Team better off without Kovalchuk?

[JimEIV]

2011-2012 Kovalchuk was awesome.

Yeah...the year Parise did all the heavy lifting digging pucks out of the corner and keeping the play alive.

No question the devils were a better team with both of them....but
We saw two instaces of only Kovalchuk and they both were horrific failures.

 

[JimEIV]

To be fair, Kovalchuk was injured for a good chunk of the season. I agree though, he was unspectacular

You mean beyond the 10 games?

 

[Bleedred]

If he didn't come out and drop this bomb on us 2 weeks ago, then yeah I would have thought maybe he wasn't completely healthy. It's what I thought the whole time. I never thought Kovalchuk would walk out like this, I always thought a lot more of him as a person. I always had Zach pegged as a phoney.

 

[onefatsurfer]

His mother's quote about him sacrificing his body or whatever... Yeah, I think he was playing hurt.

Man, I wish he wasn't hurt during our finals run.

 

[StvBroDan]

Yeah...the year Parise did all the heavy lifting digging pucks out of the corner and keeping the play alive.

No question the devils were a better team with both of them....but
We saw two instaces of only Kovalchuk and they both were horrific failures.

Parise and heavy lifting does not belong together.

 

[StvBroDan]

If he didn't come out and drop this bomb on us 2 weeks ago, then yeah I would have thought maybe he wasn't completely healthy. It's what I thought the whole time. I never thought Kovalchuk would walk out like this, I always thought a lot more of him as a person. I always had Zach pegged as a phoney.

Wasn't hurt he was pouting

 

[NjDevsRR]

Yeah...the year Parise did all the heavy lifting digging pucks out of the corner and keeping the play alive.

No question the devils were a better team with both of them....but
We saw two instaces of only Kovalchuk and they both were horrific failures.

Gimme a break, his all around game was incredible that season, PP PK, all situations. He showed it in the playoffs without Zach as well.

 

[Balance]

The other great thing about Kovalchuk was that we never gave Parise one of the worst contracts in the league. Thank god.

 

[NJD Kula]

His mother's quote about him sacrificing his body or whatever... Yeah, I think he was playing hurt.

Man, I wish he wasn't hurt during our finals run.

That and I wish Elias did more, was invisible in the finals. If he played half as well as he usually does in the playoffs the Cup was the Devils for sure. I can't remember though, was Patty also injured?

 

[tailfins]

I was going to comment on the question, but then I thought about how Lou would answer the question. The reality is that the question is irrelevant. We don't have Kovy. The question is whether or not the team as constituted can contend / win a championship. Even if we win, there will always be a question of whether we could have won with Kovy. Who cares, though? He's not here, but the rest of the team is.

To be a contending team, I think Lou needs to pull another rabbit out of his hat and get a young scorer. Without that, we are not contenders. I think we're equal / worse than last year.

 

[devilsblood]

Can I ask you a serious question?

When in his 3&1/2 years here did we see the Kovy Dynamo?

Just curious for reference.

I thought late 10-11 and mid 11-12 were good examples of Kovy Dynamo. Just dangerous in all facets, had teams on their heals, even when we were on the PK.

He wasn't even that....people have been crapping on Henrique's season for months now....they both scored the same amount of goals...think about that for a second.

Sure the goals were the same, but in less games Kovalchuk had 4x the # of assists as Henrique. Twice as many points. If Henrique was on a 25ish goal pace and 65ish point pace dudes would be amped. But for Kovy? Meh. Which speaks to Kovy's ability and the expectations placed on him.

Weak point on this one.

Gimme a break, his all around game was incredible that season, PP PK, all situations. He showed it in the playoffs without Zach as well.

Agree. Now I don't think it was all season. And I agree with Jim in that I don't think we saw consistent effort throughout his tenure here in NJ(although late 11-12 did turn out to be injury). Some times it looked like he floated. But mid 2011-12, I did think Kovy was pretty incredible.

 

[devilsblood]

I was going to comment on the question, but then I thought about how Lou would answer the question. The reality is that the question is irrelevant. We don't have Kovy. The question is whether or not the team as constituted can contend / win a championship. Even if we win, there will always be a question of whether we could have won with Kovy. Who cares, though? He's not here, but the rest of the team is.

To be a contending team, I think Lou needs to pull another rabbit out of his hat and get a young scorer. Without that, we are not contenders. I think we're equal / worse than last year.

But Lou is a GM not an internet forum poster. This is what forums like this are about, discussing hypotheticals and potentialities as well as realities.

 

[manilaNJ]

That and I wish Elias did more, was invisible in the finals. If he played half as well as he usually does in the playoffs the Cup was the Devils for sure. I can't remember though, was Patty also injured?

Yep. Groin injury that required surgery during the summer.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I was going to comment on the question, but then I thought about how Lou would answer the question. The reality is that the question is irrelevant. We don't have Kovy. The question is whether or not the team as constituted can contend / win a championship. Even if we win, there will always be a question of whether we could have won with Kovy. Who cares, though? He's not here, but the rest of the team is.

To be a contending team, I think Lou needs to pull another rabbit out of his hat and get a young scorer. Without that, we are not contenders. I think we're equal / worse than last year.

Were a significantly better hockey team than we were last season. It's not even close really. Last season was the worst Devils team in 20 years.

