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Petr Sykora is totally going to make the Devils lineup

Petr Sykora, lya Bryzgalov

New Jersey Devils’ Petr Sykora (40), of the Czech Republic, shoots the puck past Philadelphia Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov (30), of Russia, for a goal during the second period in an NHL preseason hockey game in Newark, N.J., Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011. The Devils defeated the Flyers 2-1. (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

AP

We’ve seen a couple of other solid training camp tryout stories work out well this season as Steve Staios and Trent Hunter won jobs with the Islanders and Kings respectively. For Petr Sykora in New Jersey, he’s having an outstanding camp scoring goals and showing the offensive flair he once had years ago for the Devils and not too long ago with the Penguins.

While the Devils are done with preseason games and the final cuts await later today, Sykora is at peace with how he performed whether he’s cut or not. The New York Times’ Chris Botta talked with Sykora about camp and finds out that the less Sykora has heard from Devils GM Lou Lamoriello and the more praise he gets from Devils coach Peter DeBoer, the better off he is.

“I haven’t had any meetings, which I like,” Sykora said. “You are never called for a meeting when you’re playing great or good.”

Short of announcing a new contract for Sykora — which is Lamoriello’s responsibility — DeBoer paid the veteran forward the highest compliment Saturday night.

“I don’t know what else he could do, if you’re going to script a camp for a guy who’s walking on,” DeBoer said. “However it shakes out, I don’t think he can have any regrets about how he played and what he did to earn a spot.”

It sounds like Sykora won’t.

“It was important for me to prove that, in the right situation with the right players, I could still play in this league,” he said. “I believe it.”


With what the Devils are rolling with offensively, especially with Travis Zajac out to start the year, having Sykora around and playing well means nothing but good things for New Jersey. After all, with Dainius Zubrus alternating between useful scoring forward and being in the doghouse having another veteran like Sykora around is a great thing to have.

Sykora’s experience is good for younger guys like Nick Palmieri and Jacob Josefsen to learn from and hey, having one of Martin Brodeur’s old teammates from back in the day is a good thing for the Devils legend too. If Sykora can continue to fill the net the way he has in preseason and perhaps contribute up to 20 goals this season, that’s a huge lift for the Devils.

He’s got the experience, he’s got the skills, and he was able to help the Penguins win a Cup back in 2009. The Devils are a sneakily young team and Sykora will help them along both on and off the ice. Now if they can just go ahead and give him a number lower than 40 they’ll be good to go.