from Ken Campbell of The Hockey News,

Contrary to popular belief, the New Jersey Devils are not a bunch of automatons. Too much personality. But you’d be excused for thinking that GM Lou Lamoriello spends his time in some elaborate control room in the Prudential Center meticulously guiding all the movements of his players.

How else do you explain this franchise? In what has become an almost annual event, the Devils lose a major component and everyone declares this to be the year they’ll plunge to the depths of the Eastern Conference…and stay there. But there is no organization in the league that is better equipped to deal with a major departure than the Devils. And if the first two games of this young season are any indication, they’re going to be the Devils-you-know again.

The Devils are a major cockroach in the NHL’s food chain....

continued