Second group on the ice; Team scrimmage on Monday

The second practice session is underway. The group includes the players who were not on the ice with the first group and were not among the cuts made earlier today.

Goaltenders: Jeff Frazee, Gerald Coleman,

Defensemen: Jay Leach, Rob Davison, Matt Corrente, Tyler Eckford, Olivier Magnan-Grenier, Alexander Urbom, Eric Gelinas.

Forwards: Vladimir Zharkov-Tim Sestito-Niclas Bergfors; Alexander Vasyunov-Ben Walter-Nick Palmieri; PLL Leblond-Patrice Cormier-Matt Halischuk/Patrick Davis.

(Tommy Albelin, Larry Robinson and Chris Terreri are running the second practice on the ice.)

When asked today if there was any significance to the two practice groups, Lemaire initially replied, "Nope."

But he paused a moment and then said, "Maybe a bit."

Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said he plans to rotate in some of the younger players with the bigger first group this week.

"We want to see the veterans and we want to roll a few kids in different practices because we don't want to keep them away, even though they do pretty much the same thing in their practices," Lemaire said. "But if they don't practice with the top guys, when they get a game they won't be as good. [Monday] we'll switch other guys in, too."

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There will be a scrimmage Monday morning involving all of the players still in camp, with veteran forwards and rookie/minor league defensemen on one team and young forwards and veteren defensemen on the other side.

"We'll go three lines with the veterans and four lines with the kids, so the veterans get a lot of ice time and the same thing with the defensemen," Lemaire said. "There will be six (veterans) with the kids (forwards) and eight (young defensemen) with the veteran (forwards)."

The Devils are down to 42 players on their training camp roster (including the injured Patrik Elias) after today's cuts. Some of the younger players will get a chance to play in Wednesday's preseason game against the Islanders at Nassau Coliseum and in Thursday's exhibition in Philadelphia.

Lemaire said he will probably make some more cuts after Thursday's game and the players that remain after that will be close to the team's opening night roster..

"After that we'll probably keep two extra forwards and one or two (extra) defensemen," Lemaire said. "We're getting close."

***

Lemaire said he would sit down with goaltender Martin Brodeur today to figure out a plan for him for the team's final four preseason games.

Brodeur said he has yet to hear anything from Lemaire about his preseason schedule, but thinks he will play Wednesday.

He'll probably play all 60 minutes of the last two preseason games (both home games) against Philadelphia on Saturday and the Islanders on Sept. 29.

***

Brendan Shanahan skated on the second line today with Brian Rolston and Dainius Zubrus. Lemaire said he has seen from Shanahan "pretty much" what he expected going into camp.

"He looks like a player," Lemaire said. "He's OK. He's need to play a little more so he gets in shape. He needs to play with better players, so they can use him in the offensive zone more as much as we can. That's where he's good."

***

The Devils worked a bit on the 5-on-3 during practice today.

"It's normal, but I think we need to work on this," Lemaire said. "Special teams, especially now, especially with the rules, you never practice enough."

***

Lemaire said he watched the first two periods of Lowell's 5-4 shootout win over Adirondack on Saturday.

"I thought they really played well," he said. "I liked what they did. I was even surprised how well they played. But it's a game of mistakes. You can play well and at a time take a bad penalty here and there at the wrong time and then it changes the other way. But I was pleased with the way they played."

***

Goaltender Yann Danis said his new Devils' mask, which got lost on its way from the artist who painted it to Itech, has been found and is now supposed to arrive on Tuesday.

"So, we'll see," he said smiliing.

Comments

[iamtheprodigy]

TG, what do you think of the Peters vs. PL3 conflict. Who do you think will get the spot on the team based on their play so far?

Also, that scrimmage sounds like an interesting one. Wish I could watch it.

[Jude]

TG. Bergfors played very well against Rangers. Why is he on the second group? Lowell again?

[DevsFan950003]

Jude, Lemaire said he was rotating the young guys, so Bergfors will probably be with the veterans next time.

[Derrick]

Jude - Bergfors played well against Rangers??? Really? I was there - while he didn't do anything stupid, I also didn't see him do anything noteworthy either. For a guy who is supposed to be stepping up this year, I really didn't see anything...

[devilsfan]

Bergfors continues to underwhelm.

[Bergfors Fan Club]

Bergfors was impressive vs New Yawk. He is going to be a force this season.

[Dave]

It looked like he got off more shots on net than anyone else on the team. Plus he got an assist, and was robbed on a wraparound where he beat the goalie but a defenseman got his stick on it.

Give the kid a chance!