NHL new jersey Devils

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Atlantic Division.

It will be an interesting summer for the five teams in the Atlantic. Four teams made the playoffs, including the eventual Stanley Cup champion, and the one team that didn't make it -- the New York Islanders -- holds the first pick in Friday's draft, which isn't a bad consolation prize. All around it was a pretty successful season for these five teams.

To the surprise of precisely no one, Brent Sutter stepped down after two years as head coach of the New Jersey Devils. Between his desire to be closer to family and the potential interest in joining brother Darryl in Calgary, Brent Sutter had every reason to leave.

As Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello searches for a replacement, an old friend seems to be emerging as a serious candidate. This, too, should come as a surprise to nobody.

Ever since the Calgary Flames fired Mike Keenan after a disappointing end to their season, there has been much speculation about the future of New Jersey's Brent Sutter.

While Sutter has been successful with the Devils, his roots are in western Canada. Not only that, but his brother, Darryl, is the general manager of the Flames.

With that in mind, there appears to be a connection between Brent Sutter's decision to resign as the coach in New Jersey, and the fact that Darryl Sutter has yet to name Keenan's successor.

The word "fail" sure seems to be commonly associated with Versus, doesn't it? Fair or not, the network gets a lot of flak from hockey fans for its coverage of the sport.

Last week, the NHL's cable television partner bailed from the epic ending of the Carolina-New Jersey game so we could listen to their people drone on about a game that hadn't started yet. To make matters worse, they were back at it again Tuesday, as two epic Game 7s were contested in the Eastern Conference.

The Hurricanes must not have been content with letting the Washington Capitals take the spotlight for the night. After the Capitals defeated the Rangers in a thrilling contest on a stellar shot from Sergei Fedorov, the 'Canes one-upped that ending with their own miracle finish, scoring two goals in the final 80 seconds to overcome a 3-2 deficit and eliminate the Devils. The 'Canes advance to play the Bruins in the second round.

But that's a discussion to have later, because Carolina deserves to revel for a night in its tenacity, busting through a Devils defense that stifled for 55 minutes, particularly in the second half of the game. The sequence that unfolded over the game's final minutes left the jaws of everyone watching agape, with the Devils and their fans staring at the floor wondering how their season went from dashing to deceased.

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The news around the Devils Tuesday should rightfully be about their Game 7 against the Hurricanes, but Sports Business Journal had other plans. They reported Tuesday morning that the team was looking for a business executive to take over revenue-building duties, stripping those duties from do-everything honcho Lou Lamoriello and allowing him the opportunity to focus solely on the hockey operations side.

Apparently, the league has been bitten for the second day in a row by an erroneous report. After ESPN wrongfully reported Monday one-game suspensions for Capitals Donald Brashear and Mike Green only to redact the report shortly thereafter, Devils chairman/managing partner Jeff Vanderbeek called the Lamoriello report "very inaccurate."

All over North America this morning, hardcore hockey fans are saying a word or two of thanks to the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. Thanks to those two teams and the guts they displayed on Sunday by staving off elimination in their respective playoff series, we'll all get to enjoy the rare treat of a Tuesday night in April: not one, but two Games 7.

The Caps will host the beleaguered Rangers in Washington at 7:00 p.m., while the Devils and the Hurricanes will get things underway in Newark 30 minutes later. Needless to say, many of us will have our heads on a swivel most of the evening.

It had to be this way -- the most evenly-matched series in the league's opening round, two parallel teams who have been equals in the stat sheet through six games, naturally leads to a Game 7. That fate was sealed for the Hurricanes and Devils after the Hurricanes played near-perfect hockey in dispatching the Devils in front of a thoroughly pleased Carolina crowd that included elite Panthers wideout Steve Smith and Tyler Hansbrough of the national champion Tar Heels.

The 'Canes did their part in living up to the presence of those two, responding to a shutout loss in Game 5 with a forceful effort in which Brent Sutter summed up thusly, "The difference was that one team played like there was no tomorrow and the other didn't."

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The New Jersey Devils have a chance to advance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs Sunday night. They've won two of their last three without captain Jamie Langenbrunner, who has been out with a lower-body injury.

Heading into Game 6 against Carolina Sunday, the Devils expect to have their captain back in the lineup. It's a huge boost to a team that has been involved in close game after close game so far in this series.

Pavel Datsyuk has owned the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy the past three seasons, and he's going to have an opportunity to claim another one as the Red Wings' star is, once again, one of the top vote-getters in 2009. Joining Datsyuk in the top three are New Jersey's Zach Parise and Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis.

The 30-year-old center matched a career-high with 97 points this season, fourth best in the NHL, while also setting a new personal-best with 32 goals. One of the best -- and most underrated -- players in the NHL, Datsyuk is the total package as a player, and is also one of the all-time great draft day steals, going in the sixth-round of the 1998 draft, 187th overall.