Devils Shutout Rangers, Win Series

      Michael McLeod scored with the New Jersey Devils down a man in the second period for the game's first goal. That goal held up as Akira Schmid would not allow a goal against thirty-one New York Ranger shots as the New Jersey Devils won game seven of the Eastern Conference series 4-0 to earn the right to move to the next round of the NHL playoffs.

Tomas Tatar would score later in the second period to give the Devils a 2-0 lead with Erik Houla and Jesper Bratt (Empty Net)  finishing the scoring in the final period.

The Devils will play the Carolina Hurricanes in game one of the Eastern semis on Wednesday in Raleigh.

Hell Raisers

1) Michael McLeod scored the first goal with a backhander that seemed like it took minutes to complete before the puck fluttered by Igor Shesterkin but the play was made by the persistent hounding of the puck in the Ranger zone by Ondrej Palat.

2) Palat simply would not allow the puck carrier Adam Fox and Chris Kreider to move the puck out of the zone or to any potential help from their teammates, then after taking the puck for himself, Palat then slid the puck around a diving Ranger to McLeod for the goal.

That's called a hustle play and when I wondered about the Devils signing Palat in free agency, the one reason that stood out for me was the playoff production that Palat provided in Tampa Bay.

Once again, Palat performs in the biggest games.

3) Akira Schmid was brilliant in goal and the first-period work by the Switzerland native was key in the victory as Schmid stopped several excellent chances during three Ranger power plays.

4) Give credit to Lindy Ruff for this win as well.

It would have been very easy for Ruff to move away from Akira Schmid and back to veteran Vitek Vanicek after game six and I don't think many would have given Ruff grief, had he made that decision.

Instead, Ruff decided to stay with who he considered the hot hand in Schmid and was rewarded with a stellar game from his young goalie.

5) Whether it was effort or simply younger and fresher legs, even after a scoreless first period, you had the sense that the Devils were going to be the superior team on this night.

I'm not saying the Rangers didn't try or didn't want the win but the Devils seemed to need it and were ready to take it from the first drop of the puck/

6) That doesn't mean the Devils were flawless, especially in the first period when they committed three penalties, all of which seemed to come from a team that perhaps was a little too overcaffeinated with two trips and a Kevin Bahl delay of game.

Remember for many of these players in these playoffs, there are going to be many firsts.

Experience comes at a cost, New Jersey was fortunate not to pay one in this game.

7) Timo Meier was sent from the game by a thunderous hit by Jacob Trouba.

Meier was able to return to the bench but not the game, considering the score at that time, a return wasn't worth the risk.

No penalty was called for Trouba's hit and I'm not complaining about it being a dirty hit, although it was borderline and seemed over the line at the time.

8) Now it's onto Carolina and another team from Devils' playoff past.

The two teams were separated by a mere point over the course of the regular season and that point gives Carolina home ice.

Hopefully, that will not make the difference

Devils deal for Ryan Graves

    With next week looming for the NHL entry draft and the expansion draft for the newest member of the league, the Seattle Kraken, some teams are attempting to clean their roster a bit before those drafts start.

The New Jersey Devils attempted to take advantage of one team needing to make room on their roster and traded for defenseman Ryan Graves from the Colorado Avalanche.

New Jersey traded the second-round pick that they have acquired from the New York Islanders in the upcoming draft (in the 2020 trade for Andy Greene) and left winger Mikhail Maltsev to Colorado in exchange for Graves, who will immediately slot into one of the allowed defensemen to protected from Seattle in their expansion draft.

Graves scored two goals with thirteen assists in fifty-four games last season in Colorado but scored a career-high nine in 2019-20 for the Avalanche.

The 6'5 defensemen was drafted in the first round by the Rangers in 2013 and made his NHL debut with Colorado in 2019 after being acquired from the Blueshirts at the trade deadline for defenseman Chris Bigras.

Graves is likely to be a top-four defenseman in New Jersey and as mentioned earlier is likely to be one of the Devils' three protected defensemen along with Damon Severson and earlier trade acquisition, Jonas Siegenthaler.

Graves is a big and physical defenseman that accumulates minutes on ice and in the penalty box, and at worst brings a big body that isn't afraid to knock someone around, which should make him a fan favorite in Newark.

Graves is signed for the next two seasons, earning three million for next season and four million for 2022-23, so the trade isn't a one-year stopgap for the defensive group.

With Graves addition to the roster, New Jersey will now expose all three of P.K. Subban, Will Butcher, and Ryan Murray and one of the three could very well be the selection of Seattle from the Devils.

