Always listening for a road restaurant recommendation, one of the best bets is the annual Rookie Dinner. The newbies foot the bill at a favorite of the vets, a time of team building and wallet-emptying, bills inflated by Lynch-Bages and Silver Oak.
There was no such recommendation this year. The Devils had no Rookie Dinner because . . . wait for it . . . they had no rookies. No dinner, only cups of coffee for players such as the now-departed Anssi Salmela.
Rookies seem a rarer commodity around the league, but when reasons are sought for the Devils’ second straight late-season swoon, the advanced age of the Nicky Newarkers cannot be ignored.
The Devils’ average age is 31.7 years, tied for the oldest in the NHL with the also rookie-light Red Wings. These are the two most successful franchises of the past 15 years, but before that correlation is celebrated, the next oldest are the Maple Leafs at 29.9 years. No other team tops 30, above which, the 1960s warned, trust is dangerous. The Isles average 28.2, the Rangers 27.9 years.
It has long been Lou Lamoriello’s blueprint for a sustainable franchise that his teams have one-third kids, one-third players in their prime and one-third elder vets.
That blueprint doesn’t seem to fit this team. Instead of a youngest third from, say, 20-25, the middle from, say, 26-31, and the eldest from 31 up, the Devils’ thirds run 23-29, 30-33 and 34-40, Travis Zajac the youngest, turning 24 next month.
Lamoriello has a caveat, however. He says the ice-time and responsibilities of the players must be factored alongside their ages, better fitting his model.
Fair enough. Zajac and Zach Parise (24) are two of the Devils’ top four forwards (Patrik Elias, 33 on April 13) and Jamie Langenbrunner (33) in ice-time. Paul Martin (28) and Johnny Oduya (27) have the most ice-time on defense.
But in Monday’s 3-0 loss to the Rangers, the average age per minute of skaters’ ice time was 29.6 years. Add in Martin Brodeur’s 60 minutes at 36 years, and the average age per minute became 30.6 years.
The issue nags. The Devils are an old team. Lamoriello says he has an excellent crop of prospects developing, but this team’s time is now, and that wall they hit at the vernal equinox for a second straight season is not imaginary. They still might overcome it, but they didn’t last year.