Rachunek returns to practice

Defenseman Karel Rachunek practiced with the team this morning for the first time in a week and it appears possible that he will play in Tuesday night's home game against Buffalo. Rachunek described his status as "day to day."

Rachunek has missed the last six games while recovering from a right ankle or knee injury. The team and Rachunek said the injury is to his ankle, but Rachunek flexed his right knee as he skated off the ice after he was injured on Dec. 21 in Edmonton.

"I felt pretty good today," he said. "I didn't feel (the ankle/knee) today. I didn't feel it for a couple of days."

Rachunek admitted that he suffered "a little setback" when he practiced a week ago and stayed off the ice for two days after that. He skated on his own under the supervision of fitness consultant Vladimir Bure after that.

Backup goaltender Kevin Weekes practiced today after tweaking his right leg in the third period of Saturday's loss in Boston and said he felt well enough to back up Tuesday night. "It feels better today," Weekes said. "It's still a bit sore, but, considering it could have been worse, I'm pretty happy with that."

Weekes admitted that one of the reasons that he stayed in the game on Saturday was so Martin Brodeur didn't have to come in cold. He also didn't want to come out because he was playing for the first time in nearly a month.

Although the Devils have scored a power-play goal in three consecutive games, they again dedicated a large portion of today's practice to the power play. Rachunek worked the left point on one of the units with Mike Mottau at the other point and Dainius Zubrus, Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta up front. Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Jamie Langenbrunner, Johnny Oduya and Paul Martin comprised the other unit.

Devils coach Brent Sutter went back to the lines he started Saturday's game with, breaking up the fourth line of Arron Asham, Mike Rupp and David Clarkson that was so effective for the final two periods against Boston. Sutter was called into a long meeting after practice and was unavailable for comment.

Today's lines and defense pairings:

Forwards: Zubrus-Elias-Gionta; Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner; Brylin-Madden-Clarkson; Rupp-Pelley-Asham.

Defense: White-Mottau; Oduya-Martin; Vishnevski-Broobank; Greene-Rachunek.

Comments

[Xander Crews]

WTF??? Keep Rupp, Asham, and Clarkson together.

[DEVS]

I used to think Rupp was useless but Recently he has played extremely well. I think Rupp finally realized his position on the team was not for sure. He might actually turn into a great powerfoward. Plus I think he even played better at center than on the wing last game.

[MoonDragn]

I think Sutter starts the game with a certain line, but he never finishes with it. I think he experiments with the different line combinations to see what to play during the actual game depending on how the players are playing and what the other team matches up with. This way it keeps the opponents guessing.

I think in the beginning of the year this was bad for the team because half of the players were new, but now they are used to playing different combinations it is very effective.
The fact that our 4th line had scoring chances shows that it works.

Can't wait for pandolfo to be back so our checking line is killer again.

[FTC]

TG,

Do you have any idea what this "long meeting" was about? Was it just Lou and Sutter, or did the other coaches attend too?

[TG]

I have no idea what the meeting was about or who it was with, but I'd guess it was with Lamoriello. All we were told was that he'd be in there "for at least an hour."

[Danofan355]

Maybe Lou was asking why he doesn't keep the lines that work together?

Who knows. I trust Sutter but I still wish he would leave the PEG, ZZL and RCA lines together. Soon as we show signs of clicking, he takes them apart!

[DevsForLife]

I agree with Danofan355, how are we supposed to get anything going if we keep switching lines all the time?

[Jason]

Hopefully the meeting was about Sutter's lack of a future with this team.

[Devilswede]

The meeting was probably about the makeup of the team. This is the time managers start preparing for the trading deadline and Lou wants to know what Sutter thinks about the team and what kind of players he'd like to add. It doesn't mean anything will happen soon, but I'm just saying they're preparing for it.

[matt]

TG- Any idea what time the morning skate starts/ends tomorrow? Thanks

[RJ Arditti]

i agree with devilswede, i think it was just a prep meeting to see if they should be going after any particular area to try to improve before the opportunity(the trade deadline) passes. I have to say that if your waiting for Sutter to get fired Jason, your going to be waiting a looooonnnnggg time for that as the man DOES have the team in first place despite all the new faces and losing one of the top D men in the league(Rafalski) and one of the top Centers in the league as well and not really replacing them... quite a feat if you look at it actually

[Xander Crews]

Lol @ RJ yea the Devil firing a head coach who has the team in first would never happen.

I hope he does get fired but im just saying Lou fires coaches regardless of how the team is doing.

[Alzheimers]

Actually, I hope the meeting was about how they can clear up some cap room to be able to offer Phaneuf 5yr/40m which is probably what he'll go for on the open market.

[Pat D]

Oduya is getting PP time which I find weird since I would imagine him being the odd D man out.
And in response to Alzheimers, Phaneuf is still a RFA at the end of the season so if you think he is coming here you are dreaming VERY big.

[stoonbora]

For those of you who want Sutter fired, you're dreaming. When he was hired, Sutter said that Lou had asked him to be head coach prior to 06/07, but he felt that he wasn't ready. Therefore the firing of Julien seems obvious regardless of where he had them in the standings, Lou still wanted Sutter, and he hoped that he would want the job for 07/08, which he obviously did. I've said this before and I'll say it again: Sutter is a very good coach, he had an excellent record with Red Deer, and as coach of Canada's various junior teams he had 19 wins and 1 tie. He inherited a team that was coming of a good year but had lost two great players and had a lot of new faces. He has done a great job of turning them into a winning club, look at their record, despite their shaky start. Lay off him, he's a first-year NHL coach who will very soon be regarded as one of the best in the league.

