Devils Team Discussion (team/player news and notes) ‎2015 offseason IX

[Richer's Ghost]

TG is supposed to be Frontline now? Lol.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Now we've moved on to arguing about beat writers...

When does camp open?

We need to hire and fire Pete again.

 

[glenwo2]

And to think, all of this started because I needed to point out that I trust TG more than some guy on reddit. Amazing.

http://hfboards.mandatory.com/showpost.php?p=106435655&postcount=70

 

[NJD Kula]

Holy **** things are bad when we've resorted to bashing our beat writer.

I actually like the stories he writes and he doesn't really try to sensationalize the news. Appreciate quality over being first to print. He doesn't break stories and that's fine. Besides what the hell is he going to break? Devils sign **** McGee to clean the toilets at the Rock?

 

[Bleedred]

We need to hire and fire Pete again.

I second this!

Sign him to a one day contract, then fire him before the day is over.

I don't think Dougie will mind, he'll probably be asleep in his tanning bed through the entire thing.

 

[Based Anime Fan]

I second this!

Sign him to a one day contract, then fire him before the day is over.

I don't think Dougie will mind, he'll probably be asleep in his tanning bed through the entire thing.

Also need to resign White and Langenbrunner then buy them out.

 

[Bleedred]

Also need to resign White and Langenbrunner then buy them out.

Especially White! **** him! Can we also have Langenbrunner beat him up? Not like that could happen, but maybe it will now, since White is beyond out of shape. We haven't seen Langs in years though, he might be too. Like that training camp scrum they got into that year.

Rehire Mike Foligno and Mike Shaw too, then fire both of them. I'll be really happy then!

Or just rehire Foligno, since he's probably still under contract anyway. And make him clean toilets and be a janitor at the rock for the remainder of the contract.

I'd also be happy with making him wear a clown suit too while he's doing it. That's all he is anyway.

 

[Bleedred]

Would anyone be interested in adding 25 year old Cory Conacher to our youth movement?

Just kidding.

Has anyone signed Cory Conacher yet? Looks like he signed in the Swiss League LOL.

Good riddance! There was always some team that was fascinated by him every season, looks like he finally washed out of a league.

I remember people wanted us to sign him and it was more baffling than wanting to sign Semin.

And I've just been watching some highlights from late in the 13-14 season, LOL don't even ask.

But I noticed some nice stuff from Tuomo Ruutu that I had forgotten about. He had some nice assists, especially on Zajac goals. I know he stunk with the Hurricanes that season before he was traded here, but he was good for us in those 19 games. 8 points in 19 games wasn't too bad, at least not compared to last season (when he played exclusively on the 4th line for approximately 85%-90% of the season) and 13-14 with the Hurricanes.

So I ask again, what the hell did he do to deserve the demotion last season, while worse players got more ice time and played on lines that absolutely had no business playing on? Why the hell did he fall out of favor so much? Thanks again Dumbeor and Oates! I think I would have rather have had the team coached by Hall and Oates last year than those two. Maybe the guy isn't good anymore, he's probably not. Still no excuse for both coaching staff's to use him like he's frickin Cam Janssen though.

 

[None Shall Pass]

Which stories has he broken? major events have happened in Devils land that he has either dismissed (prior to Kovalchuk trade) or reported after the Devils made it public info.

He was absolutely the first to report the Kovalchuk "retirement". I remember that like a dagger to my back.

He even said something to the effect of "Kovalchuk has announced his retirement. This is not a joke."

A lot of the bigger hockey writers throw him kudos and hat-tips all the time. We've got a solid guy, even if he's 3-4 minutes behind sometimes.

 

[NJDevs26]

He was absolutely the first to report the Kovalchuk "retirement". I remember that like a dagger to my back.

He even said something to the effect of "Kovalchuk has announced his retirement. This is not a joke."

A lot of the bigger hockey writers throw him kudos and hat-tips all the time. We've got a solid guy, even if he's 3-4 minutes behind sometimes.

That plus a lot of 'big' stories don't get broken by beat guys anyway, they're gonna get broken by the McKenzie and Dreger types, they have contacts all over the league and in league offices. That's not just the case here, that's the case everywhere. Did Anser Khan break Babcock to Toronto or did McKenzie/Dreger/LeBrun? I'd bet on the latter. Doesn't make Anser Khan a bad beat guy.

And TG breaks plenty of Devil-centric stories. But this culture of needing to be first is what leads people on Twitter to jump the gun more and more often (hence all the nonsense around the Wilmer Flores trade with the Mets).