Subban would bring a big name to Seattle and give the Devils more money off the ledger, although the Devils have plenty of cap space already, Murray would make sense as a solid, steady veteran, and Butcher is young enough at 26 to have a chance to rejuvenate his career in a new town and system.

Any of the three would be an easy-to-understand player for the Kraken to select.

The trade of the second-rounder (61) will take the Devils out of the second round in next weeks draft, but there isn't a lot of difference between that choice and the Devils third-rounder (69), so it's not catastrophic to the personnel department, especially when the team owns two first-rounders (theirs and the Islanders at 29).

The Devils also included Mikhail Maltsev in the trade, who scored six goals in thirty-three games last year, two of them in the final four games last season.

I actually liked Maltsev a bit, but I'm not sure that he was a better prospect than several of the players already in the system at left-wing including 2020 first-rounder Alexander Holtz.

New Jersey also re-signed Michael McLeod to a two-year contract worth just under two million total, which may or may not be a sign that McLeod is available for the Kraken in the expansion draft.

The former first-rounder in 2016 scored his first career goals last season and finished with nine goals and six assists in fifty-two games.

 

Devils snip Sabres 5-3

   Michael McLeod scored two goals ( 2 and 3) and Myles Wood added two more goals (4 and 5) and New Jersey needed all of them to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 5-3 and salvage a split from their two games in Buffalo.

Andreas Johnsson scored the other New Jersey goal (2) and spot starter Eric Comrie made thirty saves in the win.

New Jersey stops a three-game losing streak and will travel to Pittsburgh for a Tuesday game against the Penguins.

Hell Raisers

1) Eric Comrie was a pleasant surprise in goal with thirty saves and none of the three goals allowed were awful to hang on Comrie. 

Comrie's play was a pleasant surprise and although I still wouldn't feel comfortable with him as the second goalie in the organization, he would be more than fine as the top netminder in Binghamton and as the guy to call up in case of injury.

2) The Devils have received adequate play from Comrie and Scott Wedgewood with Mackenzie Blackwood sidelined, the sudden retirement of Corey Crawford, and the wait for Aaron Dell to clear protocol and it's suddenly become very possible that the Devils will lose either Comrie or Wedgewood.

The Devils will have to slide one through waivers when Aaron Dell is ready to be placed on the roster and it's going to be an interesting choice for the team to make.

3) Michael McLeod took quite a while to score his first NHL goal, and McLeod's two goals in this one on the same line as Myles Wood and Nathan Bastian was a surprise, but the complete domination of a game by a fourth game is a complete stunner.

It's not every game that one line dominates a game, but when it's the fourth line it comes along as often as a comet.

4) I mentioned recently about Myles Wood beginning to harness his play and turn it from recklessness to aggressiveness.

That transition, should it continue, might be moving Wood to the next level of player.

Wood's two goals, six shots, and narrowly missing a hat trick is making me believe that it could be developing in that direction.

5)  Buffalo began to swing play towards their end when Pavel Zacha missed an open net for a goal that would have made the Devils lead 3-0.

It almost never fails in hockey that when a team has an opportunity that they should take advantage of that the opponent will battle back and within a minute, Buffalo scored their first goal of the game from Curtis Lazar.

6) Of all the places that the Devils have played without fans thus far, I liked Buffalo the best.

The royal blue stands out well with the tapestries around the arena and it seems as if the cameras are able to get closer to the ice than at Newark or the other places that I've seen thus far.

Devils tab Michael McLeod

The New Jersey Devils trade down one spot from 11 to 12 (adding a third rounder) with the Ottawa Senators and wound up selecting Michael McLeod from the Mississauga Steelheads of the Ontario Hockey League.

The 18 year old center finished last season with 21 goals and 40 assists and is considered to be a plus skater.
McLeod is 6'2,185 and the team wants him to gain 10-15 pounds to add some strength to his body and therefore his game.
McLeod is also thought to possibly have a future at right wing and drew comparisons to Ryan Kesler and the Devils own Travis Zajac.

I don't claim to know the hockey draft in nearly the same manner as the football and basketball drafts,but I really liked the burly 6'6 center Logan Brown,who was on the board from the Devils point of view,but was selected by Ottawa after the trade.
I have a feeling that for the next years,Devils fans will be keeping an eye on Brown to compare his prospect status with that of McLeod.

There's more on McLeod and how the pick affects the Devils over at All about the Jersey here....