As they say, every cloud has a silver lining. There was a decidedly sullen mood around Devil-land when Brian Rolston went down with a high-ankle sprain and Bobby Holik broke his finger. In two days time, there it went…all the money we spent over the offseason to make us a better team gone, out the window.
But as I said, there is a silver lining to this injury cloud, and that is the players that have stepped in to fill in the holes while Rolston and Holik recover.
First, there was Petr Vrana. The young Czech stepped in against Washington and became the lucky 13th Devil rookie to score a goal in his NHL debut. (In case you were wondering, the other 12 are Jeff Madill, Scott Pellerin, Denis Pederson, Petr Sykora, Steve Sullivan, Pascal Rheaume, Brendan Morrison, Pierre Dagenais, Jiri Bicek, Josef Boumedienne, Mike Rupp, and Zach Parise.) Four days later, enter Pierre-Luc Leblond, whose last name is actually Letourneau-Leblond, but it was hard enough for the equipment guys to fit “Langenbrunner” on the back of a jersey, so forget all that two names nonsense. But anyway, enter Leblond, Quebec native and all around grinder. In Leblond’s first NHL game, a 5-0 win over the Dallas Stars, Leblond pitched in a helper, and made his presence felt in the game.
Two injuries to players who were supposed to drastically improve this team’s offense; two rookies who step in and not only provide a stopgap, but produce points and become an active part of the team’s wins. And who knows, one or both may even earn more a prominent role on the team even after the players they are filling in for return.
Understudies for now, but stars in the making. A cliche statement, yes, but no exaggeration: with the likes of Vrana, Leblond, and many more working their way through the pipeline, the future of the Devils certainly is bright.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Marketing? WHAT Marketing??
This is a callout. This is to every Devils fan who is sick and tired of dealing with THE WORST marketing department in all of professional sports. This is to every Devils fan who is tired of seeing Rangers commercials that actually make people laugh and generate interest, instead of a 3 second clip followed by BUY TICKETS MONEY MONEY MONEY!!!
It's the little things that contribute to the Devils having an atrocious marketing department, or more specifically, the clown who oversees this monkey parade. So here is a little something I wish the Devils marketing director would read, because I'm sick and tired of New Jersey seeming like New York Part II when it comes to hockey.
Look, I can tolerate the infestatious levels of Rangers fans in New Jersey. The bottom line is, the Rangers predate the Devils by a good 60 years. Naturally, New Jersey WAS Rangers country for the longest time. There's nothing you can do about that. My problem is what is, or ISN'T, being done about those casual fans. You know, the ones who don't like hockey enough to fully commit to one team but appreciate it as a sport and will occasionally go to a game just to see what it's like.
I will leave alone the sheer stupidity of being on a TV network OWNED BY THE RANGERS, because I could write a novel about how insanely stupid that is. Why don't we focus more on getting people interested in this team, shall we?
TO DEVILS MARKETING DEPARTMENT: Look, just own up to it. You are the WORST marketing department in professional sports. You do absolutely NOTHING for your fans. ADMIT IT. Yeah the street hockey thing you do with the kids is great, but I'm not so sure that isn't somehow required by the NHL, otherwise I doubt you'd even go that far.
In case you haven't noticed, you have to compete with two other hockey teams who have been here longer than you have. You also have to compete with 6 other pro sports teams, who ALL get more attention for eating a bagel for breakfast than you do for winning the Stanley Cup.
Sure, you can call the little things like mini-movies about your players, cool looking wallpapers, and player meet-and-greets a waste of time and energy. But by doing this you are also calling drawing fans to your building a waste of time and energy. The sad thing is the Rangers don't NEED the funny commercials, player movies, and aggressive marketing. Maybe it's the fact that they play in the biggest city on the planet...maybe it's because they've somehow found a way to ride the wave of that 1994 Stanley Cup a whopping 14 years, a dead horse they relentlessly continue to beat to this very day. Point is, it doesn't matter; they could sell out the Garden at 0-82. They don't have to go the extra mile, but guess what, they do it ANYWAY. You on the other hand, are playing to half-capacity every night, except when we play the Rangers, because their fans buy all the tickets. You may not realize this from your luxury suite, but it's EMBARASSING to go to your own arena and see your hated rivals out-draw and out-cheer you.
So this is a callout. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER. Obviously being ridiculously more successful than your rivals on the ice doesn't sell you tickets, because if it did, we'd be selling out every game. Here's a novel idea: TRY and get people interested. Go ahead. It's okay. I dare you. Make some mini bios about our best players and show them on TV. Make some entertaining commercials. Even (GASP!) make your players available for meet and greets, give us the jerseys off their backs at center ice on the last game of the season. And if it works, I want your job, Mr. Marketing Director. Because to be as nice as possible, you are a disappointment.
It's the little things that contribute to the Devils having an atrocious marketing department, or more specifically, the clown who oversees this monkey parade. So here is a little something I wish the Devils marketing director would read, because I'm sick and tired of New Jersey seeming like New York Part II when it comes to hockey.
Look, I can tolerate the infestatious levels of Rangers fans in New Jersey. The bottom line is, the Rangers predate the Devils by a good 60 years. Naturally, New Jersey WAS Rangers country for the longest time. There's nothing you can do about that. My problem is what is, or ISN'T, being done about those casual fans. You know, the ones who don't like hockey enough to fully commit to one team but appreciate it as a sport and will occasionally go to a game just to see what it's like.
I will leave alone the sheer stupidity of being on a TV network OWNED BY THE RANGERS, because I could write a novel about how insanely stupid that is. Why don't we focus more on getting people interested in this team, shall we?
TO DEVILS MARKETING DEPARTMENT: Look, just own up to it. You are the WORST marketing department in professional sports. You do absolutely NOTHING for your fans. ADMIT IT. Yeah the street hockey thing you do with the kids is great, but I'm not so sure that isn't somehow required by the NHL, otherwise I doubt you'd even go that far.
In case you haven't noticed, you have to compete with two other hockey teams who have been here longer than you have. You also have to compete with 6 other pro sports teams, who ALL get more attention for eating a bagel for breakfast than you do for winning the Stanley Cup.
Sure, you can call the little things like mini-movies about your players, cool looking wallpapers, and player meet-and-greets a waste of time and energy. But by doing this you are also calling drawing fans to your building a waste of time and energy. The sad thing is the Rangers don't NEED the funny commercials, player movies, and aggressive marketing. Maybe it's the fact that they play in the biggest city on the planet...maybe it's because they've somehow found a way to ride the wave of that 1994 Stanley Cup a whopping 14 years, a dead horse they relentlessly continue to beat to this very day. Point is, it doesn't matter; they could sell out the Garden at 0-82. They don't have to go the extra mile, but guess what, they do it ANYWAY. You on the other hand, are playing to half-capacity every night, except when we play the Rangers, because their fans buy all the tickets. You may not realize this from your luxury suite, but it's EMBARASSING to go to your own arena and see your hated rivals out-draw and out-cheer you.
So this is a callout. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER. Obviously being ridiculously more successful than your rivals on the ice doesn't sell you tickets, because if it did, we'd be selling out every game. Here's a novel idea: TRY and get people interested. Go ahead. It's okay. I dare you. Make some mini bios about our best players and show them on TV. Make some entertaining commercials. Even (GASP!) make your players available for meet and greets, give us the jerseys off their backs at center ice on the last game of the season. And if it works, I want your job, Mr. Marketing Director. Because to be as nice as possible, you are a disappointment.
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