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'05 devils downward spiral?


vadvlfan

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When you talk to philly (& leaf) fans, they often brag how they have finally surpassed the devs, and without stevens (maybe one more year) we'll never be the same team.

In fact a few teams have surpassed us on our side of the Missisipi.

Do you folks think we're starting to plummet?(maybe a lil strong) Is this the end of our "run"?

Concerns: * Lou, has he had his run like bill torrey or sather did in their hayday?

* Albany cant be worse, devs have a serious depth problem.

(In '95, we won the cup & the other big ass trophy AHL) we were set.

I think we'll see a coupla big names go away this year, in addition to some minor names.

I love seeing those young kids in calgary/ san jose.

Vince

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let's see....

by 2005, players gone....

Schwab, Stevens, Marshall, maybe Stevenson, Albelin

KEY players still here:

Niedermayer (hopes), Martin, Hale, Parise, Madden, Pandolfo, Langenbrunner, Gomez,

Elias, Gionta, White, Brodeur, Brylin (better be on this team for life),

Extra players maybe still here:

Hrdina, Clemmensen (good backup), Stevenson, Giroux, Rasmussen (I like the guy and

all but he's hardly a core player but a good keeper),

Hopefuls to be on the team by then:

Philman, Sluggo, Ahonen ?

so really.. this team needs, a backup goalie which they might have... a stay at home D

which hopefully they can get and for the kids to develop... I'd say we're in not as bad

shape as people say... the only key loss, while BIG is Stevens.....

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ND5, I was going on the hopeful assumption that he's at least an everyday player by

the 2005-06 season that's the only reason I put him on the 'must list'

if it was next year he'd be in the maybe pile

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Plummeting is too strong, even for Chicken Little. ;) I think retooling is a bit much too. I'll stick with tweaking. Fits for a team that had a 100 point season, broke the record for GA in a season and won the Jennings and gave Philly a run for the Atlantic right down to the last game! The EGG line was hot, Elias made a bid for the scoring trophy, Gomer assisting every step of the way.

They accomplished all this with the roster they had. Why did they lose in the first round? Fatigue, and Philly was the better and bigger team oh and starved for victory too. The playoffs are tough and full of upsets, I have every confidence the Devils will go deeper next year. They don't take getting bounced first round well. :angry:

Crash I think Stevens will be back one more year and I think Marsh will be too. With one more vet D man to compliment the rookies who proved their worth this season and a big center this team will go far. Yeah, tweaking, that's all they need. Lou will come through. There's a new owner in town too and he loves his Devils! :evil:

Edited by devsRgreat
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Ive been thinking about this a little bit the last few days. The one thing the Devs missed the most this year was, Intimidation. Its not just Stevens being out either. We had a great season, Marty put up good numbers, we reached 100 points in the standings...but no one was afraid to play us. In past years you could hear the other teams sigh when they realized next game they had to play the Devs. This was even more evident against Philly. They didnt fear us at all. They went and did pretty much as they pleased. Do I think we'll spiral downward? No. But I do think our team needs some tweaking.

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Crash I think Stevens will be back one more year and I think Marsh will be too. With one more vet D man to compliment the rookies who proved their worth this season and a big center this team will go far. Yeah, tweaking, that's all they need. Lou will come through. There's a new owner in town too and he loves his Devils! :evil:

I meant the 2005-06 season guys :evil:

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Everyone using the 99, 02, etc. examples aren't really being fair.

If Stevens is gone, this is a much different team. I'm not saying it's a 1 and out team, but it's not a team that can win a Stanley Cup, all else being equal. I don't like the attitude that some on the board have about 03 showing that anything is possible, because the Devils got favorable matchups in all 4 series', and didn't have as bad a team as they were being told. They had just listened to too many naysayers on this board, and on ESPN.

Is this a downward spiral? I don't think so. I think it'll take two more years to regroup, and that until then the team won't make it to the Conference Finals, barring a serious change in Lou's philosophy (which is, of course, extremely unlikely), or some serious luck.

We have a forward of the future in Parise. We have defensemen of the future in Hale and Martin. We have a goalie of the future in Ahonen. The future is still bright when we move to Newark..

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If the league does go to some sort of salary cap as many expect, we should be in as good a shape as anyone. Tampa Bay, Ottawa, San Jose and a few others have also developed pretty good rosters while keeping $$$ in mind, but I would assume Detroit, Colorado, Toronto and Philly stand to take the biggest steps backwards. We are not that far from the top, especially if the before mentioned teams have to dump players to make the $$$ work.

If the league gets to a point where the system creates a level playing field for all teams money wise, I have alot of confidence in what Lou and David Conte will be able to do!

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They main thing the Devils will have to work on is an "identity" They had a very unique ID with Stevens, Dano........being the team everyone didn't like to play against. Many of the parts were interchangable and they did change over the years - but the ID was still the same.

I can't answer how they go about getting this - but it is the main thing I see missing going forward.

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If the league does go to some sort of salary cap as many expect, we should be in as good a shape as anyone. Tampa Bay, Ottawa, San Jose and a few others have also developed pretty good rosters while keeping $$$ in mind, but I would assume Detroit, Colorado, Toronto and Philly stand to take the biggest steps backwards.

When the Flyers are put in the position that their success is fully dependant upon Clarke's brainpower, that's when CLARKE will start crying about allowing more teams in the playoffs....

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i dont think the problem was stevens not here, i think the problem was there was no one to fill the whole.

I absolutely agree, compounded by the fact that Daneyko retired so there was nobody to pick up the slack physically.

Edited by PhillyDevil
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Since I highly doubt there will be an NHL next year I have total confidence in 2005 NJ will have a fairly strong team compared to many in out conference. We are extreamly young compared to Toronto and Philly. Boston has too many key UFA's to sign next year and their prospect depth is really low. That will give Parise, Suglobov, Pihlman, Ahonen and DeMarchi an extra year in the AHL to build confidence and develop skills to ready themselves for the NHL. The only teams I see comming out of the CBA wars with a better team then us would be Ottawa and Tampa. Montreal will be neck and neck with us IMO with Perezhogin, Higgins, and Kastitsyn alll ready to grap a spot after years in the AHL. Atlanta may also surprise alot of people, had they had Lehotnen's goaltending all year they may have made the playoffs.

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