DEVILS NEWS 1/2
roger.j.smith
ANOTHER RUSSIAN JOINS THE DEVILS:
The Devils have signed a multi-year contract with Alexander Semak, the highly-
regarded center from Moscow Dynamo. Semak was the Devils 12th pick (10th
round, 207th overall) in the 1988 entry draft. There is no timetable for when
he will start playing. Although he practiced with the team yesterday, he will
not play in tonight's game.
The 5-10, 185-pound Semak will turn 26 on Feb 11. He was born in Ufa, Russia.
Though he speaks no english, he has three Russian teammates plus Peter Stasny
(Stasny speaks six languages - Slovak, Czech, English, French, Russian and
German). Semak had 5 goals with 5 assists and was a plus-9 in 10 games at the
World Championships in Helsinki.
Devils winger Valeri Zelepukin, who played on a line with Semak and the Rangers
Sergei Nemchinov, says Semak is "one of the best centers in Russia, if not the
best player." Zelepukin has now played in seven games for the Devils and has
2 goals and 3 assists. He has played on a line with Stasny and Lemieux. He
works hard for every shift he plays and provides a quick, offensive attack
as well as consistent defense and back-checking. He had a great, diving poke-
check in the game against Pittsburgh to break up a 2-on-1 late in the third.
INJURY REPORT:
-Patrik Sundstrom suffered a bruised left thigh when he was kneed by Lalor of
the Washington Capitols in Sunday night's game (no call from Morel).
-Pat Conacher is still out with a groin injury that is not improving. The
Devils have missed Patty's tenacious penalty killing.
-Zdeno Ciger, after his wrist was re-evaluated, had another cast put on and is
not expected until February.
RUMORS:
There have been rumors of a bidding war between the Devils and the Rangers for
Minnesota's Brian Bellows.
Buffalo is reported to be accepting offers for Dale Hawerchuk and Dave
Andreychuk. The Devils are rumored to be interested in Hawerchuck.
OTHERS BITS:
-Patrick Sundstrom has lost his "A" to Scott Stevens. Stevens has become a
leader both on and off the ice for the Devils. Don't be surprised if he gets
the "C" before the season is over.
-The Devils did something in their last game (against the Penguins) they hadn't
been able to do since Dec. 2 in the game against Calgary - win the 1st period.
In the 10 games where the Devils were leading after the 1st period, they are
10-0-0.
-Billington will start again tonight as the Devils complete a home-and-home
series with Pittsburgh. Billington is 7-1-1 and may be close to stealing the
job of starter from Chris Terreri. Terreri is 11-13-5.
-The Devils start a 6 game home-stand tonight.
Game scores (since my last news post 12/17):
Dec. 19 @ Hartford Won 4-1.
Dec. 21 Chicago Tied 1-1.
Dec. 23 @ NY Rangers Lost 3-0.
Dec. 26 @ NY Islanders Tied 5-5.
Dec. 28 Buffalo Won 3-0.
Dec. 29 Washington Lost 3-4.
Dec. 31 @ Pittsburgh Won 7-4.
Roger Smith
cimu03!sm...@att.att.com
Viktor Gotz
You guys (Devils) really do have a lot of russians on your team. Zelepukin
really was playing well against the Pens, getting his first two goals against
us. By the way who is this guy, did he just join the Devils?
Billington had a good game, too, stopped some really good chances the Pens had.
(Not that they had much) Wonder what's with Terreri, he had a good series
againts Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Did he get a new contract, too?
Chicago fans: how is Belfour doing? last I heard his record wasn't too good,
and Capt'n Hook treated him like "a rented mule". (Borrowed from Mike Lang)
Vik
(Go Pens!)
roger.j.smith
asks:
>
>You guys (Devils) really do have a lot of russians on your team. Zelepukin
>really was playing well against the Pens, getting his first two goals against
>us. By the way who is this guy, did he just join the Devils?
Zelepukin was drafted by the Devils in the 11th round of the 1990 entry draft.
Just as training camp for this season was coming to a close, he arrived
unannounced. He was sent to Utica (AHL) where he tallied 20 goals and 9
assists in 22 games. He was named AHL Rookie of the Week three times and AHL
Player of the Week twice. He skated with the NHL Devils while rehabilitating a
shoulder injury and stayed once he recovered.
>Billington had a good game, too, stopped some really good chances the Pens had.
>(Not that they had much) Wonder what's with Terreri, he had a good series
>againts Pittsburgh in the playoffs. Did he get a new contract, too?
Hey, maybe that's his problem! He signed a $2.3 million four-year contract
extension. Terreri is suffering from a lack of confidence. He's lost some
tough games moreso because the team couldn't score than due to his goaltending.
Roger Smith
cimu03!sm...@att.att.com
Gerald Olchowy
>
>RUMORS:
>There have been rumors of a bidding war between the Devils and the Rangers for
>Minnesota's Brian Bellows.
>Buffalo is reported to be accepting offers for Dale Hawerchuk and Dave
>Andreychuk. The Devils are rumored to be interested in Hawerchuck.
