THE NHL'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

The New Jersey Devils are the second winningest franchise of the last decade

They employ the winningest goalie ever, a guy who has more shutouts than any man that ever played in the league, and who just happens to play virtually every game.

The Devs have their games broadcast by the best American play by play man of his era, and maybe ever.

They have a team identity that is etched-in and backlit.

And yet...they draw only when the opponent is the draw - which apparently is rare. Most nights, in the shiney new Pridential Cemter, they draw flies.

This isn't some sunbelt expansion club we're talking about. This is the team doing all that winning, with the iconic legend in net, just across the river from New York, NY with it's Madison Avenue, media headquarters, and massive population. And after all, isn't winning supposed to be your best marketing tool?

So why did only 9,500 people decide to take in the Eastern Conference leaders' 4-0 dismantling of the Stars last night? A night when they honored their 2000 Cup winning team and had many of the members in attendance for the pregame ceremony. A night in which Brodeur bumped his shutout record to a staggering 106. Quite bluntly, a night that deserved to have more people present.

It looked a little like Phoenix east in there last night.

And No doubt the Coyotes have a location issue to go along with their history of futility, but the New Jersey Devils appear to have a little location problem too.

Yes, they play in an area that one observer compared to "the green zone in Bagdad" but they also play in the shadow of the New York Rangers, and that might be the biggest problem of all.

Stars - Shadowcasters tonight at 6pm, FSSW and Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket...from a most likely soldout MSG...which from all reports the Rangers don't deserve