During the past month, the Devils’ and Islanders’ seasons have crossed paths and gone in completely opposite directions. The Devils rolled off nine consecutive victories to begin 2006, coinciding not coincidentally with the return of Patrik Elias, and emerged once again as a bona fide playoff team. Meanwhile, the Islanders announced they would be completely renovating their front office, bringing Mike Milbury’s tumultuous reign as the team’s general manager to its inevitable conclusion.

In evaluating the Devils’ on-ice performances against the Islanders and Rangers this past weekend, it became clear that while they’ve taken tremendous strides forward, they cannot yet be considered Stanley Cup contenders.

On Saturday, the Devils defeated the Isles in a matinee contest at the Meadowlands that was witnessed by 18,852 fans, many of them children. Considering the sparse attendance at many games this season – Elias’s first game back in the lineup on January 3 was played in front of only about 4,000 fans – it’s a great sign that the Devils are finally registering once again on the collective radar of New Jersey’s sports fans. And when rookie Zach Parise ended the game with an impressive shootout goal, the young crowd was able to quickly forget that the Devils had squandered a 2-0 lead.

The Devils then crossed the Hudson River for a Sunday night game against the Rangers, in which the Broadway Blueshirts demonstrated why they are – for the first time in a long time – the superior team. The trio of Steve Rucchin, Ville Nieminen, and Jason Ward effectively shut down the Devils’ top line of Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta, holding them to one goal and on precious few high-quality scoring chances. With each passing game, Nieminen bears greater resemblance to former NHL great Esa Tikkanen, his Finnish countryman and childhood hero. Abrasive and relentless, Nieminen provides the Rangers with an edge they’ve been sorely lacking for most of the past 10 seasons.

In their impressive victory, the Rangers had to make do without defenseman Darius Kasparaitis for all but the first five minutes of the game, after he was ejected for elbowing Devils forward Grant Marshall in the head. They managed to kill off the subsequent five-minute power play, then killed a 90-second 5-on-3 power play to close the second period. That they accomplished these feats showed just how far head coach Tom Renney has brought the team in terms of confidence and work ethic.

The Rangers also ruthlessly exposed the Devils’ biggest current weakness: a serious lack of scoring depth. The trio of Elias, Gomez, and Gionta forms one of the NHL’s most effective forward lines, but the fact that they have figured in 20 of the 30 goals the Devils have scored in this calendar year must be cause for concern for GM and interim head coach Lou Lamoriello.

One solution for the Devils would be to recall Alexander Mogilny, who is currently toiling away for their AHL affiliate, the Albany River Rats. Doing so, however, would mean Mogilny would first need to clear waivers. If another team were to claim the aging sniper, they would only be responsible for paying half his salary, leaving the Devils on the hook for the other half. For this reason, it’s unlikely Lamoriello would make such a move, instead waiting until the end of the regular season to recall Mogilny after the waiver process has been suspended.

The Mogilny dilemma also provides a clue about how the Islanders might be able to extract themselves from Alexei Yashin’s onerous contract. The Isles’ revenues are limited in comparison to those of, say, the Rangers, and so they are unlikely to spend the maximum under the salary cap anytime soon. It was for this reason that they passed on the opportunity to buy Yashin out of his contract last summer, when it would have cost them over $30 million (but no charge against the salary cap) to terminate the deal.

Signed for $7.6 million per season through 2011,Yashin is unlikely to generate any interest on the trade market. However, the Isles might consider sending him down to Bridgeport. The move would no doubt be a blow to his fragile ego, but it might also send a message around the league that a change of scenery could inject some life into his struggling game. Were the Isles to then recall Yashin, there’s a very strong possibility that some team would take a chance on him for $3.8 million per year, especially if they weren’t obligated to give up any valuable players or draft picks in the deal.

Watching Yashin play on Saturday, it was obvious why he’s struggling. There are certainly fair questions to ask about the consistency of his effort level, but it’s also clear that he needs to skate alongside a playmaking winger if his value is to be maximized. With his lightningquick release, Yashin could again be a top-notch scoring threat if he were paired with a player like the Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr, whose passing ability is as fearsome as his goal-scoring prowess. But when Yashin is paired with grinding forwards who drive to the net – like current linemates Jason Blake and Arron Asham – there’s little reason to wonder why his production is so measly.

In theory, a player as talented as Yashin should make those around him better, not the other way around. But in practice, the enigmatic Russian consistently fails where Jagr and Elias succeed. Both Jagr and Elias are respected leaders in their teams’ locker rooms, while the quiet Yashin often comes across as aloof. Both Jagr and Elias make the players – whoever they’re on the ice with – far better, while Yashin’s success seems dependent on whether he’s on the ice with players who can help him make the most of his immense potential.

In forecasting the long-term future for the three local teams, it’s clear the Rangers and Devils are both in far better shape, a trend that will likely continue until the Isles manage to excise themselves of Yashin. The Rangers and Devils will next meet on March 4 at the Meadowlands in a game that should have serious playoff implications. It’s been nine years since this rivalry mattered for anything other than local bragging rights, and its intensity should only escalate as the playoffs approach.

Mr. Greenstein is the editor-in-chief of InsideHockey.com.