Today is a sad day at NHL Hot Stove as we close up shop.

I would like to thank every one who has ever contributed, commented and read our site. It was a fantastic ride which unfortunately we can no longer keep up.

Myself and David Strehle are taking on bigger roles at RLDHockey.net while Dustin Leed and The Hockey Guys has been generous enough to give a home to our other excellent contributors. Please be kind enough to give both sites a read.

The NHL announced tonight that they will change their current six-division setup into four conferences. For the first time since 1998, the League’s board of governors reached an agreement that not only alters the current outlook but also will allow every team to play a home-and-home series. The NHLPA will still need to approve the realignment but that appears to be a formality at this point.

These four conferences break down as the following:

Conference 1

Vancouver Canucks
Calgary Flames
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
Anaheim Ducks
Colorado Avalanche
Phoenix Coyotes

Conference 2

Winnipeg Jets
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
St. Louis Blues
Nashville Predators
Columbus Blue Jackets
Dallas Stars
Minnesota Wild

Conference 3

Toronto Maple Leafs
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
Boston Bruins
Buffalo Sabres
Florida Panthers
Tampa Bay Lightning

Conference 4

Pittsburgh Penguins
Philadelphia Flyers
New York Rangers
New York Islanders
New Jersey Devils
Carolina Hurricanes
Washington Capitals

The current playoff configuration will also change with the first two playoff series coming within the Conference. However, eight teams will still make the show but there should be much more parity. For example, a team in a ‘weaker’ division would not be allowed to grab the third seed if they narrowly make the playoffs.

Furthermore, the schedule works out well for all teams. Home-and-home series should account for roughly 44-46 games with the remaining games getting played in rivalries within the conference. This change, as well as keeping natural rivals like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia; Chicago and Detroit; Calgary and Edmonton; should pave way for more excitement and interest around North America.

Now that we have the details down, let’s get to the fun part. What do we name these conferences? Do they get the old names: Norris, Campbell, Adams and Patrick? Do we rename them something more current like Gretzky, Lemieux, Howe and Orr? Put your vote in below and give some write-ins into the comments.

By Bill Whitehead

SUNRISE, Fla. — Tonight’s game between the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers at BankAtlantic Center is the second morsel in the Thanksgiving Feast, but it’s more than just that. If you’re flipping through the handy schedule or checking online, it looks like just another game between two good teams.

The Devils (10-7-1) have 21 points and rank tenth in the Eastern Conference standings while playing one less game than the Southeast Division-leading Panthers, so the matchup is a good one. The two clubs are also playing well — the Devils are 3-1 on the road trip, while Florida is 5-2-3 in its last 10 games. A win by the Devils wraps up a fantastic road swing. The Panthers, meanwhile, just want to keep the momentum going at home.

But there’s another issue at play tonight that has nothing to do with future Hall of Famer Martin Brodeur, former Panther Ryan Carter or any player on the ice for that matter. Instead, the attention will be on new Devils coach Pete DeBoer, who was fired by the Panthers one day after last season ended following three years of service. Here’s what DeBoer told The Record’s Tom Gulitti about tonight’s game:

“For a lot of reasons I’d like to win that one,” DeBoer said. “Obviously, the big picture is we want to finish this road trip off the right way and we want to keep feeling good and playing the way we are.”

The key here clearly is “for a lot of reasons.” Naturally, DeBoer has taken this a little personally, which is just human nature. DeBoer, who was well-liked during his tenure here, is reacting as anyone likely would at being fired for the first time. He coached under three different Florida GMs, so there was very little continuity going on to make the team’s effort any easier. The constant turnover, both in management and player personnel, worked against him.

DeBeoer also had abysmal talent — sometimes the Panthers resembled nothing more than an AHL squad, especially after last year’s trade deadline. The only bright spot in the final two months was the Sergei Samsonov-Stephen Weiss-Niclas Bergfors line, which showed promise, skill and production. But after Florida beat Washington 1-0 on April 9, closing a second consecutive bad campaign with a 30-40-12 mark, GM Dale Tallon fired DeBoer the next morning. DeBoer’s stint as Florida’s bench boss ended with a 103-107-36 record.

But DeBoer was also complicit in the team’s failures. While he didn’t have much skill to work with, his system didn’t get the most out of his players’ abilities. Florida’s constant cycling ended in very little offensive production, and the low slot in front of opposing goalies should have been marked off with orange cones because it was essentially a restricted area for Panther forwards. He played Scott Clemmensen too often and Tomas Vokoun too little, creating discord with the Czech netminder. And DeBoer’s legacy in Florida is leading teams who couldn’t hold late one-goal and sometimes two-goal leads.

