Confirmed with Link: Kyle Quincey signed to a one-year deal

[ForeverJerseyGirl]

On paper the defense isn't overly impressive but I think as a unit it's pretty solid.

Pretty much my thoughts and feelings. If the Devils do a defense by committee kind of thing, they should be fine.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

I think we've had worse defenses after the lockout than what we have now.

 

[Bologna 1]

i think the thing with the defensive unit now that NJ is icing, is there are no grenade handlers and they are all pretty mobile. which is much different than some of the previous years. it makes a huge difference in being able to cleanly get out of your own zone, which in turn leads to less times being pinned.

 

[Zippy316]

i think the thing with the defensive unit now that NJ is icing, is there are no grenade handlers and they are all pretty mobile. which is much different than some of the previous years. it makes a huge difference in being able to cleanly get out of your own zone, which in turn leads to less times being pinned.

I agree with this, but I'm hesitant to call it solid by any means.

 

[Bleedred]

It definitely looks better with Quincey than with the in-house options or banking on Santini being NHL ready.

I am intrigued by Auvitu though.

 

[Nubmer6]

I have a soft spot for Quincey since picking him up in my fantasy hockey league 8 years ago (it was a very, very deep league). He's shown some offense, but was used in a shutdown role in Detroit. I feel e makes our D much better, and suddenly makes our right side look a little weak.

I know everyone's high on Santini, but I feel uneasy playing him every night. I'd feel much better letting him start in the A.

I'm definitely intrigued with Auvitu. I have visions of him being the next Rafalski, who came from the same league at around the same age. I know it's pie in the sky, but hey... one can dream.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

I'm definitely intrigued with Auvitu. I have visions of him being the next Rafalski, who came from the same league at around the same age. I know it's pie in the sky, but hey... one can dream.

Rafalski was like a one in a million find. I'll settle for the next Oduya though.

 

[Bleedred]

Rafalski was like a one in a million find. I'll settle for the next Oduya though.

Don't forget that Rafalski was boosted by his partners in Stevens and Lidstrom, two hall of famers.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

Don't forget that Rafalski was boosted by his partners in Stevens and Lidstrom, two hall of famers.

Only fools thought that. He was our #1 for a couple years. Man I loved Rafalski though. He was my favorite player mainly because I loved his underdog story and the success he ended up having. I never thought in a million years he would leave us and when he signed with Detroit, I was beyond devastated. I couldn't of cared less that we lost Gomez as well that offseason. I was actually happy that the Rangers were foolish enough to give him that much money in a salary cap era. Losing Rafalski hurt this team a hell of a lot more than losing Gomez. I was happy he had success in Detroit though, going to two Cup Finals and winning one. He retired too young though, he had a few more quality years left in him. I remember hearing that he regretted retiring while still being able to play at a high level. He even tried to make a comeback signing with an ECHL team but by then it was too late. I consider him to be one of our best defenseman in team history. Stevens, Niedermayer, DaneBut yeah I gotta call this insurance company so they can send me one yko, Driver followed by Rafalski and Greene who are close. Might even rank them both over Driver honestly. I could be forgetting someone, but I don't think so.

 

[Bleedred]

Only fools thought that. He was our #1 for a couple years. Man I loved Rafalski though. He was my favorite player mainly because I loved his underdog story and the success he ended up having. I never thought in a million years he would leave us and when he signed with Detroit, I was beyond devastated. I couldn't of cared less that we lost Gomez as well that offseason. I was actually happy that the Rangers were foolish enough to give him that much money in a salary cap era. Losing Rafalski hurt this team a hell of a lot more than losing Gomez. I was happy he had success in Detroit though, going to two Cup Finals and winning one. He retired too young though, he had a few more quality years left in him. I remember hearing that he regretted retiring while still being able to play at a high level. He even tried to make a comeback signing with an ECHL team but by then it was too late. I consider him to be one of our best defenseman in team history. Stevens, Niedermayer, DaneBut yeah I gotta call this insurance company so they can send me one yko, Driver followed by Rafalski and Greene who are close. Might even rank them both over Driver honestly. I could be forgetting someone, but I don't think so.

