Holik and Rupp avoid controversy; Leblond happy to get another chance

Center Bobby Holik and left wing Mike Rupp both took the high road about being healthy scratches for the Devils tonight against Ottawa.

With Patrik Elias returning from a four-game layoff with leg muscle tightness and Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond being called up and inserted in the lineup, Devils coach Brent Sutter decided to sit Holik and Rupp.

"I'm not surprised by anything," Holik said when asked if he was surprised. "We need to do what is necessary to make our team better...I'm a team player. If that's what's necessary for us to be better, I can take it. I'm a grown man."

"I'm not going to answer if I'm surprised or not," Rupp said. "At this time of year, you have to swallow your pride and do what's best for that team. So, if that's what they're doing, then that's what it is."

When asked if he thought he was playing well, Holik said. "I'd prefer not to talk about that."

"We've been doing all right," Rupp said when asked the same question. "I think we've been OK. We can be better with little things here and there, but I think for the most part we've been playing in their zone, so that's a good thing."

***

Leblond, who arrived in Ottawa Wednesday night, but was not officially called up until this morning. is excited to get a chance to play in the NHL again. His last NHL game was Dec. 10 against Pittsburgh. He's played in six NHL games this season and notched one assist and 15 penalty minutes.

"I'm excited," he said. "I can't wait to go."

Asked if he can bring a spark this team might need, Leblond replied, "Not being in the locker room, I don't know what's going on. Obviously, the team has been hot and cold and I'll just bring what I bring to every game. They've seen me play all year. If they like it, then perfect."

Leblond said his brother and some of his friends will make the two-and-a-half hour drive from Montreal to see him play tonight.

Leblond said he is disappointed that Lowell will not qualify for the playoffs again this season.

"We've been battling for the last 20 games," he said. "We've been in and out, but mostly out a couple of points from a playoff spot. The last four games have meant nothing. We were so close."

Comments

[Falcone]

I was saying to myself the other night, Holik has brought zero to the table as of recently. Why PL3 is playing, not too sure on that one. But if it shakes stuff up, I'll all for it.

[Major Cornholio]

As mentioned in the previous post, MSG Plus 2 will carry the Devils tonight. This link gives you all the information.

http://www.msg.com/overflow/d-channel-info.html

[Zorin]

Least those quotes from both guys were good. Have a coffee and watch the game like us, LOL!

[Zorin]

MC -- if you were only squared, we would double the information. Nice work!

[SonicDude]

you gotta love sutter...sure brent, no messages being sent. our $5M wing on the fourth line, our UFA big man on the pines...

the only change i'd make is to have rolston on the fifth line, playing cards with "i never saw a penalty i didnt like"-holik. calling up some kids would have been nice.

[BF from Australia]

Major Cornholio has arrived and posted at 13:07.

[embo slice]

well these certainly aren't the lines I'd expect to see with a team that wants to go on a long Cup run, but if it wakes this team up, gets the proper lines going again, doing their roles come next week, then I'm all for it......hope it works

[Major Cornholio]

Arrived? I'm always here! I just don't say much unless it's necessary.

"Don't make a duck!" Clap, clap! Clap, clap!

[JPL]

At this point anything that can bring some energy to the team is a good thing. I liked what PL3 brought to the team when he played earlier in the season. If nothing else it puts pressure on our bangers to play a smarter more physical game. Now if only we had someone to put pressure on Rollie & Zubie to play better.

[Morethanyouknow]

First let me say, I really am glad Sutter is our coach..however, there are things I don't understand, or I do undersatnd and I'm just disgusted with the decsision. The Flyers (suck) must learn it's not 1975 anymore and Sutter has to learn it's not 1983. What do I mean? How in the hell can he justify bringing up LeBlond (PL3) and having a very good defenswie minded player in Rod Pelley and/or sniper Bergfors down in Lowell? Why do we still have Mark Fraser down there and Mike Mottau skating with the team?

More so, I am angry about Leblond being called up. What can he possibly contribute? You don't fight in the playoffs and the man is a skating minor, it sickens me..it truly does. Rod Pelley can play the game and he will be the new John Madden eventually, but we must play LeBlond? Why? Do we have to be prepared for Chris Neil tonight? Do we need to telll tickets to the Leblond fan club or the LOSERS who like meaningless, pointless 90 second fights for NO CAUSE at all? You know, the fools that wear the Mike Rupp and Cam Jam jerseys (losers).

Nicky Bergfors should be on the second unti of the PP. We're asking Gio to center the second PP unit? I am sorry, but that's just an absolute joke. If Rolston can't play center anymore, then they better move Elias there because Zubrus can't skate and represents another bad contract move.

So, the Devils refuse to call up their talented/skilled players for a goon? We'll be home for good by April's end.
How can we dress this goon with no talent over players like Pelley and Bergfors. Hell, why not bring up Hailschuk as well? I like Mike Rupp, but his time is done in NJ and so should be Leblond's.
CLARKSON can fight and Clarkson can PLAY the game. Sure we need team thoughness, but not stupidity. Aboslute stupid moves.

[Kevin B.]

what number is Leblond going to be wearing since they keep switching it up on everyone? 25?

[bobo]

they gave PL3 #30. Hope this shakes up Marty.

[Zorin]

@JPL

A way to make Rollie & Zubie play better? Duck tape their salaries to the pucks and watch them work.

[Kyle]

Man I am so excited for this game tonight. My first ever NHL game and I was worried Elias and Brodeur weren't going to play, but I picked a good game to go to. Lets hope they win and it will be that much better. Lets go Devils!!!

