Devils buy out Volchenkov

[Triumph]

We're only allowed 2 amnesty buyouts, yes we used one on Hedberg.

 

buying out salvador normally with only 1 year left on his deal would end up hurting us for 2 years

 

EDIT: wait can we even buy out a 35+ contract?

 

You can now, but it's too late - the buyout period is over.  Zubrus will be next, next June, and Lou will say the same things he said.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Triumph

[losdiablos103]

Good move.  A year too late IMHO.  Thanks for the time, A-Train! 

[RizzMB30]

Thanks for the memories Volchenkov!  Hope your career isn't over.  He won't be getting a grand "Thanks Volch" thread, and I wish we had some more highlight reel hits by him, but I don't think he ever delivered in the physicality department the way I expected him to. 

[slasher72]

SterioDesign, on 30 Jun 2014 - 8:00 PM, said:

Its cool to get praised for something that pretty much every single one of us would have done first thing stepping in the office if we had control for one day. Lol

 

 

Hah. Pretty much.

 

He does something we've been begging him to do for weeks and once he pulls the trigger, everyone is like "Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou!"

[RizzMB30]

Its cool to get praised for something that pretty much every single one of us would have done first thing stepping in the office if we had control for one day. Lol

 

 

Hah. Pretty much.

 

He does something we've been begging him to do for weeks and once he pulls the trigger, everyone is like "Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou!"

Doesn't make sense to try to get anything out of Volchenkov before shipping him off?  Lou would be like "Patience, Padawan."

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Lou said he was trying to trade Volch first and bought him out as a last resort. Instead of losing him for nothing.

 

Nice DD56...lol!

 

SD, I know you hate ze zwine dat iz ze Lou (you sure seem to these days), but I don't know how you can find a way to snivel about this move coming when it did. Lou probably explored trade possibilities, couldn't find one that made sense, and then did what he had to...either way, the end result was going to be the same (Volchenkov no longer being on the team). Why the hell does it matter WHEN he did it? He had time on his side and he tried to use it to see if there was any way he could bring something of value back...isn't a good GM supposed to explore and exhaust possibilities before making a final decision? I don't see what the point is of getting on him for WHEN he bought out Volch...the fact is he did it (when people were fearing Volch would be on the 2014-15 team). The Devils needed to get the defensemen body count down AND do it by getting rid of one or both of Sal and Volch and Lou did that, when a lot of people were positive that he was going to be stubborn about it and not do anything. I'm not saying he deserves major kudos for it, and there is still a LOT of work to be done this offseason, but geez, even when the guy does something we feel is right you have to be a dick about it.  Lou can never win with you.  To use an example like one of yours, you're the guy who sees a billionaire decide to donate one million dollars each to a few different charities, and your response is "Well, big deal, he's a billionaire and he only donates a few million dollars?  That's a drop in the bucket to a guy like that!"  No way to win.

 

Time to see what's coming next. Hopefully a Schneider signing.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Neb00rs]

Guy never quite lived up to the hype and it was never his fault.

[Devil Dan 56]

Hah. Pretty much.

 

He does something we've been begging him to do for weeks and once he pulls the trigger, everyone is like "Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou! Lou!"

 

Yeah, he was sitting around doing nothing the whole time while we all knew the right move here at NJDevs. Oh wait....

 

 

Tom Gulitti @TGfireandice · 14h

Devils tried to trade Volchenkov before deciding to buy him out. Lamoriello said team's young D being ready also factored into decision.

 

 

Edited July 1, 2014 by Devil Dan 56

[NJDevs4978]

Its cool to get praised for something that pretty much every single one of us would have done first thing stepping in the office if we had control for one day. Lol

 

It's nice to assume that Lou can just buy someone out without having to worry about money NHL14 style.  They had no money last year.

[squishyx]

It's nice to assume that Lou can just buy someone out without having to worry about money NHL14 style.  They had no money last year.

There is zero evidence that we have not been able to financially compete, we spent to the cap.

People keep saying it around here, yet every year we are right near the cap.

