You won't believe who predicted the New Jersey Devils will win the Eastern Conference
There is a lot of hype around the New Jersey Devils coming into this season, but it tends to be "get back to the playoffs" hype, and not "win the Stanley Cup" hype. However, one person who has been hard on the Devils in the past has high hopes for them this season.
The New Jersey Devils are ready to go this season. A two-game sweep has all fans completely forgetting the disappointing preseason. This is a season of excitement for Devils fans. And that excitement is leaking into the national and regional media. We’ve seen so many media members discuss the Devils.
Locally, we’re seeing some changes in the Devils media landscape. Ryan Novozinsky left the Devils beat to cover the New York Giants. It’s primarily non-full timers and blog writers covering the Devils on a daily basis (including yours truly). There are some regional writers who do pay attention to the Devils, including some writers in New York.
One writer who has always seemed to write about the Devils is Hall of Famer Larry Brooks. Brooks has said some good things and a lot of harsh things about the Devils in the past (although he wasn’t always wrong in his criticism, looking back). This year, he appears to be really high on the Devils, and he’s not the only one.
In the New York Post’s season preview article, Brooks, Mollie Walker, and Ethan Sears give their takes on who is making the playoffs in both conferences and who will come out on top in the Stanley Cup Final. Brooks actually picked the Devils to win the Prince of Wales Trophy, given to the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals.
It’s surprising that a newspaper that focuses mostly on the New York Rangers would even write about the team’s biggest rival going further than the team playing above the train station. We give Brooks credit for that. He does have the Devils losing to the Edmonton Oilers, seeing Connor McDavid finishing the job.
Walker did choose the Rangers to win the Stanley Cup and Peter Laviolette winning the Jack Adams, but she had the Devils finishing second in the Metro. Sears had the Devils winning the Metropolitan, and he had Jack Hughes winning the Hart Trophy, so he’s clearly high on their regular season, but he thinks they’ll sputter out in the playoffs, as well.
Some might be surprised that Brooks is this high on the Devils, but this is someone who once worked for Lou Lamoriello. He has a soft spot for the Devils. We know he does!
Either way, we’re having trouble keeping our own internal hype in check, as the Devils have been really good in the first two games. However, we’ll learn more about this team when they play Sheldon Keefe’s former team the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night.
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