Forty-one year old Devils captain Scott Stevens announced his retirement on Tuesday, putting an end to what will most assuredly be a Hall of Fame career. Though his final NHL season was an injury-plagued affair during which he missed the final 44 games with a head injury, Stevens said that his reasons for retiring had nothing to do with that injury, nor the risk of future damage.

“I think the game is more mental than physical. You have to be in tremendous shape, but you have to want to do it in your head,” he told the Associated Press. “At this point in my career, I didn’t think I could put the mental parts there every day.”

The hard-hitting blueliner played in more regular season games than any other defenseman in NHL history, tallying 908 points while registering 2785 penalty minutes. But perhaps most important, he evolved his game dramatically throughout his career to best suit the needs of his team. In his first season with the Devils, he led the team with a Paul Coffey-like 18 goals and 60 assists. In the nine seasons that followed, he never scored more than 31 points in a single year, but led the team to three Stanley Cup titles by transforming the area in front of goaltender Martin Brodeur’s crease into a veritable Bermuda Triangle for opposing forwards.

Now the Devils must move on without Stevens, and the task won’t be easy. They already lost Scott Niedermayer earlier this summer (via unrestricted free agency to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks), and could lose yet another starting blueliner before all is said and done.

With nearly $44 million committed to 21 players, the Devils find themselves approximately $5 million over the reported $39 million salary cap. Realistically, because that cap also includes bonuses and benefits, they are actually over the limit by an additional $2 million. Making matters worse, the team’s roster is not yet complete.

While it’s a testament to the departing Niedermayer that he won the Norris Trophy in 2003-04 while playing alongside rookie Paul Martin, it should also be said that Martin’s steady play made Niedermayer’s best-ever season possible. Martin remains un-signed, and will cost the Devils at least $400,000 against the cap (the NHL’s minimum wage).

In addition, this fragmented lineup does not yet include a backup goalie. Whether that position will be filled by Corey Schwab, prospect Ari Ahonen, or someone else entirely, the Devils will be charged no less than $400,000 to fill the position. Nearly $8 million over the cap, the Devils’ lineup is already inferior to the one that the Flyers eliminated in the first round of the 2003-04 playoffs. Once GM Lou Lamoriello lops the excess salaries off the payroll, the team could find itself on the outside looking in where the Eastern Conference playoff scene is concerned.

Free-agent additions Vladimir Malakhov, Dan McGillis, and Richard Matvichuk (signed in the summer of 2004) will help somewhat, but the painful truth is that the Devils’ defense has gone from being one of the NHL’s finest to being middle-of-the-road at best. If New Jersey decides to cut costs by eliminating some mid-range players, hard-hitting blueliner Colin White would seem a prime candidate to be moved. Ditching White would do more harm than good, however; his play has improved dramatically over the past few years, and his hard shot from the point could prove valuable if head coach Larry Robinson decides to give him some power play time.

An investigation of the Devils’ forwards does not yield much cause for optimism, either. The team’s offense was carried through much of 2003-04 by the top line of Patrik Elias, Scott Gomez, and Brian Gionta. Unfortunately, Elias contracted Hepatitis A while playing in Russia during the lockout, and will not be ready to take the ice when the season begins. The addition of Alexander Mogilny could have helped the Devils to assemble two solid scoring lines, but instead, the 36-year-old sniper will take Elias’s place on the top line.

The real question mark for the Devils will be John Madden. Likely to be tabbed as the team’s next captain, the gritty Madden is a perennial Selke Trophy winner and an absolute bulldog in all three zones. With Viktor Kozlov a likely salary-cap casualty, it’s quite possible that Madden will step into the role of second line center. How he performs there will go a long way toward determining the Devils’ fortunes.

Rookie Zach Parise made a strong impression with the Albany River Rats last year, scoring 58 points in 73 games. The transition to the NHL will likely prove a daunting challenge for the 21-year-old center, and it seems a bit unreasonable to expect him to step in and immediately become an offensive leader.

The rest of the forwards are, as former Rangers coach Colin Campbell once so eloquently put it, “interchangeable.” While that’s not necessarily a bad thing when your defense ranks among the league’s best, it would appear that this Devils lineup is in for a very long season indeed.

With new rules emphasizing offense and a team lacking in firepower and defensive prowess, Robinson will have his work cut out for him. It’s not a stretch to say that Brodeur will face more shots this season than he ever has, and after a year off, he might not respond so positively. With the NHL breaking for the Winter Olympics – and with Brodeur expected to start for Team Canada – the overworked net minder will probably not have enough energy to carry this team deep into the playoffs. In fact, these Devils are no longer a lock to reach the playoffs, not with the division rival Penguins and Flyers upgrading as significantly as they have and the Islanders nipping at their heels.

Last week, it was suggested in this space that the Devils should consider moving Brodeur. Stevens’s departure makes such a scenario only more likely… and more sensible. The Devils are no longer the team that won three Stanley Cups, and it would be a huge mistake for them to build around a 33-year-old netminder, even if he is a future Hall of Famer. Whether Brodeur is moved or not, one thing is for absolute certain: The 2005-06 Devils will bear little resemblance to their predecessors.

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