Predictions for the new season

The Devils finally open the regular season tonight against the Islanders at Prudential Center.

I figured I should post my prediction for the season to have it on the record before the season begins. As some of you may have seen, I predicted in The Record that Detroit will repeat as Stanley Cup champions and beat Montreal in the finals.

As for the Devils, I believe this will be a pretty good season. There's no question they are stronger up front after the additions of Brian Rolston -- the top six forward and power-play point man  they needed -- and Bobby Holik. I think you'll see bounceback seasons from Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac. Brian Gionta should also play better, but you might see him get more assists this year with Rolston and Patrik Elias scoring more goals.

Some people seem to think Elias needs to rebound this season, but I thought he had a very good season last year from December on and didn't get much credit for the job he did moving to center -- a position he hadn't played in the NHL.

The defense is essentially the same other than Bryce Salvador being here from the start of the season and being healthy and rookie Anssi Salmela.

Martin Brodeur will have his usaul 40-plus wins in net and break the all-time wins record at some point in late November or early December. I think Kevin Weekes will play more often this season, but not more than 10 games.

How will it all add up? In the end, I think the Penguins will have a better team, but I think the Devils will win the Atlantic Divison regular season title. Pittsburgh will be hard pressed to get off to a good start with Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney out with injuries. The Penguins will get by with their wingers until the trade deadline and probably pick someone up again at the trade deadline to make a strong run in the playoffs again. It will be too late for them to take the Atlantic from the Devils, though.

The Rangers and Flyers will be close behind. The Rangers are an unknown right now. They could be fine, but they have a host of new players and you wonder if Henrik Lundqvist's knees can hold up for the long haul -- even with the defense being improved. I think a lot of people are underestimating the loss of Jaromir Jagr. He was the Rangers' best player by far in the playoffs last season and you just don't replace his presence easily.

So, I'll predict: 1. Devils. 2. Penguins. 3. Flyers. 4. Rangers. 5. Islanders in the Altantic. All but the Islanders will make the playoffs again.

Now, it's your turn. I expect a bias since most of you reading this are Devils' fans, but I'd like to hear your opinions and predictions.

Looking forward to the first game tonight.

Comments

[Maxwell]

It's though to say that the Red Wings will repeat, because the playoffs are SO UNPREDICTABLE. I agree the Devils will win the Atlantic - but the Rangers will have a better record than the Flyers:

Devils, Pens, Blueshirts, Flyers, Islanders.

I agree that Zajac (especially now back w/Parise) will have a solid season. I also agree that Gionta is going to have a ton of helpers this season - probably a couple tonight.

My bold prediction, as I've said a few times in the preseason, is that ZUBRUS will get 30+ goals. The guy is a freakin' beast, and he's on the biggest line in hockey. He'll be matched up against guys with half of his skill, and I think he'll be worth all the money we gave him.

I hope Oduya doesn't suck as much this year, too, but my prediction is that he definitely will...

[Maxwell]

TG - quick question. When do I have to get there tonight to buy the tickets are on sale the day of each game?

Thanks for keeping us SO in the loop!

[modnarm]

i agree with u for the most part. However, i think Philly will be better than pittsburgh. They have more depth across the board and much MUCH better wingers. Pittsburgh to me is still the Crosby Malkin show. Last year they had Hossa and Malone jivin together and that helped with they're playoff run giving opposing teams weapons to defend against.. but Satan and Fedotenko aren't that caliber. The Flyers don't have Crosby and Malkin but they have much better overall talent. They're question mark is if Biron can hold it together.

So. Devils. Flyers. Penguins. Rags. Islanders.

[2600]