2014 - 98.88%

2013 - 84.5% *

2012 - 95.96%

2011 - 100%

2010 - 96.48%

-- cap geek's complete numbers stop here --

2009 - 10th in average cap hit

2008 - 2nd in average cap hit

*2013 was a weird year for a lot of teams in terms of spending, undoubtedly due to the lockout, cap adjustment, compliance buyouts etc. We finished 17th in cap spending that year, and a lot of other teams that no one in their right mind would say is "fiscally questionable" spent the same as NJ.

 

[Triumph]

The Devils were still owned by Vanderbeek during the compliance buyout period last year.  They spent the money on Ruutu and Brunner after ownership was decided, and I believe they signed Zidlicky and Jagr after it became clear there were interested buyers.

[squishyx]

The Devils were still owned by Vanderbeek during the compliance buyout period last year.  They spent the money on Ruutu and Brunner after ownership was decided, and I believe they signed Zidlicky and Jagr after it became clear there were interested buyers.

Brunner Sep 24th

 

The sale was formally announced on August 15, 2013

 

Jagr Jul 23rd

Zidlicky Jul 10th

Ryder Jul 5th

Clowe Jul 5th

Olez Jul 5th

I see you left yourself some hedge room with "after it became clear..." but it's nonsense. We signed 4 players, 3 of them to medium + sized contracts in the opening days of free agency (which started july 5th that year for those who may have forgotten)

And while I am too lazy to actually double check this, as of July 11th we are probably already over the cap, it's not until Kovy retires that we actually can spend any more, which is where the money to sign Jagr and Brunner comes from, not new ownership.

 

Edited July 1, 2014 by squishyx

[sundstrom]

when it comes to the devils spending, the only area where you could say with relative certainty it affected what lou wanted to do was the parise situation. i'd like to think that with a hands off, big money guy like harris, the devils would have not signed kovy and would have taken care of parise as the most likely outcome with the second most likely being they were both signed.

[SterioDesign]

Nice DD56...lol!

SD, I know you hate ze zwine dat iz ze Lou (you sure seem to these days), but I don't know how you can find a way to snivel about this move coming when it did. Lou probably explored trade possibilities, couldn't find one that made sense, and then did what he had to...either way, the end result was going to be the same (Volchenkov no longer being on the team). Why the hell does it matter WHEN he did it? He had time on his side and he tried to use it to see if there was any way he could bring something of value back...isn't a good GM supposed to explore and exhaust possibilities before making a final decision? I don't see what the point is of getting on him for WHEN he bought out Volch...the fact is he did it (when people were fearing Volch would be on the 2014-15 team). The Devils needed to get the defensemen body count down AND do it by getting rid of one or both of Sal and Volch and Lou did that, when a lot of people were positive that he was going to be stubborn about it and not do anything. I'm not saying he deserves major kudos for it, and there is still a LOT of work to be done this offseason, but geez, even when the guy does something we feel is right you have to be a dick about it. Lou can never win with you. To use an example like one of yours, you're the guy who sees a billionaire decide to donate one million dollars each to a few different charities, and your response is "Well, big deal, he's a billionaire and he only donates a few million dollars? That's a drop in the bucket to a guy like that!" No way to win.

Time to see what's coming next. Hopefully a Schneider signing.

Youre exagerating again there.

My post was not even about lou directly but more about the pro lou who cant accept that hes indeed making bad moves once in awhile. And will try to sugarcoat anything he does or defend any of his moves no ,atter what it is and if they cant defend it they'll just throw the 3 cups, 5 finals things waahh wahhhhh. We all know that. But im the kind of guy whos gonna call a cat a cat. So when he does something bad im not gonna sugarcoat it thats all.

Edited July 1, 2014 by SterioDesign

[Triumph]

Brunner Sep 24th

 

Jagr Jul 23rd

Zidlicky Jul 10th

Ryder Jul 5th

Clowe Jul 5th

Olez Jul 5th

I see you left yourself some hedge room with "after it became clear..." but it's nonsense. We signed 4 players, 3 of them to medium + sized contracts in the opening days of free agency (which started july 5th that year for those who may have forgotten)

And while I am too lazy to actually double check this, as of July 11th we are probably already over the cap, it's not until Kovy retires that we actually can spend any more, which is where the money to sign Jagr and Brunner comes from, not new ownership.

 

 

Kovalchuk's retirement was in the offing before that, it's just that that is when he formally retired.  The news about Barroway was announced on June 29th.  Remember that he loaned money to the Devils so that they could make payroll - Vanderbeek was not going to last much longer as team owner either way, either the league would take over the franchise or it would be sold.