“I haven’t been back to a place I’ve been fired before,” said DeBoer, 43. “It will be a first-time experience for me. I had three great years there. I met a lot of great people. I’m looking forward to catching up with some of the friends I made there.”

The visit by the Devils tonight will finally put an end to the DeBoer era in Florida, and when New Jersey returns in three weeks, DeBoer won’t be an issue. But for the emotions involved right now, this game is necessary.

For Pete’s sake.

By Bill Whitehead
NHLHS Florida Panthers Credentialed Correspondent
Twitter: @BillWhiteheadFL
Email: BillWhiteheadFL@hotmail.com

Just as he was beginning to cement his spot in the lineup, New Jersey Devils‘ forward Jacob Josefson suffered a broken right clavicle that will keep him off the ice for three to four months. Last season he missed 35 games with a torn ligament in his right hand.

Since Travis Zajac started the season on the injured reserve list, the Devils were already short staffed down the middle. Now with Josefson out, New Jersey has a gaping hole at center.

The Devils quickly called up centerman Adam Henrique, who became a victim of the numbers at the end of training camp for the opening night roster.

Then, New Jersey claimed Ryan Carter, a center who played under Peter DeBoer in Florida, after the Florida Panthers placed Carter on waivers. In 189 NHL games since the 2007-2008 season, Carter recorded 14 goals and 21 assists. He likely will not be a replacement on the top two lines.

Carter becomes a fill-in player for the bottom two lines, but the Devils still need a center for the first two lines.

But, when Petr Sykora woke up on Monday with flu-like symptoms, the Devils had no extra forwards to put in the lineup had Sykora not been able to play. Luckily Sykora took to the ice for warmups, and ended up factoring into all three of the Devils’ goals against the Los Angeles Kings, but defenseman Mark Fraser nearly had to fill in at forward.

Captain Zach Parise moved to center for the first time since college, except for a few games in the 2007-2008 season. He went 9-5 in the face-off dot against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday.

Regardless of the Devils’ ability to shift around players to fill the void, they desperately need a true center.

New Jersey has roughly $3.8 million in salary cap space according to CapGeek.com and Josefson’s cap hit was $900,000.

Toronto Maple Leafs center, Tyler Bozak, would be a good option for the Devils to try to acquire. Bozak’s cap hit is $1.5 million, but he proved to be a powerful threat in the face-off dot last season.

Bozak, who has four assists in six games this season, is signed through next season. However, at 25 years of age, Bozak has more experience than a few of the other options out there.

Out west, there is Kyle Turris, who remains unsigned but is trying to work out a contract with the Phoenix Coyotes. In 65 games in the NHL last season, he had a 50% face-off win percentage, but lacks the depth of experience that the Devils may need.

In 131 games, Turris recorded 19 goals and 27 assists.

Another possibility for the Devils would be to trade for Edmonton Oilers‘ Sam Gagner.

Gagner, who just returned from an injury on Saturday, needs to play with experienced wingers. He could become an very successful center, but needs the support.

If General Manager Lou Lamoriello makes a move to acquire another center, then look for him to go to the rental market.

Columbus Blue Jackets‘ forward, Samuel Pahlsson, will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and boasts a $2.65 million cap hit according to Cap Geek.

The 33-year-old Swede has the Stanley Cup experience that any team desires, but he also has the ability to play against the other team’s best lines. A perfect fit for the Devils, Pahlsson is a center that can play on one of the top two lines and be defensively responsible.

Since the Columbus has only one win this season, they might be ready to complete a trade to switch some things up.

Though ailed by an injury recently, Jochen Hecht, 34, would make a good addition to the Devils. His success in the face-off dot and his defensive ability would be a big asset.

Daymond Langkow and Olli Jokinen are also possibilities.

Langkow is in his second stint with the Coyotes. Through eight games this season, he scored five points.

Though, Jokinen, 32, does not have the experience in the postseason that may be necessary for the Devils. But hopefully by the time playoffs roll around, the Devils will have Zajac and Josefson.

Josefson’s loss created a huge setback for the Devils, but they proved they can rebound without necessarily having a top centerman.

By Alexander Monaghan
President

Yesterday, we let you in on our contest to play a ‘One Day FREE Fantasy Contest‘ to win $100 in cash prizes from Draft Steet. Well, I signed up, How about you?

