grcenter47 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 This is why the Devils should really have a ring of fire. Amazing player for us and while not worthy of having a jersey retired he does deserve a night so we can thank him. someone should pitch that idea to the devils. i forgot who the member here was that meets with devils reps sykora, brylin, mckay...etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucifersDog Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Best wishes Sykora, thanks for the memoirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDfan1711 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Sykora was my favorite Devil for a long time. Hence the "17" in my username. I was ecstatic when he came back for tryouts and returned to the team for a year or two. Will miss him but will remember his contributions to the team for sure. Good luck in retirement Petr! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Best wishes Sykora, thanks for the memoirs. Did you read his book or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) Not everyone's made to be a two way player. Even when Kovy 'tried' to play defense and learn how to backcheck better, the results were mixed at best so no I don't imagine Syk would have been much better had he adopted a two way mindset. He lasted 15 years in the league and won two Cups, that's a pretty good career. It's funny...I think Sykora is one of those guys who will always have "What if?" attached to him, especially among Devils fans. I think a fair number of fans feel he could've been more than he was...some significantly so. For a guy whose career ended relatively early (he was only 35, and he did even play in the NHL in 2010-11), he put up good numbers: 1017 GP (no small feat), 721 pts. I'm speculating, but I think he probably wishes he had worked a little harder at times, especially as a Devil, but even if he didn't get every last bit of performance out of his talent, how much better should he really have been? I definitely don't think "underachiever" when I look back on his career. Edited March 20, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucifersDog Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Did you read his book or something? Did you read his book or something? Do you know what your talking about? Because I don't Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) Do you know what your talking about? Because I don't LD, don't get me wrong, cause I actually love having you around here. CR, I think you state it nicely with your post. Sykora can't be labeled an underachiever - he did what he was good at, played 15 years and had 700 points. That's a successful career. And at the same time, the 'what if' debate definitely has validity insofar as his work ethic and development in his first stint with the Devils. I know that I will always wonder what could have been for Elias had Sykora been there through the years. IMO Elias underachieved offensively many times because he didn't have a capable linemate. Edited March 20, 2014 by Neb00rs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Elias also had incredibly bad shooting luck in Years 1 and 2 of his 7-year deal...so much so I think it really screwed with his head...you could really see the frustration mounting. I think that 4-goals-in-42 games stretch was really hard on him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 It's funny...I think Sykora is one of those guys who will always have "What if?" attached to him, especially among Devils fans. I think a fair number of fans feel he could've been more than he was...some significantly so. For a guy whose career ended relatively early (he was only 35, and he did even play in the NHL in 2010-11), he put up good numbers: 1017 GP (no small feat), 721 pts. I'm speculating, but I think he probably wishes he had worked a little harder at times, especially as a Devil, but even if he didn't get every last bit of performance out of his talent, how much better should he really have been? I definitely don't think "underachiever" when I look back on his career. This doesn't make much sense to me. Sykora was thought to be better than Elias - I know I certainly thought so in 1999, even though Elias was older. Then Elias surged ahead and has become a Hall of Famer whereas Sykora was a guy who bounced around a lot - he still scored just about everywhere he went, but that was what he did. I don't think there was a superstar player inside Sykora - he was fast but not blazing, his shot was great but not Hull-esque, and he wasn't big enough to win pucks in the corners consistently. He had a solid NHL career - he retires at 166 on the All-Time goals scored list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 This doesn't make much sense to me. Sykora was thought to be better than Elias - I know I certainly thought so in 1999, even though Elias was older. Then Elias surged ahead and has become a Hall of Famer whereas Sykora was a guy who bounced around a lot - he still scored just about everywhere he went, but that was what he did. I don't think there was a superstar player inside Sykora - he was fast but not blazing, his shot was great but not Hull-esque, and he wasn't big enough to win pucks in the corners consistently. He had a solid NHL career - he retires at 166 on the All-Time goals scored list. What doesn't make much sense to you? I'm basically agreeing with you. I think Sykora pretty much was what he was. I think there are definitely Devils fans who think he could've (or should've) been better though...maybe not a superstar, but maybe thought he could've had more 30-goal seasons, more points, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Elias also had incredibly bad shooting luck in Years 1 and 2 of his 7-year deal...so much so I think it really screwed with his head...you could really see the frustration mounting. I think that 4-goals-in-42 games stretch was really hard on him. For me the years that make me wonder 'what if' are '02 and '03 when Elias faced a 33% drop in points from his 96 in '01. Sykora was there in '02 but not playing at nearly the level he was the previous years. After Elias put up 96, you just had that feeling like this was going to be a long-term thing, like 100 points was inevitable. Then Gomez picked up the slack for a few years but then we get to the years you mention: '07 and '08. When Elias came back from hepatitis in '06 he was a scoring machine. But he merely repeated '02 and '03 with a downward spike in point production the following 2 years. Both periods were so frustrating because you knew that Elias could produce so much more - (at least that was my view of it). After Sykora left, things have just been unstable for Elias - coaches, linemates, position switches, etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 A-line had become a home-ice wonder in 2001-02: Elias: 44 pts in 39 home games, 17 pts in 36 road games Arnott: 36 pts in 39 home, 9 pts (?!) in 38 away Sykora: 33 pts in 37 home, 15 pts in 36 away I