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Kovalchuk Retired Effective Immediately?


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So is anyone still mad at Kovy? I've forgiven him. I'll miss him dearly. I think only if he stayed for a year or two more can we play the card of "we got the best of his poor contract and then he left". He still did and does have a lot left in his tank, and was one of the best conditioned players in the NHL. My biggest gripe is how he did it. I wish he announced his retirement a year in advance, like instead of surprising everyone with that dagger, I wish he would have said he was leaving next year. Or even, when the reports came when the lockouts ended that he wanted to stay; they were clearly true, why deny them? He should have said he was returning for this half season, then dipping.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm not that mad at him, and this actually puts some moves into perspective, like Parise and Clarkson.

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We were a coinflip away from taking home the Cup against LA.. Not sure how we get more successful then that. It's like saying Vancouver will be awesome if they get rid of Luongo after loosing in game 7.

 

People really need to let go our cup run now assuming thats what our team really is. like 85% of our goals from that year are GONE. and will be filled by question marks until they can prove it by playing.

 

our success that season was a result of quite a few things combined, it was fun but thats in the past, lost Zach our captain and heart and soul of our team who scored 30 goals, lost Clarkson who also scored 30 goals, Kovalchuk scored near 40, one of the best defence coach in the league, Sykora scored 21 goals that season too. Our PK was really good and was a big part of our success, our 4th line clicked in the playoffs and it helped a lot too.

 

i mean we can try to convince ourself that it's no big deal, we had success that season but not as if we were winning games 6-1 or blowing out teams. We were still winning games by 1-2 goals. So all those goals provided by those guys really really count, even Sykora's goals. And thats on top of our guys who are still here and producing at the same rate. So basically it took all those goals to be successful that year. It's all gone now. 

 

With better goaltending from Schneider we probably won't have to score as many goals though so thats good news. Hopefully the new guys will gel quickly and will be able to cover our loss in production.

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People really need to let go our cup run now assuming thats what our team really is. like 85% of our goals from that year are GONE. and will be filled by question marks until they can prove it by playing.

 

our success that season was a result of quite a few things combined, it was fun but thats in the past, lost Zach our captain and heart and soul of our team who scored 30 goals, lost Clarkson who also scored 30 goals, Kovalchuk scored near 40, one of the best defence coach in the league, Sykora scored 21 goals that season too. Our PK was really good and was a big part of our success, our 4th line clicked in the playoffs and it helped a lot too.

 

i mean we can try to convince ourself that it's no big deal, we had success that season but not as if we were winning games 6-1 or blowing out teams. We were still winning games by 1-2 goals. So all those goals provided by those guys really really count, even Sykora's goals. And thats on top of our guys who are still here and producing at the same rate. So basically it took all those goals to be successful that year. It's all gone now. 

 

With better goaltending from Schneider we probably won't have to score as many goals though so thats good news. Hopefully the new guys will gel quickly and will be able to cover our loss in production.

 

The PK is still going to be really good, and the 2011-12 Devils were not that good of a team in the regular season.  Without the shootout and OT luck they were basically the bottom seed in the East.  They coasted on shootout and overtime luck until about Game 40; the team had about 7 useful forwards.  Then they got into having 4 balanced lines.  Now they'll start with 4 balanced lines. The power play's likely to be bad, can't fix that (unless Loktionov really turns a corner).  But 5 on 5 and 4 on 5 the team figures to be one of the best in the league.  Couple that with better goaltending and the Devils should be among the leaders in team defense, if not #1.  I don't even think the offense is important - it's going to be not good, we already know that.  If the goaltending is .910 instead of .920 it's going to be trouble.  And shootout luck will matter a great deal too.

Edited by Triumph
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The PK is still going to be really good, and the 2011-12 Devils were not that good of a team in the regular season.  Without the shootout and OT luck they were basically the bottom seed in the East.  They coasted on shootout and overtime luck until about Game 40; the team had about 7 useful forwards.  Then they got into having 4 balanced lines.  Now they'll start with 4 balanced lines. The power play's likely to be bad, can't fix that (unless Loktionov really turns a corner).  But 5 on 5 and 4 on 5 the team figures to be one of the best in the league.  Couple that with better goaltending and the Devils should be among the leaders in team defense, if not #1.  I don't even think the offense is important - it's going to be not good, we already know that.  If the goaltending is .910 instead of .920 it's going to be trouble.  And shootout luck will matter a great deal too.

 

its fine to say we're one of the best team 5on5 simply based on the fact that we had a positive corsi but corsi and possession doesnt mean goals. At the end of the day thats what counts, the results. Of course its a good indication but you can't take too much out of that. We outshot the other teams how many times last season? we lost almost all those games in that stretch while shooting like twice as much as they were. 

