NHL Playoffs 2012: How the New Jersey Devils Stack Up Against Each Potential Foe

Throw the regular-season records out the door, it's time to look forward to the Stanley Cup playoffs!

With nine potential foes, there are a number of playoff spots open for teams that are hungry enough. 

With the Atlantic Division being clearly the most competitive for the season, teams are jockeying for position and nobody knows who will end up where. 

We take a look at what kind of chances the Devils have against each potential matchup, how many games they can win or lose the series in and the most critical players on both teams. 

Philadelphia Flyers

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Devils Win 4-3

The Flyers are a deadly team who score tons of goals. The Devils are a defensively sound team that can do the same when given the chance. Without top playoff performer Chris Pronger on the ice, the Flyers' chances of making it deep into the playoffs are a lot worse than people think.

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Scott Hartnell

Scott Hartnell has been on fire all year. When playoff time rolls around, he and Danny Briere turn it up a notch where they seem to score goals at will. Hartnell can hit, score, fight and agitate. When the Flyers line up against the Devils, they should think of Scotty Hartnell as the next Sean Avery, except of course, with a lot more skill. 

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Zach Parise

This has the makings of a rough-and-tumble series in which they will need their captain to pull the team together and beat the Flyers at their own game. Parise is one of the best two-way forwards in the league, so not only will he be called upon to score go-ahead goals but he will also need to shut down opposing forwards at the same time. 

Washington Capitals

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Devils Win 4-2

The Caps have themselves a nice run going into the postseason right after a period where it seems all was lost. Due to the poor play of the Toronto Maple Leafs who once contested them for the eighth and final seed, it looks like only Winnipeg stands in the Caps' way. Despite who enters the East's final playoff spot, they will have a negative goal differential and will have a hard time not getting swept.

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Alexander Ovechkin

Anyone who thinks Ovechkin is a playoff dud needs to look at his stats. Ovechkin has one of the best point-per-game ratios in NHL history in the playoffs. Ovechkin will need to rely on his fellow teammates Mike Green and Alex Semin to shake off their recent playoff failures and provide secondary scoring.

Currently, Ovechkin is not much of a threat, but Nicklas Backstrom has begun skating again after sitting out a good chunk of the season with post-concussion symptoms. If Ovechkin gets Backstrom back as his pivot, the duo instantly becomes one of if not the most feared first lines in either conference. 

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Martin Brodeur

Recent history has not been kind to Martin Brodeur when he visits D.C. The Devils probably won't need to score many goals against the Caps, but if Brodeur can keep his goals allowed average to two or below, this should be an incredibly easy matchup for the Devs. 

New York Rangers

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Rangers Win 4-3

One of the best rivalries in hockey would see some postseason action. Last time these two teams met the Rangers dealt a deathblow to the Devils in a 4-1 series victory. Sean Avery was the best agitator in the league at the time and got under Martin Brodeur's skin. The Rangers currently have the best record in the East and are a legitimate threat to win it all for the first time since 1994. 

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Henrik Lundqvist

Lundqvist is the runaway Vezina Trophy favorite and a possible MVP candidate as well. Lundqvist has played on his head all season long and it looks like he finally have a team in front of him that is capable of going the distance. 

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Martin Brodeur

Without a doubt New Jersey's goaltending is going to have to go tit for tat with New York's. If the Devils expect to have any kind of chance of keeping this close, Brodeur is going to have to steal a game or two, something that is almost automatically expected against his foe across the ice, Henrik Lundqvist. 

Florida Panthers

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Devils Win 4-1

Give credit to the Panthers, it finally looks like they are going to end their decade-long playoff drought. Whether they end up as the Southeast Division champs or get bumped to the seventh or eighth seed, the Panthers definitely deserve to be here. Deserving to be in the playoffs doesn't equate into winning clutch games, however.

Along with their Southeast Division foes the Panthers will most likely enter the playoffs as a team with negative goal differential. They have multiple veterans with playoff experience, but their goaltending and lack of game-changers will be the demise of the cats. 

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Stephen Weiss

One could easily make a case for Brian Campbell but it will more likely have to be their captain (without wearing the "C") Stephen Weiss. One can't imagine the Panthers are going to have much confidence against many of their potential matchups, and Weiss will need to pull the team together and lead by example.

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Ilya Kovalchuk

More likely than not, Jose Theodore will start in between the pipes for Florida. This is good news for New Jersey's scorers.

Ilya Kovalchuk is the Devils' most dangerous forward and one of the best snipers in the entire league. If Kovy gets started early and often, the series could be over just after it starts. Kovalchuk has only won one playoff game in his entire career and with the great team he has, you've got to imagine that scoring at a goal-per-game pace at least in the first round is completely doable for him. 