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C: Mark Letestu — $5,990
C: Valtteri Filppula — $6,118

D: Niklas Kronwall — $6,547
D: P.K. Subban — $7,817

G: Jonathan Quick — $20,665
G: Brian Gionta — $7,976

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From DC-to-Jersey-to-TO, David Steckel continues his trek north. On Tuesday, the New Jersey Devils traded the 29-year-old West Bend, Wisconsin-native to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for 2012 fourth-round draft pick.

The departure of Steckel likely allows the Devils to keep nonroster camp invitee and former Stanley Cup Champion Petr Sykora. Sykora impressed in camp and may find himself in the top six, perhaps with former “A Line” mate Patrik Elias.

Steckel posted a 30 goal season in the American Hockey League with the Hershey Bears in 2006-2007, but his forte in NHL is penalty killing and draws. The 6’5”Steckel won almost 58% of his draws in 2008-2009 and tallied an overtime game winning goal in Game 6 of an Eastern Conference Semifinals series against the Penguins that spring. Last season, Steckel lead in the department with a very stout 62.3% winning percentage. On February 28, 2011, the Capitals shipped Steckel up I-95 to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for the center of the aforementioned “A Line,” Jason Arnott. How about that for irony if indeed Sykora has made the Devils’ squad?

With the addition of Steckel’s $1.1 million cap hit, the Leafs move to within $1.9 million of this season’s cap hit. This includes the buyout of Darcy Tucker for $1 million. In addition to the on-ice skills in the face off dots and in shorthanded situations, Steckel adds veteran leadership to a young forward core. Steckel has tasted the NHL postseason in three consecutive years with the Washington Capitals, and the Leafs have not played a game 83 since prior to the lockout.

______________________________________________________________________________
Slashes, head shots, and anything unsportsmanlike is fair game on Twitter @Gordsie.

Dear 2011 NHL Off-Season,

What the hell?

No, wait, wait. That came out wrong. Let me start over…

What the hell?!

You’ve been all over the place this summer. Granted, maybe we fans should have seen it coming, what with Brian Rafalski from the Detroit Red Wings retiring and the Philadelphia Flyers shipping off Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, then signing Ilya Bryzgalov for like $16 million/season (I mean, did they see how he played in the playoffs? Wait, I’m getting off-topic.); Teemu Selanne, however, is still taking his sweet time deciding what he’s doing, per normal, and it wouldn’t be a complete off-season without an esteemed veteran toying with everyone – just look at what Jaromir Jagr pulled, debating between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit, then both teams pulling out, then Philadelphia snagging him.

Let’s not forget about the Brad Richards debates. Oh. And then Chris Osgood, Kris Draper, and Adam Foote retired as well. I’m sure I’m missing some guys in there, too.

Do you even want me to bring up all the tragedies? What could hurt a community more? Three players passing away out of the blue and creating horrific headlines for the hockey community and disgusting revelations about the life of an enforcer in the NHL, and then we had that plane crash in Russia that killed an entire hockey team.

The hockey community was – and still is, for that matter – shaken to its core. Red Wings fans didn’t anticipate this off-season being so horrific, but with three veteran players bowing out and then Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei, and former prospect Stefan Liv on that fated Russian plane…what could really make it any worse?

Okay, Off-season, maybe we can’t blame you entirely. Perhaps we should have seen you coming; after all, the post-season should have been some sort of indication. Each round was littered with sweeps, upsets, seven-game series, suspensions, fights, and several teams coming back from 3-0 deficits only to lose it in the seventh game.

Heck, even the regular season should have warned us! The New Jersey Devils tanking and Ilya Kovalchuk doing nothing for so long, the Toronto Maple Leafs actually being undefeated at the start of the season, Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby both going down with lengthy injuries, the Washington Capitals having a terrible winless streak, those few weeks in the middle of the season with goalie fights, bench-clearing brawls, seven players in the box at the same time, and 157 penalty minutes just in one game, and who can forget Montreal Canadiens fans calling the cops on Zdeno Chara‘s hit on Max Pacioretty that makes us all cringe in pain just thinking about it?

So I guess it all really boils down to this:

Dear 2011-2012 NHL Regular season,

PLEASE DON’T SUCK.

Sincerely,

Hockey fans around the world.

PS – To the upcoming season – we know you’ll suck at some point for various reasons, so at least don’t give us as many heart attacks. Let us at least have our good health.