I know many will argue that Rafalski was not a great defensive player, I've seen Jim say it more than a few times. I don't think he was a great defensive/shutdown player, but he was a good possession player and could create a lot of offense.

Possession and advanced stats were not officially tracked before the 07-08 season, which was Rafalski's first season in Detroit after he left us. But he had amazing corsi and fenwick stats over there, but did get more offensive zone starts than defensive zone starts every year.

I remember his 55 point season in 06-07, his last here. Which was a then career high, which he matched the next season and exceeded with 59 in the season after that in 08-09. I really wanted to keep him after that year that he was a UFA and I believe he wanted to stay, but Lou didn't wanna give him a raise and he was only asking for $500k per year raise or something like that. Not like that almost $2 million per raise that he wound up getting in Detroit. He also was really loyal in 05 during the Niedermayer UFA saga, waiting to re-sign with us until after Nieds made his decision to leave.

The end of the Rafalski era marked the beginning of a 4 or 5 year era and period where we had many grenade handlers and defensive defensemen and very little in the way of puck movers and offensive defensemen. Andy Greene was the only decent one. And then we got Zidlicky almost 5 whole years later. And don't even get me started on signing a 35 year old Rolston a year later, or I'll never shut up about it.

 

[Capt Nico Poo]

Auvitu is not next Rafalski. He did play well in the Finnish league playoffs last spring but wasn't extraordinary great. Just solid good.

Although the Laine hype kinda got overboard and muffled everything else. He might be Zidlicky-esque, but dont expect much more.

 

[Sykie]

Yeah this comparaison with Rafalski doesn't work at all, Rafalski was a PPG player at 26, Auvitu didn't even get 0.5 PPG at 27. He's nowhere close Rafalski level.

I think we should see Auvitu as a nice help for the AHL team. If he sticks as a third liner at the NHL level, that's good, but it doesn't seem very realistic to hope for much more than that.

 

[BenedictGomez]

The people who dont like this deal fall into two groups:


Group A) Delusionally believe the Devils defense is better than it really is.

Group B) See 'A'.

 

[Devils Dominion]

Quincey was just live on Facebook with Julie and Matt Laughlin.

Best comment was from Julie.
"Jersey is where the cool people are".

Julie is truly awesome.

 

[JimEIV]

Greene, Quincey and Lovejoy is a far more dependable group than just Larsson-Greene tied together.

Quincey and Lovejoy should be more dependable than everyone that was in the bottom 4 last season. Add a year of development for Severson and hopefully a much more dependable partner than Moore and you should see improvement there as well

Having added Lovejoy and Quincey should create much more balance throughout each of the defensive pairings and it should create a better overall defense...

On top of all that our reserves will be significantly better than last year. Helgeson was the first and probably(arguably) the best last season. This year it could be Santini, Mozik, Auvitu, Jacobs. hell Merrill may even be the 7th dman this season.

I see the defense as significantly improved this season through depth. I thought that before the addition of Quincey and he only helps

 

[JimEIV]

Sorry for the double post

 

[Kurt Cobain]

I know many will argue that Rafalski was not a great defensive player, I've seen Jim say it more than a few times. I don't think he was a great defensive/shutdown player, but he was a good possession player and could create a lot of offense.

Possession and advanced stats were not officially tracked before the 07-08 season, which was Rafalski's first season in Detroit after he left us. But he had amazing corsi and fenwick stats over there, but did get more offensive zone starts than defensive zone starts every year.

I remember his 55 point season in 06-07, his last here. Which was a then career high, which he matched the next season and exceeded with 59 in the season after that in 08-09. I really wanted to keep him after that year that he was a UFA and I believe he wanted to stay, but Lou didn't wanna give him a raise and he was only asking for $500k per year raise or something like that. Not like that almost $2 million per raise that he wound up getting in Detroit. He also was really loyal in 05 during the Niedermayer UFA saga, waiting to re-sign with us until after Nieds made his decision to leave.

