NEWARK
James Neal Jersey Womens , N.J. (AP) For the first time since spending $340 million to buy the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2013, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are getting a chance to see the team play some meaningful games in the final months of the NHL season.Following Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win over the New York Islanders, the Devils hold a five-point lead over Columbus in the race for the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and a seven-point edge over the Islanders for the second wild-card spot with 20 games left in the regular season.While it is still too early to start celebrating, the Devils’ five-year playoff drought might be ending.”Yeah, I hope we’re going to the playoffs and long run, we’ve said consistently that we want to be an elite Stanley Cup contender year in, year out and there are no shortcuts to that,” Harris said Saturday night in a rare interview after taking part in the ceremony to retire the No. 26 jersey of Patrik Elias, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.What makes this turnaround remarkable is that the Devils had their worst season in three decades in 2016-17, finishing last in the conference with 70 points.Their win over the Islanders on Saturday night gave them 72 points this season.”We have always said we were going to do things step by step to build long-run winners,” Harris said. ”Sometimes everyone gets impatient and we get impatient. Last year wasn’t great to be me. It’s very exciting to be in the hunt, but we are not done.”Much of the credit for the turnaround has to go to general manager Ray Shero
T.J. Oshie Jersey , who came on board in the offseason in 2015. He has revamped the roster with the latest addition being the acquisition of 25-goal scorer Michael Grabner from the Rangers on Thursday in the first deal between the area rivals since the Devils came to New Jersey in 1982.It was just the latest deal by Shero who has acquired forwards Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and Marcus Johansson, defensemen Sami Vatanen and Mirco Mueller and goaltender Eddie Lack in trades and signed free agents John Moore, Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Will Butcher, Jimmy Hayes and Drew Stafford.Hall is having a career season with 26 goals and 40 assists. His 66 points are 25 more than any player on the team.The bad season last year also helped earn the Devils the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. They got a winner with 19-year-old Nico Hischier, who is centering the top line.”Look when Ray came in in 2015 I still remember him saying things won’t necessarily change overnight, but we’re going to move this in the right direction and that’s all across the organization,” Blitzer said. ”What he has been able to do over the last 2 years, and I think as we look at the future, it has been incredible.”New Jersey still faces an immediate obstacle in its playoff push. Nine of its next 12 games are on the road, including eight with teams in playoff positions heading into Sunday’s games.Blitzer believes the Devils are going to finish what they started this season.”Certain things happen that you plan and certain things happen that you don’t necessarily plan
Authentic Blake Wheeler Jersey ,” he said. ”We got some really interesting pieces that you could not predict at the beginning of the summer. Will Butcher; for Nico to come and do what he is doing. Taylor Hall to turn over what he is doing this season and the leadership he is showing.”It’s just been incredible,” he added. ”I just think you see a team really gelling. It’s also a team not just built for today. This is a team that is built for the future and that’s what makes it so exciting.”— DALLAS (AP) The Dallas Stars are celebrating 25 years in Texas by hosting the NHL draft for the first time.The headliner for the home team had a little anniversary of his own: retired franchise icon Mike Modano marking 30 years since he was the No. 1 overall pick by helping introduce the Stars’ first-round pick, Canadian forward Ty Dellandrea, on Friday night.Sharing the stage with high-scoring Dallas winger Jamie Benn, Modano only had to look up to see his No. 9 hanging from the rafters at the other end of American Airlines Center.The highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history was the first pick by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988, five years before the franchise moved to North Texas.”I’ve been thinking about it,” Modano said. ”Didn’t really ring a bell till about a month ago when they started saying some stuff, called me to do some intros. I was like, `Dang, yeah, ’88, 2018.’ I was like, `That was quick.”’Modano watched hockey grow from almost nothing in North Texas
http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-bryan-little-jersey ;, but couldn’t say he was surprised his old franchise got the draft since a new arena that opened in 2001 brought the All-Star game six years later. The 48-year-old figured it was just a matter of time.”I think a lot of things happened along the way that we didn’t think,” Modano said. ”Just kind of gives people a little bit of knowledge of the town. There’s hockey down in Texas and it’s alive and kicking. Brings a lot of attention to this town for hockey for a good week.”Modano gigged the current captain of the Stars during their presentation, saying he wasn’t on stage when Benn got drafted and Benn responding that they didn’t bring fifth-round picks to the stage.Benn, the 2015 Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL’s points leader, is up to fifth on the club’s career scoring list after getting taken 129th overall in 2007. Benn’s rookie season was Modano’s last in Dallas.”We worked on that for a little bit,” Modano said with a smile.Dellandrea, the 13th overall pick, was 10 when Modano retired in 2011 after one season with Detroit. Modano debuted as an 18-year-old with the North Stars and spent 20 seasons combined in Minnesota and Dallas. His American records are 557 goals and 1,359 points.”I might have been a little young,” said the 17-year-old Dellandrea, who spent the past two seasons with Flint of the Ontario Hockey League. ”But both of them have been tremendous role models to look up to as a young hockey player.”Now one of them is a teammate.—
