2013 New Jersey Devils (Team/Player Discussion) - Offseason FA and trade talk Part II

[Devilsfan92]

lou should be fired. hes done.

Think he leaves when Brodeur does? He's in his 70s now, gotta think he'll want to retire soon.



And yes to Vanek.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

again, Vanek has 1 year left on his contract. if we're doing any inquiring about him it better be with an extension included, or else no thanks.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

Think he leaves when Brodeur does? He's in his 70s now, gotta think he'll want to retire soon.



And yes to Vanek.

I know Abo was just joking but I wouldn't mind having someone else in charge in the next couple of years.

Lou is nothing short of a genius when taking a look at his track record but like everything in life, time catches up to you and people eventually have to move on.

I think we need a breath of fresh air, a new "vision" and someone that will be a little more proactive when it comes to upgrading the team. Let's move on from signing/resigning those slow SAH d-men who have zero skills with the puck or your mediocre goon that simply eats up a roster spot for not valid reason... only to get bought out two years later.

 

[aboriginal]

I know Abo was just joking but I wouldn't mind having someone else in charge in the next couple of years.

Lou is nothing short of a genius when taking a look at his track record but like everything in life, time catches up to you and people eventually have to move on.

I think we need a breath of fresh air, a new "vision" and someone that will be a little more proactive when it comes to upgrading the team. Let's move on from signing/resigning those slow SAH d-men who have zero skills with the puck or your mediocre goon that simply eats up a roster spot for not valid reason... only to get bought out two years later.

im not joking at all. lou is done. tell me what hes done since the lockout? this cryptic bs and status **** off nonsense has not helped improve this team. the drafting has been meh and im sure vanderbeek was the catalyst behind getting kovy and signing him at all costs. because thats not really a lou move. look i love the guy and all hes done, and how much we can thank him for, but we need some fresh blood. jarmo wouldve been a great choice but so much for that. al qaeda has more modern methods than ****ing lou.

 

[Bologna 1]

whoever brought up matt frattin, that is an interesting name i hadnt thought of which would prolly be a nice addition. hes a good player IMO and still young. but i wouldnt think toronto is looking to move him.

 

[SeidoN]

I dont have a problem with Lou per say, but more the closed-off way the organization is run. but hey

and id say no to Vanek. thats giving up alot for a player who doesnt have a deal.

 

[devilsblood]

You could have just saved yourself some typing and said "I don't understand the intricacies of hockey."



Kovy, Zajac, Carter, Gionta, Bernier, Barch are all under contract. That's 6.

Josefson, Henrique, Loktionov, and Dags are all RFA's and I find it hard to believe any of them leave. That's 10.

I'm assuming Elias re-signs. That's 11 forwards with Clarkson and Zubrus still left to re-sign, + Tedenby and Matteau getting a crack at the roster. I just named 15 players without mentioning a single non-Devil UFA.

If we don't make a push for free agents, it's becaus we don't have room. Vanderbeek and Lamoriello have both insisted that all hockey decisions will be hockey dictated, not financailly dictated. So unless you're Vanderbeek's account or financial advisor, anyone still preaching money issues is spitting unconfirmed rumors out of their ass.

Yeah let's not look to upgrade, we have Barch, Dag's and Tedenby. Cap space? what does that have to do with anything? It's about intricacies.


Is anyone really buying this argument?

 

[devilsblood]

your points do not relate to one another at all. are you saying its Zubrus' fault that we missed the playoffs in those years? get the hell out of here.

he is the perfect player for Deboer's system. how do you not understand that? he can play anywhere in the lineup.

I like Zube's, and given a pay cut, I'm happy to have him back.

But a high priority? C'mon.

 

[MasterofGrond]

I think Devils fans are being a little alarmist, understandably perhaps, but at the same time. The team maintained solid possession all year and with a little more luck on the scoring front or a few more stops on the goaltending front, they are in the playoffs.

Now, I'm not saying we should stand pat. There are definite upgrades that can and should be made. I don't want to have the team squeak in as an 8 seed any more than you, after all. But demanding serious or radical changes is a little premature. Funny things happen in a short season, especially when the teams best player spends a chunk of that on the sidelines.

See if the team can pick up a few improvements up front at a good price, find a better backup goalie (or a better starter), and gear up for next season. No need to go nuts.

 

[Bleedred]

Top priority should be offense, period. I'm more worried about getting some offense than having Hedberg as the backup like many people are worried about.

 

[Devils Trap]

I like Zube's, and given a pay cut, I'm happy to have him back.

But a high priority? C'mon.

Yes very high priority. Would only put Patty over him (Out of the UFAs)

 

[MasterofGrond]

Don't need as much offense if you don't allow goals and with competent goaltending we would have had a top 5 GAA easily.

But I feel like we've already had this discussion.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

I don't buy the fact that we didn't score enough goal cause we weren't lucky enough. We did get snake bitten for a part of the shorten season but at the end of the day, we just lack the talent to put the puck in the back of the next on a regular basis.

We need to get another sniper and start generating some offense from the blueline. That 2nd option is something we haven't had in ages and it just boggles my mind that Lou hasn't done anything relevant to fix that problem. Zidlicky was a good acquisition when considering the pile of hot garbage we threw Minnesota's way but now that he's a pending UFA, I don't know if Lou will try to keep him around and have the same "problem" we had this year with the musical chair BS regarding our youngsters on the blueline.

 

[Bleedred]

Don't need as much offense if you don't allow goals and with competent goaltending we would have had a top 5 GAA easily.

But I feel like we've already had this discussion.

28th in offense but need better goaltending?

Any goalie pushing this team into the playoffs get the Hart Trophy. What other teams that scored as little as us got into the playoffs? Nashville had good goaltending, but didn't make it in because their offense SUCKED.