I'm not going to make any predictions, but I will say I agree mostly with your assessment TG. What I do want to mention is how Parise, Madden, and a healthy Pandolfo will do this season. I think Jay was obviously not 100% after coming back from his injury last year, and it showed by him taking more penalties (although a few were BS), a decrease in scoring from the first part of the year, and he seemed slower. I hope he is 100% this year because I think we can expect good things from him and Madden with Sutter's coaching methods along with the inclusion of Holik on the team taking a burden away from those guys. As for Parise, can we expect him to improve on his stats again this season? He lit up the preseason with 5 goals I believe, and so Hopefully we will have an offense firing on all cylinders.
That said, not everyone can have a stellar year, or at least stellar all season, so I don't want to think everyone will be scoring 20-30 goals, but I do think we will be see improvements in play and intelligence if not stats from many of our young or new forwards. As for defense, the question remains whether Oduya and Mottau can follow up great seasons with steady play this year. I think many will peg at least one of them for a drop-off, and I think this is a fair estimation, but their play could make or break the season on the backline for the devils. Marty is a given, and even if he has an off year, he'll still be better than 2/3 of the starting goalies in the league. I feel like we have a strong team this year, but we're in a tough division, so we'll see what happens. I'm not complaining though since I'd rather watch us play the pens 6 times a year than the blue jackets or panthers. GO DEVS!

[Robbie]

TG I agree with yor predictions.I have ine question, since Parise got moved back with Zajac and Langenbrunner, do you think there is a possibility that he can become around 70-80 points?

[shredder29]

BRODEUR DIDNT LOSE ALL THAT WEIGHT NOT TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP FELLA'S. i THINK WE HAVE A SOLID CHANCE BUT GETTING A BOUWMEESTER WOULD CERTAINLY HELP THAT. YOU GOTTA EXPECT GIONTA TO HAVE A GREAT YEAR, WHY..BECAUSE IT'S CONTRACT YEAR AND IM SURE HE WANTS TO GET PAID SO MAYBE SOME GOOD TRADE BAIT THERE. OBVIOUSLY ITS GONNA TAKE A LIITLE MORE THEN GIO BUT IT WOULD BE TOTALLY WORTH IT. THERE'S FOUR SOLID LINES, DEPTH IN THE MINORS FINALLY, A BETTER THEN AVG DEFENSE AND THE BEST GOD DAM GOALIE TO PLAY THE GAME SO....

[Section 110]

I think its tough to not pick the Pens to repeat in the atlantic. I think we can finish anywhere from 2nd to 4th in the division, toward 2nd if we don't have the injury bug.

The real unknown in the division is the health of Lundqvist, specificaaly his knees. No one is talking about it in any serious manner, and his health will be a determinant of their fortunes.

[Brodie30]

I think the Devils have a good shot at the division as well and I'm not as sold on the Rangers either. The team that actually scares me is the Flyers.

[Triumph]

TG:

I also think that's how the Atlantic Division will shake out. The Rangers took on 3 gambles with Zherdev, Redden, and Naslund - I think one will be a success, one will be neither a success nor a failure, and one will be a dismal 'how-could-we-have-done-this' failure. Neither provide what Jagr did.

[Will]

TG, can you find out why the Devils discontinued the shuttle bus that ran to and from the Prudential Center and Broad Street Station. There were always a ton of fans that used that shuttle. I sent an email to the Devils at the start of the week but, as expected, they have yet to respond.

[Jeremy]

Hey Tom,

I think the Devils will be strong this year, and possibly make it to the finals. They spanked the Rangers in preseason and they didn't even have all their veterans. I realize that what preseason is and all that, but it might be a good indication of how they will be this year.

I felt (as did many) that Zajac had a terrible year last year, along with Gionta.

The Isles don't have a shot at making the playoffs. Dipietro hasn't had any traning over the summer with his injury. I think this will hurt them big time.

[brian s]

why do i always get flagged for spam in my posts. there are no web addressees in the text and it is not long at all? any help

[Johnny Saddle Brook]

TG - I agree with what you said about Elias 100%. His play was underrated last season. Also, one of the few who showed up for playoffs. I predict he has a fine season, 30 goals for Elias

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

My thoughts on how the season will shake out.
Atlantic Division
1.) Devils/ Penguins
2.) Penguins/Devils
3.) Rangers
4.) Flyers, Sorry to all those who think big things from team halloween, but with Biron as their starter they easily have the worst player in the divison between the pipes. This guy couldn't keep the starters job in Buffalo BEFORE Ryan Miller emerged, my opinion he sucks
5.) Islanders
Eastern Finals
Devils vs. Montreal
Western Finals
San Jose vs. Detroit
I won't give a predicition however on who will win the cup, thats just bad karma for my team

[Kris]

Devils will beat the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup finals, a repeat of 1995

YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!