 

[Richer's Ghost]

Let's get Eklund rumors back as "news" and watch everyone say how nice it used to be with TG.

 

[tailfins]

That plus a lot of 'big' stories don't get broken by beat guys anyway, they're gonna get broken by the McKenzie and Dreger types, they have contacts all over the league and in league offices. That's not just the case here, that's the case everywhere. Did Anser Khan break Babcock to Toronto or did McKenzie/Dreger/LeBrun? I'd bet on the latter. Doesn't make Anser Khan a bad beat guy.

And TG breaks plenty of Devil-centric stories. But this culture of needing to be first is what leads people on Twitter to jump the gun more and more often (hence all the nonsense around the Wilmer Flores trade with the Mets).

This is:
a) the reality of access journalism; and
b) the difference between reporter and columnist

On access journalism front, if TG pisses of the Devils, he's got a very tough job. See Frank Isola at the NY Daily News.

http://deadspin.com/how-frank-isola-became-the-most-hated-man-at-madison-sq-478620919

On reporter vs. columnist, columnists have a lot more freedom to quote anonymous sources, report on rumor, or generally write about "trends". The job of a reporter is to report facts. The job of a columnist is to interpret. You can see the difference even in the NY hockey community where Larry Brooks "breaks" more stories than any of the hockey beat guys. He reports rumor and anonymous sources, but he's often reporting developing situations before anyone else. The beat guys have a much higher bar for confirmation.

I think these distinctions are clear to people who are doing the leaking. Much safer to leak to Dreger, LeBrun, etc. That leak is expected and those reporters have a lot more power to protect their sources.

It becomes a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle: most leaks go to powerful columnists, powerful columnists accrue more power, leaks go to where there is power. TG just continues to report the facts.

 

[Missionhockey]

This is:
a) the reality of access journalism; and
b) the difference between reporter and columnist

On access journalism front, if TG pisses of the Devils, he's got a very tough job. See Frank Isola at the NY Daily News.

http://deadspin.com/how-frank-isola-became-the-most-hated-man-at-madison-sq-478620919

On reporter vs. columnist, columnists have a lot more freedom to quote anonymous sources, report on rumor, or generally write about "trends". The job of a reporter is to report facts. The job of a columnist is to interpret. You can see the difference even in the NY hockey community where Larry Brooks "breaks" more stories than any of the hockey beat guys. He reports rumor and anonymous sources, but he's often reporting developing situations before anyone else. The beat guys have a much higher bar for confirmation.

I think these distinctions are clear to people who are doing the leaking. Much safer to leak to Dreger, LeBrun, etc. That leak is expected and those reporters have a lot more power to protect their sources.

It becomes a bit of a self-perpetuating cycle: most leaks go to powerful columnists, powerful columnists accrue more power, leaks go to where there is power. TG just continues to report the facts.

This is exactly the point I was trying to make before but done better.

 

[New Jersey Devils]

Holy crap the last few pages in here have been a complete ****show. When did this board get unbearable like this?

TG is a great beat reporter. He's hardly wrong and isn't a guy to "break" news. Really don't understand the hate here.


Seems GhostofKenKlee has a real odd agenda against TG.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

He was absolutely the first to report the Kovalchuk "retirement". I remember that like a dagger to my back.

He even said something to the effect of "Kovalchuk has announced his retirement. This is not a joke."

A lot of the bigger hockey writers throw him kudos and hat-tips all the time. We've got a solid guy, even if he's 3-4 minutes behind sometimes.

I'm talking about the Kovalchuk trade, he was the usual wiseguy that alot of you seem to love around with fans on his blog. He was snippy and dismissed it outright and mocked a fan asking him the question.

The Russian on Puck Daddy has Russian contacts and Russian media was the first to talk about it.

I see how the funny/unfunny comments out there regarding TG and his work. You guys are all right, TG is the GOAT in his genre.

Some of you need to read coverage of other teams and see what beat writers can do.

So it's either that Lou had a media blackout or TG needs to be careful not to be on wrong side of Devils or that he's great. He fires off a report once the press release or been confirmed elsewhere.

Lost in alot of the post is my original post, there are two beat writers for the Devils. Strang covers the three teams and that's it for print. I acknowledged he's better than Chere. Asbury Park Press no longer covers the Devils outside of the AP.

 

[HischierSeDgewOrk]

Gonna try my take on lines:

Cammalleri Zajac Palmieri
Henrique Josefson Blandisi
Elias Zacha Ruutu
Matteau OBrien Tootoo

Several guys will be competing for those 4th line roles and 2nd and 3rd line wing positions.
Blandisi, Coleman, Kalinin, Boucher, Gionta.

