New Jersey Devils: Andy Greene Defeats Ilya Kovalchuk In Playoffs
The New Jersey Devils have some former players playing in the playoffs including their former captain.
The New Jersey Devils weren’t invited to the return-to-play tournament because they were one of the seven worst teams in the league. The playoffs are all the way back though and some old friends are participating with other teams. We saw Blake Coleman score and his Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night. Well, he wasn’t the only one as former captain Andy Greene‘s New York Islanders are off to the next round.
The cool thing is that Greene was a part of the Islanders team that defeated a Washington Capitals team that had Ilya Kovalchuk on it. There might not be two former Devils players active right now that have completely opposite reputations with the fanbase. Greene was a fan favorite and he played his heart out for the team for a very long time. He was the captain for a reason and he showed why he deserved it quite a bit.
Kovalchuk was the opposite. He was a phenomenal player for a while with the team and was one of their best players en route to the Stanley Cup Final in 2012. There is no doubt that he was awsome for our team but he became public enemy number one when he quit on the Devils in 2013. He “retired” from the NHL and signed a mega-contract with SKA St. Petersberg after signing a big deal with the Devils.
Kovalchuk retiring really hurt the Devils for a lot of years. They lost Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, and David Clarkson in a span of a season, and that sunk their chances at being a contender. Over 90 goals vanished from their lineup and it showed. They are just now starting to recover from all of that. As a result, it was so awesome to see such a loyal Devil like Andy Greene send Ilya Kovalchuk home.
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Greene is the type of guy that you just always root for even after he is traded away from your team. He wasn’t a superstar or anything like that but he always seemed to play the game the right way. The Devils were a better team when they had Greene in the lineup than when they didn’t and he was a good soldier during some good times and bad. Hopefully, he is able to continue some of the success in his remaining NHL years.