Todd Cordell: On Jacob Josefson, Mark Fayne, and the Pre-Free Agency Window

I can deal with another year of mediocracy if we give our young players a chance to make mistakes and learn from them but continuing to play players who no longer have it is ridiculous.

Goaltending
Schneider should be given 65+ games and extended long term. Invite a back up or two to camp as a try out and give kinkaid and wedgewood a chance to make the team. If they can not cut it sign the backup. Preferably I would like to let both young goalies get 5 to 10 starts in the NHL as they split time between NHL and AHL to keep them sharp.

Defense
Greene - Fayne
Merrill - Zidlicky
Gelinas - Larsson
Salvador or Volchenkov as the # 7 Buy out the other.
Harrold is waived to Albany and called up if an injury occurs. I would rather keep Harrold as 7th Dman but not likely to happen

Forward
XXX - Zajac - Jagr
Henrique - Elias - Brunner
Clowe - Josefson - Ryder
Mattau - Zubrus - Ruutuu
Carter,Sisilo

Let Bernier walk and keep one of Gionta/Carter
If Boucher impresses in camp he makes team over Sisilo or Mattau
Sign a winger for the 1st line (Michelak, Vrbata, Hemsky)
I wouldn't mind trading Ryder. When scoring he is good but when cold he is dead wood.

I think even if we got both Vrbata and Hemsky it wouldnt be enough team needs heavy scoring even with Parise and Kovy it wasnt enough. Hate to say it could be a few more seasons out from making the playoffs again.

Id be extremely unhappy if Devils brought back entire 4th line. Bernier no doubt has to go. Carter brings energy/grit so I'm okay with him at right price. Gio is good on PK but disappears for long stretches. I think they should bring Gio back on 2 way contract so he can come up only during injuries. Rutuu-Carter-UFA (Moore).

I think what Lou does with Salvador or Volchenkov will dictate the path of this team. Devils have owners w deep pockets which means devils can afford to eat one player buy out. Solves problem of log jam of d-men. I really like Fayne as a 3rd pairing, especially for probable his low asking price. Hate to lose him to retain Sal/Volch. I believe Lou will attempt to trade one of his young dmen (gelinas, Larssen or Merill) for a young quality scoring forward. If he doesn't then he has to unload either Salvador or Volchenkov. Going to be fun or extremely disappointing week for Devil fans.

You had the perfect time to coin the term "Pre-agency" and you missed your chance.

I think even if we got both Vrbata and Hemsky it wouldnt be enough team needs heavy scoring even with Parise and Kovy it wasnt enough. Hate to say it could be a few more seasons out from making the playoffs again.
- Jeff_121

Amen. It's moves like this that will keep this team in the #9-11 spots. I'd rather give the younger players a chance and deal with the consequences. There is no reason to bring in mediocre players who will undoubtedly get overpaid because of a weak UFA market.

Of all the Devils free agents, the only one I really want back is Carter. I can live without the others, although I do see the case for Fayne.

This so disappointing. Everyone can hope and pray all they want for this and that to happen but how many times has Lou shown he doesn't give the slightest crap about anything other then be loyal to some of the most over the hill players in the game. This is a guy who has 0 problem with having better players sit for poop ones because he has to stick by the poop contracts hr has handed out. I mean even with all the charts Todd has done to pump zajacs tires he still is only worth about half the dollars he got. I mean how long can the excusrs flow for Lou ? So some things happened that he didn't plan but that doesn't mean you spend your money stupidly on free agents over 30 you make smart moves to build forward but not in nj lol nj is the place you come and don't worry about accountablitly. If Lou fails to do much of anything then he needs to go.

#FireLou

This so disappointing. Everyone can hope and pray all they want for this and that to happen but how many times has Lou shown he doesn't give the slightest crap about anything other then be loyal to some of the most over the hill players in the game. This is a guy who has 0 problem with having better players sit for poop ones because he has to stick by the poop contracts hr has handed out. I mean even with all the charts Todd has done to pump zajacs tires he still is only worth about half the dollars he got. I mean how long can the excusrs flow for Lou ? So some things happened that he didn't plan but that doesn't mean you spend your money stupidly on free agents over 30 you make smart moves to build forward but not in nj lol nj is the place you come and don't worry about accountablitly. If Lou fails to do much of anything then he needs to go.
- blizzzard

Let's not forget that buying out Volchenkov is basically Lou admitting he made a mistake in originally giving him that contract--might be a pride thing there too. With the Hedberg buyout everyone knew it had to be done, but Volchenkov was signing on the first day of UFA and he got a pretty big contract--which is rare with the Devils. Maybe Lou doesn't want to fess up to this one? Again, all speculation, and I'd like to think reality sinks in eventually. But if it doesn't...ouch

It will all work out. In Lou I Trust!

