11.04.2008

Reality Check: Everyone Gets Injured

The New Jersey Devils have one heck of a dilemma on their hands.


Super-human goalie Martin Brodeur went down with an elbow injury, and will require surgery. This means 3-4 months of a Marty-less team.

Ouch.


The Devils have relied on Brodeur since I was too young to know anything about hockey, and their back-up right now? Kevin Weekes.

Now, I'm not trying to say Weekes is a bad goalie; he's in the NHL, that obviously means he has some skill. But he hasn't been the starting goalie for a team since the 03-04 Hurricanes, where he went 23-30-11 in 66 games. Since then, he's compiled a 20-23-3 record as a back-up for the Rangers and the Devils over 4 seasons, including the 2 games he's played this season.


The Devils have several options, and it'll be interesting to see which one they go with.

A) The Devils go with Weekes as a starting goaltender, and give AHL goaltender Frank Doyle some NHL time. Straight up, there's no way Lou Lamoriello will go with that.

B) The Blackhawks need to get Nikolai Khabibulin off their hands, even though he's been a good goalie as of late. He could fit into the Devils system relatively well and have a strong year.

C) Ottawa doesn't know what to do with it's trio of Martin Gerber, Alex Auld, and Brian Elliot, all three of whom are deserving of starting goalie time. The Devils could trade for one of them without giving up too much.



There are other options, of course, but I think one of these three would be the most likely to occur. Thoughts? Random Rants? Feel free to comment.
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