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Report: Ryane Clowe’s NHL career is over

By James O'BrienSep 11, 2015, 11:27 AM EDT
7 Comments

For all intents and purposes, it sounds like Ryane Clowe‘s NHL playing days are finished.

That’s the report from the Bergen Record’s Tom Gulitti, who passes along word from New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero that Clowe “will be unable to play hockey now or in the future.”

Clowe, 32, admits that he’d rather continuing playing for the Devils, yet doctors recommend that he hang up his skates.

Shero told Gulitti that Clowe will go on IR or long-term injured reserve for the remaining three years of his contract, depending upon how his $4.85 million cap hit affects the Devils’ situation.

Clowe’s hard-hitting style helped him earn the five-year, $24.25 million contract the Devils handed him heading into 2013-14, but it ultimately caught up to him.

Concussion issues plagued him almost since day one with the Devils, doing little to silence critics of that deal.

While it’s clear Clowe wanted to try to play, it’s tough to imagine him being a difference-maker without taking physical risks. It’s a shame that Clowe isn’t the one making the call, but it might be the right move.

PHT Morning Skate: Five unusual, ‘virtually unbreakable’ records

By Ryan DadounAug 5, 2015, 8:00 AM EDT
12 Comments

PHT’s Morning Skate takes a look around the world of hockey to see what’s happening and what we’ll be talking about around the NHL world and beyond.

Here are five unusual records that it’s hard to imagine anyone breaking. (Grantland.com)

Jonathan Bernier won’t let the arbitration process leave him sour. (MapleLeafs.nhl.com)

What are the NHL’s most unbreakable bromances? (Sportsnet)

New Jersey Devils GM Ray Shero recently talked to Ryane Clowe, but it’s still unknown if the 32-year-old forward will be able to come back from a series of concussions. (NJ Advance Media)

Ian McCoshen has an opportunity to play a bigger role with Boston College next season as Michael Matheson and Noah Hanifin are moving on. (Panthers.nhl.com)

The Texas Stars added some veteran journeymen in Brennan Evans and John Muse. (AHL.com)

Devils’ Shero: No decision yet regarding Clowe’s future

By James O'BrienMay 28, 2015, 7:47 PM EDT
13 Comments

The New Jersey Devils have a new GM* in Ray Shero, but it doesn’t sound like Ryane Clowe’s murky future is any clearer.

Shero essentially said that it’s a status quo situation for Clowe, which basically means that he’s unsure if the power forward will be forced (or will flat-out choose) to retire. He told the Newark Star-Ledger that it’s not so much a good or a bad thing to say this, then.

“I don’t have that answer for you at this point,” Shero said. “That’s not negative or positive. I don’t know what the immediate future holds for Ryane. Certainly Lou has the background and file and knows everything about Ryane and where he is, so we’ll see where it goes. No decision as of today.”

Earlier this offseason, Clowe said the decision is “not in my hands right now,” but Shero said he believes the choice will come down to “a combination of the player, the organization and doctors.”

The elephant in the room might be style, though.

Even a “finesse” player must cope with the risks involved with playing despite a history of concussions, but Clowe is the hard-nosed type who may struggle to make a difference if he can’t really go all-out.

By Yahoo’s count, he delivered 621 hits from 2009-10 to 2014-15 (more than one per game). Even if you ignore hits absorbed, that’s a lot of collisions. He drops the gloves with frequency, as well, with peak years of 12 fights in 2010-11 and 11 in 2009-10, as well as five in each of 2012-13 and 2013-14.

That amounts to a ton of physical play, and that’s style is obviously Clowe’s calling card. He’d obviously have to play that gritty game to even be worthy of dressing in the Devils’ lineup.

Does this mean that the 32-year-old should quit right now? Not necessarily, but it doesn’t seem overly promising.

Clowe has three seasons remaining on his contract which brings an annual cap hit and salary of $4.85 million.

* – That’s still kind of weird, right?

Parise ‘never would’ve predicted’ Devils would miss playoffs three years in a row

By Mike HalfordMar 11, 2015, 1:30 PM EDT
27 Comments

Though they’re not mathematically eliminated yet, the New Jersey Devils won’t make the postseason this year. It’ll mark the organization’s third straight miss, a fact that took their former captain by surprise.

“I never would’ve predicted they’d miss the playoffs three years in a row. Just because of the way things are run,” Minnesota forward Zach Parise said prior to Tuesday’s 6-2 blowout win over the Devils, per the Star-Ledger. “I hope they can pull off something at the end of the year, or next year, and get back in.”

Parise, who spent the first seven years of his career in New Jersey, went to the playoffs six times with the Devils — the only time the Devils missed during the Parise era was the 2010-11 campaign which, not coincidentally, was the year Parise missed 69 games after a torn meniscus in his right knee.

New Jersey’s last playoff appearance, also not coincidentally, was in Parise’s last year with the club, when the Devils lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Los Angeles. The current team barely resembles the one that captured the Eastern Conference crown three years ago; gone are the likes of Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, David Clarkson, Alexei Ponikarovsky, Marek Zidlicky, Ryan Carter, Petr Sykora, Mark Fayne, Anton Volchenkov and Martin Brodeur.

The club also made a coaching change, firing Peter DeBoer and replacing him with an unconventional three-coach setup comprised of Adam Oates, Scott Stevens and GM Lou Lamoriello.

Lamoriello has been the target of heavy criticism over the last three years, as a number of his veteran acquisitions — Ryane Clowe, Michael Ryder, Martin Havlat, Damien Brunner, Tuomo Ruutu — have failed to pan out.

Parise wasn’t about join the list of Lamoriello critics, however, saying that part of the Devils’ issues could be chalked up to bad luck.

“Guys have good years. Guys have off-years,” he explained. “When you have a group of people having off-years, you might miss the playoffs. If you have a group of people having a great year, you’re in.

“It’s hard to predict.”

‘Not a chance’ Clowe plays for Devils this season, says Lamoriello

By Mike HalfordFeb 13, 2015, 2:06 PM EDT
6 Comments

Ryane Clowe will join the Devils for their upcoming two-game road swing through Chicago and Nashville, but GM Lou Lamoriello was quick to shoot down any suggestion this is a step in Clowe’s return to game action:

Though unsurprising — Clowe’s missed 80 games over the last two years while dealing with concussion issues — it’s a sobering update with regards to the 32-year-old’s future in New Jersey. Clowe is only in the second of a five-year, $24.25 million deal with a $4.85M cap hit and while the club could seek financial relief through long-term injured reserve, Clowe has become the poster boy for Lamoriello’s penchant of gambling large on veteran players in free agency.

Sometimes, the strategy has paid off — Mike Cammalleri and Jaromir Jagr are two of the club’s three leading scorers this season, for example. But in other cases, leaning on veteran UFAs has backfired; 34-year-old Michael Ryder, a repeated healthy scratch this season, is making $3.5 million annually and 33-year-old Martin Havlat — who, admittedly, came relatively cheap at $1.5M — has been a virtual non-factor, scoring just nine points in 36 games.

Based on today’s update, it’s fair to wonder if Clowe’s career is in jeopardy. And if that’s the case, it’ll be an inglorious end to his time in New Jersey; since signing with the club in the summer of ’13, he’s only made 56 appearances in a Devils uniform.