The coach continues criticizing the Devils’ conditioning.
On the strength of new signee Rob Niedermayer’s first practice with the Devils yesterday, Jacques Lemaire says he is going to throw him into tonight’s exhibition finale against the Islanders in Newark.
“I want him to get a game,” Lemaire said of the younger brother of Scott Niedermayer. Rob signed Friday for one year at $1 million.
Rob Niedermayer had been working out with a junior team in British Columbia, and Lemaire used his arrival to snipe at his regulars.
“When you don’t play games, you can’t be in top shape,” Lemaire said. “But he’s not bad.
“You could see him getting tired during the drills, but we saw guys like that in the last game and they’ve been with us for two weeks.”
Lemaire has complained about his team’s performance since its 1-0 preseason victory over the Flyers Saturday.
With the season opening Saturday against the Flyers, tonight would be the last chance for rookies to make their case to stay in New Jersey. But only Niclas Bergfors and Rod Pelley, among the challenging forwards, are expected to play tonight, while Tim Sestito, Ilkka Pikkarainen, Matt Halischuk and veteran Jay Pandolfo are slated to sit out.
Lemaire said he and assistant Mario Tremblay were similarly impressed by Niedermayer.
“The first remark, we both said ‘He’s really strong.’ He’s strong on the puck. He protects the puck,” Lemaire said.
Lemaire said that “experience,” is one of Niedermayer’s assets.
Niedermayer, 34, skated between Bergfors and Brendan Shanahan yesterday, and the 15-year NHL vet may have been surprised by his first day with New Jersey.
“I was excited and a little nervous,” Niedermayer said. “I’ll have to wait until I play a game, hitting and taking hits. That’s a lot better gauge. I feel pretty good. I skated back home with a junior team. That’s not the same thing, but I feel pretty good.”
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Lemaire said the Devils set up in a 1-2-2, the typical trap or single forechecker formation, a dozen times in the second period Saturday, and that he chastised them for it. “It used to be great. Not as much now, but it’s still good. They did fine, but that’s not what I want,” Lemaire said.
The Devils are 3-0-1 in preseason, led by Bergfors’ 0-4-4 in four, and three points each from Dainius Zubrus, Cory Murphy and Brian Rolston. David Clarkson leads team with two goals. Murphy leads team at plus-3. . . . Other brothers to play for the Devils include Aaron and Neal Broten, Claude and Jocelyn Lemieux and Patrik and Peter Sundstrom.