Team better off without Kovalchuk?

[Devils Trap]

You can pretty much assume Clowe's deal is almost exactly what Lou offered Clarkson

 

[NJDevs26]

You can't even make the argument capwise the Devils wouldn't be able to fit the merc in, his cap number and Henrique's minus Jagr would still leave them under the ceiling barely.

 

[JimEIV]

The Clowe deal was OBVIOUSLY preparation for Clarkson leaving, not Kovalchuk. Ryder was the belated replacement for Parise that Matteau/Butler weren't. Jagr is the only guy who wouldn't be here if the merc was.

You realize Kovalchuk would have been owed 11.3 million this season right? Funny how Clowe (4.85), Ryder(3.5), Jagr (2), Olesz (1)....equals 11.35 million...more coincidence... I suppose.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

Woah, I didn't know their numbers matched so well. But If they kept Kovy, they would have had to fill in 3 bodies anyway.

 

[NJDevs26]

So Lou was going to spend no money on outside help this offseason after having the 28th ranked offense and losing 50+ goals during the lockout with another 20+ in Clarkson going out the door this offseason? If you believe that then you still believe all of the Kosman nonsense too.

 

[Vilgraining]

The Clowe deal was OBVIOUSLY preparation for Clarkson leaving, not Kovalchuk. Ryder was the belated replacement for Parise that Matteau/Butler weren't. Jagr is the only guy who wouldn't be here if the merc was.

See none of us know that. Lou knew Kovy was leaving before UFA hit. So any move Lou made was because he knew Kovy was leaving. He isn't replacing guys. He is simply trying to build a team.

 

[NJDevs26]

See none of us know that. Lou knew Kovy was leaving before UFA hit. So any move Lou made was because he knew Kovy was leaving. He isn't replacing guys. He is simply trying to build a team.

He also knew Clarkson was leaving, in his own words he'd moved on at the draft and admitted he overpaid Clowe because of his skillset. That one isn't debatable.

He also knew he never was able to replace 9 last offseason and the kids either failed or weren't ready so voila in comes Ryder.

 

[MartyOwns]

“There’s no question we wanted to add up our new contracts to equal the contract of a player we didn’t know was leaving†Lamoriello commented. “Everyone knows that you should run your organization like an episode of The Price Is Right.â€

But what about speculation (hard quotes) that Jagr was spoken to before Kovalchuk decided to retire?

“Jaromir fell onto our lap. Kind of like Plinko. But when push came to shove, we din’t make a decision on his contract until we had done our research, culminating in the Showcase Showdown.â€

pretty sure thats not real

 

[BahlDeep]

So basically we weren't going to replace Clarkson departure if Kovy was stilk here...

lol wow really this board sometimes..

 

[NJDevs26]

And not for nothing you can't compare four guys to one payroll wise, that's fuzzy math. You also have to account for the payroll of the other roster spots starting with $6 million that went out the door with Clarkson and Tallinder leaving.

 

[JerryGigantic]

The Clowe deal was OBVIOUSLY preparation for Clarkson leaving, not Kovalchuk. Ryder was the belated replacement for Parise that Matteau/Butler weren't. Jagr is the only guy who wouldn't be here if the merc was.

This exactly. Jagr is the Kovy replacement, straight up. Best Lou could get from skimpy options, but I'll take it gladly.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

So making stuff up based on literally zero evidence is okay here now? I guess that's cool. "Prove what I just made up is wrong!!" How the f is someone gonna do that?

 

[JerryGigantic]

You realize Kovalchuk would have been owed 11.3 million this season right? Funny how Clowe (4.85), Ryder(3.5), Jagr (2), Olesz (1)....equals 11.35 million...more coincidence... I suppose.

Jim, that is entirely coincidence. And you just backing into a number that ignores many other variables.

Please don't go all tin foil hat on us and start seeing Kovy in everything.

Starting to feel like you have a case of PKSD.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Thermite cap space

mind control

 

[Bleedred]

See none of us know that. Lou knew Kovy was leaving before UFA hit. So any move Lou made was because he knew Kovy was leaving. He isn't replacing guys. He is simply trying to build a team.