 

[Bleedred]

Were a significantly better hockey team than we were last season. It's not even close really. Last season was the worst Devils team in 20 years.

I kinda thought the same thing too. The 07-08 team was pretty bad and the 06-07 team was nothing special. I kinda thought last year was one of the worst though at times. I guess you could say we were unlucky a little bit. Team averaged about 1.5 posts per game when we were losing it seemed.

I wasn't really surprised at the failure of the team though. I think this team is much better constructed. Aside from Olesz, there are no bargain bin D'Agostini, Butler, or Poni, types. Olesz won't be expected to be a top 6 like those guys though.

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I kinda thought the same thing too. The 07-08 team was pretty bad and the 06-07 team was nothing special. I kinda thought last year was one of the worst though at times. I guess you could say we were unlucky a little bit. Team averaged about 1.5 posts per game when we were losing it seemed.

I wasn't really surprised at the failure of the team though. I think this team is much better constructed. Aside from Olesz, there are no bargain bin D'Agostini, Butler, or Poni, types. Olesz won't be expected to be a top 6 like those guys though.

Those teams still ended up with over 100 points. Last year was a complete joke. The first month was most likely a mirage and the real team showed up over those last 3 months. Everything that could go wrong did. The group we have right now is miles ahead of the cornucopia of horse*** we had going in and out of the lineup last year.

 

[TheUnseenHand]

Zach and Kovy belong together. One is infinitely more effective when playing with the other. The difference is that Kovy was capable of taking over a game if he wanted and Zach wasn't. I completely understand both sides of the "who was more important" debate. Zach is a more complete player. Kovy is a more dominating player when he wants to be.

Now to answer the question, I do actually think they are better off going back to a team of no names that are constantly underestimated. It just seems more Devils like. In the short term, though, the team is not better without him.

 

[NC107*]

This is part that isn't discussed as much, but with the quirks of the new "cap recapture" rule in the CBA regarding players retiring ahead of their contracts, Holy Mother of God if Quitterchuk made this decision a year or two from now we'd be bent over for years with just as much nothing to show for it.

The absolute best time for the Russian Momma's boy to get all nostalgic (for money) was exactly as it played out.

So if this was in the cards since the recent lockout, I say this is for the best.

He worked the timing with Lou.

 

[GDDevils*]

From day one Kovy never fit the mold of a Devil player. After the trade it was painful to watch the team try to adjust to his way of playing. While he may have been a fantastic player this team was not built to maximize his abilities. From systems that didn't mesh with his style to players that couldn't compliment it either. The Kovy experiment was a pretty big flop. I really liked him as a player but he never really lived up to his hype. I'm sad to see him go but excited that I might get to see good old TEAM hockey. The way we used to do it, everyone towing the line.

 

[britdevil]

From day one Kovy never fit the mold of a Devil player. After the trade it was painful to watch the team try to adjust to his way of playing. While he may have been a fantastic player this team was not built to maximize his abilities. From systems that didn't mesh with his style to players that couldn't compliment it either. The Kovy experiment was a pretty big flop. I really liked him as a player but he never really lived up to his hype. I'm sad to see him go but excited that I might get to see good old TEAM hockey. The way we used to do it, everyone towing the line.

Couldn't agree more.

I think I was forcing myself to love Kovy, when in reality it was just never meant to be. Pumped for some old time Devils hockey. There's no Quit in Team.

 

[Balance]

Zach and Kovy belong together. One is infinitely more effective when playing with the other. The difference is that Kovy was capable of taking over a game if he wanted and Zach wasn't. I completely understand both sides of the "who was more important" debate. Zach is a more complete player. Kovy is a more dominating player when he wants to be.

Now to answer the question, I do actually think they are better off going back to a team of no names that are constantly underestimated. It just seems more Devils like. In the short term, though, the team is not better without him.

I agree. The team was much better with Kovalchuk only then when Parise was only on the team.

 

[NC107*]

From: pucksandpitchforks.com

Comparing the forward losses to the three major forward additions, the Devils have made up for their losses and some.

Losses: Clarkson, D’Agostini, Kovalchuk, Ponikarovsky, and Sullivan combined for:
40 Goals, 47 Assists, 87 Points, 142 Penalty Minutes, and a -30 plus/minus.

Additions: Clowe, Jagr, and Ryder combined for:
35 Goals, 57 Assists, 92 Points, 123 Penalty Minutes, and a +1 plus/minus.


Now on to the power play. Like before, the stats of the power play have been compared, but only for the three major losses compared to the additions.

Losses: Clarkson, Kovalchuk, and Sullivan combined for:
12 Power Play Goals and 18 Power Play Assists for 30 Points

Additions: Clowe, Jagr, and Ryder combined for:
15 Power Play Goals and 17 Power Play Assists for 32 Points.

Clowe was a weak link on the man-advantage last season, only posting a goal and three assists, but with that the Devils still have gained more with their additions.

 

[Brooklyndevil]

No doubt about it. His contract was a killer and he may have been are most dangerous player offensively, however he's no longer the 40 to 50 goal scorer. I believe one guy that's relieved is big Lou.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I still think he could've been the 40 goal scorer but they tried to turn him into a 2 way grinder while playing on his off wing

it was silly all around

 

[NHL Fanatik*]

Poll is decently close, makes me excited for this upcoming season.

Or maybe interested is the better word.