Devils excited and anxious to get season started

With a little over 24 hours to go before dropping the puck on a new NHL Season, the Devils say they are very excited and anxious to get going on a new year campaign. Its been a tough and bumpy ride the past three years for the Devils after failing to advance out of the first round of the playoffs in each of those seasons, however thus year the team is much more optimistic. The Devils have not advanced past Round 2 since winning the cup in 2003, so there is definitely a huge burden on their shoulder this year to construct a long playoff run.

John MacLean said he will be nervous and excited for his coaching debut in the NHL, though he did coach the Devils as a fill-in for two games in December 2005 due to Head Coach Larry Robinson's throat infection. Now, Larry Robinson will serve as the assistant to John MacLean this season. This is probably the most excited the Devils fans have been due to the busy off-season for the Devils which included re-signing Ilya Kovalchuk and signing defensemen Henrik Tallinder and Anton Volchenkov along with backup goaltender Johan Hedberg. A lot of the season will depend on how much games will Martin Brodeur play as he has played at least 75 games in two of the past three years. Brodeur missed four months in the 2008-2009 season with a torn biceps tendon, but cam back in time for the playoffs and played well despite being knocked out of the first round in dramatic fashion which included one of the worst playoff game 7 collapses in NHL history. John MacLean was the assistant on the bench with coach Brent Sutter at the time.

So, for now the Devils know they will need to get off to a good start and finish strong down the stretch and remain very upbeat especially in times of adversity. They also have to get the fatigue factor out of the way, because simply put everyone goes through it, but you cannot use it as an excuse. The Devils looked very fatigued down the stretch last year and tired and it showed in the series against the Flyers in Round 1. This season will definitely tell a lot about the Devils as they are in a two year window to win the cup.