[TG]

Wow. You guys have taken this meeting and made into something huge when it could have been about almost anything. I wouldn't get carried away. The coach has meetings every day. I don't even know that Lamoriello was definitely in the meeting. I just guessed that he probably was.

And, as for switching the lines, Sutter actually went back to the lines he has been using before Saturday's game. The switches Saturday were in reaction to how the game was going and turned out to be good ones. Lots of coaches do that during games.

[devfan-ru-]

I know Tom. But with so many coaching changes in this organization recently... you can see how many of us fans are insecure about it. =)

[Jason]

Herb Brooks was a great coach too, UNTIL he got to the NHL. Sutter hasn't done anything for this team. His new "system" hasn't produced any offense on a team that is last in the league in scoring. His line shakeups have done nothing but disrupt any semblance of chemistry. His coaching strategies seem no different than a 10 yr old playing NHL 08. Our young defensemen are making progress due to Robinson and Albelin, NOT Sutter. And this team is winning games when and only when, our goalie plays out of his mind. If we can't beat the Rangers and the Islanders (and we can't), than Sutter won't last.

[JQUAG]

I know it is important to have all players be able to adapt and move around to different lines under different situations, but to me the whole "line chemistry" thing really should take priority. They need to get it going more.

[Chris]

Sutter has commented on why he does so much line changing before. despite it being very vauge every time I take it as he want's EVERYONE to be comfortable playing with EVERYONE. That is something that this team has lacked for years (if it ever had it at all) and it is something of huge importance come playoff time. Once playoffs roll around you can't then realize someone has an answer to your top line (or 2 lines as it was for us last season) and then try to shake up your lines it won't work. The regular season is when you want people to get familiar playing with one another not in the playoffs when it really matters.

And Jason, don't hold your breathe on Sutter being fired. Lou has wanted Sutter and in my opinion Julien was only an interim coach for the Devils to wait for Sutter to become available.

And an after thought, It may be Robinson that is contributing so much to the development of our defenceman, but who was in red deer developing Phaneuf so don't immediatly assume he had no part in it. Not to mention you have to give Sutter redit for having the self confidence to have such prominent and head coach worthy assistants working with him.

[JasonB]

Wow, from now on i will be "JasonB"- as not to be confused with the other "Jason" on this board that wants Sutter fired. Are you kidding me? Sutter is exactly what this team needs, he isn't going anywhere,

[jules]

Are there really people who want Sutter fired? He’s awesome (and not just his quotes). Or do you want Julien ball back? What makes you think that Sutter hasn't done anything for this team? What about Madden and Pandolfo, for starters? Those two weren’t supposed to have any offense at all, but Madden has delivered and Pando was too, until he was injured. On paper, this team is supposed to be much weaker than last year’s, and particularly weaker than this year’s Rags and Pens, and yet we’re in the same place in the standings.

As for our defense, I agree with Chris that LRob probably does have a lot to do with it, but that’s not to say that Sutter deserves no credit at all for how well the team’s been playing. Same with the line changes. That ARC line was effective…for half a game. Give Sutter the benefit of the doubt here…things are really bad when Devils fans are complaining about the fourth line’s being broken up.

And to say that the team only wins when Marty plays out of his mind is untrue and doesn’t give enough credit to Sutter AND the team. Marty’s play is usually outstanding, so I rarely fault him for a bad game, but he’s had them and bad periods, and even let in bad goals, but the team managed to claw their way back and win more than once. As for Sutter’s coaching strategies, surely you don’t mean recently. Even with just calling time outs during the game, his timing has been great (see the recent games against Florida and the Oilers). The best part, though, is that he’s willing to adapt, admit his mistakes, and learn from them.

I honestly think that Sutter is the best coach we’ve had in years and Lou’s best off-season acquisition. Hopefully he stays here for a long time.

[Sam]

I could see Lou going after Rob Blake. His cap hit at the deadline would be 1.32 million.

Martin-White
Blake-Greene
Vishnevski-Rachunek/Mottau

[Jason]

I just don't get why you people think Sutter is any good. Julien, Burns, Robinson, heck, Ftorek, had this team in first place. Sutter is lost out there. If any of you think this team's success comes from anyone but his assistant coaching staff, you are insane. He is a total clown. He came in here saying that he wasnt going to use line matching....then the team stinks. So what does he do, he uses line matching. He says he is going to play a wide open game, and what happens? The team can't score, and so what does he do, he goes right back to playing tight D. He has not had a single original idea in his head that has worked. Stop drinking the kool-aid, and get rid of this bone-head loser so that the job is open for Burns when he is healthy again. If I have to listen to one more press conference in his broken english, half stumbling, half bumbling ramble, i will choke. Sure Brent, you are such a tough guy, then you give out days off like they are candy, and you wonder why your team can't string 2 wins together. Herb Brooks 2.0

[Jason]

And Jules, how bleeping dare you say Sutter is the best coach in years. How about the 3 coaches that won CUPS for this team? OR are you not old enough to remember?