A nice piece that sums up what it took (in short: Vanderbeek, Lou, and a lot of dough) to keep Kovalchuk in NJ, from Tom Gulitti.
Just got back from the home opener. Well, that was....a game. We sure were going like gangbusters for the first 10 minutes of the season. The ZIP line has a little potential, eh? But as for the rest, well, lots and lots of mistakes out there on both sides, but the Devils paid for theirs. I'm not surprised that a rookie like Taormina looked a bit jittery out there (though I am surprised he was given so much responsibility right off the bat - PP, PK, etc.) Tallinder looked just as shaky at points...let's chalk it up to first night nerves. You go to the first game of the season because it's the first game of the season, not necessarily to see great hockey. And that's what we got. Oh, then there was this, too.
Kovy a healthy scratch, Johan Hedberg plays like Mitch Hedberg (after being dead for years) and gets pulled part way through the second, another Dev gets hit in the face with a shot, and the Sabres laugh their way to a 6-1 win. Total disarray in New Jersey. This is bad, bad, bad.
Very surprised to see Ilya a scratch. Been hearing that Lou didn't want to sign him and it was purely an ownership decision. Guess there's some friction going on internally.
It's utterly stupid, though. I can name at least half a dozen players who have performed a lot worse than Kovalchuk so far this season - to scapegoat or call him out is ridiculous. At least he's actually won a game for them. I also agree with those who say there's no way MacLean makes this move without consulting Lamoriello first. Insanity all around. Not looking forward to tonight.
As much as I dislike the Devils, I feel pretty bad for Johnny Mac, he deserves better. You guys are in funk but you have a team that will perform much better then they are now. I suppose you can look at it this way, may as well be crappy now and not when it hurts the most after the All-Star break.
The botching of the salary cap and roster follies aside, I thought that they'd just been really unlucky so far this season - bad bounces, unfortunate injuries (losing Volchenkov most of the early season has hurt), giving up soft goals at the wrong moment, and all the goalscorers having a hard time getting going (Elias? Zajac? Have they started playing yet?) But the truly weird benching of Kovy seems to point to a lot more going on behind closed doors.
I watched most of the Devils-Rangers game last night, you guys didn't play too poorly. Martin played pretty darn well and you had a solid 3rd period from start to finish... wicked pass by Zubrus to Kovy. Now I may be wrong and I don't want to incorrectly remark on your team Mike but to me it seems your issues are with your defense.... way too many passes from them were going into the forwards skates and not their sticks. Once I noticed that, I noticed the main culprit of your issues, again if I am correct, all 6 or maybe 5 of your defenders are lefties ... that's a killer when half of your blue-line is going backhand every time to clear or pass the puck. As to the Kovy benching, again like the above I may be wrong but I think he missed a pre morning skate or a team meeting. Seems to me Johnny tried to send a message to him and the team that no one is bigger then the club... or so I think.
As much as a 3-1 loss to the Rangers sucks, at least it looked like they were trying and scrapping last night. It simply is not happening right now. The defense is kind of a mess right now, partly because of all the rookies (Taormina, Magnan-Grenier, Urbom for a couple games) and newcomers (Tallinder) as well as injuries (Salvador, Volchenkov.) Taormina actually looks like he'll be a decent offensive d-man - he's assisted on a couple of Kovalchuk's goals. Andy Greene is all right and Colin White is well, Colin White. There's no dominant defenseman as in the days when you could count on Stevens...and Niedermayer! I don't know what they're going to do about the defense except pray for some progress and growth out of what's there now. You'd think Larry Robinson would have them operating a little more solidly, but apparently no. Then again, the blueline isn't helped out by the fact that team defense has been appalling. Remember that those championship teams were filled out by solid forwards like Madden, Pandolfo, Brylin, all the way back to Bobby Carpenter. You could let a Stephane Richer or Petr Sykora or Jeff Friesen do his one-dimensional thing when you have players like that to do the dirty work. I don't see that kind of grit right now - too many offensive players who aren't contributing (Elias, Zajac...even Parise hasn't clicked this season), and tweeners like Langenbrunner (done?) and Clarkson (hurt?) Seems like some Devil fans have a big bone to pick with Langenbrunner in particular, going so far as to call him a cancer at this point...I don't know how much there is to that, but not the kind of thing you want to hear around your captain. I like this Josefson kid, btw. He seems composed, slick and possesses vision. But a 19 year old Swedish playmaker isn't ready to lead this team out of the wilderness. The biggest thing I've noticed this season - maybe you noticed it too - is the team's inability to HIT THE FREAKING NET. They've run across some good goalies - Henrik was strong last night - but a good goalie can be great if half the shots are ringing off the boards and glass. They're not making goalies make saves - instead they're that awful spiral of pressing and getting stopped/blocked and pressing harder.
