The Fall of the Devils and Islanders

So, two months into the season, and both the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders are at the bottom of the standings.  Normally, I wouldn't say that's really bad, except that it actually is, for they are the two teams that have yet to crack 20 points in the standings.  Now, most people expected the Islanders to be at this spot, but not with the spate of bad luck that they have had this season.  Before the season even began, the Islanders lost their best defenseman Mark Streit for possibly the entire season and one of their young stars in Kyle Okposo for the first two months of the season.  And then there's the epically bad 20 games lost in 21 games, which is still ongoing.  That streak cost Scott Gordon his coaching job and in a recent game against the Atlanta Thrashers, a group of people from Quebec came to see this game on Long Island, which sadly, is the most fans that the Islanders will probably have.  Questions of ownership and possible relocation are swirling, and neither figure to stop anytime soon.

Now, for the not nearly expected fall of the Devils.  If one could point the finger at who's to blame for the Devils' fall from grace, it would actually be towards two people: GM Lou Lamoriello and superstar left winger Ilya Kovalchuk.  Lamoriello deserves blame for even thinking about signing Kovalchuk to quite possibly the most ridiculous deal  in league history.  When you factor in the fact that the Devils had a 17 year deal originally for Kovalchuk, only to have that rejected by the league (they settled for 15 years and a nine figure deal), and the team signing defenseman Anton Volchenkov to a fairly lucrative deal, how would any team begin to fill any holes due to injury during the season?  Well, this became New Jersey's problem for a couple of games, since suspension and injuries had them playing less than the limit.  Kovalchuk hasn't been playing anywhere near the 40 goals scorer levels that he usually does, and that might have a lot to do with the fact that he just simply isn't a good fit in New Jersey.  Oh, and Martin Brodeur has been injured and none of the goaltenders have been able to plug the leak in the dam that has since burst on the team.