Keys to Devils off-season.

[Elias26]

In my opinion these are some keys to the Devils Off-Season.

1. Resign Elias if we can

[John Wensink]

Just say no to Peca.

[peteyvegas]

I'm not much of a Raffy guy either. But after this playoff, I completely agree with you. The young guys fared pretty well for a D that ruined us against the Canes. But we're going to have to get another "NEW NHL" type player back there to get us out of the zone.

[DevilMinder]

Rafalski is the only D man I have confidence that he can move the puck forward. Trade him away and our D corps are no better then the Flyer dinosaurs.

[MantaRay]

DM your totally right, RAFI is the only player who can move the puck up ice and also be responsible in our zone. It would be suicide to deal him.

If Elias isn't signed, we are NOT going to sign anyone major to replace him.

Kubina and Kuba are not an upgrade. We will end up re-signing Lukowich and maybe another young college d-man to step in for around $520k.

We need a second line center for sure, but that will probably be someone from Albany.

[njdevil26]

well my plans include some minor changes

id like to see go:

kozlov

klee

brylin (hopefully we can sign a decent upgrade 2nd line center... that line will be great with one)

that will free up some money

hopefully the nhl will make a nice decision on malakhov and mcgillis

i really want to keep langenbrunner

i love the weimer, rasmussen, janssen line

weimer can provide offense as well as rasmussen... they hit hard... and janssen is nuts and is perfect for our fourth line

defense-wise the only people im crazy about are:

rafalski

martin

hale

white in that order!

lukowich is decent

klee must go

albelin will probably retire

hell if we free up so much money go get redden haha

the CORE of this team besides brodeur is now:

elias, gomez,gionta, parise, madden, pandolfo, rafalski, martin

i guarentee HUGE things from martin and parise next year

Edited May 15, 2006 by njdevil26

[Elias26]

DM your totally right, RAFI is the only player who can move the puck up ice and also be responsible in our zone. It would be suicide to deal him.

If Elias isn't signed, we are NOT going to sign anyone major to replace him.

Kubina and Kuba are not an upgrade. We will end up re-signing Lukowich and maybe another young college d-man to step in for around $520k.

We need a second line center for sure, but that will probably be someone from Albany.

I can live with a Rafalski Kubina line.

Kuba would be a good #3 or 4 and Kubina is a good #2. I remember Lou being interviewed in Tampa and complementing Kubina this year. Luckowich is already under contract for next year. I dont think we can rely on a rookie as a second line center we need a proven NHL scorer.

[MantaRay]

We are not going to sign either Kubina or Kuba, nor should we.

[LizDevil30]

We need to sign players that have never won the Cup, so they are very hungry.

[UnderDogX]

1. Resign Elias if we can

Edited May 15, 2006 by UnderDogX

[njdevil26]

but hey lets do what devils fans do best

SALIVATE OVER THE FREE AGENT LIST AND TALK ABOUT WHO WE WANT AND NEED AND WHO LOU SHOULD GET... ONLY TO SIT AND WAIT COME SUMMER AND FIND OUT WE HAVE NOT ACQUIRED ANYONE WE THOUGHT WE WOULD GET... IN LOU WE TRUST!

[Elias26]

1. Resign Elias if we can

[UnderDogX]

UrDog, I'm probably one of the biggest Elias fans around and I agree that he can never be fully replaced. But what I was saying was if Elias does leave we have to at least try to patch things up there. I dont think we can rely on Gio to answer all of our scoring needs.

well, yeah his scoring ability alone might be able to be replaced but i do think Gio did a decent job in the regular season (although we've seen he's not the same player in the playoffs) and yeah we would need to get another guy to score as well....but based on your wording is why i made the comments i did because in reality to replace Elias' full abilities we would need 2 or 3 guys....

[rbdf]

if you want to keep elias, gomer and gio,(all keepers in my mind), then you likely must say bye bye to langs, brylin, pando and raffi or madden in order to have enough cash, especially if the mogilny, mcgillis, malakhov situations are not decided in our favor. Too many guys in the $2 to $2.5 or so range adds up to a cap problem. Marshal has likely worn the black and red for the last time.

Bigger Problem is, Raffi is our best d-man - the only one responsible at both ends, able to move the puck, and stays out of the box in doing it. But, a lot of payroll tied up with him. And I don't even want to talk about madden, who simply makes too much money in today's nhl for what he does and gives you - but then there's the intangibles you get with him. If lou can keep him at something just a little lower, say in the 2 to 2.5 range, then I'm his biggest fan, but at 3.5 to 4 - no way, gotta cut him loose at that price.

weimer and ras are essentially the same player - we'll probably only see one of the two back next year.

Lukowich is an interesting player - he totally friggin killed us in the carolina round with bone head mistakes at the most wrong times, but, played solid for the majority of the time he was out there - so I'm trying to figure out if he just needs a little less ice time than he was given, and a little more schooling from some hall of fame montreal/n.j. positional defensemen types (laperiere(sp.), robinson, stevens etc) - I'm just not sure - would a full season in the NJ system make him a better player? Or do we dump him for the couple of times he got out of position in pressure situations and goals were given up as a result?

