)
Posted by: Pat | October 30, 2007 at 06:48 PM
TG, Can You please talk to someone on behalf of the Fans watching at Home? During The Dano after show there were all of these kids hanging off of Him picking their noses,and carrying on, it got to be so annoying that after a while I stopped watching it, Thanks. also Elias has really taken a beating in the press and some of the Fans are talking like He's done in NJ, some of Us still have faith in Him, I think that He will be ok He just has to find His groove. some of the reports on Whitey are very disturbing to Me, they make it seem like He will never get His sight back or play in the NHL again.
Posted by: Shari | October 30, 2007 at 06:48 PM
I heard that about the postgame with the fans hanging on Daneyko. I'll see what I can find out about any possible changes they might make tomorrow or in the future.
Also, I am having a problem with my e-mail address that I hope I can straighten out tomorrow when I stop by my office. I apologize if people are having trouble contacting me.
Posted by: TG | October 30, 2007 at 07:14 PM
Heh, Madden's a speed demon, beating Parise! Thanks for the update, Tom, it's been pretty quiet and a little glum, although the new arena makes up for a lot of that.
What are your impressions of the players' impressions of Sutter? Like or dislike? More importantly, does he seem to be getting through to them? Do they respect him? Personally, I like Sutter and I hope he's here for a long time, though I don't see Lou getting rid of him.
Posted by: jules | October 30, 2007 at 08:56 PM
Any chance we'll be getting Bergfors back in the mix?
He never really got a fair chance with the big team.
Posted by: Dave | October 30, 2007 at 09:16 PM
When I asked Lou Lamoriello about Bergfors last week, he said that he needed to play some games down in Lowell because he missed a decent stretch after he injured his shoulder in the opener.
Posted by: TG | October 30, 2007 at 10:35 PM
Any chance Weekes goes in against the Lightning?
Posted by: NJBoy | October 30, 2007 at 11:05 PM
Weekes will probably play Friday vs the Leafs. At least I hope he is...the Leafs have owned Marty throughout his career and they're the only ones he doesn't have a winning record against.
Marty plays tonight and Saturday vs Rags.
Posted by: Devilswede | October 31, 2007 at 06:52 AM
Thanks TG! You're doing a great job and a great service to Devils fans with this blog.
Posted by: Yaron | October 31, 2007 at 09:20 AM
Actually, they probably should get Brodeur on wing. Didn't Marty start out as a forward as a kid before his coach made him a goalie?
Posted by: MoonDragn | October 31, 2007 at 09:49 AM
I think Zubrus fits best on the checking line with Mad dog and Pando. So this leaves a hole at the 2nd line center, because Brylin should not be considered there long term. Once we dump Matvichuk, either to Lowell or to another NHL team, maybe Lou can bring in a 2nd line center, who can play with Elias and Clarkson until Langenbrunner comes along, at which point DC would drop to the 4th line with Brylin and Asham.
Tom, is Sutter giving Johnny Mac any input on the offense ? JMac was praised for the offensive production of the team in the last few seasons, but it sure seems that Sutter has taken control of everything, changing the whole system, which seemed to relegate Johnny Mac and Larry Robinson to advisory roles.
Posted by: mike | October 31, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Memo to Sutter:
NO MORE LINE CHANGES!
This game was great. It sure as hell lifted my spirits about the team.
Once again,
NO MORE LINE CHANGES!
Posted by: RangersSuck | October 31, 2007 at 10:21 PM