Devils Islanders 7pm 3/21

[adavid]

Dull game.

[slasher72]

The disappointment will continue because Lou's philosophy is "my way or the highway". He doesn't see what the fans see, and he doesn't care to see it. He has built an entire system from the ground up from defensive hockey first, to uniform colors, to low numbers, to no long hair and no beards. And he has final say on the draft and free agency. It has been this way for 30+ years so why does anyone think he's going to suddenly change what he does? He won't. And his ego is too large to admit things aren't working, so he will contine as President/GM until the organization is turned around....but only turned around with his philosophy in place. Forget new ownership, they're proving to be as hands off as McMullen. Lou runs this team like he owns it, and that won't change until he retires and names his son as successor.

As for the players, if you're a "Lou guy" you get unlimited ice time..despite your talent (i.e. Stephen Gionta). And that ain't gonna change either.

[HellOnICE]

I think Lou has on several occasions this year has said things aren't where he'd like them to be. What else do you want?

 

What is this my way or the highway philosophy? What team or business, is so collaborative where there isn't a manger who sets the standards. 

 

He has final say on draft and free agency...shocker with him being the GM and all.

 

I don't think the Devils were built from the backend forward when Parise and Kovalchuk were leading the team - offensively we were better than we were defensively. 

[HellOnICE]

It's simple don't respond. It's not even about winning cups, or sh!tting on individual players it's about for once how about he says for you know what I missed the mark by a mile. I'm responsible for the downward spiral to mediocrity over the last x number of years? Winning cups is obviously the ultimate goal but expecting to win one every year or even even every 5+ is unrealistic. But equally as unrealistic is thinking that most fans want to watch the same boring ass philosophy that he lives by when it comes to building a team. His formula hasnt worked in years for the most part. Without Cory which was a terrific move so he gets full credit there this team would be closed to being the leagues door mat. For every Cory there's a handful of stiffs he roles out and has brought in here.

Is that too much to ask rather than the continued spewing of how proud he is at HIS team's performance.

 

Lou has said in the past he's willing to accept as much responsibility as people want to give him. What more do you want? I bet he's pissed off beyond belief he wasn't able to do the things he wanted to do between 2011-2013 because our owner was bankrupt. If we still have 9 or 17, we'd be up there, no doubt about it. Nothing he could've done differently. Bad ownership and bad luck.

 

No team could come back from that. Offensive drafting should be better and it needs to be addressed. Other than that, I don't have a problem with really anything he's done. When was the last time Lou made a bad trade? A bad free agency signing? We don't have cap problems. So OK the team isn't good, that's from a lack of top-end talent, which he 1. drafted 2. traded nothing to get (sorry Bergfors lovers) and because of circumstances beyond his control both left on a whim. 

 

I'm sick of writing this but I continue to do until people across Devil land get their head out of their butts and realize we had a great team largely from 93-2012 (obviously 1996 and 2011) . It's harder than ever to build a good team in this league. We've got a G and a good young D. Keep calm and let Lou do his work. 

[HellOnICE]

Now I do want to see Lou start to transition to an assistant GM - but I am ok with Lou running the ship for now. 

[Triumph]

It's simple don't respond. It's not even about winning cups, or sh!tting on individual players it's about for once how about he says for you know what I missed the mark by a mile. I'm responsible for the downward spiral to mediocrity over the last x number of years? Winning cups is obviously the ultimate goal but expecting to win one every year or even even every 5+ is unrealistic. But equally as unrealistic is thinking that most fans want to watch the same boring ass philosophy that he lives by when it comes to building a team. His formula hasnt worked in years for the most part. Without Cory which was a terrific move so he gets full credit there this team would be closed to being the leagues door mat. For every Cory there's a handful of stiffs he roles out and has brought in here.

Is that too much to ask rather than the continued spewing of how proud he is at HIS team's performance.

 

Yes, it is - Lou doesn't care about an entertaining product, nor really should he.  HIs job is to win hockey games.  The idea that there is a downward spiral is again, sh!tting on the players that are on the team who are supposedly 'bad'.  Lou has taken full responsbility when called on to do so, even though some things were clearly out of his hands.  Regardless, the team is playing for nothing now and he knows it, notice how the talk of the playoffs has gone away, so the only thing that's left now is effort. 

