Your Disease is Killing Me

Earlier this season, and even before the season started, I had written that the New Jersey Devils would be wise to trade Jamie Langenbrunner.

My logic was simple, he quit on the season after being benched, he whined about it to the media, and then seemed to mentally checked out just in time to watch the team unravel in the playoffs.

Was my logic factually sound? Absolutely not. Was it based entirely on facts? I cannot confirm, nor deny any of the occurrences behind closed doors, but I can tell you that it looked like he quit on the team to me during the end of season games, and the team looked unmotivated during the post season, which I feel warrants a strike against the captain.

The Devils did not deal their captain, nor did they remove the captain’s C away from him. All fair moves with sound logic by rookie head coach John Maclean who seemed focused on maintaining team stability as a way to get the season off on the right foot.

The season, however, failed to meet any of the expectations which everyone had established for them as it began.

In one of the worst starts in franchise history, the Devils went from projected Atlantic Division Champions, to worst in the league, literally.

Is it fair to place the entire blame on the Captain? Not at all.

The rookie coach should undoubtedly shoulder a majority of the blame. He was the one who failed to keep the team motivated on a consistent basis. He failed to change his game plan after game after game of pitiful efforts and lack of any offensive production. He was the one who couldn’t finish a post-game interview without saying the word “uhhh” fewer tha 3 times in a sentence. [Okay so that last one doesn’t really have any bearing on team successes or failures, it was just awful to listen to.]

Even after MacLean’s firing, the Devils did not immediately turn their season around. Under new head coach Jacques Lemaire, the Devils initially continued to flounder.

However, as soon as a certain piece of the machine was removed, something happened.

On January 7th, the Devils traded their Captain back to the Dallas Stars for a conditional draft pick.

The next night, two nights after falling to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2 in very disheartening fashion, the Devils matched up against those same Flyers and put forth a much more spirited effort. They failed to win the game, but it was as if a weight had been lifted from their shoulders and they begin to play with more heart, energy and focus.

After playing the Flyers, the Devils squared off against the Tampa Bay Lightning. This pivotal game was the first of 16 wins out of their past 19 games.

Post-Langenbrunner, the Devils are 16-2-2. They have cut a 27 point deficit in the playoff race down to just 9. They’re also a mere 4 games from returning to .500 hockey.

On the other side of the trade, the Dallas Stars had looked poised to contend for top spot in the Pacific Division. Their trade for Langenbrunner was motivated with aspirations of solidifying an already cruising team in their quest for a deep playoff run. At the time of the trade, Dallas was a solid 24-13-5.

Since then, it has been an abysmal downward spiral for the Stars. They’ve gone a dismal 7-10-1, and went from the Pacific Division lead, to now being on the outside of the playoffs looking in and needing help to claw their way back in to the race.

Now, Dallas’ playoff hopes are nowhere near as perilous as the Devils, seeing as the entire Western Conference has apparently become one jumbled pack of teams beating the hell out of one another over the bottom 4 spots. [Detroit and Vancouver seem to be locks for the post-season]. 5th through 12th place are separated by only 4 points going into play tonight. But the Stars should undoubtedly be concerned as their recent trends have not only planted the seeds of doubt into their heads, but they’re starting to grow roots.

Of course, this could be a complete and utter coincidence that one team who did not have one player to start the year could go from division leaders to missing the playoffs after acquiring him, but the turnaround of the New Jersey Devils since dealing Langenbrunner has been outright remarkable.

Seeing the statistics makes you think even more, could Langenbrunner, a two time Cup winner, really be a curse?

Either way, it should make the final 20+ game push to the end of the season for both teams that much more interesting.