>
I could see Buffalo being interested in Sean Burke...Puppa has lost it,
and Malarchuk hasn't been able to deliver the goods for Quebec,
Washington, or Buffalo in the playoffs yet.
Gerald
Nelson Lu
>I could see Buffalo being interested in Sean Burke...Puppa has lost it,
>and Malarchuk hasn't been able to deliver the goods for Quebec,
>Washington, or Buffalo in the playoffs yet.
Not that I agree with you about your evaluation of Malarchuk (I think it is
absurd to evaluate players on short-duration series), but how many playoff wins
does Burke have? :-)
===============================================================================
"Do the Ysebaert-man!"
GO LOS ANGELES KINGS! Wayne Gretzky for Ross and Hart!
GO SAN JOSE SHARKS! Arturs Irbe for Vezina and Calder!
===============================================================================
Nelson Lu (clau...@leland.stanford.edu)
rec.sport.hockey contact for the San Jose Sharks
Randy Coulman
These numbers have been verified against what is printed in my newspaper every
Tuesday. They do not always print the W-L-T records, so those may not be
completely accurate, but should be close. I also make available unverified
versions of these stats by mail every weekday and most Saturdays. If you
would like to be included on this list, send me a message. The stats for
shots on goal and save percentage are completely unverified, but should be
close.
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, let me know.
Randy
-------
MP = Minutes Played, GA = Goals against,
SO = Shutouts, GAA = Goals against average
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties
SOG = Shots on Goal, SV = Save Percentage
MP GA SO GAA W L T SOG SV TM Player
=======================================================
1987 64 3 1.93 21 10 2 808 0.921 MTL Patrick Roy
60 2 0 2.00 0 1 0 28 0.929 NYI Danny Lorenz
504 19 1 2.26 6 1 1 237 0.920 NJ Craig Billington
184 7 0 2.28 0 2 1 113 0.938 TOR Felix Potvin
1336 55 2 2.47 9 7 5 543 0.899 CHI Ed Belfour
485 20 0 2.47 6 1 0 249 0.920 PIT Wendell Young
120 5 0 2.50 2 0 0 75 0.933 STL Guy Hebert
2052 88 3 2.57 20 8 6 906 0.903 VAN Kirk McLean
1200 52 3 2.60 11 5 4 629 0.917 WIN Bob Essensa
450 20 0 2.67 2 4 2 213 0.906 PHI Dominic Roussel
492 22 2 2.68 5 3 0 195 0.887 MTL Roland Melanson
1207 56 1 2.78 13 7 0 557 0.899 WAS Don Beaupre
1769 84 1 2.85 12 8 7 920 0.909 STL Curtis Joseph
413 20 1 2.91 1 5 1 210 0.905 TOR Jeff Reese
1223 62 3 3.04 13 6 1 602 0.897 NYR Mike Richter
59 3 0 3.05 0 1 0 22 0.864 NYI Mark Fitzpatrick
1499 77 2 3.08 11 11 3 732 0.895 MIN Jon Casey
1738 90 1 3.11 11 13 5 766 0.883 NJ Chris Terreri
637 33 1 3.11 4 4 3 340 0.903 BUF Tom Draper
2168 113 0 3.13 22 10 4 1016 0.889 DET Tim Cheveldae
730 39 1 3.21 4 6 2 361 0.892 PHI Ron Hextall
463 25 0 3.24 2 5 1 227 0.890 WIN Rick Tabaracci
1123 61 1 3.26 11 8 0 553 0.890 NYR John Vanbiesbrouck
1049 57 0 3.26 5 9 3 599 0.905 BUF Clint Malarchuk
1799 99 0 3.30 12 13 5 877 0.887 CAL Mike Vernon
1637 93 1 3.41 12 12 4 823 0.887 BOS Andy Moog
750 43 0 3.44 6 3 2 405 0.894 NYI Steve Weeks
1622 94 1 3.48 10 12 4 787 0.881 HAR Kay Whitmore
1976 115 1 3.49 13 14 6 989 0.884 EDM Bill Ranford
1048 62 0 3.55 5 9 3 544 0.886 QUE Jacques Cloutier
1010 60 0 3.56 6 7 3 432 0.861 PHI Ken Wregget
184 11 0 3.59 2 2 0 104 0.894 DET Vincent Riendeau
1284 77 0 3.60 7 6 6 633 0.878 LA Kelly Hrudey
848 51 0 3.61 4 7 4 337 0.849 CHI Jim Waite
1590 96 1 3.62 14 10 4 848 0.887 PIT Tom Barrasso
545 33 0 3.63 4 5 0 266 0.876 MIN Darcy Wakaluk
898 55 1 3.67 9 5 1 438 0.874 WAS Mike Liut
709 44 0 3.72 3 5 3 365 0.879 WIN Stephane Beauregard
561 35 0 3.74 4 6 0 245 0.857 HAR Peter Sidorkiewicz
16 1 0 3.75 0 0 0 5 0.800 DET Scott King
335 21 0 3.76 1 3 1 140 0.850 BOS Matt DelGuidice
491 31 0 3.79 2 3 3 278 0.888 SJ Arturs Irbe
31 2 0 3.87 0 0 0 9 0.778 DET Allan Bester
1756 114 1 3.90 9 17 3 873 0.869 TOR Grant Fuhr
276 18 0 3.91 3 1 0 151 0.881 BOS Reggie Lemelin
