Jamie is going for surgery today for the sports hernia injury that has been bothering him since February. He actually played through the pain until the season end. I am not sure why he did not go for surgery immediately after the season concluded. That would have been the ideal solution for his groin dilemma. Now, the Devils are in middle of training camp without one of their key players. Last season, he scored 60 points, good for third on the team. He also manned the power play as that "second defenseman." Instead of using the traditional three forwards and two defenseman, Langenbrunner would fill in for the second defenseman. However, head coach Brent Sutter has other plans this season.  I definitely agree with Sutter based on the poor second half performance last season on the power play. Sutter must have read ESPN over the break, where he saw a team go from ninth in the league in one half to an abysmal 10th post all star break. The team also allowed 11 shorthanded goals, probably the biggest factor in Sutter's easy decision. ESPN has the first half power play numbers for the Devils last season here and the second half numbers on this page. I did not want to trouble you with any more negativity. Look, I am a Devils fan since childhood. I love them, always have. But, we need to look at the big picture sometimes. Their power play was one of the keys to success in the first half and the opposite, even into the playoffs. But, we will not get started with that now.

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