 

You think the Leafs we're all bummed out clinching a playoffs spot saying, yeah but we have a negative corsi as a team who cares about us in the playoffs. We we're certainly not partying at the end of the season cause we finished 2nd in corsi.

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So is anyone still mad at Kovy? I've forgiven him. I'll miss him dearly. I think only if he stayed for a year or two more can we play the card of "we got the best of his poor contract and then he left". He still did and does have a lot left in his tank, and was one of the best conditioned players in the NHL. My biggest gripe is how he did it. I wish he announced his retirement a year in advance, like instead of surprising everyone with that dagger, I wish he would have said he was leaving next year. Or even, when the reports came when the lockouts ended that he wanted to stay; they were clearly true, why deny them? He should have said he was returning for this half season, then dipping.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm not that mad at him, and this actually puts some moves into perspective, like Parise and Clarkson.

 

 

 

 

 

Not even mad; can't hate on the guy. Sucks that he left but at the same time if you put yourself in his shoes wouldn't you do the same thing? Another lockout, not being marketed as the superstar player like Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin, Towes, etc
Edited by Marv4Life
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its fine to say we're one of the best team 5on5 simply based on the fact that we had a positive corsi but corsi and possession doesnt mean goals. At the end of the day thats what counts, the results. Of course its a good indication but you can't take too much out of that. We outshot the other teams how many times last season? we lost almost all those games in that stretch while shooting like twice as much as they were. 

 

You think the Leafs we're all bummed out clinching a playoffs spot saying, yeah but we have a negative corsi as a team who cares about us in the playoffs. We we're certainly not partying at the end of the season cause we finished 2nd in corsi.

 

The problem was also the goaltending.  Hedberg couldn't give up 1 or 0 goals in any of those games.  Had he been able to stop a few pucks the Devils would've won some games.  But in the 1st period the Devils always seemed to find themselves down a goal despite outplaying the opponent.

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its fine to say we're one of the best team 5on5 simply based on the fact that we had a positive corsi but corsi and possession doesnt mean goals. At the end of the day thats what counts, the results. Of course its a good indication but you can't take too much out of that. We outshot the other teams how many times last season? we lost almost all those games in that stretch while shooting like twice as much as they were. 

 

You think the Leafs we're all bummed out clinching a playoffs spot saying, yeah but we have a negative corsi as a team who cares about us in the playoffs. We we're certainly not partying at the end of the season cause we finished 2nd in corsi.

I was talking to Chico after a frustrating loss, and while he didn't mention corsi, much of what he said suggested that corsi may not work for the Devils. Basically, he argued that the Devils worked hard, and that allowed them to dominate possession, but without Kovalchuk (he was hurt) and Parise, they only had 1 player who could create his own shot. Making it worse, that player (Elias) was also the only player with even average finishing ability. So we could dominate a team without scoring. Hopefully, Ryder and Brunner (if he does sign) begin to solve that problem, but much as we might expect to regress to the mean, with a bunch of bad shooters, we could continue to be good at corsi and not score enough goals.

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The problem was also the goaltending.  Hedberg couldn't give up 1 or 0 goals in any of those games.  Had he been able to stop a few pucks the Devils would've won some games.  But in the 1st period the Devils always seemed to find themselves down a goal despite outplaying the opponent.

Yah their timing were horrible... They'd score 5 goals but let in 6... Or our goalies would finaly play well but the team couldnt score a damn goal. This happened many many many times last season

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Can anyone on this board translate the article in that link?

Alright so i got a buddy in Russia i designed stuff for his band so i asked him to read the article and translate it... Heres what he said

"so they're interviewing his sister and she's basicaly saying that his New Jersey team was in a very bad shape for a while... and they have no cup ambitions anymore.. plus they had no money to pay him anymore... but he waited and didn't close his contract for a while.... he was thinking about to leave for a long time... and he wants to play and keep being a star... and this team can't provide this to him anymore.. he's also not thinking to finish his career... just making new moves in his life...."

He's a legit russian living in russia so it should be good, he also doesnt follow hockey at all so

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That's pretty much what she said put into google translate.   Which is also a crock of sh!t because that was going to be a pretty good team with him.   But, just another chapter in the saga of flaky Kovalchuk.   Maybe a year from now he'll fly TG out to St. Petersburg to complain about everything he's going through out there.   Wouldn't be the first time he's done that.

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That's pretty much what she said put into google translate.   Which is also a crock of sh!t because that was going to be a pretty good team with him.   But, just another chapter in the saga of flaky Kovalchuk.   Maybe a year from now he'll fly TG out to St. Petersburg to complain about everything he's going through out there.   Wouldn't be the first time he's done that.

