Dainius Zubrus

It was the old catch phrase used by the Devils in the mid 1980's......"Devils, Catch Fire."  After the long, long stretch of bad play for the Devils in the first half of the season resulting in a record of 10-29-2, the Devils have responded with a stretch of hockey that has reminded their fans of the team they thought they had. 

It is has been a bit of a rough start in New Jersey for the second straight year, as the Devils have stumbled out of the gate a bit and lost their first three games.

The team is in a bit disarray and lack cohesiveness for the most part.

The New Jersey Devils have been the center of the NHL universe this summer with contract negotiations for one of the biggest superstars in the game, Ilya Kovalchuk.

We are getting close to the date of no return, where all NHL teams are required to be under the mandated salary cap of $59.4 million.  With GM Lou Lamoriello not indicating what he may do to get his team under the cap, we are all left to wonder what he will eventually do.  The Devils currently have 19 players on their roster, and are already $2,245,832 over the cap (before bonuses are factored in.

As the season begins, there will now be two editions of NHL Today. One will be the traditional NHL rumor based article. The second edition will be a daily recap of games and more. Stay tuned for the second edition coming soon!

New Jersey Devils

Tomas Kaberle

Various sources are reporting that defenseman Tomas Kaberle might just end up re-signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs next season. I guess talks between Wilson and Kaberle must have went well. More on this soon. 

Dainius Zubrus

Various media outlets are reporting that the Maple Leafs and Devils may be talking. Darren Dreger of TSN reported a few days ago that the Leafs may be willing to take on some salary if the Devils included draft picks in a trade. Meanwhile other media outlets are saying that the Devils and Maple Leafs are working on a "hockey trade."

The deal that seemingly took forever, is now complete.  Ilya Kovalchuk is now signed to be a New Jersey Devil for the next 15 years. It only took the National Hockey League and Players Association to change the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to make it happen, but there's no need to relive the whole saga.  Devils fans can celebrate knowing they will have Kovalchuk around to watch and admire his unique s

*Hey readers! It has come to my attention via a fellow writer on b/r that one of my segments has been shamelessly stolen from me by an NHL.com writer. I will be contacting NHL.com today voicing my concerns. As a reader, you can support me by following me on twitter (@BR_JohnTabone) as I try to reason with the writer (@jkreiser7nhl). Thanks!*

James Neal

Sources are reporting that negotiations between Neal and the Dallas Stars aren't going too well. The Stars have a glut of left wingers and maybe Neal just isn't in the picture. He'd make a great trading piece.

Owen Nolan