After four straight losses it might be nice to change the conversation for a little bit to a subject less contentious...realignment. Bob McKenzie went into this in a lengthy article back in October. Bettman also discussed the issue of realignment in his radio address Thursday.

Then last night on Hockey Night in Canada's Hot Stove they discussed a new possible plan that could be presented at the Board of Governors meeting this week. The guys over at Puck Daddy also gave their thoughts. Basically under this more radical plan things would break down as follows:

San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Colorado

Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Minnesota, Nashville, Columbus, Winnipeg, Dallas

Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, NY Rangers, NY Islanders, New Jersey, Washington, Carolina

Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, Boston, Florida, Tampa Bay

At the very least it is interesting and different. The divisional opening two rounds of the playoffs is a plus. The big issue I have isn't the alignment itself, it is the scheduling of games during the regular season. From the writers at Litter Box Cats they write that under this proposal each team would have a home and home outside its division with remaining games being played within the division. So the Devils would play as many games against Montreal and Boston as they would against Phoenix and Vancouver. Deal breaker.

If the NHL is serious about this alignment, then I would hope they would change their stance on the scheduling. Something like this type of scheduling might help get the Eastern votes needed to pass.

For an Eastern conference team:

Six games within the division for a total of 36. Four games outside the division, yet within the conference for a total of 28. One game versus teams outside the conference with one year a division at home, the next year the division away for a total 16. For a grand total of 80 games. Then pick a team to have a home and home with.

For a Western conference team:

Six games within the division for a total of 42. Then three games outside the division, yet within the conference for a total of 24. (This gets tricky with three games but for example one year Detroit would play a home and home versus the other the division, plus four teams at home and four away versus the same division switching teams the following year) One game versus teams outside the conference with one year a division at home, the next year the division away for a total of 14. For a total of 80 games. Then pick a team to have a home and home with.

I would think that this would work on many levels. For the Eastern teams they keep basically their current scheduling with six and four conference games and could eliminate some trips with the West. For the Western teams they could eliminate some trips east and even eliminate some trips between their conference by going from the present four to three.For Eastern time zone teams in the West like Detroit and Columbus it would reduce their games in Mountain and Pacific time zones from 16 to 12.

Then the extra home and home could be played between outliers like Tampa and Florida or between conferences like Detroit and Toronto.

Whatever happens I hope that this issue gets resolved this week because the next Board of Governors meeting isn't until the All-Star break and I don't know what could possibly change between now and then as to why this can't be done now. Oh...right....Phoenix.....

What are your thoughts on this new plan presented on Hockey Night in Canada's Hot Stove? How about the scheduling of games based on that plan I presented above? Or do you have your own idea?

After reading how Martin Brodeur would like to see the Devils go green more often, I was wondering what the fans think. I personally would like to see one more game with the retro jersey. I think embracing the Christmas Tree Jersey would be fun and have it on the Toys for Tots night, then auction off the jerseys for the foundation. Going retro only twice a season would help preserve that special feel. I know Lou has said once is enough, but who ever thought we would even have one retro night?

Also, would anyone like to see the white retro jersey?

I included "More than 5" as an option because if Colorado can do this twelve times a year, anything is possible. 

After seeing some good "Worst of.." for the last decade for other teams, I thought it might be fun to give it a try for the Devils. Mixed are some poor drafts, poor trades and poor signings. If you can think of anyone I missed please leave a comment. The first few were sort of a reach, more of a "They played for us?", but that’s the price you pay for being so successful over the years.

Dishonorable mention: Darren Langdon

#10 - Jean-Francois Damphousse 

01-02 6 games, 1 win, 3 losses, 2.45 GAA, .896 SV% 

You have to feel bad for anyone that is Marty’s back up, but the main reason why he makes this list is because of who was drafted directly afterwards. Brenden Morrow. The Devils had so little faith in this guy that John Vanbiesbrouck had to come out of retirement mid way through the year to help the team out. At least he was involved in a trade that a year later helped us win the cup right? He would later bump around the minors for the Ducks, Flames and Habs. (Fun fact: he was later involved in a trade for Rob Niedermayer between the Ducks and Flames)

# 9 -  Adrian Foster / Mike Danton

The only thing worse than playing 6 games? How about zero? Selected 28th overall in the 2001 draft Foster would go on to become one of only three first round picks that year to never see a NHL game. Four picks later Buffalo would select center Derek Roy who has quietly put up 310 points in 392 games. Mike Danton was selected in the 5th round in the 2000 draft and if we are going to have a spot for draft busts might as well have one for a guy who got sent to prison for hiring a hit-man to murder his agent. 

#8 - Igor Larionov

03-04 49 games, 1 goal, 10 assists, 11 points

Feel bad putting a Hall of Famer on the list, but things never seemed to workout for the then 42 year old in New Jersey after putting up 43 points in each of the two previous seasons with Detroit. 

# 7 - Richard Smehlik, Jason Wiemer, Niclas Havelid

This trio just goes to show that every trade deadline deal doesn’t always work and all three would never again play in the NHL after their shorts stays in NJ. Smehlik plays all of 12 games during the regular season and 5 during the playoffs for the Devils and has his name on the Cup because of it. 