What other team who scored as little as us made it into the playoffs? Ottawa was probably the closest.

 

[MasterofGrond]

Oh, we certainly don't generate offense at a league leading rate. That was never the point of the "we got housed on puck luck argument." But the Devils don't NEED a league leading offense to be successful if they keep goals against low as they traditionally have.

There are absolutely improvements to be made on offense, I WANT the team to be at the top of the league, but to dogmatically focus on one area of improvement when there is other low-hanging fruit is ridiculous.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

I don't buy the fact that we didn't score enough goal cause we weren't lucky enough. We did get snake bitten for a part of the shorten season but at the end of the day, we just lack the talent to put the puck in the back of the next on a regular basis.

We need to get another sniper and start generating some offense from the blueline. That 2nd option is something we haven't had in ages and it just boggles my mind that Lou hasn't done anything relevant to fix that problem. Zidlicky was a good acquisition when considering the pile of hot garbage we threw Minnesota's way but now that he's a pending UFA, I don't know if Lou will try to keep him around and have the same "problem" we had this year with the musical chair BS regarding our youngsters on the blueline.

For the most part, I agree. The Devils need someone with the offensive talent (besides Kovalchuk) to help push the percentages in the right direction when things aren't going right. Someone like Vanek (or even a top-6 forward significantly worse than Vanek) would be huge for this team going forward. There's also the possibility Loktionov can help be that guy, since he was on quite the hot streak for awhile despite shooting at a ridiculous percentage.

 

[Volodya Krutov]

Jarmo would've been the only guy I'd consider to replace Lou in a near future. But he's not available anymore and no way I want someone like Burke here, personally.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

28th in offense but need better goaltending?

Any goalie pushing this team into the playoffs get the Hart Trophy. What other teams that scored as little as us got into the playoffs? Nashville had good goaltending, but didn't make it in because their offense SUCKED.

What other team who scored as little as us made it into the playoffs? Ottawa was probably the closest.

Our goaltending was just as bad as our offense.

 

[aboriginal]

Goaltending was horribad.

 

[Bleedred]

Oh, we certainly don't generate offense at a league leading rate. That was never the point of the "we got housed on puck luck argument." But the Devils don't NEED a league leading offense to be successful if they keep goals against low as they traditionally have.

There are absolutely improvements to be made on offense, I WANT the team to be at the top of the league, but to dogmatically focus on one area of improvement when there is other low-hanging fruit is ridiculous.

The only teams that scored within 10 goals more of us that made the playoffs were Ottawa, San Jose, and Minnesota. Keep in mind these goals scored, and against I'm not including goals for winning or losing a shootout. Just in games goals.

Ottawa scored 2 more goals than us, but had a top 10 PK, as well as top 10 PP. won 2 more shootouts than us, and they gave up a little more than 20 goals less. And yes they had better goaltending.

San Jose scored 6 more goals than us, but won 8 shootouts. They were successful in the shootout like we were last year, and we were not this year. Their PKing under Robinson was much better than ours was this year. They had a top 10 PK, and PP. Number 6 PK, and number 7 PP without Shaw. And better goaltending too.

Minnesota scored 8 more goals than us, and gave up 3 more goals than us. Their special teams weren't much better than ours either. They also went 4-2 in shootouts. They were probably the closest to us in terms of making the playoffs with scoring not much more than us, and giving up more than us.

 

[Bleedred]

Our goaltending was just as bad as our offense.

At even strength our goaltending was not bad. I know you wanna crucify the goaltending, and you made the ''Devils need to consider sitting Brodeur'' thread. You also said in that thread Brodeur's even strength save percentage was horrible, and made it a point to cite that. Though this year his even strength save percentage was above league average.

We all know everything is luck to you. You sit on the bowl, and read behind the net every morning.

 

[Oneiro]

An infusion of speed and creativity on both sides of the ice.

Those things are what push the pace of the game. When you have guys whose first and last options are "up and off the glass" to exit the zone or dump the puck in to start the cycle, then you're asking for what we got this year.

Talent is knowing how and when to deviate from the system. The system can't be everything, especially if it's not dynamic.

 

[Feed Me A Stray Cat]

At even strength our goaltending was not bad. I know you wanna crucify the goaltending, and you made the ''Devils need to consider sitting Brodeur'' thread. You also said in that thread Brodeur's even strength save percentage was horrible, and made it a point to cite that. Though this year his even strength save percentage was above league average.

We all know everything is luck to you. You sit on the bowl, and read behind the net every morning.

Yes, Brodeur is a below average goaltender. In 2012-2013, he wasn't as bad as he was in 10-11 and 11-12. Instead, that nod went to Hedberg, who was legit awful. Notice I said goaltending, not just Brodeur.

And clearly everything is not luck with me, which is why I'm an advocate of acquiring goaltenders with more skill than our current duo.

 

[Bleedred]

Yes, Brodeur is a below average goaltender. In 2012-2013, he wasn't as bad as he was in 10-11 and 11-12. Instead, that nod went to Hedberg, who was legit awful. Notice I said goaltending, not just Brodeur.

And clearly everything is not luck with me, which is why I'm an advocate of acquiring goaltenders with more skill than our current duo.

Could it be that the PKing was just bad?

Any goalie that got this team to the playoffs would get the Hart Trophy. Unless we won more shootouts that is. The shootouts were terrible this year. Both goaltenders looked like they had never played in a shootout before for most of this season, and the shooters were astronomically bad.

We win a few more shootouts, had better special teams, and yes maybe a little bit better goaltending then we might get into the playoffs. We were good at 5 on 5 this year though.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

The PKing WAS bad, but so was the team's overall even-strength save percentage.