Of course not. If Kovalchuk never left we would have replaced Clarkson with Matteau and never even signed Ryder. Probably would have just brought back D'Agostini and Ponikarovsky.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

I'm of the opinion that Lou knew since the lockout ended that Kovalchuk wanted to head back home.

There was just too many reports stating that Kovalchuk wanted to stay in Russia and by pass a shorten season in North America. Both individuals are very classy and I wouldn't think Kovalchuk would just drop a bomb a couple of days before making his decision when Lou almost rolled out the red carpet for Kovalchuk when he traded for him and resigned him.

I'm with Jim here and I do think Lou made all these signing cause he knew he was losing his #1 RW'er. When was the last time we saw Lou make all those roster changes in one entire summer?

 

[JimEIV]

I'm of the opinion that Lou knew since the lockout ended that Kovalchuk wanted to head back home.

There was just too many reports stating that Kovalchuk wanted to stay in Russia and by pass a shorten season in North America. Both individuals are very classy and I wouldn't think Kovalchuk would just drop a bomb a couple of days before making his decision when Lou almost rolled out the red carpet for Kovalchuk when he traded for him and resigned him.

I'm with Jim here and I do think Lou made all these signing cause he knew he was losing his #1 RW'er. When was the last time we saw Lou make all those roster changes in one entire summer?

When Niedermayer left.

 

[Bleedred]

We did make a bunch the year Kovalchuk was re signed. Including Kovalchuk, we also traded for Arnott, and signed Tallinder and Volchenkov (Ugh)

I think Lou also wanted to make some significant changes. He wasn't gonna bring back passengers like Ponikarovsky, or invisible guys like D'Agostini.

 

[Vilgraining]

Of course not. If Kovalchuk never left we would have replaced Clarkson with Matteau and never even signed Ryder. Probably would have just brought back D'Agostini and Ponikarovsky.

So you are saying, what we did with Parise leaving?

 

[JimEIV]

I'm just going to say this...

if you believe the Devils organization was prepared to pay 19.65 Million this season for Kovalchuk, Clowe and Ryder you're simply day dreaming.

 

[Bleedred]

So you are saying, what we did with Parise leaving?

I believe there was one of possible two situations there. Either finances were really tight, or Lou figured that since the team made the SCF the year before, big changes like that weren't needed and it was mostly the same team that went to the SCF other than Parise. Not to mention no great replacements and the ones that could have been, signed before Parise signed in Minnesota.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

I'm just going to say this...

if you believe the Devils organization was prepared to pay 19.65 Million this season for Kovalchuk, Clowe and Ryder you're simply day dreaming.

And that's why I think he knew all along that Kovalchuk was bolting to Russia this summer.

It's no coincidence that he ditched our team to head back home when his salary was about to double, leaving us with a MASSSSSSSSSIVE cap penalty for the next 14 years or so if he would've decided to pull this act in 2 or 3 years from now.

I think both parties actually shook hands and agreed to terminate a contract that was going to cripple our team and take away the opportunity for IK to earn 60M$ in 4 years instead of 10.

 

[CerebralGenesis]

i don't think there was much handshaking involved. Obviously knowledge that this was happening, but that is another thing.

 

[NJDevs26]

Lou spent $17 million on Kovalchuk, Clarkson and Tallinder last year (prorated), it's not too much of a stretch to think he'd spend another $2-3 million to upgrade a forward core that needed it desperately. Especially with the rumors of ownership change in the air and more guys to spend it on than last offseason.

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

When all is said and done, I do think that everyone is happy this happend now instead of 2 or 3 years down the road.

Lou never agreed to throw that type of deal IK's way, our owner is apparently broke so he's the happiest guy of them all and despite what we all think, having our star player do whatever he pleased on the ice was going to get us nowhere.

His deal was basically blocking us from improving our team depth wise and talent wise as well. Now that he's gone, his minutes will be spreaded properly and we can actually go back to rolling 4 lines.