Todd Cordell: Grading The Devils' Off-Season

Todd Cordell: Grading The Devils' Off-Season
- Todd.Cordell

B so far for me . What he needs to do to improve that grade is sign carter, move out a forward or two and get gelinas signed to a deal that's very ideal and I would give him a A if those things happen. To get an A+ he would need to land a Kane or something and that's less realistic but overall he has done plenty to move forward and I am pleased

Would like to see him make a move for that Hayes kid meltzer keeps taking about he has good size and wheels and is or as close to.NHL ready as you can be

Todd Cordell: Grading The Devils' Off-Season
- Todd.Cordell

To counter a point you mentioned numerous times on Cammalleri, he hasn't played a full season in five years. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8469500) It's fair to expect him to get nicked up and miss 15-20 games.

Also, I think it's ridiculous for anyone to criticize the Schneider extension. People need to understand that NJ invested the 10th overall pick in the draft in this kid. If you do something like that, you better have that player on your team for a long time. Losing him to Free Agency would have been a miserable failure by any measure. It had the potential to effect the franchise for years to come. Not to mention that Lundqvist signed a deal 6 months ago for 2.5 mil more annually. The extension is very favorable for NJ.

You missed signing Jagr again and Larsson. They got a good deal on Larsson but I don't think Adam is happy in NJ. Still he's on a cheap deal next year and it'll be up to him to earn more money.

Would like to see him make a move for that Hayes kid meltzer keeps taking about he has good size and wheels and is or as close to.NHL ready as you can be
- blizzzard

Who?

I can't complain i think Lou has done a good job.
The signings he has made i believe will make us a better team and as a fan that's all i can ask for.
LET'S GO DEVILS!!

You missed signing Jagr again and Larsson. They got a good deal on Larsson but I don't think Adam is happy in NJ. Still he's on a cheap deal next year and it'll be up to him to earn more money.
- riceroni

He might be frustrated but he also knows we just bought out volchenkov and didn't resign fayne so already there are two spots available this year that weren't last

To counter a point you mentioned numerous times on Cammalleri, he hasn't played a full season in five years. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8469500) It's fair to expect him to get nicked up and miss 15-20 games.

Also, I think it's ridiculous for anyone to criticize the Schneider extension. People need to understand that NJ invested the 10th overall pick in the draft in this kid. If you do something like that, you better have that player on your team for a long time. Losing him to Free Agency would have been a miserable failure by any measure. It had the potential to effect the franchise for years to come. Not to mention that Lundqvist signed a deal 6 months ago for 2.5 mil more annually. The extension is very favorable for NJ.
- njdevils350

Well, he scored 26 goals last season in 63 games, so 20-25 goals as the top bar seems low.

I agree on the Schneider thing, though. What are the supposed to do, let him walk and be elite elsewhere?

Who?
- Panthers88

A Hawks pick i guess its Jimmy's brother

A Hawks pick i guess its Jimmy's brother
- blizzzard

Oh Kevin Hayes. There were rumblings that he wanted to come play here with his brother but I didn't hear much about it.

Oh Kevin Hayes. There were rumblings that he wanted to come play here with his brother but I didn't hear much about it.
- Panthers88

Yea he could the hawks have till august fifteen he wants a garunteed spot in the NHL is the only thing and we have to many forwards right now as is but I would love him in our farm system a second round pick is the starting point apparently and he was a former first round pick just finished at Boston college and we have santini there so who knows

I voted A.

Cammy and Havlat add scoring to top 6.

I agreed that should also include resigning Jagr, Zids and Lars.

The glut of forwards is a good problem to have. That will item will be resolved by beginning of yr.

While I like Fayne he got too much $ and NJD have Severson and Santini coming thru system.

To counter a point you mentioned numerous times on Cammalleri, he hasn't played a full season in five years. (http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8469500) It's fair to expect him to get nicked up and miss 15-20 games.

Also, I think it's ridiculous for anyone to criticize the Schneider extension. People need to understand that NJ invested the 10th overall pick in the draft in this kid. If you do something like that, you better have that player on your team for a long time. Losing him to Free Agency would have been a miserable failure by any measure. It had the potential to effect the franchise for years to come. Not to mention that Lundqvist signed a deal 6 months ago for 2.5 mil more annually. The extension is very favorable for NJ.
- njdevils350

Anybody ripping on the schneider deal is a tool. First lou was dumb for trading a top pick for a goalie that was 2 years away from definitely walking away as an UFA and now lou is dumb for extending him??

only a B until the trades are made, Carter, Gelinas and Jo are re-signed.

