Morning Skate: Devils Rejects

Short turnaround (for the post) after the Wings knocked off the Canadiens 4-2 last night so this post is going to be fairly short.

The Devils lost 3-2 last night and what seemed to be a tying goal late in the game was called off after it was determined to be kicked in. The Devils sit just 3 points above the Islanders for the NHL cellar and have lost 4 straight games. By my count, the Devils are 2-4-1 against the Western Conference.

In Lou We Trust for your SB Nation New Jersey site.

• Chris Osgood is slated to start in net for Detroit. Osgood had a good outing against the Kings but unfortunately lost the game after two deflection goals and then a break away in overtime won the game for LA. 
• Ilya Kovalchuk's stats on the year: 5 goals, 6 assists. Kovalchuk's earning $6 million this year. That's $1.2 M a goal, $1.0 M an assist or $545,454 per point. How much do we pay for Dan Cleary's 12 G,6 A and 18 points? $250,000 a goal, $500,000 an assist and $166,666 a point. Oh, and we didn't mortgage our future for Dan Cleary. 
• Oh, Kovalchuk is a minus SEVENTEEN. Which makes me wonder what he'd be in CSSI.
• Jason Arnott is the Devils' leading scorer. Yup.
• The Wings also need to win so that I can have bragging rights over my friend (Hi, Sarah!)
• Martin Brodeur is back from cake elbow. Not sure if he'll start tonight
• Score prediction: 5-2 Detroit. The Devils are just plain bad this year and the Wings can use tonight to get some back to back points.
• Player of the game prediction: Dan Cleary.