#6 - Karel Rachunek

07-08 47 games, 4 goals, 9 assists, 13 points 

After losing Rafalski Lou went out and signed the next two on our list and the results were less then impressive. Luckily Karel only stuck around for a year until his 1.4M contract ended then headed to the KHL.

#5 - Vitaly Vishnevski

 07-08 69 games, 2 goals, 5 assists, 7 points

The only thing harder to comprehend besides his name was what the Devils saw in him to give him a contract. The train that was Vitaly only lasted a third of the way through his three-year 5.4M contract before he magically disappeared the KHL.

# 4 - Alexander Mogilny (Act II)

05-06 34 games, 12 goals, 13 assists, 25 points 

They probably should have just paid him the first time, because the second trip was a mess. The season didn’t start out well, Robinson stepped down and then people started disappearing. The former All-start and 76 - goal scorer would finish the year in Albany. The following year he would be diagnosed not able to play because of his hip and the Devils would get some cap relief with the second year of his 3.5M salary. You have to wonder if Alex could have had a better time if the perfect storm hadn’t happened to start that season. Not having Elias was huge and 25 points in 34 games wasn’t really all that bad. Rolston has 22 points in 39 games right now.

# 3 - Dan McGillis

05-06 27 games, 0 goals, 6 assists, 6 points

How do you try to fill the void left by Niedermayer? Remember this signing from the free agent class of 05? Dan would only play 27 games before things went a mess in NJ and he was sent to Albany. He would play out the second year of his 2.2M contract in Lowell then later try to catch on with Vancouver on a try-out contract, he was last seen patrolling the blueline in Germany. 

#2 - Victor Kozlov

03-04, 05-06 80 games, 14 goals, 17 assists, 31 points

Big Victor had a huge amount of skill, but only a fraction of the desire. The former 6th overall pick spent much of his time on the fourth line before leaving NJ for the Island. Victor now plays in the KHL after a short stop in Washington.

#1 - Vladimir Malakhov (Act II)

05-06 29 games, 4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points

Vladimir is the last of the trio of the summer of 05. Just to get rid of his terrible 3.6M contract we had to give up a first round pick. So not only a terrible signing, but the signing resulted in a terrible trade, which is the reason for number 1 on the list. We did get Jim Fahey and Alexander Korolyuk though right?

Make no mistake, In Lou I Trust, its just fun to remember some of these names. It’s also easy to smile and laugh these off when you are sitting near the top of the league.

As the dust has settled here is a possible look at next year and who I think might be signed in the next few days. (Based on nothing but my own opinion)

Parise- Zajac- Langs                                    Cap hit: 3.125 + 2.5 + 2.8 = 8.425 (Assume Zajac for 2.5)

Elias - Rolston - Bergfors                        Cap hit: 6 + 5.062 + 0.818 = 11.88

Shanny - Zubrus - Clarkson                        Cap hit: 0.8 + 3.4 + 0.8375 = 5.0375 (Assume Shanny for 0.8)

Pandolfo - Pelley - Halischuk            Cap hit: 2.5 + 0.55 + 0.875 = 3.925

Martin - Oduya                                    Cap hit: 3.83 + 3.5 = 7.33

Mottau - White                                    Cap hit: 0.762  + 3 = 3.762

Greene - Salvador                                    Cap hit: 0.7375 + 2.9 = 3.6375

Brodeur - Back-up                                    Cap hit: 5.2 + 1.0 = 6.2 (Assumed backup no more than 1mil)

       Total Cap hit: 50.197 (all number from http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=NJ)

I know people hate the idea of Rolston being a center and that we need to sign a center but if we truly want to go with the idea of Bergfors getting a shot then he has to play right wing on the second line. Where else would he go? If you sign a center and keep Bergfors on the right wing where does Rolston go? I believe that most were in agreement that he was misused on the third line last year. There is also a lack of quality centers this offseason.

Maybe what is more likely to happen is they try Bergfors and if it doesn't work out then they make a trade for a rental. UFA Centers next year: Jokinen, Savard, Marleau

Defense: Zubov, Schnieder, Leopold

Not first pairing names, nor should they play there. Compare those three to Mottau, "if we can get better we will" and I would say those three are better than Mottau. If those three can't be had for 1 year deals for cheap then I think Lou is comfortable with who he has.

Back-up goalies: Niittymaki, Fernandez, Raycroft

Most fans are in agreement that Brodeur can not be playing 70+ games anymore. We needed a backup that can play 25-30 games a year. As we saw this year we need some insurance for injuries also. I think that musical chairs game of goalies will eventually end and one of these three might not have a seat and would be willing to play backup rather than not play at all. Again only 1 year deals for cheap. When Lou says he will decide if Frazee is ready in the next week that really means who will left over in a week and desperate enough to backup Brodeur. Shouldn't they know by now if Frazee is ready? What will really change in a week?

Remember no big salaries come off the books next offseason besides Martin. The cap will drop so figure how much it will drop by and then add 2 million because that is probably the raise for Martin. That total number is at least how far below the cap we need to be compared to this year. If you figure this years budget for the Devils to be 55 million, subtract 2 for Martin and that leaves 53 million. Then maybe a cap drop of 2-3 million and that leaves 50-51 million which isn't to far off from the above number.