Devils starting to get healthy as they enter crucial month of December

In the past few years, the month of December has been easy for the Devils as they usually dominated the opposition and barely struggles through it. However, the case in the past usually attributes to fast starts by the Devils. Now, this is not the case for them as the Devils stand at 8-14-2 and eight points out of the final playoff spot in the east with 24 games played this year. They are facing roster problems with the salary cap and injuries and most importantly a terrible record. So, the month of December will be very instrumental to them and could decide the fate of their season.

Many hockey analysts usually predict a teams fate for the year once the calender strike January 1st of the new year. It is very safe to say as I have mentioned in my previous posts, that the Devils cannot afford more than 2-4 losses this month. They need to build a string of five to eight straight wins and this will likely get them out of their funk and get them back into being the team they are accustomed to being, which is playoff or even cup contender.

The turnaround, which the Devils and their fans hope finally began last week might be getting more sweeter this week when Jamie Langenbrunner is expected to return along with Martin Brodeur. Langenbrunner has skated on his own last week, but will practice tomorrow with the team. This could mean that someone is going back to Albany and it could be Vasyunov or Gionta. Brodeur is not expected to practice tomorrow, but Wednesday is a small possibility. He definitely likes to play against Montreal, but without practicing at least two days, Montreal might not be possible for him.

Bryce Salvador rode the stationary bike today, so its a small step for him in his recovery. He did not comment on any timetables for his return. Salvador as of two weeks ago was still not cleared to begin off-ice workouts or even lift any weights, so the bike might only be light workouts. It seems that his return is probably anywhere from mid January-late February. Mark Fraser is now in a small cast and hopes to begin skating this week on his own. Corrente had a sore neck and hopes to play on Thursday. Jacob Josefson and Zach Parise are still on a longer mend and Matt Taormina is week to week. So, we shall see what happens. The Devils are getting healthy, which is always good.