I don't understand why everyone is complaining about the fact that he hasn't made more than 45 starts in a season till last year, he wasn't in a position to start more with Luongo then Brodeur. It's not like he's jumping 45 to 72 games because I think the league is trending towards a 60-68 games for a starter if the amount of good backup goaltending keeps increasing. Even going from 45 to 65 games I don't see Cory wearing out unless he gets banged up *knocks on wood thoroughly*

Okay Scneider has the best save % in the league in the last 4 years, but he also has a lot less starts than the top goalies. Can't just ignore that...

I voted A.

Cammy and Havlat add scoring to top 6.

I agreed that should also include resigning Jagr, Zids and Lars.

The glut of forwards is a good problem to have. That will item will be resolved by beginning of yr.

While I like Fayne he got too much $ and NJD have Severson and Santini coming thru system.
- ChuckNJ

I wouldn't give him a "A" yet but compared to other offseasons it feels like a "A"

I still would like to see if we can move a couple of wingers and bring back a 3rd line center. If Pete D wants to keep Henrique at wing we are going to need another center....maybe Roy?

With the Cambo, Schneider, and Havlat signings, I give a B+. It will be interesting seeing what else is done moving forward with the surplus of forwards. Even if nothing else dramatic is done, I am ok moving forward with basically who we have, but wonder who will have to move.

I think Ryder and Brunner are better than most people are giving them credit for. I was really liking what we were seeing from Brunner before he injured his knee last year, he is relatively fast and can make some dynamic plays. Ryder, well, not sure what to think really, he had some good games and others he was invisible. He has a good shot, but often couldn't get the puck on net. The rest of the team couldn't really either though. I cringe when I think of all the open net shots that went 3-4 inches wide. I remember a few from Zajac in the last few 'still in the running for the playoff games' that were exceptionally disappointing.

I still think there was some weird voodoo poop going on last year with the lack of scoring and the shootout blunders. It was uncanny.

Well, he scored 26 goals last season in 63 games, so 20-25 goals as the top bar seems low.

I agree on the Schneider thing, though. What are the supposed to do, let him walk and be elite elsewhere?
- Todd.Cordell

People complaining about the Schneider extension, and I avoid the Fire and Ice comments, so I haven't personally read any comments from people who don't really like the extension, are either in denial about Brodeur's decline, or didn't actually watch Schneider play this year.

- Cammalleri scored 26 goals in 63 games last year for a poor offensive team in Calgary. That's more than the 20-25 Allen projects,

This might be a reason to expect more from Cammalleri if it were for the fact that Calgary's poor offense actually scored more overall goals(by 13 or so) than the Devils O last season.

That point aside, i do think that will be a nice top line for you guys.

Todd Cordell: Grading The Devils' Off-Season
- Todd.Cordell

I say an only because we are in a similar situation as last years offseason. We had tons of defense and no one was traded. This year we have way too many forwards. He needs to make a trade and it'll be an A in my book.

Okay Scneider has the best save % in the league in the last 4 years, but he also has a lot less starts than the top goalies. Can't just ignore that...
- Rseen[/quote]

At this point we kind of have to. He IS our A#1 moving forward. So any speculation or concern is basically irrelevant. All we can do from here is kick back, crack a beer, watch the games and hope to the hockey gods he is what we think he is.

[quote=Rseen]Okay Scneider has the best save % in the league in the last 4 years, but he also has a lot less starts than the top goalies. Can't just ignore that...
- TRDevil[/quote]

At this point we kind of have to. He IS our A#1 moving forward. So any speculation or concern is basically irrelevant. All we can do from here is kick back, crack a beer, watch the games and hope to the hockey gods he is what we think he is.

I screwed that up somehow but you get my point.

B so far for me . What he needs to do to improve that grade is sign carter, move out a forward or two and get gelinas signed to a deal that's very ideal and I would give him a A if those things happen. To get an A+ he would need to land a Kane or something and that's less realistic but overall he has done plenty to move forward and I am pleased
- blizzzard

Can you actually see Kane being happy in NJ? He's a malcontent in Winnipeg, and I can't see him being any happier here. I don't want that kind of attitude here, regardless of his skill. Plus, it'll cost a lot to get him here, so if it doesn't work out, that's trading what little youth we have. If we wait until next offseason and a couple of the young d we have breakout, we can trade one of them for a forward straight up, and we'll have better options, because we'll be in a better negotiating position. A lot of teams are looking for top 4 defenseman and we have 5 young defenseman who have a high likelihood of being average NHL defenseman at worst.