[Neb00rs]

It's simple don't respond. It's not even about winning cups, or sh!tting on individual players it's about for once how about he says for you know what I missed the mark by a mile. I'm responsible for the downward spiral to mediocrity over the last x number of years? Winning cups is obviously the ultimate goal but expecting to win one every year or even even every 5+ is unrealistic. But equally as unrealistic is thinking that most fans want to watch the same boring ass philosophy that he lives by when it comes to building a team. His formula hasnt worked in years for the most part. Without Cory which was a terrific move so he gets full credit there this team would be closed to being the leagues door mat. For every Cory there's a handful of stiffs he roles out and has brought in here.

Is that too much to ask rather than the continued spewing of how proud he is at HIS team's performance.

 

This speaks of nothing but being spoiled from too much winning. You're this mad at Lou for a few years of losing, followed by two decades of winning at a higher rate of any team in the league sans Detroit, that you want Lou to publicly shame himself? Perhaps you'd like him to cry on camera and admit that he sucks as a GM? Yes that would accomplish a lot.

 

The disappointment will continue because Lou's philosophy is "my way or the highway". He doesn't see what the fans see, and he doesn't care to see it. He has built an entire system from the ground up from defensive hockey first, to uniform colors, to low numbers, to no long hair and no beards. And he has final say on the draft and free agency. It has been this way for 30+ years so why does anyone think he's going to suddenly change what he does? He won't. And his ego is too large to admit things aren't working, so he will contine as President/GM until the organization is turned around....but only turned around with his philosophy in place. Forget new ownership, they're proving to be as hands off as McMullen. Lou runs this team like he owns it, and that won't change until he retires and names his son as successor.

As for the players, if you're a "Lou guy" you get unlimited ice time..despite your talent (i.e. Stephen Gionta). And that ain't gonna change either.

 

Yes the problem is the uniform colors, low numbers, and no long hair or beards rule. And what a travesty that Lou, the GM, has GM powers. The Devils are soooo fvcked up. Oh and he can't admit that things aren't working? He has done so all season. He fired the coach no? Just the other day he said this team needs forwards and that that is a problem. But I get it. You also want Lou to be like "I suck. I am a terrible GM who has no idea what he is doing."

 

Lou obviously can't afford to let this team go through some inevitable losing years, or the fans are going to start calling for his head. Perhaps our fans believe that since the Red Wings were good for longer than us, we expect that we should be able to have that success too, no excuses. I mean this is soooo ridiculous.

 

As far as ice time goes, you have a point: there is no reason that Gionta and Zubrus should be getting so much ice time. Last night Zubrus and Gionta got more ES ice time than anyone else on the team. That said, you way overshot with your statement. Let's not pretend that there are many great candidates on this team to be getting a lot of ice time.

[mfitz804]

@TGfireandice: Devils now 4-11-3 since the coaching change against teams currently in playoff spots. And a combined 7-0-0 vs. Buffalo, Arizona & Toronto

Yay coaching change. Glad Lou enjoyed the playoff atmosphere and was happy with the effort across the board. Maybe we should just accept the expectations from the top down are nowhere near where they use to be.

If you don't have the right toilet paper, it doesn't matter which hand you wipe with. Edited March 22, 2015 by mfitz804

[slasher72]

This speaks of nothing but being spoiled from too much winning. You're this mad at Lou for a few years of losing, followed by two decades of winning at a higher rate of any team in the league sans Detroit, that you want Lou to publicly shame himself? Perhaps you'd like him to cry on camera and admit that he sucks as a GM? Yes that would accomplish a lot.

Yes the problem is the uniform colors, low numbers, and no long hair or beards rule. And what a travesty that Lou, the GM, has GM powers. The Devils are soooo fvcked up. Oh and he can't admit that things aren't working? He has done so all season. He fired the coach no? Just the other day he said this team needs forwards and that that is a problem. But I get it. You also want Lou to be like "I suck. I am a terrible GM who has no idea what he is doing."

Lou obviously can't afford to let this team go through some inevitable losing years, or the fans are going to start calling for his head. Perhaps our fans believe that since the Red Wings were good for longer than us, we expect that we should be able to have that success too, no excuses. I mean this is soooo ridiculous.

As far as ice time goes, you have a point: there is no reason that Gionta and Zubrus should be getting so much ice time. Last night Zubrus and Gionta got more ES ice time than anyone else on the team. That said, you way overshot with your statement. Let's not pretend that there are many great candidates on this team to be getting a lot of ice time.

