third man in Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 The Devils have to stop trying to turn this guy into something that he is not. He needs to be on the left side in all situations and they need to pair him with a playmaker. (Elias) He is our current edition of Almo. He needs to concentrate on getting in the clear for quality shots on goal and his playmaker needs to get him the puck in the clear. Ala what Gomez did for Mogilny. We don't have a Gomez any more and Elias is our closest thing. Kovy on the point on the PP is just plain dumb. The Devils problem is they have no one else to do it. Larrson just simply isn't ready yet. I don't recall Elias & Kovy having instant chemistry when they've played together in the past but it's definitely worth another shot if need be. Getting Kovy going and scoring often is far more important than keeping the Sykora-Elias-Zubrus line intact, especially since they've cooled off. Once Zajac comes back I'm hoping DeBoer tinkers a bit more, we have the personnel to have some pretty good scoring depth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bibby89 Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 i still dont know why Kovy has never been paired up with sykora. he had really good chemistry with malkin in pittsburgh, maybe it would click with them too. also then kovy can move back to the left since sykora is a rw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdgeControl Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 i still dont know why Kovy has never been paired up with sykora. he had really good chemistry with malkin in pittsburgh, maybe it would click with them too. also then kovy can move back to the left since sykora is a rw Id like to see this for a few shifts . have kovy skate it in to colapse the D and have sykora circle to the middle for a rip. two snipers on the same shift Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouse Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 We need centers. We expected the offense to sputter when Zajac went down. We knew it would when Yayo followed him. We got lucky with Henrique, but we still have very little depth down the middle, and Kovy's best with a good distributor (read: center) passing it to him. He played his best hockey as a Devil with Zajac. Put them together and see what happens. If that doesn't work, then we have a problem. His d has improved. It's not there yet (turnovers), but we knew that was a work in progress and it's actually gone well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Kovalchuk may be piling up the minuses, but I think he's playing some of his best hockey as a Devil right now. The guy I saw tonight is the guy that the Devils paid all that money for. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vic Rattlehead18 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 i still dont know why Kovy has never been paired up with sykora. he had really good chemistry with malkin in pittsburgh, maybe it would click with them too. also then kovy can move back to the left since sykora is a rw and zubrus had good chemistry with ovechkin in washington, but they have 0 chemistry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin226 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Kovalchuk may be piling up the minuses, but I think he's playing some of his best hockey as a Devil right now. The guy I saw tonight is the guy that the Devils paid all that money for. Totally agree Tri.. It's too bad some people can't see it 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrydevil Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Kovalchuk may be piling up the minuses, but I think he's playing some of his best hockey as a Devil right now. The guy I saw tonight is the guy that the Devils paid all that money for. He's been OK of late. He's getting chances. But he seems to have that knack of making the mistake that ends up behind our goalie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) Kovalchuk may be piling up the minuses, but I think he's playing some of his best hockey as a Devil right now. The guy I saw tonight is the guy that the Devils paid all that money for. lol whatever. Tonight was certainly progress but I doubt a mere secondary assist is what the Devils were hoping for considering all the chances Kovy got. He was all over the ice I'll grant you, one of his better efforts but it's kinda sad that people think that's enough for what we gave up and paid for him. Edited December 4, 2011 by NJDevs4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) lol whatever. Tonight was certainly progress but I doubt a mere secondary assist is what the Devils were hoping for considering all the chances Kovy got. He was all over the ice I'll grant you, one of his better efforts but it's kinda sad that people think that's enough for what we gave up and paid for him. If he plays like this every night, you'll see 2 and 3 point games on the regular. The idea that this 'isn't enough' is ridiculous - he set up a ton of scoring chances tonight. Edited December 4, 2011 by Triumph 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin226 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 If he plays like this every night, you'll see 2 and 3 point games on the regular. The idea that this 'isn't enough' is ridiculous - he set up a ton of scoring chances tonight. Yeah how many points does his line have in the last 4 or so games? They showed a graphic on it during the game.. To say he isn't doing enough is only because your expectations for him are unreasonable 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 He can put up all the points he wants, doesn't mean much if Kovy's giving them away and more besides on the defensive end. