I just brewed this up and thought it would be a good idea, especially around now, since ths board's pretty active. Like I and many others said, we're all pretty happy with the overachieving the Devils did all year. It wasn't a cup team, and we did get knocked out by Gomez and the Rangers in 5, but nevertheless, it was a good year that ended on a shortcoming. I'd like to take this time to appoint some personal awards to soem of the players and managent on the team. Let me know what you all think and if you agree/disagree on my choices.
Rookie of the Year: Brent Sutter-Yeah, I know he's not a player on the team, but he was a rookie coach, which makes him a rookie. He got rid of that dreadful trap and installed a new system, which our players are finalizing their adaptations to. I thought the Devils were very well coached this year, and I think Sutter's performance this year should guarantee him a spot as Devils coach for a very long time.
Most Improved Player: Johnny Odyua- He was on everyone's hate list for the firsthalf of the season, and after a decent rookie year, Odyua really picked his game up as the season went on. Odyua's still relatively young, so let's see how he does next year.
Best Defenseman: Paul Martin-Pretty much obvious. The team functioned great with him and sputtered without him. He did not have a Brian Rafalski or a Scott Niedermayer type season, but he was consistent all year, despite injuries a couple of times in the season, and proved to be an essential asset to this year's team.
Best Goaltender: Duh.
Heavy Hitter: Vitaly Vishnevski-I'll use the first year excuse for any inconsistencies he may have had throughout the year. Whenever he was on the ice, I thought Vish used his size, and did his best to establish a physical presence. He was a little underused though, and I thought he could have been a defenseman who was good for 75-80 games this year. Hopefully we'll see a lot more of him next year.
Chemistry Award: Zach Parise, Patrik Elias-This award is for two players on the team that I thought generated the best chemistry when they were together, and while you'd expect Madden and Pandolfo to get an award like this, I think Zach and Patty deserved it, mainly because whenever these two got the chance, they worked wonders together and created most of the team's offense this year.
Veteran of the Year: John Madden/Jay Pandolfo: I had to split it between these two because I could not decide who deserved it more. Madden was an essential piece to our team's success this year and got himself a career year. Pandolfo fought through injury and given, if he played a full 82 game season, I bet you he would have had a career year in goals, assists, and points like Madden did. I think Pandolfo's injury crippled the Devils somewhat. Our team's turn out could have been a lot different if Pandolfo was healthy for the entire year.
Best Fighter: David Clarkson-Although many people consider him a wannabe Sean Avery, whatever he does works. He threw people off their game, and got the team going with a couple of fights here and there. I always wanted to see Clarkson and Janseen out at the same time, however I don't think that will be possible anytime soon... :(
Biggest Bust: Andy Greene-Someone who Lou said was going to really step and be one of the people to replace Rafalski...I don't think he even played more than 60 games this year...great call on that one Lou! I was going to nominate Zubrus for this award, but hopefully the first year syndome plagued him this year.
Next Year's High Hope: Zach Parise-He has built on two stable seaons of 30+ goals and it doesn't look like he's going to relent any time soon. Let's hope Parise can reach the 35 or 40 goal mark next season and become this team's next offensive jewel.
Team Savior: Martin Brodeur-Obviously. We're automatically 14th in the conference without Marty.
Team X-Factor: Lou Lamoriello-That's all I am saying.
