His spot on the Devils’ roster is assured, GM Lou Lamoriello says. But really, it’s as much because the GM won’t risk losing Mike Rupp on waivers as for scoring the 2003 Stanley Cup-winning goal.
It was a spot won almost by default, the center slot Rupp seems sure to occupy on Opening Night Wednesday in Boston. The Devils have lost Joe Nieuwendyk and Bobby Holik in the past two seasons, not to mention spare center Pascal Rheaume, still an unsigned unrestricted. They had vital slots to fill, and one was Rupp’s to lose.
He didn’t, although Pat Burns and Lamoriello continue to harp about his consistency. At 6-5 and 230 pounds, he gives the Devils the size they lost in the middle in Nieuwendyk and Holik, although he has far to go to measure up them in other areas.
No longer a rookie, Rupp was to become the only Devil to play in all nine exhibitions last night, visiting Nassau Coliseum to face the Islanders, the team that initially drafted him in the first round, ninth overall, in 1998.
Rupp refused to sign with Mike Milbury and re-entered the draft, chosen in 2000’s third round by the Devils. He played 26 games last season, his third as a pro, but did not appear in the playoffs until Game 4 of the Finals, playing the final four with Nieuwendyk idled. He went 1-2-3 in Game 7, scoring the opening goal of the 3-0 decisive triumph.
“Michael will certainly stay with the team,” Lamoriello said, noting that Rupp would have to clear waivers to go to Albany. “To play, he has to play the way he played in the last game [of the playoffs].”
“That’s good to know,” Rupp said. “That was one of my goals, but I don’t want to stop there.”
If he stops, there will be others ready to push past. The Devils’ center position consists of John Madden, Scott Gomez, Igor Larionov and Rupp, with Erik Rasmussen and Sergei Brylin other possibilities. Gomez played wing with Rupp in Friday’s 2-0 loss to the Rangers at the Meadowlands in what Burns termed “an experiment.”
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Scott Stevens said it was his decision to play right defense when paired with rookie David Hale Friday, something he has “never really done” in his 22-year career. “I know it’s easier for him to play the left,” said Stevens, who had a reputation on the team as hating the right side. “It’s definitely a different game. Some things are good, some aren’t so good.”
Asked if he wished more of his defensemen were righties, Burns said, “I wish they were meaner, too. If we leave everything up to Scotty all the time to do all the mean stuff, it’s kind of tough.”