AUTHOR: The Maven TITLE: Questions loom for local hockey clubs DATE: 10/28/2006 01:15:00 PM ----- BODY:

THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE GOMEZ When a goaltender such as Martin Brodeur racks up his 82nd shutout tying Jacques Plante in the record book, it should be cause for jubilation in East Rutherford. Especially since the Devils ended their three game losing streak with a two zip win over Florida. But the joy is diminished by the sight of Scott Gomez hobbling off the ice with a leg injury that will sideline him for an undetermined amount of time. With the Blue Jackets visiting Continental Airlines Arena on Saturday, coach Claude Julien will have to put on his thinking cap to compensate for Gomez’s absence. Since CJ is such a nice guy, I’ll give him a hand, to solve the dilemma. For starters, the coach should move Zach Parise into his natural center ice position between Patrik Elias and Brian Gionta. Parise has taken his game up a notch in his sophomore year and deserves more responsibility. Sticking with the youth movement, Julien should employ Travis Zajac between Jamie Langenbrunner and Dan LaCouture. The checking-yet-they-can-score unit will be John Madden, Jay Pandolfo and Sergei Brylin with Erik Rasmussen, Cam Janssen and Mike Rupp rounding out the offense. Nobody can replace Gomez’s innate creativity but these ad-lib lines can work. I found it interesting that Alex Brooks once again emerged from Lowell in place of Brad Lukowich without any damage to the defense. One in a row is just fine – they’re 5-4-0-1-11 compared to last year’s 5-5-0-10 – two in a row would be even better. FIGURING THE ISLES Considering that Ted Nolan was coaching against his former Sabres team Thursday on the Island, I expected a positive emotional response from his Isles taking on the unbeaten Sabres. I was very disappointed—and so was Nolan. Apart from sporadic attacks, the Isles were essentially ineffective once Buffalo scored the opening goal on a two-man advantage. Hey, the Sabres are a wonderful team and I do mean TEAM, but they were there for the taking and two possible points got squandered. Unnecessary penalties proved to be the downfall. A more visible Alexei Yashin and Viktor Kozlov would help Saturday night at home against Florida. And as I told Tom Poti, when he gets the puck on the point during the power play he should blast off instead of pass off. Poti has the shot; he should use it more. MINDING JAROMIR’S BUSINESS Is it mind over matter or matter over mind? That’s the question befuddling me and several thousand Jaromir-watchers. The Ranger’s captain continues to sound the way he’s playing – uncertain. It could be the result of his surgically repaired left shoulder and I, for one, never would dismiss that possibility. But this much is certain, Jagr is a shade of his former self. And no matter what the captain says, I buy coach Tom Renneys’ point: Jagr must shoot the puck twice as much as he’s doing it now and then let’s see what happens when the Blueshirts open their road trip on Saturday night in Phoenix.

----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Anonymous DATE:10/30/2006 02:55:00 PM Hey Stan,
Eklund at Hockeybuzz.com had a comment today about some impending Leetch news. Any insight? Thanks! ----- --------