[Sarah]

Up until half of Philly's defense went down for 2+ months I thought they might make a run at the Division, but I think their blueline is too decimated now. They're going to struggle. Pens and Devils will fight for 1/2 and Flyers and Rags will fight for 3/4 depending on Henrik's knees and how quick the Flyers defense gets/stays healthy.

The Islanders are in a transition year and even if DiPietro was healthy he wouldn't be able to save them. Take the draft pick and see you in 2009.

[TG]

I think those game day $10 tickets go on sale at 5 p.m., but I'm not positive about that.

[Jill]

I was also going to say a repeat of 1995 but I see somebody beat me to it haha
It's going to happen, just wait.

[mikeschoenf]

Tom,

I agree with most of your Atlantic division predictions, however I dont know what all the fuss about the Penguins is? That traded away ALOT for Hossa and they dont even have Hossa anymore. Fleury is ok but nothing special. I hate all of the "professional" predictions. I mean do they just make these predictions out of no where? I mean we contended for the East all of last year and improved needs of our team dramaticcly during the summer... are they not paying attention? All they can say is Brodeur is old.. yeah he may be old but I dont care if he is 90 and still winning Vezina's!

Devils/Flyers/Rangers/Penguins/Islanders

[Decarse]

1) Penguins
2) Rangers
3) Devils
4) Flyers
-------------
5) Islanders

Everyone above the line makes the playoffs. The Devils or Flyers may flip/flop. The Pens may not run away w/ it like many are predicting simply because of the injuries that they are already facing w/ Gonchar & Whitney out for the 1st few months.

The Rangers improved IMO, at 1st I was skeptical, but I think that Zherdev is going to have a very good year as is Naslund (he & Gomez already look like they are going to be very dangerous!) Redden is probably going to be a disappointment, at least defensively.

Devils need goals from Parise. I think that Rolston will have a decent year, where they will get the most from him is on the PP when he launches that rocket from the point & on the PK. Marty needs to play less games (they say it every year and then don't do it, if he plays 75+ games again forget about any type of run in the playoffs).

Flyers will be hoping for big things from Gagne, he'll get 30+ goals if healthy, but that that's a huge IF. Biron is still not a consistent #1 goalie in the NHL and right now they don't have much of a backup who can step in and actually threaten Biron for the #1 position. New look on Defense w/ no Hatcher or Smith, maybe they'll be a little faster back there. If they keep Richard/Gagne & briere together as planned then that will be a very good offensive line. I still think that they'll live & die by Biron & that could be why they finish 4th in the Atlantic & 8th in the East.
Islanders are going to get zilch from Weight & Guerin. DP is going to have to stand on his head night in & night out, god help them if he gets injured!

[JCdevs]

I think the Devils will win the Atlantic and make it to the conference finals.

I also predict that RJ Arditti stops using semicolons for apostrophes after he has a nightmare where he's at a Pearl Jam concert and Eddie Vedder morphs into Sean Avery and beats him for his bad grammar.

I also forsee Sonicdude coming clean that he his actually a Rangers fan and posts reguarly on the site just to bother us.

[Decarse]

The Pens may have lost Hossa but they still have arguably 2 of the most dynamic forwards in the game w/ Crosby & Malkin. 200 points combined between them easily.

You can say that they gave up a lot for Hossa last season (which they did!), but realistically in that trade they didn't lose much from their actual team that they will miss.

I think that Malone is a bigger loss than Hossa for the Pens as a team (may sound ridiculous but he is a legit power forward, no a permieter player by any means).

They also lost quality 3rd & 4th line guys like Laraque, Hall & Rutuu. Let's see if the younger guys can step it up like Kennedy did this past weekend

[Maxwell]

Thanks TG - one last (and most important) question.

ARE THEY SELLING BEER ON MULBERRY STREET BEFORE THE GAME??

thanks!

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

i; w;ll never stop us;ng the m;ghty sem;-co;on, ; personally don;t see what the big deal is, and why it bothers you so much ITS A BLOG, ITS NOT EVEN MY BLOG ITS JUST A POST ON A BLOG, totally cereal here, if it bothers you so much please report me to the grammar police

[Pearl Jammed(RJ Arditti)]

oh and my nightmare wouldn;t be Eddie morphing into Avery, it would be me morphing into rachael Nicholls(sp?) and going purse shopping with avery for a sportscenter interview