Kovalchuk was awesome in Devils red

[run_to_the_ditch]

Look how happy...SIGN HIM LOU!!!!

[njdevil26]

One of two things will have to happen for Kovy to be here in October.

1. He takes a one year contract at almost whatever they can figure out. This way, the following year, losing Zach isn't a real issue as they can both work our something or Kovy will have to go to keep Zach.

2. He can take a ridiculously front loaded contract like Hossa did to bring down the cap number. He's young enough to sign that long of a deal.

[MantaRay]

Thanks for turning a solid team into the New Jersey Thrashers.

Have fun playing elsewhere next year.

Good riddance.

[Jerrydevil]

Thanks for turning a solid team into the New Jersey Thrashers.

Have fun playing elsewhere next year.

Good riddance.

I don't feel as angry as you, and I don't blame him alone for this team going down the crapper, but I agree that he doesn't fit here. Plus, I can't believe the applause some people are giving him for the "effort." Yikes.

[Daniel]

Make a concerted effort to re-sign him, but don't go overboard. I would take Kovy over Martin in a second (even though I was undecided a few months ago). Martin showed me absolutely nothing, and doesn't deserve to get paid like a top tier defenseman, but some team out there will.

I don't buy this "not fitting in" stuff. Unless you're a total dimwit, a good coach and team culture can make you fit in, so long as you're not a diva, which I saw no evidence of. Learning to play smart hockey is not like learning quantum physics.

[Jerrydevil]

I don't buy this "not fitting in" stuff. Unless you're a total dimwit, a good coach and team culture can make you fit in, so long as you're not a diva, which I saw no evidence of. Learning to play smart hockey is not like learning quantum physics.

So where's our good coach and team culture? On vacation since December?

[Daniel]

So where's our good coach and team culture? On vacation since December?

That's my point, at least on the coach front. Lemaire was awful and it showed with Kovy.

I still think the culture is there, which I interpret as playing smart and disciplined, but for whatever reason it didn't show this year. At the very least, it's very prevalent as compared to most teams in the league, especially from where he was coming from.

[DevsMan84]

So where's our good coach and team culture? On vacation since December?

Team culture took a huge blow in 2005 when stevens retired, and then finally died a silent death when niedermayer and rafalski left.

[sundstrom]

here's the thing though and really, we just can't know not being in the room.

it's certainly possible that lemaire essentially giving the keys to the team to kovalchuk with a full two minutes on the PP and running plays specifically for him did not sit well with some players. there was a lot of trying to fit him in and perhaps the notion that the team said "management doesn't think we're good enough so they went and got this guy to do it all."

now that could simply be an indictment of lemaire (what else is new) doing too much for one player.

i believe kovalchuk is a great talent and would be fine re-signing him at Gaborik money. i'd also be ok if he went somewhere else.

but i think it's important to take into account what, if anything, his arrival did to the room. this team might have had a choker label but it never had a quitter label until this year.

this is really where beat writers could get a bit better pulse but likely wouldn't publicly share it.

[DevsMan84]

here's the thing though and really, we just can't know not being in the room.

it's certainly possible that lemaire essentially giving the keys to the team to kovalchuk with a full two minutes on the PP and running plays specifically for him did not sit well with some players. there was a lot of trying to fit him in and perhaps the notion that the team said "management doesn't think we're good enough so they went and got this guy to do it all."

now that could simply be an indictment of lemaire (what else is new) doing too much for one player.

i believe kovalchuk is a great talent and would be fine re-signing him at Gaborik money. i'd also be ok if he went somewhere else.

but i think it's important to take into account what, if anything, his arrival did to the room. this team might have had a choker label but it never had a quitter label until this year.

this is really where beat writers could get a bit better pulse but likely wouldn't publicly share it.

Exactly, last year we had a breakdown in 80 seconds that cost us the series. This year, we had a breakdown the lasted the entire series with the exception of game 2. Like you said, this team didn't choke, they just gave up.

[peterstastny]

not sure what this love affair with kovy is.. personally i 100% do not want to see him as a devil next year. he was exciting to watch but the devils are not that type of team.

time after time in the playoffs he refused to just dump it in the corner and go to work. the team became reliant on him every shift.

...

"i have the puck? oh look for kovy, i have to pass to him"

then kovy would skate in on 5 guys, while everyone watched, lose and it would come back the other way. instead of 5 guys working together, getting the puck in the corner and out working the other team.

[MantaRay]

not sure what this love affair with kovy is.. personally i 100% do not want to see him as a devil next year. he was exciting to watch but the devils are not that type of team.

time after time in the playoffs he refused to just dump it in the corner and go to work. the team became reliant on him every shift.

...

"i have the puck? oh look for kovy, i have to pass to him"

then kovy would skate in on 5 guys, while everyone watched, lose and it would come back the other way. instead of 5 guys working together, getting the puck in the corner and out working the other team.

+1

I agree with everything here.

Kovy is a great individual talent, the kind of player that will put up 3 points a game against Edmonton or Flordia, but not the type your going to win anything with.

Its not what Kovy "could do" for the team, its how the team and management responded to him. He changed the dynamics of the team, instead of working as a unit, it was always "get the puck to our new superstar, since we aren't that good anymore".

Dead on analysis Mr. Stasny. The team changed for the worse.

[MantaRay]

I don't feel as angry as you, and I don't blame him alone for this team going down the crapper, but I agree that he doesn't fit here. Plus, I can't believe the applause some people are giving him for the "effort." Yikes.

