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Triumph

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I was going to come up with a team but haven't had the time, but I do want to mention a player I would like that hasn't been mentioned.

What do people think Jason Williams gets on the market? He'll have just turned 29 when the season starts. He's actually put up some solid numbers over the last few seasons. He’s a guy that I think would be a very nice addition adding some solid depth and wouldn’t be very costly.

In 2007-2008 with Chicago, he put up 13 goals and 23 assists in 43 games. He seemed to have been a cap casualty there after the signings of Campbell and Huet. Last year he struggled with Atlanta, but a lot of the time wasn't playing with anyone. He had a great second half of the year in Columbus with 12 goals and 17 assists in 39 games. Keep in mind that was on quite a defensive team.

I think having Williams and Bergfors replacing Madden and Gionta is a much cheaper option, makes us younger up front which I think is a must, and gives us more offensive depth.

Edited by devilsrule33
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I think having Williams and Bergfors replacing Madden and Gionta is a much cheaper option, makes us younger up front which I think is a must, and gives us more offensive depth.

I don't think we should get rid of Gionta. With the right center he can put up some good numbers. Plus if we let him go I could see him going to the rags with gomez.

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I was going to come up with a team but haven't had the time, but I do want to mention a player I would like that hasn't been mentioned.

What do people think Jason Williams gets on the market? He'll have just turned 29 when the season starts. He's actually put up some solid numbers over the last few seasons. He

Edited by Triumph
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i don't like and never have liked jason williams. he's small, and he's slow, and he'll put up some points, but ultimately i think playoff teams should have better options. i think there's a reason why after such a great half season he was only given a one year contract by atlanta. he's a guy the islanders should be really interested in.

I saw good things from him down the stretch with Vermette, and he was a nice part of the Jackets getting to the playoffs. I am looking for contracts that won't hurt the team down the stretch. I think Williams gives the Devils that. He is a low risk player who gives us a depth and is capable of putting up 50 points.

I don't think I'd call him 'slow', although, he certainly isn't a speedster.

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marian hossa is the last thing this team needs. the devils got 125 goals out of their top 4 wingers. everyone else had 133 combined.

I agree.

How quickly we forget our D collapsing under pressure when the flashy UFA Forward list comes around.

Thinking we are going to get a #1 D and a Top 6 forward is simply delusional.

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I saw good things from him down the stretch with Vermette, and he was a nice part of the Jackets getting to the playoffs. I am looking for contracts that won't hurt the team down the stretch. I think Williams gives the Devils that. He is a low risk player who gives us a depth and is capable of putting up 50 points.

I don't think I'd call him 'slow', although, he certainly isn't a speedster.

It's a nice idea, but my problem with him is that I don't think he gives depth. He's kind of got the same skillset as Mark Recchi does now. I agree that he's low-risk, but to me he's low reward - I don't see him all of the sudden breaking out into a 60 point player.

I mean, if the Devils sign him, they are basically saying that Nicklas Bergfors isn't a part of their plans at all, because I think the team can easily get by with Bergfors, Clarkson, Rolston, and Langenbrunner as their 4 RWs.

Edited by Triumph
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that's precisely what hossa was thinking. winning the stanley cup is an enormous boost to a player's salary and desirability.

you were probably a year early with our bet but i'll give it to you again thanks to the economy and lack of teams that would actually give out a big contract actually having the salary cap room to do such.

+/- of $8MM on Hossa's cap hit. i will again take the under.

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I mean, if the Devils sign him, they are basically saying that Nicklas Bergfors isn't a part of their plans at all, because I think the team can easily get by with Bergfors, Clarkson, Rolston, and Langenbrunner as their 4 RWs.

the biggest problem with this is that RW is rolston's 3rd best position (4th if you want to include healthy scratch). every lineup i construct has him as the LW on the 3rd line which, of course, is a horrible mismangement of cap space when you consider having $5MM playing 13 minutes a game with occasional PP time. he's gotta be in the top 6 but i hate him at center and really hate him at RW. i guess it means that elias would go back to being the center, which he can certainly be good at.

depending on who the devils bring in, i think sutter's gonna roll with elias-zubrus-rolston and give that a shot letting each figure out what position on the line they'll play.

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It's a nice idea, but my problem with him is that I don't think he gives depth. He's kind of got the same skillset as Mark Recchi does now. I agree that he's low-risk, but to me he's low reward - I don't see him all of the sudden breaking out into a 60 point player.

I mean, if the Devils sign him, they are basically saying that Nicklas Bergfors isn't a part of their plans at all, because I think the team can easily get by with Bergfors, Clarkson, Rolston, and Langenbrunner as their 4 RWs.

Williams can play center as well. Zubrus-Williams-Clarkson is not a bad third line at all. Could work with Elias at times.

Edited by devilsrule33
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you were probably a year early with our bet but i'll give it to you again thanks to the economy and lack of teams that would actually give out a big contract actually having the salary cap room to do such.

+/- of $8MM on Hossa's cap hit. i will again take the under.

i want the line moved to 7.8 million. i also think that montreal goes strongly after him. hossa's played in a bilingual market, and montreal is the only team with the money to throw at him.

Williams can play center as well. Zubrus-Williams-Clarkson is not a bad third line at all.

he's a quasi-center. i know he can play there, but so can zubrus, and i think zubrus is a better center. and if zubrus-williams-clarkson is the 3rd line, who is centering the 2nd line? rolston?

