New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup Playoff Preview

Martin Brodeur and the Devils will be a tough team to break down but with a blunt offence, can the Devils go all the way in 2008 and give a big payday to the New Jersey hockey betting faithful?

The New Jersey Devils didn’t start the season well under the guidance of new head coach Brent Sutter, and Martin Brodeur didn’t start the season well between the pipes for the team. However, the coach eventually managed to get his team on a roll, and Brodeur found his groove and put up dominating numbers.

And now that duo will try to pay off for those who did any futures NHL betting on them this year and lead their team through the East and to the Stanley Cup final.

Brodeur’s Hall of Fame career still hasn’t started to wind down. The veteran keeper is up with the league leaders in wins, goals-against average, and save percentage once again this season, and he started almost every game for New Jersey. There’s even been talk that Brodeur will capture some Hart Trophy votes.

Of course, the Devils wouldn’t have to rely on Brodeur so heavily if they had the ability to create more offense. New Jersey is one of the lowest-scoring teams in the entire National Hockey League, and they have a power-play percentage to match. Scoring doesn’t come easily for Sutter’s club, which means they need to play stifling defense each and every night in order to come out with those wins.

In fact, Zach Parise is the only Devils player who reached the 30-goal or the 60-point plateau this season. Fellow forwards Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta, and Travis Zajac all took a step back on offense this year, while free-agent signing Dainius Zubrus hasn’t made much of an impact on the scoresheet. Jamie Langenbrunner missed 20 games due to injury, so he’ll fall short of last year’s numbers as well.

On the blueline the team gets some offensive help from Paul Martin and Johnny Oduya, but they don’t have an elite point producer at that position like the Pittsburgh Penguins (Sergei Gonchar) and Montreal Canadiens (Andrei Markov) boast. What the Devils can do, however, is shut down the likes of Gonchar and Markov as they strive to win playoff games by scores of 2-1 and 3-2 this spring.

Brodeur is no stranger to NHL playoff success, and the Devils’ odds to win the 2008 Stanley Cup are going to be respectable if only because he’s on the ice. New Jersey enters the postseason third on the Stanley Cup odds list out of the East (behind the Pens and Habs) at a price of 13.00, and they’re at a price of 7.00 if you want to do hockey betting on them winning the Eastern Conference.