[squishyx]

Kovalchuk's retirement was in the offing before that, it's just that that is when he formally retired.  The news about Barroway was announced on June 29th.  Remember that he loaned money to the Devils so that they could make payroll - Vanderbeek was not going to last much longer as team owner either way, either the league would take over the franchise or it would be sold.

Reports around that time had linked Barroway as the new owner, of course ultimately he was not. I find it hard to believe that the guy who didn't own the team, was able to authorize Lou to spend to the cap.

https://www.google.com/search?q=devils+new+ownership&espv=2&biw=1920&bih=991&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A6%2F22%2F2013%2Ccd_max%3A7%2F11%2F2013&tbm=#q=devils+new+ownership+harris&tbs=cdr:1%2Ccd_min:6%2F22%2F2013%2Ccd_max:7%2F11%2F2013

This obnoxious link shows that there are zero mentions of Harris as a potential owner for the Devils before July 11th. Sure there is stuff we don't see behind the scenes but that is all heresay and speculation. Sticking to just what we actually observe, the Devils have been fiscally competitive for the last dozen + years.

 

[Devil Dan 56]

Youre exagerating again there.

My post was not even about lou directly but more about the pro lou who cant accept that hes indeed making bad moves once in awhile. And will try to sugarcoat anything he does or defend any of his moves no ,atter what it is and if they cant defend it they'll just throw the 3 cups, 5 finals things waahh wahhhhh. We all know that. But im the kind of guy whos gonna call a cat a cat. So when he does something bad im not gonna sugarcoat it thats all.

 

Defending his strategies and approach doesn't mean we don't think he makes bad moves once in a while, as all GM's do. Some people just seem to think he's the reason for everything that's gone wrong from Parise's departure to Hurricane Katrina to the Mark Wahlberg Planet of the Apes remake. His successes are brought because it shows that he has built winning teams more than once in more than one era, and consistently.

 

There's plenty of things I don't like with Lou. His handling of the Marty situation, his signing of useless players like Andrew Peters, his antiquated marketing ideas, etc. But overall, I can see that he has a way of doing things and that there's usually a reason for his actions or in-actions.

 

I was also saying that he needed to buyout Volch, which he did once he exhausted all other avenues.

[Mike Brown]

I think Volch was better than Salvador, but his contract was a hindrance.  Only one more year of Salvador thankfully.  Hopefully Sal finds some of his 2008-2012 form this season.  He can still be somewhat effective.

[Zubie#8]

I think Volch was better than Salvador, but his contract was a hindrance. Only one more year of Salvador thankfully. Hopefully Sal finds some of his 2008-2012 form this season. He can still be somewhat effective.

He lost his form in 2011, had a higher power transcendence revelation during the cup run, and then lost his form again. He's through. Edited July 2, 2014 by Zubie#8

[Onddeck]

It is a shame that Fayne just signed for what we're paying Sal. Damn.

[RizzMB30]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1m1E63eY8g#

A bunch of Devils made the seasons best hits of 2014 Season.  I didn't know where to post this but here.  Poor Peter Harrold needs to work on his hit evasion.  He got nailed twice bad, but I give the guy props for taking those licks and getting up and going. 

[cgb6397]

A bunch of Devils made the seasons best hits of 2014 Season. I didn't know where to post this but here. Poor Peter Harrold needs to work on his hit evasion. He got nailed twice bad, but I give the guy props for taking those licks and getting up and going.

Or maybe he should just try not being so small and useless, especially when big guys like Byfuglien and Nolan are on the ice

[RizzMB30]

Or maybe he should just try not being so small and useless, especially when big guys like Byfuglien and Nolan are on the ice

That's a little harsh.  Small, yes, but Andy Greene isn't Byfuglien either.  Useless, I'm not sure about that.  Both hits that he took in those videos, he made the right play despite being leveled.  On the Nolan hit he made a good outlet pass and on the Byfuglien one, he sent the puck in deep. 

[Sharifijanov2099]

Feel bad for Volchie. Seems like a nice dude. Hope he finds a home at a very discounted rate for a mill somewhere.  On a cheap contract, he can still be a 5/6 that can eat some minutes.