Information
New Jersey Devils information, The New Jersey Devils were founded in 1974 and compete in the Atlantic Eastern division. They serve as one of the NHL's most popular franchises, winning three Stanley Cups, four Conference championships, and seven division championships.
2005-2006 saw the 5th division title in the last ten years for the New Jersey Devils. The Devils also saw their relationship with Larry Robinson end with his resignation in December last year. This move sparked GM Lou Lamoriello to take over the helm leading the Devils to a 32-18 record under his brief tenure as a coach. After falling to the Carolina Hurricanes in the conference semifinals, Lamoriello decided to hire Claude Julien (ex-Nordiques defensemen and most recently former Montreal Canadiens head coach) to compliment the Devils stingy defense ethic.
On the offensive side of the puck, the Devils were able to prove that they can score goals just as well as any other team. Not a difficult task with guys like Brian Gionta (48G-41A) and Scott Gomez (33G-51A) leading the way. Even with Patrik Elias missing the first half of the season due to injury, the Devils still found ways to score goals with the help of rookie Zach Parise, veteran Jamie Langenbrunner helping out on the power-play, and Brian Rafalski notching 43 assists. They ended the season losing to the Hurricanes in the Conference semi finals. They have failed to make it past this point in the last two seasons as well, losing to the Senators in 2007 and earlier in the quarterfinals to the Rangers in 2008. In 2009 the trend repeated, this time defeated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the quarterfinals.
With years of building from the stellar offense of Langenbrunner and Elias, the always-reliable defense unit led by Martin Brodeur, and the emergence of Zach Parise, the Devils should give fans plenty to cheer about as one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference in 2009-2010.
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