NEWARK James Neal Jersey Womens , N.J. (AP) For the first time since spending $340 million to buy the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2013, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are getting a chance to see the team play some meaningful games in the final months of the NHL season.Following Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win over the New York Islanders, the Devils hold a five-point lead over Columbus in the race for the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and a seven-point edge over the Islanders for the second wild-card spot with 20 games left in the regular season.While it is still too early to start celebrating, the Devils’ five-year playoff drought might be ending.”Yeah, I hope we’re going to the playoffs and long run, we’ve said consistently that we want to be an elite Stanley Cup contender year in, year out and there are no shortcuts to that,” Harris said Saturday night in a rare interview after taking part in the ceremony to retire the No. 26 jersey of Patrik Elias, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.What makes this turnaround remarkable is that the Devils had their worst season in three decades in 2016-17, finishing last in the conference with 70 points.Their win over the Islanders on Saturday night gave them 72 points this season.”We have always said we were going to do things step by step to build long-run winners,” Harris said. ”Sometimes everyone gets impatient and we get impatient. Last year wasn’t great to be me. It’s very exciting to be in the hunt, but we are not done.”Much of the credit for the turnaround has to go to general manager Ray Shero T.J. Oshie Jersey , who came on board in the offseason in 2015. He has revamped the roster with the latest addition being the acquisition of 25-goal scorer Michael Grabner from the Rangers on Thursday in the first deal between the area rivals since the Devils came to New Jersey in 1982.It was just the latest deal by Shero who has acquired forwards Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and Marcus Johansson, defensemen Sami Vatanen and Mirco Mueller and goaltender Eddie Lack in trades and signed free agents John Moore, Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Will Butcher, Jimmy Hayes and Drew Stafford.Hall is having a career season with 26 goals and 40 assists. His 66 points are 25 more than any player on the team.The bad season last year also helped earn the Devils the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. They got a winner with 19-year-old Nico Hischier, who is centering the top line.”Look when Ray came in in 2015 I still remember him saying things won’t necessarily change overnight, but we’re going to move this in the right direction and that’s all across the organization,” Blitzer said. ”What he has been able to do over the last 2 years, and I think as we look at the future, it has been incredible.”New Jersey still faces an immediate obstacle in its playoff push. Nine of its next 12 games are on the road, including eight with teams in playoff positions heading into Sunday’s games.Blitzer believes the Devils are going to finish what they started this season.”Certain things happen that you plan and certain things happen that you don’t necessarily plan Authentic Blake Wheeler Jersey ,” he said. ”We got some really interesting pieces that you could not predict at the beginning of the summer. Will Butcher; for Nico to come and do what he is doing. Taylor Hall to turn over what he is doing this season and the leadership he is showing.”It’s just been incredible,” he added. ”I just think you see a team really gelling. It’s also a team not just built for today. This is a team that is built for the future and that’s what makes it so exciting.”— DALLAS (AP) The Dallas Stars are celebrating 25 years in Texas by hosting the NHL draft for the first time.The headliner for the home team had a little anniversary of his own: retired franchise icon Mike Modano marking 30 years since he was the No. 1 overall pick by helping introduce the Stars’ first-round pick, Canadian forward Ty Dellandrea, on Friday night.Sharing the stage with high-scoring Dallas winger Jamie Benn, Modano only had to look up to see his No. 9 hanging from the rafters at the other end of American Airlines Center.The highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history was the first pick by the Minnesota North Stars in 1988, five years before the franchise moved to North Texas.”I’ve been thinking about it,” Modano said. ”Didn’t really ring a bell till about a month ago when they started saying some stuff, called me to do some intros. I was like, `Dang, yeah, ’88, 2018.’ I was like, `That was quick.”’Modano watched hockey grow from almost nothing in North Texas http://www.officialhockeyjetsshop.com/authentic-adidas-bryan-little-jersey ;, but couldn’t say he was surprised his old franchise got the draft since a new arena that opened in 2001 brought the All-Star game six years later. The 48-year-old figured it was just a matter of time.”I think a lot of things happened along the way that we didn’t think,” Modano said. ”Just kind of gives people a little bit of knowledge of the town. There’s hockey down in Texas and it’s alive and kicking. Brings a lot of attention to this town for hockey for a good week.”Modano gigged the current captain of the Stars during their presentation, saying he wasn’t on stage when Benn got drafted and Benn responding that they didn’t bring fifth-round picks to the stage.Benn, the 2015 Art Ross Trophy winner as the NHL’s points leader, is up to fifth on the club’s career scoring list after getting taken 129th overall in 2007. Benn’s rookie season was Modano’s last in Dallas.”We worked on that for a little bit,” Modano said with a smile.Dellandrea, the 13th overall pick, was 10 when Modano retired in 2011 after one season with Detroit. Modano debuted as an 18-year-old with the North Stars and spent 20 seasons combined in Minnesota and Dallas. His American records are 557 goals and 1,359 points.”I might have been a little young,” said the 17-year-old Dellandrea, who spent the past two seasons with Flint of the Ontario Hockey League. ”But both of them have been tremendous role models to look up to as a young hockey player.”Now one of them is a teammate.—