NHL new jersey Devils

Brendan Shanahan announced his retirement on Tuesday afternoon, ending a 21-year career that saw him finish with 656 goals (11th all time), 698 assists and 1,354 points with the New Jersey Devils, Hartford Whalers, St. Louis Blues, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils.

He was a member of three Stanley Cup winning teams (all in Detroit), an eight-time All-Star and a two-time 50-goal scorer.

Not only was he a dominating player on the ice, he was also an extremely entertaining person off of it.

As anyone who struggled to get the new health care legislation passed over the weekend can attest, it's hard to make systemic changes. The momentum of history carries us along, forcing the boldest and most tenacious of us to aggressively fight the tide in the name of progress.

It may not be nearly on par with lowering the unemployment rate or giving our education system a breath of fresh air, but in the world of this lovely escape we call hockey, few in recent history have had as big of an impact in these terms as Lou Lamoriello. It's entirely appropriate that he's being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday night as a "Builder," because he built a dynasty out of a doormat as well as a hockey nation out of a nation with just a curious interest in the sport.

But when I think of what makes Lou Lamoriello great, I don't think about what he's done. I think about the character and personality that drove all that success.

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The Devils are a perfect 7-0 on the road this year, but a pedestrian 2-4 at The Rock in Newark, where they'll be hosting the Islanders Friday night. After six straight losses to open the season, the Isles have won four out of their last five behind John Tavares, who has four points in that stretch. FanHouse's Christopher Botta is live-blogging the Atlantic Division contest from the time the puck drops at 7 p.m. ET.

New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello will be inducted into the builders section of the the Hockey Hall of Fame on Monday. The architect of three Stanley Cup-winning teams was the guest on a media conference call on Friday afternoon. Some highlights ...

Newsmakers in the NHL: During the regular season it's our weekday look at the previous night's action and some of the story lines taking place around the league. Have a tip or something you want linked? Send it in to nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.

Devils 4, Rangers 2: With a shutout on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur would have tied Terry Sawchuk's record for most career shutouts. While the future Hall of Famer will have to wait for another night to reach his next milestone, he still managed to stop 29 shots to help lead the Devils to a 4-2 win.

Zach Parise scored a pair of goals -- and assisted on another -- as New Jersey handed the Rangers their second straight loss. The Devils, meanwhile, have won five of their past six.

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Martin Brodeur is one shutout away from tying Terry Sawchuk's all-time shutout record. How meaningful is that? And what is the best means for judging goaltenders' performance?

This week, our Puck Talk podcast chats about the Devils. We're joined by radio analyst Sherry Ross, who returned to the booth in 2007, just in time to watch Brian Rolston return to the ice, and eventually Jacques Lemaire return to the bench. Seems like everyone ends up going back there at some point.

We talk with Sherry about this year's team, how Lemaire is adjusting to his young talent, and what kind of workload goalie Martin Brodeur will face this season. Check out this week's podcast after the jump.

NEWARK, N.J. -- For Martin Brodeur, the first victory of the year on home ice never gets old.

When the horn blared after the Devils' 2-0 victory over Carolina on Saturday night, the 37-year-old future first ballot Hall of Fame goaltender raised his stick high and grinned like it was his first NHL win instead of his 561st.

"I always celebrate," Brodeur said after his 26-save shutout of Carolina for the Devils' first win at the Prudential Centre after three unsuccessful attempts. "Getting the first home win is important. It took too long this time, but we have to get our home-ice advantage back. This was a start."

Sports fans in Philadelphia get a bad rap as one of the worst groups of sports fans in the country. There's the old legend that they booed Santa Claus and there's the factual occurrence of their booing Donovan McNabb. But, as with any sweeping generalization, there's a part based in rumor and legend as well as a part somewhat based in truth. While details are still sketchy about what happened one thing is clear -- Flyers and Devils fans decided to open the season with a bang with some European style hooliganism on the streets of New Jersey and Philly (Note: Fair warning, there are some graphic, NSFW descriptions after the jump).