IN THE 2000 run to the sec ond of the Devils’ three Stanley Cups in nine sea sons, the team’s third defense pair was a still-interested Vladimir Malakhov and emerging rookie Colin White. Now, their first pair features Andy Greene and Karel Rachunek, if you can believe it.
The team that once had an artist like Alex Mogilny on its third line now has Arron Asham and Dainius Zubrus on the first or second unit.
The organization that once drafted so keenly it could afford to trade young Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan, Brendan Morrison, Alyn McCauley and Sheldon Souray for veterans including Malakhov, Mogilny and Doug Gilmour without missing a beat, now features three players on the roster and in the NHL – Zach Parise, Travis Zajac and Cam Janssen – out of the last seven Entry Drafts.
And though we are loathe to rain on the franchise’s parade to its palatial home in Newark, then there is The Player Who Used To Be Patrik Elias.
Maybe it was the addition of the captaincy last year, maybe it’s the loss of the captaincy this year under Brent Sutter, who clearly doesn’t care who any Devil is or what any Devil may have done in the past. Maybe it’s the seven-year, $42 million contract Elias signed as a free agent during the summer of 2006 that includes a no-move clause he received from Lou Lamoriello in order to prevent him from signing a six-year, $42 million deal he’d been offered by the Rangers.
Regardless, Elias has lost his edge and he’s lost his shot. At 31, he’s barely a shadow of what and who he was the first half of this decade and the second half of the 2005-06 season, when he led the team’s charge to a division title upon returning from the case of hepatitis he contracted playing in Russia during the lockout.
He’s barely a shadow of what he must be if this team, whose collective skill level is at its lowest since the early ’90s, is going to make the playoffs.
*
Say, how’s that decision to strip Mike Modano of his captaincy prior to last season working out for the Stars and the greatest player in franchise history, anyway? Not that there’s any reason to hold GM Doug Armstrong or coach Dave Tippett accountable for the club’s steady decline, of course.
The Capitals were a tougher team to play against in 2005-06 than they were last season and than they are now, despite accumulating more talent by the year. This is not a particularly good reflection on the coaching staff directed by Glen Hanlon, but then, any organization that signs Viktor Kozlov isn’t doing many favors for its head coach, is it?
Dog bites man: Kings players, we’re told, are already tired of Marc Crawford. Meanwhile, we’ve heard that players in L.A. are far more confident in netminder Jason Labarbera than are either Crawford or GM Dean Lombardi.
No, the Penguins are not actively seeking a goaltender to supplant Marc-Andre Fleury, but if the kid doesn’t close some of the holes in his game, expect GM Ray Shero to take a serious run at renting veteran Olaf Kolzig if the Caps are sellers at the Feb. 26 trade deadline.
The post-Bill Wirtz and post-Bob Pulford Blackhawks are investigating televising a small number of home games for the first time in their history. They will be available in black and white. No need, after all, to rush into the present.
*
Thomas Pock may or may not be an NHL-caliber defenseman, but needy clubs such as the Oilers and Thrashers weren’t willing to spend $1.335 million on a one-way contract over two years in order to find out. Bank on smaller-revenue clubs to lead the charge to have all one-way contracts included under the hard salary cap the next time around.
The PA might want to investigate whether a capped allowance for AHL players under NHL contracts would be a worthwhile trade-off for abolishing re-entry waivers and eliminating cap charges for all players on injured reserve, not only those under long-term exemptions.
*
Finally, Wednesday’s paper included an assessment of Brendan Shanahan that I presented in an unnecessarily harsh manner. There are, I believe, valid questions about Shanahan, off to a very slow start after a poor finish last season that was compromised by a serious concussion. Still, I owed it to Shanahan, a future first-ballot Hall of Famer whom I have known for 20 years, to have sought and included his opinion in the piece. He deserved better from me.