I am angry and frustrated that this was a bad idea from the start. I don't blame Kovy, he actually surprised me the way he tried to fit in and play to win which is commendable.

But the team and management changed and we turned into another version of the Thrashers (just get Kovy the puck).

I didn't recognize this team after the trade, the roles changed, the strategy changed and the confidence just disappeared.

I blame Lemaire a lot for this failed experiment. Lou tried something different and it just didn't work. He makes mistakes too.

[NJayDevil]

Thanks for turning a solid team into the New Jersey Thrashers.

Have fun playing elsewhere next year.

Good riddance.

Idiot you are.

[MantaRay]

Idiot you are.

Thanks Yoda.

[overtime98]

Sign Kovalchuk for 9 million a year after all he is god

[MantaRay]

Sign Kovalchuk for 9 million a year after all he is god

4 Goals on 32 PP chances???? If only we had a natural goal scorer like Atlanta's Kovalachuk our team would be unstoppable.

[Mitico12]

Not worth the money he's going to command. The experiment failed, it's time to move on. He doesn't fit here, and I don't believe he ever would.

You may want to blame the coach for line shuffling and not enabling Kovalchuk to find a rhythm with linemates, fine. You can make the argument.

I don't want him here. His focus is fleeting and he has spells of lazy and careless play. Ability in spades, but it's just not good enough IMO.

It was a simple case of Ferrari parts in a Buick car. Kovy is so much more skilled than our guys. Other than Elias and Zubrus up front, no forward could match his dynamics in the offensive scheme. It's that simple.

Upgrade the other parts, and Kovy fits right in...

Wishful thinking however...

[NJDevs4978]

Awesome is way way way too strong. He was decent until Game 5 where he no-showed too just like everyone else.

I mean he had a point per game but he never was dominant for any big stretch, hell he never even had a two-goal game with us. A lot of secondary assists may look great on the stat sheet but they don't convince me it's worth exploring bringing him back for what he'll command on the open market.

[Devilsfan118]

Correction to thread title:

"Kovalchuk is awesome, and will continue to be awesome, in Devils red"

I seriously think lou will resign, and let martin walk. Martin did little, to nothing, after his return to the devils. He wasn't missed all that much. Kovi will keep this offense in tip-top shape, and if lou can somehow bury rolston, picking up a top-4 d-man is hardly all that difficult.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Devsfan118

[Devs3cups]

He was and he will still be awesome with us next year!

[NJDevs26]

I seriously think lou will resign, and let martin walk. Martin did little, to nothing, after his return to the devils. He wasn't missed all that much.

Reading between the lines it looks like that's what he wants to do (probably a combination of talent and marketing) but who says Kovy wants to come back? There are other teams far closer to winning than us who will pay him a decent wage and there are other teams who will pay him far more than us.

[Sickman]

I don't agree with those that say this team was worse off after he arrived. I think some of us are forgetting just how poorly the Devils were playing for about a good month before he arrived. This team was struggling big time to score goals and was just going off the rails. There is a reason why Lou pulled the trigger here.

Did the experiment go as well as planned? No, but then again it only lasted about 2 months. Keep in mind he was in Atlanta for 8 years. This was not some small transition for him. Kovalchuk is a a great individual talent and if he seems like he doesn't fit, well you make him fit. Players of his skill set don't just grow on trees. Within the right system and surrounded by the players that will compliment his talents, he'll be a very successful player.

He has tremendous skill, appears to have a great attitude and he works hard. All the ingredients are there for success. Unless the Devils start to sink to the bottom of he league anytime soon, this is the closest they'll be to a 1st pick for a very long time.

[Devilsfan118]

Reading between the lines it looks like that's what he wants to do (probably a combination of talent and marketing) but who says Kovy wants to come back? There are other teams far closer to winning than us who will pay him a decent wage and there are other teams who will pay him far more than us.

True point, but I think the mere fact that Lou has the first chance to speak with him is a HUGE advantage for us. If he was becoming a F/A from Atlanta, I'd say the devils had little to no chance of getting him. But since he's already been here for a few months, and Lou's got first 'dibbs' ....I'm likin our chances

[Mitico12]

Make a concerted effort to re-sign him, but don't go overboard. I would take Kovy over Martin in a second (even though I was undecided a few months ago). Martin showed me absolutely nothing, and doesn't deserve to get paid like a top tier defenseman, but some team out there will.

I don't buy this "not fitting in" stuff. Unless you're a total dimwit, a good coach and team culture can make you fit in, so long as you're not a diva, which I saw no evidence of. Learning to play smart hockey is not like learning quantum physics.

You're right. Part of this was the coaching staff's fault. Kovalchuk was immediately given the reigns on the PP. For example, he played pretty much the entire part of the PP, and then, would take longer shifts sometimes at regular strength.

This threw off the balance of the team. Guys like Langs and Rolston found themselves with reduced ice time, and this was not accepted by certain players.

He was given the "golden boy" share at times, and since the Devils are not used to having "golden boys" other than Marty Brodeur, this became a problem.

Kovy, in my estimation, was resented (although not publicly) by many players in the room, which essentially threw off the balance.

Those guys need to go in order to make Kovy's tenure in NJ successful. Otherwise, all that Vanderbeek will win in the next few years are profits from jersey sales and ticket sales, but NO Stanley Cup.

Honestly, if we can't get a guy like Kovy to re-sign, I would like to see a player the likes of Jarome Iginla or Brad Richards in our lineup.