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It's a good question. Perhaps Elias or Rolston can figure it out until something works. I know both of them aren't that strong at the center position. But I'm not a guy who wants to see the Devils sign Koivu for 4 million a year just so Rolston can possibly succeed at his natural spot. I don't want to see the Devils sign another bad contract to help the first one.

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i want the line moved to 7.8 million. i also think that montreal goes strongly after him. hossa's played in a bilingual market, and montreal is the only team with the money to throw at him.

done - but only because i want to have a rooting interest in this thing. truthfully, i think we'll be close to a push on it but i could see him getting a 10/60 deal from somebody stupid.

i am betting on Detroit NOT winning the Cup which will only help keep Hossa from a questionable situation - of which MTL very much is. I think after the last couple of years, UFAs would have to be insane to go there if other choices presented themselves.

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First to put it short; the three most important tasks during the summer are (stating the obvious):

1) Re-sign Zajac and Oduya

2) strengthen defense

3) Promote new faces, first and foremost Corrente and Bergfors

4) look at a center for 2nd/3rd line, if possible

Here

Edited by dali
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GMs decide if a contract is a good value by looking at expected contribution to his team versus salary cap, not contract amount versus other people's contract amounts.

If a RFA and an UFA are both an option for a team to sign for the same contract then odds are extremely good the RFA is a much better player than the UFA is. So the GM would sign the RFA because he helps his team more relative to his cap, that decision is made regardless of other contracts.

When it comes to actually making the decision in a specific instance, it doesn't matter what the odds say. The GM will have to compare the potential contracts to see who will provide the greatest contribution to his team vs. the salary cap. I don't see how at least some comparison can be avoided, regardless of how rough or unscientific it is.

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When it comes to actually making the decision in a specific instance, it doesn't matter what the odds say. The GM will have to compare the potential contracts to see who will provide the greatest contribution to his team vs. the salary cap. I don't see how at least some comparison can be avoided, regardless of how rough or unscientific it is.

Ya, he's making the comparison to the cap, not comparing the RFA to the UFA. He compares both to the cap and picks the one with the best value. There is a comparison, it's towards the cap, not towards other contracts.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Lou better go and personally thank Peter Chiarelli for that one. That contract may work out similar to the one that Nathan Horton signed a few years back, that set the bar for almost all RFA forwards signed for a 2 year period.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=280676

It escalates from 3.5 to 3.75 to 4 over the 3 years, which has become the defacto standard these days for RFA players.

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So Krejci signs a 3-year contract worth 3.75 annually. I don't see how Zajac can make more than this. I know he is the top line center here, while Krejci is a second line center in Boston, but David Krejci is a much better player.

Krejci is not a 'much better player'. I had Krejci at 3.5 million per year - I don't think this changes much for Zajac. He'll get 3.5 to 4 million per season.

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Krejci is not a 'much better player'. I had Krejci at 3.5 million per year - I don't think this changes much for Zajac. He'll get 3.5 to 4 million per season.

I think he is much more talented. Zajac benefited from Parise's incredible year. Krejci created most of his points from incredible vision and passing. Krejci didn't see top minutes and was not on the #1 PP unit. Replace Zajac with Krejci on our top line and I think he gets 80 points. Not to mention how much better our PP comes.

This isn't a knock on Travis. I just think Krejci is really good.

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I think he is much more talented. Zajac benefited from Parise's incredible year. Krejci created most of his points from incredible vision and passing. Krejci didn't see top minutes and was not on the #1 PP unit. Replace Zajac with Krejci on our top line and I think he gets 80 points. Not to mention how much better our PP comes.

This isn't a knock on Travis. I just think Krejci is really good.

Yeah, I mean, no one on the Devils can be good, Travis is just a passenger on the Parise line whereas that Krejci is just a tremendous playmaker. Krejci isn't going to get 50 even strength points next season unless he improves his game, and Behind The Net ranked his strength of teammates as 8th (Zajac is 2nd) - that's despite the fact that Krejci did not get that much power play time.

For the purposes of salary comparison, Zajac has 3 full NHL seasons whereas Krejci has 1, and Krejci's first season wasn't even that good.

Krejci is certainly a better player. 'much better', I don't think that's the case.

Edited by Triumph
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Yeah, I mean, no one on the Devils can be good, Travis is just a passenger on the Parise line whereas that Krejci is just a tremendous playmaker. Krejci isn't going to get 50 even strength points next season unless he improves his game, and Behind The Net ranked his strength of teammates as 8th (Zajac is 2nd) - that's despite the fact that Krejci did not get that much power play time.

For the purposes of salary comparison, Zajac has 3 full NHL seasons whereas Krejci has 1, and Krejci's first season wasn't even that good.

Krejci is certainly a better player. 'much better', I don't think that's the case.

Again talking up Krejci does not mean I don't appreciate Zajac or don't think he is good NHL player. But the facts are the facts.

Krejci had more goals and more assists for more points. He had more PP points playing on the second unit. Krejci was playing in his first full season in the NHL. He is younger. He was thrown around all year on different lines playing with 6 different linemates.

Zajac finished his third full year and has played with the same two guys for his entire NHL career, one who is arguably a top 5 forward in the game. If you watched the two guys all year, you can see a major talent discrepancy between the two.

Edited by devilsrule33
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Zajac finished his third full year and has played with the same two guys for his entire NHL career, one who is arguably a top 5 forward in the game. If you watched the two guys all year, you can see a major talent discrepancy between the two.

this is simply a blatant untruth and makes me wonder what team you watched in 2007-08.

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