FanHouse Martin Brodeur

This week, our Puck Talk podcast chats about the Devils. We're joined by radio analyst Sherry Ross, who returned to the booth in 2007, just in time to watch Brian Rolston return to the ice, and eventually Jacques Lemaire return to the bench. Seems like everyone ends up going back there at some point.

We talk with Sherry about this year's team, how Lemaire is adjusting to his young talent, and what kind of workload goalie Martin Brodeur will face this season. Check out this week's podcast after the jump.

The USA Olympic orientation camp made for some strange bedfellows. Vancouver forward Ryan Kesler found himself rooming with T.J. Oshie of the Blues, who'd sent some cheap shots Kesler's way in the past, according to Kesler.

"I wasn't a fan," Kesler told FanHouse by phone this week. "And Paul Stastny once got me with a stick on a faceoff and chipped a couple of my teeth. But we sat down and talked and they're good guys. Stastny apologized for high-sticking me in the face."

Could it be that some of the other USA hopefuls felt equally ambivalent about Kesler going into the camp?

FanHouse's Adam Gretz takes a look at his top 50 players in the NHL. No. 11 is New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur.

After missing nearly four months of the 2008-09 season with torn triceps, Martin Brodeur returned to the lineup in spectacular fashion, recording shutouts in two of his first three starts. Business as usual for the NHL's all-time wins leader, and one of the greatest players to ever play the position.

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It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Atlantic Division.

It will be an interesting summer for the five teams in the Atlantic. Four teams made the playoffs, including the eventual Stanley Cup champion, and the one team that didn't make it -- the New York Islanders -- holds the first pick in Friday's draft, which isn't a bad consolation prize. All around it was a pretty successful season for these five teams.

The real NHL awards will be handed out Thursday night in Las Vegas, so FanHouse decided to hand out its own special awards for the 2008-09 season.

During the 2007-08 season, Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Vesa Toskala made blooper reels across the NHL for allowing a goal against the New York Islanders from 190 feet away. Hey, it happens to the best of them, and just to prove it, we introduce you to the 2008-09 nominees for the Vesa Toskala Award, celebrating the worst goal allowed of the year.

To the surprise of precisely no one, Brent Sutter stepped down after two years as head coach of the New Jersey Devils. Between his desire to be closer to family and the potential interest in joining brother Darryl in Calgary, Brent Sutter had every reason to leave.

As Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello searches for a replacement, an old friend seems to be emerging as a serious candidate. This, too, should come as a surprise to nobody.

It's never a good thing when your favorite team's goalie gets pulled from a start. When it happens in the Stanley Cup Finals, there's a pretty good chance something really bad happened.

Saturday night, Pittsburgh Penguins coach Dan Bylsma put goalie Marc-Andre Fleury out of his misery in the second period of a 5-0 Detroit win. With Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals looming Tuesday night in Pittsburgh, everyone will want to know if Fleury can rebound.

If Pittsburgh's Marc-Andre Fleury and Carolina's Cam Ward can repeat their Game 1 performances, when the two youngsters matched each other save-for-save in the Penguins 3-2 win, this series likely won't be decided until a seventh game.

Ward, 25, and Fleury, 24, have already helped lead teams to the Stanley Cup Final, while Ward not only won the whole thing as a rookie in 2005-06, he also took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.

So, are these two guys considered elite, franchise goaltenders?

According to the Denver Post, the Colorado Avalanche have offered their head coaching position to Hall of Fame netminder Patrick Roy. Roy helped lead the team to two Stanley Cup titles in 1996 and 2001 and retired in 2003 as the winningest goaltender in NHL history, a record recently surpassed by New Jersey's Martin Brodeur.

Roy may be the ideal candidate in the mind of Pierre Lacroix but there's one problem. They already have a coach. As in current coach Tony Granato who is still in charge of the team at the moment.

Going into tonight's game against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Boston Bruins hadn't played in eight days. There was the distinct possibility that they would come out rusty. On the other hand, the Hurricanes were coming off an emotional win in New Jersey on Tuesday night and might be a bit drained.

As it turned out, both teams came out pretty hard and competed but the Hurricanes seemed to be a step behind tonight. Turnovers and poor play in their own zone led to a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Bruins, despite a somewhat evenly played game. Well, as evenly played as a game decided by three goals can be.

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