Ottawa Senators

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Devils Win 4-3

Whenever New Jersey and Ottawa meets up, it always seems like the game is decided by one goal. These two teams are inexplicably always evenly matched all the time. The Senators will go into the playoffs as the most underrated team in the playoffs, save the Florida Panthers. No matter who wins this series, it would go to seven games.

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Erik Karlsson

Karlsson is the best offensive defenseman in the league this year. His nose for scoring is uncanny for someone his age. The young defensive stud will look to put his mark on the playoffs. 

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Patrik Elias

This series will be won or lost on whose secondary scoring is most effective. Both teams have good defensemen that can shut down opposing top lines, so it's going to be the second line for the Devils that win this.

Old playoff veterans Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora are going to have to play like it's 2000 to be able to best the Sens. Elias is as much a leader as anyone on this Devils team, and everyone is going to be looking at No. 26 to score some timely goals and play some great defense. 

Boston Bruins

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Boston Wins 4-2

The Bruins are limping right now. After their dominance of the East ended, the vultures of self pity have begun picking at their bones. Boston doesn't look like a team with a whole lot of confidence.

The good news for Bruins fans is all that can change the day the playoffs start. The defending Cup champions simply do not look like a team that will get bounced out in the first round. Boston has the experience, the players and the attitude to become the first repeat champions since the Red Wings. 

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Tim Thomas

If Tim Thomas plays anywhere near like he did last year, this is going to be a short series.

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: David Clarkson

Clarkson is the most important Devil on the ice against the Bruins simply because the Bruins are a team that fancies themselves as bullies. As seen in last year's finals against Vancouver, Boston likes to beat you up and rub it in your face.

Clarkson is a scrapper who can throw a hard hit with the best of them. He is going to have to match the Bruins' toughness and give them a taste of their own medicine if the Devils don't want to get outmuscled. 

Buffalo Sabres

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Devils Win 4-1

The Sabres are a team that were built to win in the offseason. Additions of Robyn Regehr, Ville Leino and Christian Ehrhoff were supposed to push the Sabres over the hump and challenge Boston for the Northeast Division.

Buffalo is finally realizing its potential as a team, but it might be too little too late. Should the Sabres sneak into the playoffs, they simply don't have the goal-scoring power to take over the Devils. 

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Ryan Miller

As noted before, the Sabres have trouble putting the puck in the net. Not only this, but they also have trouble keeping it out as well. If anybody is going to step up and play their heart out it might as well be Ryan Miller, who we have seen steal games on an international level. The Sabres will look for timely goals from Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek.

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Ilya Kovalchuk

In a potentially low-scoring series the Devils will look to their most skilled sniper to provide instant offense to end this series before it even begins. Kovalchuk is the most talented player on either team, and if he so decides to, he can score in bunches. 

Winnipeg Jets

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Devils Win 4-2

The Jets are going to be one of, if not, the biggest underdogs going into the playoffs should they make a push and capture the division away from the Washington Capitals or Florida Panthers. Every game in Winnipeg contains the atmosphere of a playoff game. We can only wait and see what it will sound like if it's an actual playoff game. 

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Andrew Ladd and Ondrej Pavelec

At 26 years old, Ladd already has two Stanley Cups with two different teams. Ladd is a player who embodies what it means to be a leader. A skillful player, there are few young players that are more respected than Ladd. If Winnipeg is going to pull an upset, Ladd will be a centerpiece. 

Pavelec is a supremely underrated goaltender based on where he plays, he simply does not get too much exposure to the American crowd. A goalie that is capable of playing on his head and stealing games, Pavelec could be a Jaroslav Halak kind of surprise this postseason. 

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Zach Parise

Parise's leadership and play will need to be the difference to quiet a raucous crowd and a team trying to prove it can hang with the big boys. 

Pittsburgh Penguins

How the Devils Would Fare in a Seven-Game Series: Penguins Win 4-2

The Pens are the scariest team in the NHL right now. They are currently riding a 10-game winning streak and getting the best player in the world back on the roster doesn't exactly hurt. Crosby made his post-injury debut Thursday night against the Rangers and didn't miss a beat. The Penguins manhandled the weary Rangers for most of the game, and Crosby was absolutely terrific.

Player That Can Hurt Them the Most: Evgeni Malkin

Evgeni Malkin is marching towards the Art Ross Trophy for most points in the NHL and is a clear-cut favorite for league MVP. In Crosby's absence, Malkin has dominated everyone he has played against. If Evgeni can play anything like the year that saw him win the Conn Smythe, the Pens are unstoppable. 

What Devil Would Need to Make the Biggest Impact: Anton Volchenkov

As the team's best defensive defenseman, Volchenkov will most likely be asked to take on either Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin when they are on the ice. He most certainly will be on the penalty kill more than any other Devil where he may have to face them both at the same time. Volchenkov is a master shot-blocker and heavy hitter who is expected to see around 25 to 30 minutes of ice time in the playoffs. If the Volchenkov and the Devils can shut down either of the Penguins' top two lines, they have a chance.