793 53 0 4.01 6 8 1 446 0.881 LA Daniel Berthiaume
237 16 0 4.05 3 1 0 106 0.849 WAS Jim Hrivnak
500 34 0 4.08 2 6 0 258 0.868 BUF Daren Puppa
1043 72 1 4.14 4 11 2 512 0.859 QUE Ron Tugnutt
912 63 0 4.14 3 12 0 541 0.884 SJ Jeff Hackett
646 46 0 4.27 2 9 0 392 0.883 SJ Jarmo Myllys
1318 97 0 4.42 6 13 4 686 0.859 NYI Glenn Healy
457 34 0 4.46 3 4 0 225 0.849 CAL Rick Wamsley
200 15 0 4.50 2 1 0 105 0.857 CHI Dominek Hasek
120 9 0 4.50 1 1 0 63 0.857 LA David Goverde
13 1 0 4.62 0 0 0 7 0.857 WIN Mike O'Neill
397 31 0 4.69 2 4 0 218 0.858 EDM Peter Ing
148 12 0 4.86 1 2 0 96 0.875 QUE Stephane Fiset
305 25 0 4.92 1 4 0 180 0.861 SJ Brian Hayward
225 20 0 5.33 2 1 0 130 0.846 PIT Frank Pietrangelo
260 24 0 5.54 1 3 0 141 0.830 VAN Troy Gamble
209 20 0 5.74 2 3 0 137 0.854 STL Pat Jablonski
--
Randy A. Coulman |
Department of Computational Science |
University of Saskatchewan | cou...@cs.Usask.ca
Saskatoon, SK S7N 0W0 | cou...@skaries.Usask.ca
Art Markman
>In article <1992Jan2.2...@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca> golc...@alchemy.chem.utoronto.ca (Gerald Olchowy) writes:
>
>>I could see Buffalo being interested in Sean Burke...Puppa has lost it,
>>and Malarchuk hasn't been able to deliver the goods for Quebec,
>>Washington, or Buffalo in the playoffs yet.
>
>Not that I agree with you about your evaluation of Malarchuk (I think it is
>absurd to evaluate players on short-duration series), but how many playoff wins
>does Burke have? :-)
>
after the olympics. The Devils (in their first playoff appearance after the
move to NJ) went all the way to the cup semifinals where they lost in 7 against
Boston with Burke leading the way. He was brilliant in that series. Since
then he's been sieve-like...
Of course, Burke had about the same streak Billington is having right now.
I'd like to see how long Billington can sustain this level of play. One
thing about Terrieri is that he's been consistent over the course of a
season (mind you I said consistent, not brilliant or sparkling...)
-Art
--
Art Markman | No tears and no hearts breaking
Department of Psychology | no remorse...
Northwestern University | -Steely Dan
Gerald Olchowy
>
>>I could see Buffalo being interested in Sean Burke...Puppa has lost it,
>>and Malarchuk hasn't been able to deliver the goods for Quebec,
>>Washington, or Buffalo in the playoffs yet.
>
>Not that I agree with you about your evaluation of Malarchuk (I think it is
>absurd to evaluate players on short-duration series), but how many playoff wins
>does Burke have? :-)
>
Burke took the Devils out of the Patrick Division...he beat the former
Soviets at the Izvestia Tournament...Malarchuk is something like 1 win
and > 10 losses for his career in the playoffs with 3 different teams.
Gerald
roger.j.smith
>
>>I could see Buffalo being interested in Sean Burke...Puppa has lost it,
>>and Malarchuk hasn't been able to deliver the goods for Quebec,
>>Washington, or Buffalo in the playoffs yet.
>
>Not that I agree with you about your evaluation of Malarchuk (I think it is
>absurd to evaluate players on short-duration series), but how many playoff wins
>does Burke have? :-)
I understand your attempt at humor, but Burke has 8 playoff wins - all during
the 1988 playoffs when the Devils took Boston to seven games in the conference
finals. He was also named First Team All-Star at the 1991 World Championships
in Helsinki playing for Canada.
Roger Smith
cimu03!sm...@att.att.com
tom wilson
>You guys (Devils) really do have a lot of russians on your team. Zelepukin
Actually it was a ploy by the USSR to move the team to Russia when it became
defunct. There were two problems though: (1) the franchise succeeded and (2)
the players like it here.
All in jest of course.
Tom
John Leatherdale
Burke was simply spectacular in all of his playoff games--the Devils' playoff
run in 1988 was in a large part due to him...
-John
pib...@rpi.edu