Never really seen this Josefson kid, will surely keep an eye out for him. Love Toarmina looks like another gem plucked out of obscurity from the world of Lou. As to Jamie, I gotta say that I think he should be traded. Colorado is still sending scouts to your games are were once hot on his heels. Trade him in another month, dump the salary and then bring in someone cheaper or a one year rental to free up further room to resign Zajac. Love Clarkson as a banger and grinder, hopefully he stays healthy and gets back to working the corners, he's a gem too.
Absolutely FANTASTIC title to the thread. The "Licensed to Ilya" beats the "money grows on trees - Toronto Maple Leafs" which is pretty good as well. Any coach in NJ who thinks benching Ilya K is a good idea, best check the help wanted ads. The fans, the owner, the team, the media want this to work. I've heard on fairly good authority (I don't know him personally but Chico Resch said it on the air) that the Devils want this guy to rival Sydney Crosby and be a "name" in the NYC market. They are trying to market a superstar to get media exposure and fan interest.
That shootout attempt was embarrassing for his standards. If i was a NJ fan, i would be more upset of his reaction when he lost the puck, then the failed attempt. Seemed like he didn't care that he lost control of the puck. Something is very wrong in NJ...we know there's issues with Lou and the owners over Ilya...but, i never expected this from a Lou team. Or is it still his team anymore?
What is wrong in Jersey is the nearly $22 million in cap room, some 40%, locked up in mediocre players like Bryce Salvador, Colin White, Jason Arnott, Danius Zubrus and Brian Rolston. With that money you could buy two Duncan Keith's and a Sidney Crosby to give the team a decent blueline and two quality centers. (I know that you can't just get Keith and Crosby if you want them. The point is that the Devils are not spending their money as well as other teams, and that is why they are doing so poorly.)
Ugh. Johnny Mac finally canned after 2 1/2 of the worst hockey they've played in 20+ years. Lemaire back for round 3. Brodeur was fed up after Tuesday's loss. They're not losing by a goal, they're losing by 4-5 and making the same amateurish mistakes in front of the net over & over. Now we're behind an awful Icelander team and have half as many points as the Ran-girls. I guess this is karma or something
This is a lost season for the Devils. They are quite likely to get the #1 overall pick (if they win the lottery) this year and will enjoy the services of one Sean Couturier. I am not sure he is a superstar like the past several top picks, but certainly looks like a solid two way center and he's huge. Maybe a Mike Richards type player if I read the scouting reports right. Fortunately they have four season before they have to give up their first round pick for Kovalchuk. I don't see this getting any better in the next three years. Arnott's contract comes off the books next year at $4.5 mil Langenbrunner $2.8 Parise is making $3.1 so you can basically count on dumping both those contracts into a 6 to 7 million dollar contract to beg Parise to sit through this misery. After next season they get Rolston and his $5.2 million off the books, along with Colin White ($3mil), Broduer ($5) and Bryce Salvador (2.9). From there you might actually be able to make some moves and bring in decent players to compliment Couturier, Parise and Kovalchuk. That's 16 million for 2012 Clarkson (2.6), Zubrus (3.4), and Elias (6) give 12 more million freed up in 2013. I think at that point you'll probably be able to rebuild this sinking ship.
We haven't been SC material in years anyhow, but this precipitous fall has been shocking. We were in 1st place a year ago. Why Lou Lam went old, slower and highly paid I'll never figure out. It's especially glaring in a fast-paced game like hockey. You can hide old guys in baseball, not so much in hockey. I can accept re-building because everyone has to do it at some point. I just hope that Lou hasn't lost his touch and can get quality, hungry players again.
I think what happened was if you break it down to a very basic level, you lost Paul Martin and replaced him with Volchenkov, who was hurt most of the season. Tallinder is also a very mediocre puck mover, compared to Martin who is one of the better skilled defenders in the league. Then there were injuries to Parise and Brodeur. I think last year Brodeur made up a lot for a very mediocre defense, but this year he was hurt and mediocre. Take out the Devils best player, yes Parise is the Devils best player, and any team will struggle. Combine all that with Kovalchuk clearly not performing well and you have a recipe for disaster. At this point however, I think the room is clearly poisoned and the season is lost. A similar thing happened to the Avs a few years ago 08-09. Sakic and Stastny got hurt a lot of their overpaid veterans reached their expire by date. The Avs though had a quick turnaround because they had a lot of youth stockpiled and combined their top pick Duchene to return to the playoffs the next year. Unfortunately, the Devils don't seem to have anybody in the minors who really looks like a legit NHL contributer. That's why this one looks like a really long term rebuild and judging by Lou's recent actions, I would be worried that he can be trusted to do it.
D'oh!!! I'm not going to tell you they're making the playoffs. Even though they're something like 14-1-2 over the past 17, and have won 6 in a row, they've got to go something like 21-4 to have a shot at postseason play. That said, I am really enjoying the ride now, and letting that little flame of hope flicker inside. There is just such a difference between the fragile, disjointed team whose confidence vanished nightly after surrendering a goal, and the confident, energetic team that dominated the Rangers for long stretches tonight. Kovalchuk, above all others, is playing like a man possessed.