Ok, so he's stating the obvious and for that we should all get down on our hands and knees and praise him. As for the low numbers etc comment, I was just making a point, I didn't say it had an effect on the team's performance. Talk about flying off the handle....

Glad to know we can agree on one thing...great, super.

[sundstrom]

Lou has said in the past he's willing to accept as much responsibility as people want to give him.

 

What more do you want? 

 

A bad free agency signing?

 

 

 

Cammallerri, this year, has been a good UFA signing. Sykora worked out as a bargain bin find. Jagr was great last year. Everything else, while you can find reason for it, has been terrible since he lost paul martin and replaced him with volchenkov and tallinder. rolston, clowe, ryder, brunner, havlat. these have not been good.

[Neb00rs]

Ok, so he's stating the obvious and for that we should all get down on our hands and knees and praise him. 

 

I am not sure what the hell you want. No one is saying to get down and praise him. You said, "his ego is too large to admit things aren't working." And that is just wrong and I picked one example of many that shows that. So at this point Lou can't win. You say "he can't admit that there's a problem", you get responses saying "Ummm here's an example of him doing so" and then you respond with "Oh so we should just get on our hands and knees and praise him?" You are just angry for the sake of being angry.

[HellOnICE]

Cammallerri, this year, has been a good UFA signing. Sykora worked out as a bargain bin find. Jagr was great last year. Everything else, while you can find reason for it, has been terrible since he lost paul martin and replaced him with volchenkov and tallinder. rolston, clowe, ryder, brunner, havlat. these have not been good.

 

I disagree. Except Rolston, all of these cost nothing but money. 

Edited March 22, 2015 by HellOnICE

[Triumph]

I don't think it's particularly good to evaluate signings by their result, but rather how they are viewed at the time.  To that end, the Rolston and Clowe signings stick out as bad, with the last one being especially bad.  The Cammalleri signing won't look as good next year when he returns to earth scoring-wise, so I also don't think it's fair to give credit there, either.  He's not going to score 30 next year.

 

No one wins at free agency.  You always lose on multi-year deals to average-ish players, it's just a question of how much.

[sundstrom]

I don't think it's particularly good to evaluate signings by their result, but rather how they are viewed at the time. 

 

you need to look at both. look, when ryder was signed, i was ok with it because "michael ryder" made sense - a guy who has a shot that if put in the right position should be able to score 20-30 goals depending on his s%. but that's not even who he was by the time they signed him and they absolutely did nothing to put him in a position to maximize his skills.

 

clowe - as you said, was a disaster from the minute it was signed and has proven to be exactly that.

 

rolston was a case where you can't say just lou was fooled - everyone was in on him. but of course lou paid the most years and dollars. so that's one where you forgive the signing at the time but see it turned out to be a disaster.

 

lou deals with a lot of wishcasting in free agency.

 

besides the loktionov trade and the sykora (and to a lesser extent gomez) scrap heap signings, what you don't see from lou is those attempts at finding diamonds in the rough. that's on scouts too though.

[mfitz804]

you need to look at both. look, when ryder was signed, i was ok with it because "michael ryder" made sense - a guy who has a shot that if put in the right position should be able to score 20-30 goals depending on his s%. but that's not even who he was by the time they signed him and they absolutely did nothing to put him in a position to maximize his skills.

 

clowe - as you said, was a disaster from the minute it was signed and has proven to be exactly that.

 

rolston was a case where you can't say just lou was fooled - everyone was in on him. but of course lou paid the most years and dollars. so that's one where you forgive the signing at the time but see it turned out to be a disaster.

 

lou deals with a lot of wishcasting in free agency.

 

besides the loktionov trade and the sykora (and to a lesser extent gomez) scrap heap signings, what you don't see from lou is those attempts at finding diamonds in the rough. that's on scouts too though.

This is true. How many decent unsigned free agents did he sign back in the day?

[slasher72]

I am not sure what the hell you want. No one is saying to get down and praise him. You said, "his ego is too large to admit things aren't working." And that is just wrong and I picked one example of many that shows that. So at this point Lou can't win. You say "he can't admit that there's a problem", you get responses saying "Ummm here's an example of him doing so" and then you respond with "Oh so we should just get on our hands and knees and praise him?" You are just angry for the sake of being angry.