Hale has the physical gifts, but another one that just seems to board guys at the most wrong times - do you chalk it up to inexperience and give him another couple years? or do you try to find someone else? I don't think there's anyone else in the farm ready to move up just yet, but who knows?

Matvichuk came on in the second half of the season as a solid d-man, then looked good in the first round, but definately slow in the second round - was he out of gas? hurt? or just too old? If we're letting klee walk (please) and albaline retires, could matvichuk be our 6/7 guy? Veteran leader, knows the job, stanley cup winner - nice resume - tough choice.

White will never be a stevens, but I think he can be a dano - you know, that 3-4 pairing, physical, intimidating, leadership, he's seems to be smarter now than he was in his younger years - but if he's never more than a 3-4 d-pairing, how much $ is he worth?

A lot of tough choices to make this summer - lou's got his work cut out for him. Lou is always defense first, so I wouldn't expect to see drastic changes in the back line, and madden and pando are probably going to be back - but can lou trust his forward positions to a bunch of 20-25 year olds? Gonna be some surprising moves over the next month and a half leading up to the draft.

I'd hate to see it happen, but I just don't think lou has the cash to keep both gomer and elias, unless they're both willing to sign cheaper than they can get elsewhere. I'm gonna hate seeing either of them in a different jersey.

[speedsk8r27]

I realize that Patrik is playing coy as he prepares to enter the business of UFA. Is there anyone here who thinks that Lou won't offer him the max and a long term contract, along with the captaincy? Is there any reason why he would want to leave? I haven't seen it -- he's been the consumate team guy, and his skills shine through whether we're playing the "trap" of old, or in the "new" NHL. I think he gets a Brodeurian contract.

[msweet]

I guess since Nieds left we need to have new trading boy, Raffi.

Anyone notice how much better he was that all of our d-men and probably every oter d-men we faced in the playoffs?

Raffi played a bit of possum in the regular season. He showed why he is a top 10 d-man in the playoffs. He's going nowhere. Thank G-d.

[Big-D]

I guess since Nieds left we need to have new trading boy, Raffi.

Anyone notice how much better he was that all of our d-men and probably every oter d-men we faced in the playoffs?

Raffi played a bit of possum in the regular season. He showed why he is a top 10 d-man in the playoffs. He's going nowhere. Thank G-d.

You're kidding right?? That goal that Carolina scored with 3 seconds to go got setup because Raffi wasn't skating hard, had his stick off the ice. Not to mention the amount of passes that he couldn't keep in the zone. He supposed to be our QB on the Powerplay and looks as bad as Eli Manning in that position. I would mind seeing the Poor Man's Niedermeyer go elsewhere. Remember, Lou wanted nothing to do with him until Nieds thought a brother act in the NHL was a good idea. Whats was Raffis +/- in the Carolina series?

[UnderDogX]

lest we forget about the 4 or 5 soft goals that Marty let in....the other one scored because Klee was in the box....how many times did Luko get beat....Rafalski, as I stated before, had the pressure put on him to replace Nieds and Steven...we all know no one can replace Stevens but White and Hale are showing they can be physical....Hale is young and White is showing he can change the face of games at times...Martin has stepped up and again is still young but is showing some of the skills Nieds possessed....Rafalski was great in the playoffs, good positioning next season once things settle down and our d-men aren't in some sort of transition we will see the playoff Rafalski in regular season....the only thing more I would ask of him is to lay a few of those hip checks he used to do....he is a #1 dman all the way.....and one goal in a game does not lose a series for us.....

I'm still preturbed by the whole we let the game go with three seconds....everyone seems to forget that we still had overtime....our guys were playing decent and we could have pulled it off but our achillies heel showed (we all know Marty sucks in playoff OT) and that killed us in the end....for that game....we lost as a team and although a lot of blame can go to Marty, the coaching staff, our offense as a whole and our slow defensemen there are a few players that played their hearts out and it showed.....Elias, Langs, Parise, and Rafalski were the top 4 that did!!!

Everyone seems to think that Niedmybrother is just this god of an offensive defensemen...as much brilliance as he showed at times he didn't lead this team to a Cup and he had the chance two years ago....he never lived up to his potential here....the most consistency he's ever shown in his career was this year when he finally got to play with his brother....and as far as Stevens goes...he was a once i a lifetime defensemen...period...we'll never have a dman like that again...not many teams ever get blessed with a guy like that but he didn't carry us to the Cup...he led us...this team has been built on team and although there are players that shine even when we are down (Marty, Elias, Stevens) not a single one of them can carry us to the cup...if that was the case we wouldn't have lost game seven in 2001 and we wouldn't have missed the playoffs in '96....

But as far as Rafalski goes...he is our #1, plays like our #1, and will be our #1 until Lou decides to let him go....which doesn't look likely...

[coldply123]

Rafalski is one of my favorites.

I think he struggled early this season, but who exactly didnt?

He showed why he got the contract he did, he plays an excellent two way game, something he didnt possess when he first joined the team.

However,

I dont know where this Langenbrunner lovefest comes from, but the guy played terrible in this series. He may have played his heart out, but he played like crap.