 

Bit of a false dichotomy here, as I don't think the Devils ever intended to ice this team with Kovalchuk.  Had Kovalchuk stayed, the Devils might not have gotten Clowe or Ryder.

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Bit of a false dichotomy here, as I don't think the Devils ever intended to ice this team with Kovalchuk.  Had Kovalchuk stayed, the Devils might not have gotten Clowe or Ryder.

 

We'll see in the end.   If they run out and scrape up more players they never intended to be cheap.   Either way, the moves make him look stupid when that's the family/management line.   Not to mention the up to $4M being used on Zids, which is something they did not need to do if they weren't interested in "contending".

 

Ultimately, it's hard to say "I'm a merc and I get more money this way."

Edited by maxpower
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i believe clowe was used to fill clarksons hole that he left and ryder we needed more forward depth in general.. i think we still need to more goal scorers now to try to patch up kovys production that he gave us... and its sounding like brunner is going to be one of them.. i would really like to see a package trade for a better forward as long as it doesnt include henrique on our half.. i dont want him going anywhere

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So is anyone still mad at Kovy? I've forgiven him. I'll miss him dearly. I think only if he stayed for a year or two more can we play the card of "we got the best of his poor contract and then he left". He still did and does have a lot left in his tank, and was one of the best conditioned players in the NHL. My biggest gripe is how he did it. I wish he announced his retirement a year in advance, like instead of surprising everyone with that dagger, I wish he would have said he was leaving next year. Or even, when the reports came when the lockouts ended that he wanted to stay; they were clearly true, why deny them? He should have said he was returning for this half season, then dipping.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm not that mad at him, and this actually puts some moves into perspective, like Parise and Clarkson.

 

I'm not mad at Kovy.  I can't say that I ever really was.  Shocked, yes, but of course it's become clear in hindsight that the signs were definitely there that this could happen. 

 

But more and more, I think this is really an overwhelming positive for the Devils.  They get out from under a bad contract that was only going to get worse.  And though Kovy did allow himself to be coached into being a more complete player (seems like Jacques Lemaire was the only guy who was every able to get through to him, for whatever the reasons), I think there was something a little bit annoying about him...it started with the contract nonsense.  I think if he had gotten what he REALLY wanted, in terms of simply playing hockey, he would've been an LA King.  I think he was praying they'd find a way to make it work.  I think he mistakenly thought that what seemed like all of the money in the world would make him happy to be a NJ Devil. 

 

Just like every other occupation, there are workers who clearly thrive on being challenged, and overcoming obstacles as they face them.  Brodeur is one of those kinds of players, almost to a fault...he probably doesn't see Schneider as the guy who could be taking his job next season.  He sees him more as the latest challenge.  That's how the Brodeur-types overcome rough starts (like the one in 2011-12, where he almost looked finished at times) to put up a .920 save% for the last 50 or so games of the season and help his team reach the SC Final. 

 

I don't think Kovy is a "challenge me" guy.  I think he likes things being easy and relatively simple.  Wind me up, let me do my thing and I'll get my 40 or so goals.  I don't know why he thought his team should be a lock to be a Cup-contender every season (especially when he signed a 15-year deal in a league where teams rarely are going to be considered legitimate SC contenders for more than 10 or 11 years of that term, if that).  He got a taste of going home and decided he wanted that life, which is fine, not for me to judge, but the fact is that, if what Kovy's sister is saying is in the ballpark of how Kovy really feels, then he bailed on them almost at the second when things started to get rough...after Lou made about as big a commitment as one could make to a player, one that Lou knew had a chance to be a major detriment to his franchise, and relatively soon at that.   

 

It's one thing when a Parise or a Clarkson or others simply choose to exercise a right to choose their own team for the first time in their NHL lives...some fans may despise them for it, but I don't kid myself that the Parises and Clarksons and others were dreaming of one day playing for the NJ Devils and doing it in Newark.  But it's another when you decide, after the going looked it could be possibly (but NOT definitely) rough in the short-term, you turn your back on the team that made a massive commitment to you, just two years into it, and I say two years because it's clear that, if he had his way, he never shows up for Year 3 of his deal.  The guy had to be friggin' DRAGGED back to play here the season after his team reached the friggin' CUP FINAL?!  REALLY? 

 

Anyway, I remember both Elias and Brodeur stating when everything was coming apart in 2010-11, that you don't just abandon the team at a time like that.  I'm not going to make them out to be perfect because of that, but it shows their mentality, and why both players remain Devils.  Part of the reason I'm not angry with Kovy is because he saved the Devils from trying to build a team around a guy who wanted everything to come easily to him and wasn't going to fight through tough times, the way so many others who have played for the Devils have.  Just like the famous quote from Rudy:  "I wish I could put your heart in some of my players' bodies."   