Todd Cordell: On Jacob Josefson, Mark Fayne, and the Pre-Free Agency Window
- Todd.Cordell

This roster will be identical to the previous season

I'm still in shock from Lou's comments about not buying out Sal or Volchenkov.

I'm still in shock from Lou's comments about not buying out Sal or Volchenkov.
- CaptCrankypants

Typical devils offseason

Enough w the Lou bashing. I (and I'm sure most of you) had no issue when Lou signed Volchenkov to that much $/years. At that time Volchenkov (while w OTT) was a beast to play against. Hard hitter, great shot blocker, great on PK and still very young. For whatever reason Volchenkov just fizzled away. Not Lou's fault.

get lous uhly ass dome piece off your blog picture man

you must have a hard on for the guy

I'm not a Volchenkov hater... I think he's slow, but he's also the second/third most responsible defenseman (behind Greene... maybe Fayne) on the team and plays good zone defense.

I just have the fear that we're wheedling out all of our good prospects because of limited play time and leaving our organization nearly worthless in overall value since we can't trade for something we need. We're not likely to do well next season regardless... unless a forward falls out of the sky. As it stands, we have maybe two to four tradeable people in the organization. Free agency will solve nothing as it always does.

But it's not July 1st (or 1st few days), yet. So the gates are being withheld. When the team does the Clowe-like free agency signing, the gates will blow wide open.

get lous uhly ass dome piece off your blog picture man

you must have a hard on for the guy
- DannnnyBriere

Love pictures of lou

maybe the plan literally is to be loyal to who we signed, and whatever happens happens.. and we take the draft pick.. again. Larsson (which may or may not turn into a forward), Schneider, and 10th overall whoever. 5 years for a "rebuild". 5 years of mediocrity. 5 years of weak attendance and so, weak financial support. I'd rather not lose this team. But at the end of next year, for instance, the D will be matured, the fat will be gone, and we'll have our top 10 pick. maybe that's the plan.

If Joshua Ho-Sang falls to 30, which he probably won't, I won't Jersey to draft him... which they probably won't.

But Merrill fell really far for us, you never know!

anyone watching these awards? Was Cuba on something? a bit too much fun in Vegas? The guy made an absolute ass of himself. Messier and Graves' facial expressions were priceless.

also.. I really want Hemsky. I'd be happy with Hemsky. If we got both Hemsky and Cam, I'd be happy. Not overjoyed but happy. Kind of settling on Cam because it's incredibly unlikely we get one of those top tier guys. If we do that and dump a pylon, I'll be extremely happy. If we do that AND dump Ryder, I'll be jubilant. If we trade for Kane, I'll be optimistic, tho saddened by the loss of a prospect. Hopefully Ryder and a pylon can be included in that swap. I mean Larsson+Ryder+Volchenkov for Kane is a decent deal.. right? At least he's young and talented, as opposed to a 32 year old Cammalleri.

Kane-Zajac-Jagr
Elias-Henrique-Hemsky
Clowe-Zubrus-Brunner
Carter-Josefson-Ruutu

Greene-Fayne
Merrill-Zidlicky
Salvador-Gelinas

“We have every reason to believe – and (head coach) Pete (DeBoer) and I have talked about this quite a bit – that our young defensemen are ready to be given that opportunity,” Lamoriello said.

talking about making space for the D, and not looking for the buy out, sounds as if he is looking at trade possibilities first

also note that last year lou said the same thing, but he used a buyout on hedberg

I'm still in shock from Lou's comments about not buying out Sal or Volchenkov.
- CaptCrankypants

You don't rush to decisions without making sure that you're exploring all options. Did anyone think that he would be able to dump Tallinder last year? By saying "Ya we're going to use a buy out" or " we're buying out player x" you're completely kiboshing any opportunity that might possibly arise

What ever happened to Jiri Sekac? A couple weeks ago, he seemingly had offers from half the teams in the league, now it's like that was a weird dream or something and never actually happened. I'm all for taking your time making important decisions, but shouldn't he have made up his mind by now?

You don't rush to decisions without making sure that you're exploring all options. Did anyone think that he would be able to dump Tallinder last year? By saying "Ya we're going to use a buy out" or " we're buying out player x" you're completely kiboshing any opportunity that might possibly arise
- bobert836

I understand that, but he could've said something like: "We always consider all of our options and do what's best for the team," or, " It's a possibility we're considering, however it's not a decision we take lightly and will use the time we have to consider all of our options." You know, regular Lou speak.