15 Things for the Devils to do in ’15 — Part 3 of 3

By Kevin Canessa Jr.
NewJersey-Devils.com
Publisher

Click here to read Part 1 | Click here to read Part 2

So we’re up to the final 5 of 15 ideas for the New Jersey Devils in ’15. Believe it or not, coming up with 15 concepts was no easy at all — so in no way to I envy the team’s marketing department.

I realize a lot of these concepts are difficult — and the chance of the team acting on any of these are slim (the least of which is their fear that I’d except to be paid for the concepts … which I wouldn’t). But I am glad I tried nonetheless — and had fun the in the process.

Folks, if you’ve got any ideas, please leave them in the comments, on Google+ or in our Facebook group. I’d like to post reader-generated concepts as a future story later this week.

At any rate — the final 5.

11. Have $1 dog nights once a month to commemorate the 1995 season. That year, every night was Dollar Dog Night because of the lockout. And let me tell you — I definitely had a few dogs that year.

In 1995 the
most expensive
seat was $45.

12. Bring back the day-of-game, upper-corner $10 seats. For some, it was the only way to get to a game, and in this current economy, it might still be the case.  There’s no reason why the team cannot afford to do this.

13. Have a 1995 ticket special twice — once in the first half of the season, the other in the second half, perhaps against a lesser opponent, and sell tickets to the two games for the price of tickets in the 1994-95 season.

Chico Resch

14. Have a Glenn Chico Resch night. The man was part of this organization forever. And he typifies what it means to be a New Jersey Devil. Honour him and consider retiring his No. 1 sweater.

15. It’s also the 15th anniversary of the 1999-2000 Stanley Cup Champions, so let’s let this season come full scale with a night to honour that team, as well. Do it when the San Jose Sharks are in town so Larry Robinson can be present for the ceremony.

So that’s it. I want to thank Shannon Shark and MetsPolice.com for inspiring this idea. They’re in the midst of doing 41 (for Tom Seaver) fan ideas for the New York Mets — so that’s how I dreamed up 15 for ’15 for the Devils.

One thing is for sure — this team should be much better than it was a year ago — so we do have that to look forward to, though it will be bizarre not to see No. 30 anywhere around the team.

Be sure to keep on reading throughout the summer. We’re your best source for all the Devils stuff you won’t find elsewhere. And as always, Let’s Go Devils!

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group.

15 Things for the Devils to do in ’15 — Part 2 of 3

By Kevin Canessa Jr.
NewJersey-Devils.com
Publisher

Read Part 1 by clicking here.

Here is part 2 of 3 of our special series “15 Things for the Devils to do in ’15.”

6. Honour Jacques Lemaire. Every time Lemaire coached the Devils, the team enjoyed success. He was there for the first championship. He turned the team around exponentially when they were awful under John MacLean — and he’s never been honoured for his service to the organization. It’s time he is honoured.

7. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the arrival of Slava Fetisov, Sergei Starikov and Alexei Kasatonov, the first three Russians ever to play in the NHL (in the 1989-1990 season).

Slava Fetisov

Fetisov and Starikov started the season with the team — and their first-ever game was played in Philadelphia of all places. The Flyers intentionally came out to the song “Welcome to the Jungle,” Guns ‘n Roses, to “welcome” Fetisov and Starikov to the league.

Lou’s daring signing of the Russians and their arrival to New Jersey set the way for scores of other Russians to come to the NHL in subsequent years.

The three should be honoured 25 years later for being trailblazers in the league.

8. Have a Colorado Rockies night against the Colorado Avalanche. The Devils will wear Rockies jerseys to recall their time in Colorado — and the Avalanche  will wear throwback Nordiques  jerseys to recall their Quebec years. It would mark the first time the Nordiques jersey would be worn in a game since 1995. We chose Colorado here because it marks the old Colorado v. the current Colorado franchise. The Devils have all but ignored that they once existed in two other cities -- but the reality is, they did exist in Denver and Kansas City. And while those years may not have been the brightest of years, they still happened. So why not have a little fun with it?

A Colorado Rockies jersey.

9. Have a Kansas City Scouts night against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils will wear their old Scouts jerseys to recall their years in Kansas City — and the Hurricanes will wear throwback Whalers jerseys to recall their time in Hartford. It would mark the first time Whalers jerseys were worn in a game since 1997.

A KC Scouts jersey.

10. Louis A. Lamoriello has never been honoured for his work at GM. Honor perhaps the greatest general manager not just in the NHL, but all of sports, on a special “Lou Lamoriello” night.

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group.

New three-part series: 15 things for the Devils to do in ’15

By Kevin Canessa Jr.
NewJersey-Devils.com Publisher

PART 1 of 3

So we’ve got new owners who really seem receptive to doing things that honor tradition. And they also seem to do things that buck the trends of the past. So with this in mind, we present to you this three-part series — 15 Things for the Devils to do in ’15.

We’ll offer it in three parts of five suggestions.

These are my ideas and my ideas alone. So if you have suggestions similar — or nowhere near these — please share them in the comments section, on Google+ or Facebook. We’ll make a post of all reader suggestions after our series is over.

So here’s part 1 of 3 — concept 1 to 5.

1. Embrace our past — and wear the green at 20 home games. And here’s how we’d like to see this done — wear the red and green sweater 10 times and the white, red and green (old home sweater) 10 times. By doing this 20 times a year, it’s just under 50 percent of all home games.

We understand there may be some who think 20 times a year is too much, so we’d settle for 5 times in red and 5 times in white. But this would not only satisfy your traditionalists, it would also be good for sales, something that has apparently never been a factor in this team’s history, given it’s never really had an alternate jersey.

And really, this isn’t even an alternate — it’s a throwback that has very little variation from the modern jersey, save for color.

2. Bring back the old goal horn that was used from the 1993 playoffs through the final season at the Continental Airlines Arena. Sure, the new one is fine. But it’s the old one that represents the best times in this franchise’s history.

And quite frankly, it’s just a better horn.

Never quite understood why it was changed in the first place.



3. If he’s willing to come out of retirement, re-hire Bob Arsena as the PA announcer. I say this with all due respect to current PA announcer Kevin Clark, who is fine at what he does. But there is no voice like Arsena’s — and it’s one that never should have been silenced after the first lockout of 2004-05.



4 Create a Devils Hall of Fame at the Prudential Center (as the Mets have done at Citi Field) and induct an inaugural class. After 32 years, there are plenty of people worthy of such an honour, so do it — and include special artifacts from Devils history in it. We won’t suggest possible inductees here, but I am sure you could think of countless people worthy of such an honour.

5. Have a special night this season to mark the 20th anniversary of our first Stanley Cup Championship.

It’s hard to imagine it will have been 20 years this season, but it is. Just envision how great it would be to have a special ceremony to honour the likes of Claude Lemieux, Randy McKay, John MacLean, Martin Brodeur (do it when his new team is in town), Jacques Lemaire, etc.

There has never really been much of a celebration of this team’s past — good or bad — so this year’s 20th is the perfect chance to get a start on that.

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group. Part 2 coming Monday, July 7.