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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So is anyone still mad at Kovy? I've forgiven him. I'll miss him dearly. I think only if he stayed for a year or two more can we play the card of "we got the best of his poor contract and then he left". He still did and does have a lot left in his tank, and was one of the best conditioned players in the NHL. My biggest gripe is how he did it. I wish he announced his retirement a year in advance, like instead of surprising everyone with that dagger, I wish he would have said he was leaving next year. Or even, when the reports came when the lockouts ended that he wanted to stay; they were clearly true, why deny them? He should have said he was returning for this half season, then dipping.

 

Anyway, like I said, I'm not that mad at him, and this actually puts some moves into perspective, like Parise and Clarkson.

 

I'm not mad at Kovy.  I can't say that I ever really was.  Shocked, yes, but of course it's become clear in hindsight that the signs were definitely there that this could happen. 

 

But more and more, I think this is really an overwhelming positive for the Devils.  They get out from under a bad contract that was only going to get worse.  And though Kovy did allow himself to be coached into being a more complete player (seems like Jacques Lemaire was the only guy who was every able to get through to him, for whatever the reasons), I think there was something a little bit annoying about him...it started with the contract nonsense.  I think if he had gotten what he REALLY wanted, in terms of simply playing hockey, he would've been an LA King.  I think he was praying they'd find a way to make it work.  I think he mistakenly thought that what seemed like all of the money in the world would make him happy to be a NJ Devil. 

 

Just like every other occupation, there are workers who clearly thrive on being challenged, and overcoming obstacles as they face them.  Brodeur is one of those kinds of players, almost to a fault...he probably doesn't see Schneider as the guy who could be taking his job next season.  He sees him more as the latest challenge.  That's how the Brodeur-types overcome rough starts (like the one in 2011-12, where he almost looked finished at times) to put up a .920 save% for the last 50 or so games of the season and help his team reach the SC Final. 

 

I don't think Kovy is a "challenge me" guy.  I think he likes things being easy and relatively simple.  Wind me up, let me do my thing and I'll get my 40 or so goals.  I don't know why he thought his team should be a lock to be a Cup-contender every season (especially when he signed a 15-year deal in a league where teams rarely are going to be considered legitimate SC contenders for more than 10 or 11 years of that term, if that).  He got a taste of going home and decided he wanted that life, which is fine, not for me to judge, but the fact is that, if what Kovy's sister is saying is in the ballpark of how Kovy really feels, then he bailed on them almost at the second when things started to get rough...after Lou made about as big a commitment as one could make to a player, one that Lou knew had a chance to be a major detriment to his franchise, and relatively soon at that.   

 

It's one thing when a Parise or a Clarkson or others simply choose to exercise a right to choose their own team for the first time in their NHL lives...some fans may despise them for it, but I don't kid myself that the Parises and Clarksons and others were dreaming of one day playing for the NJ Devils and doing it in Newark.  But it's another when you decide, after the going looked it could be possibly (but NOT definitely) rough in the short-term, you turn your back on the team that made a massive commitment to you, just two years into it, and I say two years because it's clear that, if he had his way, he never shows up for Year 3 of his deal.  The guy had to be friggin' DRAGGED back to play here the season after his team reached the friggin' CUP FINAL?!  REALLY? 

 

Anyway, I remember both Elias and Brodeur stating when everything was coming apart in 2010-11, that you don't just abandon the team at a time like that.  I'm not going to make them out to be perfect because of that, but it shows their mentality, and why both players remain Devils.  Part of the reason I'm not angry with Kovy is because he saved the Devils from trying to build a team around a guy who wanted everything to come easily to him and wasn't going to fight through tough times, the way so many others who have played for the Devils have.  Just like the famous quote from Rudy:  "I wish I could put your heart in some of my players' bodies."   

Great post CR. Makes a lot of sense when you really think about it.
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WOW...

 

The sister of Kovy interview was telling.   That is horrible....

 

Lou probably doesn't love that getting out (nor would Vanderbeek), especially since Lou took the high road when asked about how he felt about Kovy leaving, but if anything, probably makes losing him a little easier.  Also, in fairness, it's not like Kovy went directly to the press himself, though who knows (or really cares) if his sister was doing his talking for him.  All this being said, no matter what losing a Kovy-type does to your franchise, I can't think of anything more destructive than having a star player who 100% doesn't want to play for your team.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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We lose Kovy and we still have to forfeit our first round pick. Love it.

 

In fairness, Lou is to blame for that one.  He was warned that he would be in trouble if he tried to announce Kovy Contract #1 before it was approved, but he went ahead with the press conference anyway.  Lou was arrogant that time.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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