The Devils failed to beat a split Islanders squad in their preseason finale at Nassau Colosseum in Long Island losing 2-1. The other half of the Islanders played in Quebec City against the Montreal Canadiens and lost 7-2. Josh Bailey and Blake Comeau scored for the Islanders and Zach Parise scored the lone goal for the Devils continuing to show the brilliance of their line. Ilya Kovalchuk had a penalty shot stopped by Rick DiPietro, so that was the difference in the game. It is funny having two players like Kovalchuk and DiPietro face each other, because both have 15 year contracts. DiPietro signed his contract in September 2006, so he has 11 years remaining.
Saturdays game was the last chance for coach John MacLean to assess his rookies and prospects. Its likely that one or two of them will be assigned to Albany depending on who the Devils trade as part of their salary cap cuts. My gut is that you will see Taormina start the year in the minors, but he has gotten better as the preseason rolled along. Tedenby and Josefson got more impressive and Urbom probably had a dissatisfying game tonight, but he will likely make the team. Adam Mair will have to wait til the salary cap cuts are made.
The Devils have until Wednesday October 6th at 3 PM ET to get under the salary cap, not midnight like I wrote in one of my previous posts, so the clock is ticking. Its very likely that Lou Lamoriello will try to get under the cap very quickly, so something should happen between tomorrow and Wednesday so the player getting dealt could get accustomed to new surroundings. So, right now it is a wait and see.
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