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpathianForest Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 He can put up all the points he wants, doesn't mean much if Kovy's giving them away and more besides on the defensive end. This. Pretty much seems like whenever Kovy is involved in scoring a goal he seems to be also involved in us giving up a goal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerrydevil Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 He can put up all the points he wants, doesn't mean much if Kovy's giving them away and more besides on the defensive end. That's his career in a nutshell. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam85491 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Kovalchulk is a great player. Any of the other 29 teams would glady take him. Enough said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) Kovalchulk is a great player. Any of the other 29 teams would glady take him. Enough said. If that's the case then why did only 'one' other NHL team make a lowball offer to him when he was UFA two years ago? And the Thrashers tried to re-sign him, so basically three NHL teams made him an offer...compared to the seventeen or eighteen that made Brian Rolston an offer when he was a UFA lol. Edited December 4, 2011 by NJDevs4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derlique Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 If that's the case then why did only 'one' other NHL team make a lowball offer to him when he was UFA two years ago? Salary Cap Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devilsfan118 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) Lots of laughs in this thread along with the usual I look forward to having this debate with you regulars for the next 15 years. Because that contract is going nowhere. So if you people feel like bitching about it until 2026, be my guest. Kovy's here to stay folks. He's a supreme offensive talent whose prone to turnovers. Take the good with the bad. Edited December 4, 2011 by Devilsfan118 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) Salary Cap The same salary cap that we're supposedly catching a break on by getting Kovy for 'cheap' at $6.66 million per and two high draft picks? I look forward to having this debate with you regulars for the next 15 years. Because that contract is going nowhere. So if you people feel like bitching about it until 2026, be my guest. Well it's going somewhere by 2021 more likely, since he's not playing those last five years with three $1 million seasons if he can get a pretty penny to finish his career at home. Edited December 4, 2011 by NJDevs4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam85491 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 If Kovy didn't sign with us, and instead signed to a team who had a clue how to utilise his assets, you would be calling for Lou's head as Kovy racked up the points. Of course, right now, the team is playing terrible, and the lines make no sense, nor does the strategy of the Power Play. Our star forward for the next decade+ is on the wrong side of the ice, and is playing a different game then the one that earned him the big contract. Tell me how that makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpathianForest Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 If Kovy didn't sign with us, and instead signed to a team who had a clue how to utilise his assets, you would be calling for Lou's head as Kovy racked up the points. We basically had the chance to try Kovy out in 09-10. He didn't make a difference in our offense then. A smart front office would have looked at Kovy during the off season and realized that Kovy wasn't the piece to the puzzle. That season we limped into the playoffs and almost got swept by the Flyers. The front office should have seen that and let him walk. So while I'm sure some of us would have been woulda coulda shoulda we would have gotten over it. We lost Gomer, Nieds, Rafalski, Holik etc. Sure we were disappointed but we moved forward and succeeded. We still played a team game and realized the parts weren't more than the whole. Look at the 07-08 club. Aron Asham, Karel Rachunek? We still managed to make the playoffs. Signing Kovy was the first sign that there was no sense of team effort anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adam85491 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I believe the biggest reason we blew the 09 season was because of Langencancer's hissy fit and a revolt against the coach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpathianForest Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 I believe the biggest reason we blew the 09 season was because of Langencancer's hissy fit and a revolt against the coach. If that was truly the case then that should have been addressed and it wasn't until almost a year later. Signing Kovalchuk didn't help jack squat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 (edited) Well Lemaire was basically pushed into retirement and Langs was asked to waive his no-trade before the '10-11 season and refused, so actually there wasn't much more that could have been done to 'address' that Edited December 4, 2011 by NJDevs4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarpathianForest Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Well Lemaire was basically pushed into retirement and Langs was asked to waive his no-trade before the '10-11 season and refused, so actually there wasn't much more that could have been done to 'address' that I get that, but Adam is saying that us not signing Kovalchuk would have been received harshly. I recall us being in a scoring slump and that's what got us into the Kovy trade. It didn't help and those Langenbrunner issues weren't addressed until the foloowing season so they were put on the backburner and instead we went after an offensive dynamo that didn't pan out. Since then it's all been plugging holes here and there at first due to the Kovy cap situation to signing players who don't really add much a la Janssen and Boulton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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