An example of his ego being too large was when asked about offensive players needed next year his response was basically, "Yes, we need more offensive players but they have to buy into the system first and fit the organization's mold otherwise we're not interested". So, no...that's not really admitting things aren't working. That's an example of keeping the status quo and not accepting other ideas. Same goes for keeping Conte around all these years.

Anyway, feel free to go off on another hissy fit. I'm done.

[Triumph]

you need to look at both. look, when ryder was signed, i was ok with it because "michael ryder" made sense - a guy who has a shot that if put in the right position should be able to score 20-30 goals depending on his s%. but that's not even who he was by the time they signed him and they absolutely did nothing to put him in a position to maximize his skills.

 

 

Edited March 22, 2015 by Triumph

[titans04]

I disagree. Except Rolston, all of these cost nothing but money. 

 

and produced what? 

[Neb00rs]

An example of his ego being too large was when asked about offensive players needed next year his response was basically, "Yes, we need more offensive players but they have to buy into the system first and fit the organization's mold otherwise we're not interested". So, no...that's not really admitting things aren't working. That's an example of keeping the status quo and not accepting other ideas. Same goes for keeping Conte around all these years.

Anyway, feel free to go off on another hissy fit. I'm done.

 

This is called "losing the argument" and acting like a 5 year old. And now you are blocked too. What you wrote above makes no sense: picking out an arbitrary common quote of any GM, and using that to say: "Lou doesn't admit that things aren't working." Examples have already clearly shown you to be wrong. I don't even think you really know what you want. You can respond to this or not, either way you are now on my ignore list.

[thecoffeecake]

Maybe not what you meant, but bandwagon has too much of a negative connotation.

 

It's awesome that a fanbase that has been crapped on for so long is showing they are loud, proud and strong when times are good, because times have not been this good in my hockey lifetime. Absolutely no reason for you to support the most pathetic franchise in pro sports run by the worst owners and worst GM in NHL history playing in the most pathetic building in North America.

 

If you have been a season ticket holder for the Isles, god bless you and your dedication. For the rest of the sensible people, glad they are still hockey fan and enjoying this as well.

All these Isles fans make me sick. Before this year, I saw a family of Islanders fans at the HHOF in 09, and then met this one other guy from PA a few years ago. And those were all of the Islanders fans I had ever even known of outside of the few times I saw them play in Jersey. Now they're god damn everywhere.

 

That's how New York sports work. Everyone is a Yankees fan until the Mets are fighting for a pennant. No one knows there's a hockey team on Long Island until they're in line for a top playoff seed. I'm shocked New Yorkers weren't fighting for our Stanley Cup parades.

 

Steve Sommers had the balls to go on WFAN a few summers ago and rant about how the Devils needed to move to Quebec being the "distant third" team in the market when the Islanders were struggling to break 12,000 a night. That's how these people work.

Edited March 23, 2015 by thecoffeecake

[Triumph]

and produced what? 

 

Not much, but it's almost impossible to beat the market when it comes to free agents.  The only winning move is not to play.

[sundstrom]

Not much, but it's almost impossible to beat the market when it comes to free agents.  The only winning move is not to play.

 

while i of course love the quote, this just isn't the case. you can't have zero successful UFAs and win. hossa has been integral to he hawks. chara in boston. the kings have done it with drafting and trades - no real UFA guys there so they're an exception. yes, the draft is where you're going to build your success - there is no doubt. but let's not say that no big dollar ufa's don't work out.

[Triumph]

while i of course love the quote, this just isn't the case. you can't have zero successful UFAs and win. hossa has been integral to he hawks. chara in boston. the kings have done it with drafting and trades - no real UFA guys there so they're an exception. yes, the draft is where you're going to build your success - there is no doubt. but let's not say that no big dollar ufa's don't work out.

 

You win with big UFAs or small ones.  You almost never win in the middle.  So yes, there are plenty of big signings that have worked out, but how likely are those now given the rules?  And how likely were they then? 

[sundstrom]

You win with big UFAs or small ones.  You almost never win in the middle.  So yes, there are plenty of big signings that have worked out, but how likely are those now given the rules?  And how likely were they then? 

 

that's true, but the devils UFAs are attempts at the big ones. you don't give 5/25 deals out to "the middle"

[Triumph]

that's true, but the devils UFAs are attempts at the big ones. you don't give 5/25 deals out to "the middle"

 

I don't agree at all.  How many legitimate 1st line players have the Devils signed UFA?  I'd say Cammalleri and that's it.

Edited March 23, 2015 by Triumph