In response to your questions:

-I think a lot of it has to do with the high that they are often on mid-season. They do so well, get their playoff spot, then kind of have a let down and drop some spots. I think this year it was just compounded by Brodeur coming back and chasing the wins record, so they get that record and lose a big chunk of their momentum. In years past, I think it has something to do with too many games for Brodeur, but that shouldn’t be the case this year.

-Weekes will likely get the start Saturday vs. the Sabres, as Brodeur will almost definitely start at his honoring ceremony Friday night in Newark. Although, it would be a message to sit him out during his own ceremony. If Weekes does well Saturday, don’t be suprised to see him Tuesday vs. Toronto.

-Several players have said they were doing so well a couple weeks ago, and the talk was of a serious Cup run, that they may have had inflated themselves too much. If nothing else, this win drought has been a great lesson and, if they turn around in time, should take them back to Planet Earth in time for the playoffs.

-There has been talk of Sutter leaving anyways, whether Jersey does well in the playoffs or not. It’s been a big strain on him away from his family, and especially with him still running his club in Red Deer, I only give him a 50% of coming back. That said, it would be a big disappointment considering a lot of Devils fans pegged him for someone that may eventually take over for Lou.

Posted by Kyle from NY on 04/02/09 at 09:05 AM ET

-Who knows? If you were to ask me I think it is because of a lack of size on the blueline. Outside of Colin White they don’t have a big physical defense core. It could be the the case of the defense just wearing down as the season ends and the games get tougher. I don’t think you can point to Sutter because the same thing happened under Julien where it got to the point where he lost the team’s respect and started fireing pucks at his head. They also didn’t play well down the stretch on 03-04 before the lockout after Stevens got injured for good. I think this part of the season shows where they miss big guys like Stevens and even Dano (they particularly miss Stevens when it comes to teams trying to run Brodeur).

-They are in the middle of a 6 games in 9 days stretch that was immediately precided by a 5 games in 7 days. so Weekes will probably get a start one game this weekend. That said outside of last night in Pittsburgh Marty has been the only player on the team to show up. He held the Devils in the Ranger game for the first half despite being bombarded with shots. Carolina got 50 shots on the Devils and he held them to just 2 goals and had a shutout for most of the game, and he basically got them a point in Chicago friday night.

-They should care about seeding. What this stretch has done is basically cost them a chance at a top 2 seed in the Conference. That means instead of playing a team like Montreal, who they have historically and recently dominated, they will probably play either Carolina or Pittsburgh in the first round. They have struggled against Carolina and Pittsburgh is probably poison for any team that plays them in round 1.

-Who knows. There has been talk about Sutter leaving after the season and going back to Red Deer and his junior team. If true then i wouldn’t be surprised if Lou makes a late move as he would basically be a lame duck coach. However by most accounts he hasn’t lost the room. What happened with Julien was that he lost all respect of the team and that Lou had long wanted and tried to get Sutter to coach the team. Ftorek was just crazy throwing benches on the ice (although Sutter last night came close to doing that). Given how much Lou went after to get Sutter I don’t see him getting rid of him unless he already isn’t going to come back. Basically if Sutter wants to come back next year he will.

Posted by jkrdevil on 04/02/09 at 09:55 AM ET