The Devils last year were okay, but that's all. They weren't anything special and they didn't have anyone exciting to help put fans in the new Prudential Center seats.
As a Devils fan I hate to admit this but the Rangers were better than the Devils this year and if there is someone to blame, I hate to also say this, but it's Lou's fault.
Lou put together a team that just didn't produce. Patrick Elias, Brian Gionta, and Jamie Langenbrunner are just a few names that didn't quite have the season that everyone thought they would.
This left Zach Parise, an unexpected hero, to carry the load while the Devils were a measly 24th in the league on power-plays. Parise ended up leading the team in Goals (32), Points (65), and power-play goals (10). I think everyone would agree that Zach had a great year. David Clarkson was along with Parise for being unexpected hero.
If you think about it Lou did not do anything special at the trade deadline, didn't sign any great free agents, and failed to re-sign two important players in Brian Rafalski and Scott Gomez. I know with both of them there were things that made it hard to re-sign them, but he still didn't sign anyone great to compensate for the loss of those two great players.
This season seemed dull, full of failure, and unexciting. The Devils need to get a play-maker that's exciting and will bring back the fun to the games. Winning games against Atlantic Division rivals helps too, but I'll take either one.
This year's top free agents the Devils should be looking at are: Teppo Numminen, Kristian Huselius, Patrick Sharp, John-Michael Liles, Joni Pitkanen, Jaroslav Modry, Ladislav Nagy, Wade Redden, Brian Campbell, and Mike Green. Really, all that needs to be done is to re-sign Pandolfo and either trade for an impact player or sign one of those top free agents and they would hopefully be in better shape for next year.
Look for Marty and the Devils to look new and improved next year as they are taking what happened to them by the Rangers as a personal insult which will help motivate them to not let it happen again next year.
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