Although, I think Gionta will be banished to the pressbox by the new regime and rightfully so. He could be a decent fill in on 4th line rw if needed.

 

[IcedMaidenDeth]

Some of you need to read coverage of other teams and see what beat writers can do.

As an Avs fan, TG's coverage is a billion times better than anything the Avs have ever had.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

As an Avs fan, TG's coverage is a billion times better than anything the Avs have ever had.

Dater/Frei/Sadowski?

That's fine and you are entitled to that opinion, a billion times is a ringing endorsement of his abilites versus the others.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

I think you will see two forwards not on the roster now or farm brought in.

Sherosheroes

Raysgonnamakethempay.

 

[goonybird]

Dater is abysmal

 

[Rhodes 81]

TG is way better than anything we ever had with the Thrashers, and that includes several people that went on to be national media.

Most people thought Kovalchuk to NJ was impossible until it actually happened, trust me, I followed that situation very closely. I'm not going to blame TG for getting that one wrong.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

Holy crap the last few pages in here have been a complete ****show. When did this board get unbearable like this?

TG is a great beat reporter. He's hardly wrong and isn't a guy to "break" news. Really don't understand the hate here.


Seems GhostofKenKlee has a real odd agenda against TG.

So, it's "unbearable" to discuss the two beat writers. How about the arbiters of taste here just set the standard for discussion. What should we talk about?

I don't have an "agenda" aganist. How can a journalist be wrong if they don't take risk and or report what the team confirmed.

Sorry, I just prefer a beat writer that has his ear to the ground a bit more than most of you. I'm ok with swimming against the current on this one.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

Dater is abysmal

He has fallen from grace, lost his avs gig and espn one and now writes for Bleacher report. Thanks to his bizarre social media actions.

 

[GhostofKenKlee]

Sighting or using Dwayne Kessel is an insult to journalist or anyone that is involved in that medium.

 

[Richer's Ghost]

I'm talking about the Kovalchuk trade, he was the usual wiseguy that alot of you seem to love around with fans on his blog. He was snippy and dismissed it outright and mocked a fan asking him the question.

From the day of the trade before it went down;

Atlanta Thrashers general manager Don Waddell issued the following statement this afternoon concerning Ilya Kovalchuk and his future with the team.

"Our goal from the start of this negotiating process was to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a long-term contract. During the process, Kovy affirmed his desire to be a Thrasher for life. We’ve spent several months exploring scenarios with Kovy and his agent to reach a mutually beneficial agreement, and offered many lucrative packages in an attempt to meet his financial objectives. Unfortunately, we’ve reached an impasse and at this point he has declined all of our proposals and we can’t reasonably go any higher.

"Ultimately, we offered Kovy more than $101 million over 12 years, which would have been the highest contract signed by an impending unrestricted free agent in the history of the league. If accepted, this contract would have been the second highest offer ever to any NHL player. We also met his desire to be the highest paid player based on average annual salary with a separate offer of 7 years at $10M per year ($70M). This offer is $0.5M higher per year than any other player."

"If we went beyond these offers, we would not be able to retain the young players on our roster when it came time to sign them, or invest in other top tier players needed to assemble a truly competitive team. Therefore, we are aggressively exploring all of our options as we move forward."

According to numerous reports, Waddell told Kovalchuk Wednesday afternoon that he might soon be traded. Now, comes this statement.

As I posted last night, Thrashers associate general manager Rick Dudley scouted the Lowell Devils' AHL game against the Hartford Wolfpack (the Rangers' top farm team) Wednesday night at Prudential Center after also being at the Devils' game in Toronto on Tuesday night. Waddell was at the Devils' home game against Los Angeles on Sunday.

What does it all mean? At the very least, that the Thrashers have been watching the Devils' players and prospects a lot lately. The Devils, the Rangers and the Kings are all rumored to be interested in Kovalchuk among with a handful of other teams -- though several are claiming through back channels that they're not in it.

His next post was the confirmation of the trade and players involved.

Dismissive?

The only thing regarding Kovalchuk I remember him being truly dismissive about is the rumors of him returning to the Devils in some super slick Louphole the past few seasons when the league and Devils have clearly stated what it would take for that to happen. Fans keep throwing up questions to him about Kovy and I completely understand his eye-rolling responses to them because it's absurd enough what gets tossed around here let alone from the random uber fan who doesn't stay up on the NHL like we do. Each year since his departure it's become an annual event of pipe dreaming schemes to get Kovy back without penalty in round 5 of the chaotic debacle that has been his contract saga.