honestly don't remember what the reasons were for why the anomaly was so pronounced, but I do remember Lou worrying that other Devils players kept waiting for the A-line to win games for them. Losing Mogilny's 43 goals also hurt. Lou was clearly hoping Dagenais would help to offset that...he was coming off a couple of pretty good AHL seasons at the time, and Lou was getting used to bringing guys up and having them succeed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I know Larry Brooks wrote a column about their home/road splits in 02 - it's hard for me to do anything but write it off as a fluke, as the shot rates really aren't dissimilar. Now whether the line had grown stale and entitled, I could certainly see that happening, and it's not like NJ didn't get fair return for Arnott, but I wonder if expectations were too high for that line. 76, I was taking issue with the Devils fans who consider Sykora some case of wasted potential - guy had a very solid NHL career. Offense first players who aren't dominant don't tend to last into their late 30s without a measure of craftiness (Ray Whitney, etc.) - plus Sykora had his share of injuries in his career. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neb00rs Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) A-line had become a home-ice wonder in 2001-02: Elias: 44 pts in 39 home games, 17 pts in 36 road games Arnott: 36 pts in 39 home, 9 pts (?!) in 38 away Sykora: 33 pts in 37 home, 15 pts in 36 away I honestly don't remember what the reasons were for why the anomaly was so pronounced, but I do remember Lou worrying that other Devils players kept waiting for the A-line to win games for them. Losing Mogilny's 43 goals also hurt. Lou was clearly hoping Dagenais would help to offset that...he was coming off a couple of pretty good AHL seasons at the time, and Lou was getting used to bringing guys up and having them succeed. Wow. Excellent stuff. I don't remember this being discussed back then but I suppose it's not enough to keep them all on the team. Still, Sykora and Elias had something...and it might have been more. Edited March 20, 2014 by Neb00rs Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I know Larry Brooks wrote a column about their home/road splits in 02 - it's hard for me to do anything but write it off as a fluke, as the shot rates really aren't dissimilar. Now whether the line had grown stale and entitled, I could certainly see that happening, and it's not like NJ didn't get fair return for Arnott, but I wonder if expectations were too high for that line. 76, I was taking issue with the Devils fans who consider Sykora some case of wasted potential - guy had a very solid NHL career. Offense first players who aren't dominant don't tend to last into their late 30s without a measure of craftiness (Ray Whitney, etc.) - plus Sykora had his share of injuries in his career. When I think of guys who had potential but blew it, I think of Merlin Malinowski-types. By his own admission, he basically said he didn't work nearly hard enough when he was younger and was first drafted into the NHL (he had basically played very well at every other level), partly because he had never really had to. He was out of the NHL by the time he was 24 and never got another shot, though he enjoyed a nice career in the Swiss leagues. But he had a lot of talent...he should've been in the NHL for a lot longer than 282 games (probably didn't help that Lanny McDonald, a guy he had some chemistry with, had been dealt early in the season following Malinowski's breakout year). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hit the post Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Thanks Petr for making those winning years such a joy to be a Devils fan......STH from 92--2004.....I saw the best of the best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaLee Posted June 24, 2022 Share Posted June 24, 2022 On 3/19/2014 at 2:56 PM, DevsMan84 said: I've also heard rumors over the years from more than 1 person who said that back when the A-line was around, Arnott and Elias were pretty good friends but Sykora and Elias not really (especially after their 2000 cup win). Since they were Czech the media lumped them together as "pals" but in reality they were just teammates for the most part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TinaLee Posted June 24, 2022 Share Posted June 24, 2022 On 3/19/2014 at 2:56 PM, DevsMan84 said: I've also heard rumors over the years from more than 1 person who said that back when the A-line was around, Arnott and Elias were pretty good friends but Sykora and Elias not really (especially after their 2000 cup win). Since they were Czech the media lumped them together as "pals" but in reality they were just teammates for the most part. I was Petr’s girlfriend and we lived together back then. He and Patty were friends and I was close with his girlfriend as well. Their attitudes and outlook were very different but being the 2 youngest guys on the team and both being from Czezh made them friends that they might not have been otherwise. Being opposite made them compliment each other. I can say for certain that they were good friends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 On 6/24/2022 at 7:13 AM, TinaLee said: I was Petr’s girlfriend and we lived together back then. He and Patty were friends and I was close with his girlfriend as well. Their attitudes and outlook were very different but being the 2 youngest guys on the team and both being from Czezh made them friends that they might not have been otherwise. Being opposite made them compliment each other. I can say for certain that they were good friends. Yes, I totally believe you random poster who is posting on an 8-year old thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crisis Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 8 minutes ago, DevsMan84 said: Yes, I totally believe you random poster who is posting on an 8-year old thread. So you understand how I feel? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 3 minutes ago, Crisis said: So you understand how I feel? Yes, after 14K+ posts and breaking the Blackwood vaccine news I am totally on the same level with someone who has 2 posts here and with claims on an 8 year old thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 (edited) 25 minutes ago, MB3 said: she’s telling the truth source: am petr There’s only one e in “verify”, just like there’s only one in Petr. So I feel like it has to be true. Edited June 30, 2022 by mfitz804 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicomo Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 Weirdest thread bump ever. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimaira_Devil_#9 Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfitz804 Posted June 30, 2022 Share Posted June 30, 2022 25 minutes ago, Nicomo said: Weirdest thread bump ever. I bet I could do one weirder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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