MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
This one's easy. Goalie Martin Brodeur didn't have a great playoff series against the Rangers but was the reason there was a playoff series in the first place. OK, perhaps that's a little overboard, but Brodeur kept this team in so many games this season, notching his fourth straight 40-win season, the eighth of his career. Management Kevin Weekes was brought in to ease some of the burden but Brodeur's last game off was Jan. 5.

MOST DISAPPOINTING PLAYER
There were several candidates for this, but let's go with left wing/center Dainius Zubrus. The free agent was brought in to ease at least some of the pain of losing Scott Gomez to free agency, but scored 13 goals, had one in the last 14 games and registered just one point, an assist, in the five playoff games.

FREE AGENT FOCUS
All the Devils' potential unrestricted free agents said they want to return, except for D Karel Rachunek, who appeared in one of the final 17 games. Rachunek was convinced New Jersey coach Brent Sutter froze him out because of reports he'd already signed to play in Russia next season, something Sutter denied.

Veteran forwards Jay Pandolfo (the biggest name on the free agent list) and Sergei Brylin both want to stay.

"I've played my whole career here," said Pandolfo, a key member of this team who was voted, by the players, as the "Player's Player" and "Unsung Hero" for the third straight year. "It's a great organization. There's a whole bunch of reasons."

Brylin, the jack of all trades up front, was reportedly seeking a two-year deal.

Defensemen Bryce Salvador, Mike Mottau and Sheldon Brookbank and RW Arron Asham all wanted to come back, too.

PLAYER NOTES

--G Martin Brodeur turned down requests to join Team Canada for the World Championships. "I just didn't feel like going," he said.

--D Bryce Salvador said the 10 games he missed down the stretch were because of a broken left fibula and not a bruised foot.

--C/LW Patrik Elias had a hat trick for the Czechs at the World Championships, May. 5. He didn't have one throughout the NHL season, scoring 20 goals in the regular season and four more in the playoffs. He had two goals in a game four times in the regular season and in Game 4 of the playoffs.

--RW David Clarkson, a potential restricted free agent, ranked third among NHL rookies in hits, with 150.

--D Andy Greene ranked No. 4 among rookies in blocked shots with 77.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.