Christina Roberts
NHLHS Detroit Red Wings Correspondent
Twitter: @franzenmuth
Email: christina.roberts@nhlhotstove.com

Zach Parise signed a one-year deal to avoid arbitration with the New Jersey Devils.  With the contract, worth $6 million, the arbitration hearing scheduled for Wednesday, August 3rd.

Parise’s resume speaks for itself. He knows his worth and supposedly so do the Devils. On the free agency market this year Parise likely would have fielded offers from several teams around the league. To avoid potential inflation, the Devils filed for arbitration with Parise to ensure he could not receive offer sheets.

The team-elected arbitration hearing could only produce a one-year deal so the contract both sides agreed upon simply avoided the hearing and potential backlash.

Lou Lamoriello still seems to want to sign Parise, to a long-term contract, however they must wait until January 1st to sign a deal for the 2012-2013 season.

It could very well be possible that Lamoriello was hesitant on signing Parise to a long-term contract after Parise missed most of last season to a knee injury.

The one-year deal could be like a tryout. If Parise bounces back and proves his knee is 100 percent better, then maybe the Devils will feel more confident signing the skilled forward.

Nevertheless, the Devils still had the weekend, Monday and Tuesday to negotiate with Parise and his agent, Wade Arnott. The compromise of a one-year deal to avoid a hearing likely means that the two sides were not close to signing a long-term deal.

Arnott spoke with Tom Gulitti of the Record and discussed the reasoning behind the one-year deal. Lamoriello echoed the same feelings.

“The bigger issue is we’re facing a bit of a deadline here of next week on arbitration that the club elected and we were only dealing with one year on that basis,” Arnott said. “That’s primarily where our focus has been recently and that’s what’s caused a settlement.”

With this one-year deal, Parise is now eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st next year. Unless the Devils agree to another contract prior to then, Devils fans will once again suffer through possibly losing a great talent.

In just six seasons in the NHL, Parise has scored 163 goals and 178 assists. His best season came in 2008-2009 when he registered 45 goals and 49 assists for 94 points. He finished fifth in overall league scoring and third in goals.

The Minnesota native participated in the 2007 NHL Young All Star game and was named the MVP. He also was a pivotal part of the 2004 World Junior Championships that saw Team USA win its first gold medal.

During the 2010 Olympics Parise was an alternate captain and scored the tying goal in the Gold Medal game with 24 seconds left in the 3rd period to send the game to overtime.

Parise is the epitome of hockey. With Jamie Langenbrunner leaving as the captain, the captaincy is up for grabs. Many believe Parise will become the next captain of the Devils and definitely deserves it.

Although Parise has yet to make it out of the second round of the playoffs, he has done a lot for the Devils and their fans. Until the Devils signed Ilya Kovalchuk last season to a lengthy contract, Parise seemed like the undoubtable next face of the Devils after Martin Brodeur retires.

Beyond this season Parise’s future with the Devils remains unknown. But if the Devils let him go next season, they will lose a great young talent that could have captained them for several years to come.

Dave Barr, who previously worked as an assistant coach in Minnesota, will join Peter DeBoer‘s coaching staff for the New Jersey Devils.

Barr, who played for two seasons with the Devils, recorded 128 goals and 204 assists in 614 games in the NHL. After his final game in the NHL, Barr went on to play for the Kalamazoo Wings and the Orlando Solar Bears, both of the IHL.

When his playing career  neared an end, Barr began the transition into coaching many former players take.

He was an assistant coach with the Solar Bears before becoming the head coach of the Houston Aeros in the 2000-2001 season. For two seasons he served as General Manager of the Aeros as well and won the Calder Cup in 2003.

Barr continued on his coaching path by coaching and managing for five seasons the Guelph Storm of the OHL. While with the Storm, he won a championship in 2003-2004 and the OHL Coach of the Year in 2005-2006.

Luckily for the Devils, Barr transitioned into NHL coaching back in 2008 when he became an assistant coach for the Colorado Avalanche. After one disappointing season though, the Avalanche fired the entire coaching staff. Barr then went on to join Todd Richards‘ staff for the Minnesota Wild.

In April though, Barr became available as the Wild relieved him of his duties.

The Edmonton Journal reported earlier this month that Barr had a standing offer to become a coach for the Moose Jaw Warriors in the WHL.

Barr along with Larry Robinson, Adam Oates and goaltending coach Chris Terreri will round out DeBoer’s coaching staff for the upcoming season in New Jersey.