A Rangers vs. Devils match-up usually ignites a flame as one of the most fierce rivalries in all of professional sports. However, tonight's game features two teams going in completely opposite directions. The Rangers are trending up to catch the Flyers and Penguins atop the Atlantic Division while the Devils are falling far and far behind as the league's worst team. Usually its the Devils finding ways to trend up and the Rangers at this time of the year are up and down. This is not the case tonight, sure it would be nice for the Devils to beat the Rangers, but I doubt there would be much excitement in the fan base other than the tide has turned in the match-up. At least for this year, Ranger fans can pick on Devils fans even if NJ wins tonight and the rest of the year games. The crowd tonight is likely to be comprised of more Ranger fans in probably a 60%-40% margin and that is just at Prudential Center.
The Rangers are coming off a 7-2 rout of the NY Islanders on Monday night while the Devils are in the midst of a five game losing streak by a combined score of 21-5. This is unacceptable by Devils standards, but with the way things have gone for the Devils so far, they might just have to focus on scoring plenty of goals and not worry about winning or losing the game. One thing the Devils could do is allow five goals, but in return how about scoring 3 or 4 just to gain offensive confidence.
As many of you already know, Brian Rolston was placed on re-entry waivers by the Devils at noon today and if claimed by another team, only half of his $5.062 million dollar yearly salary will count against the Devils cap as well as the new team that claims him. Rolston is hopeful someone claims him and there is rumored interest. We will not know until noon tomorrow if he has been claimed. If unclaimed, it is possible he could play for the Devils or their farm team in Albany. The Devils have given Rolston and his agent permission to seek a trade and Lou Lamoriello is also hopeful a deal can be worked out. If traded, Rolston's hefty salary will come off the Devils books. Brian is looking for a fresh start.
Many thought Rolston would fit nicely with the Devils as well as some top line firepower, but an early season sprained ankle derailed his career for the worse in October 2008. Rolston was unable to recover from it and his production and play dropped. With Rolston on re-entry waivers, he is unable to get traded until noon tomorrow and will not play tonight. This means Vladimir Zharkov will make his season debut for the Devils tonight against the Rangers. Zharkov has 10 career assists in the NHL with no goals. Hopefully, that changes for him this time around. He could be the spark the Devils need and a game changer.
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