[maddening11]

Leblonde is simply there to shake things up and send a message. They could have had a similar, probably more drastic, effect if they brought up Bergfors and put him in a scoring role to try to wake up Rolston and Gio, but maybe they dont think such a huge change like that is worth the risk. I do think Bergfors may look good on the wing with Rolston and Clarkie, but I haven't seen him play all year and Sutter doesn't seem to be too big a fan of him so I don't know what to think.
All i know is tonight they are removing two big guys from the lineup that bring a physical presence, and Leblonde fills that roll nicely and could be the wake-up call the team needs. It's about energy and enthusiasm, both of which he seems to have a ton of. That also allows Clarkson to play his game without sitting in the box for 5 minutes and having to deal with Neil if that situation arises. And didn't Halischuk break his leg?

[Zorin]

@Morethanyouknow

Not everyone <3 the stupid, lame, jerkoff fights. Sure, it has a place, but most of us aren't pushing for Brashier to be next president of Fight Club.

At least Rupp is still on this team and an important player. I was watching Jansen on tv the other day, saying to Lunqvist, 'you're next' -- guy was just trash with all crash and no class, which is why he's gone. Rupp is smart and should start, but I will take him being scratched tonight.

YOu really think Nicky Bergfors is just going to come up at this point and do well? I guess we will never know, but I think his timing is all wrong for the season and he will be up again at the start of the next

[josh]

I dont know what your big issue with this move is Morethanyouknow. Holik has been taking very ill timed penalties and shows that he is capable of skating hard and fast, but just refuses to do it for the most part while Rupp has just been invisible for ... well I have lost track of how long thats been.

As for bringing up Bergfors or Halischuk. Bergfors has had serious problems playing the defensive side of the puck (perhaps because his skill alone has been suficient to keep the puck out of his own end most of his career) and Halischuk is a VERY young kid still and doesn't need to be thrown into the fire just yet. P3L is a cork for a bottle (in this analogy the bottle is the team obviously). He isnt a permanent fixture he is just there to plug the hole while we fix whats really wrong (in this case Holik's parade to the box, Rupp's powers of invisibility and Rolston refusing to go 110% for whatever reason).

And finlly dont even bring up the name Pelly when refering to the depth in our system that should have been brought up. Pelly is not the next coming of John Madden because Madden actually has skill. Madden (though no one remembers) put up HUGE numbers in the AHL. It just happened that he was more useful to the team in a defense first job. Pelly on the other hand has no offensive ability and only the ability to sit back and play positional hockey. Pelly plays not to loose, we need players that play to win. Pelly = Tallackson 2.0

[Jersey Mike]

morethenyouknow are you really colin campbell behind a keyboard ? and if you dont understand something call 411 I'm sure that'll have all the info you need. you just typed and absolutely stupid post. but if you stay calm and listen you can hear the Whambulance coming to get you.

[MoonDragn]

I agree with the other posters. Bergfors has shown while he was up here that he was not ready for the NHL. He did very well down the stretch for Lowell and should be seriously looked at in next season's training camp. However, we cannot risk playing him during the playoffs because his defensive play has not been good enough for the devils.

Halischuk on the other hand was injured for most of the season and I think his development was stalled as a result. To bring him up now would be to hamper his progress.

As for Fraser. Mottau is lightyears ahead of Fraser. The guy is a defensive defenseman with mediocre skills. Even Leach is much better than Fraser. Lets not kid ourselves. I would rather Salvador sit and Leach get in the lineup than someone else from the minors taking up a spot and sucking.

[DiscordantLight]

I'm all for trying to shaking things up, but I don't really see how this sends a message to guys like Zubrus, Rolston, or any of our top 6 fowards to step up their game. They know they arent at risk to sit out for PL3.

The only guys at risk to sit out when PL3 gets called up are Holik, Rupp, and maybe Clarkson.

Calling up a Nick Bergfors sends a VERY CLEAR message to Rolston, Zubrus, and hell...every foward on the Devils to step up or sit out.

Still, I like PL3 and I hope he plays well tonight, and most importantly, I hope we get back to playing Devils hockey. I do expect to see Marty play a great game tonight. He almost always plays lights out after having a poor performance in the last game.

[Josh]

Can't say I disagree with Sutter's moves here. Holik has been pretty useless lately (where is the fire and non-stop hitting that we saw in the first 20-or-so games this year?!?), and Rupp isn't fulfilling his role (1 fight in the last 11 games, and 3 in the last 20, from our designated heavyweight?). We know PL3 will at least drop the gloves and attempt to get the bench fired up.

Next move would be Pelley for Rolston for the last game of the year, but I don't think Sutter has the cojones to do it. It certainly wouldn't hurt to have a defensively able role player like Pelley get in a game of NHL experience in case the unthinkable happens and we have multiple forward injuries in the playoffs.

[SonicDude]

@morethanyouknow

i like the emotion, the venom and many of your points...but we need to take your points into next year...it's too late to do some of this stuff...pelley will replace madden, bergfors for gio next year.

i said early this season we are a 1 or 2 rounds and out playoff team. i hope i'm wrong but right now you need to take the under.

maybe patty will get us going. but i'm not sure sure he can. the core issue with this team is that, outside of martin and oduya - and even these 2 are only above average - our defense is weak. our forwards have to backcheck too much to help them out.

[Pete]

Also what no one has mentioned is that Morethanyouknow is disgusted with the callups, though he calls out Sutter for it. Last time I checked Sutter was not the GM, so Morethanyouknow obviously DOESN'T know that the head coach has nothing to do with who is called up.

[Believe in Devils]

Bergfors should be next while Rolston sits a game.

[SonicDude]

@moondragon

rolston, at 35 years old, is no center. we could have gone for o'sullivan, vermette or even jason williams earlier in the year as a second line center.

but lou felt we needed more age, less speed and another no. 5 d-man, so he got havelid instead.

one answer is for zubrus to simply wake the f up.