The end of the Rafalski era marked the beginning of a 4 or 5 year era and period where we had many grenade handlers and defensive defensemen and very little in the way of puck movers and offensive defensemen. Andy Greene was the only decent one. And then we got Zidlicky almost 5 whole years later. And don't even get me started on signing a 35 year old Rolston a year later, or I'll never shut up about it.

Brian was never a shut down guy. He was just an elite offensive defenseman, but I'll tell you one thing I never saw him get beat one on one and he was strong as hell on his skates. At the very worst he was average defensively. I would say he was slightly above average, never dominant defensively but also never a liability, ever. Great player wish we had another one.

Yeah and after he left some of those defense pairings we iced were atrocious. Greene was good then but he wasn't the great defenseman he is now. Also, Oduya was solid as well. The rest of the defense was a dumpster fire.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

Auvitu is not next Rafalski. He did play well in the Finnish league playoffs last spring but wasn't extraordinary great. Just solid good.

Although the Laine hype kinda got overboard and muffled everything else. He might be Zidlicky-esque, but dont expect much more.

Yeah people need to look up Brian Rafalski's stats in the Finnish league. Especially his final season. Fairly certain he was MVP of the league or at the very least named the best defenseman in the league. Autivu is no Rafalski in any way, shape or form, but that doesn't mean he can't be a solid NHLer. He has a chance to say the least.

 

[Nubmer6]

Auvitu was defenseman of the year too.

I don't care. He's going to be the next Rafalski. I'm willing it to be so.

 

[JimEIV]

Rafalski was not very good defensively. He had the benefit of playing with Stevens then Niedermayer then Martin then Lidstrom. ...that was his entire career.

The few instances he had to go it on his own he was always exposed.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

Auvitu was defenseman of the year too.
I don't care. He's going to be the next Rafalski. I'm willing it to be so.

Just for some perspective when it comes to Rafalski and Auvitus' final year in Finland:

Rafalski- GP 53 G 19 A 34 P 53 +/- +38

Auvitu- GP 48 G 6 A 15 P 21 +/- +22

I'm sure the league has changed in almost 20 years. Scoring is probably down just like it is in the NHL, but man Rafalski had one hell of a season in 98-99.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

Auvitu was defenseman of the year too.

I don't care. He's going to be the next Rafalski. I'm willing it to be so.

Rafalski was not very good defensively. He had the benefit of playing with Stevens then Niedermayer then Martin then Lidstrom. ...that was his entire career.

The few instances he had to go it on his own he was always exposed.

He was fine defensely. You really think he would have been paired with Stevens and Listrom playing against the other teams top players if he was a liability? The coaches trusted him he was adequate defensively.

 

[Nubmer6]

Actualy, he had 2 seasons where he won best D-man award, as did Sami Vatanen a few years ago (with 42 points in 49 games). Doesn't matter. I'm still making Auvitu the next Rafalski by my sheer force of will and a couple good luck charms.

 

[JimEIV]

Just for some perspective when it comes to Rafalski and Auvitus' final year in Finland:

Rafalski- GP 53 G 19 A 34 P 53 +/- +38

Auvitu- GP 48 G 6 A 15 P 21 +/- +22

I'm sure the league has changed in almost 20 years. Scoring is probably down just like it is in the NHL, but man Rafalski had one hell of a season in 98-99.

Rafalski was 2nd on his team in scoring, Auvitu was 11th on his team in scoring. So even without adjusting for era Rafalski had a much bigger season.

 

[Kurt Cobain]

Actualy, he had 2 seasons where he won best D-man award, as did Sami Vatanen a few years ago (with 42 points in 49 games). Doesn't matter. I'm still making Auvitu the next Rafalski by my sheer force of will and a couple good luck charms.

I'm sure he can be a good defenseman but hell will never put up the points Rafalski did.