It's a Man's Game (Devils Rangers 4/21/13)

[Devil Dan 56]

I'm not gonna quote it all, but what CR76 said sums it up nicely without the anger and unreasonable vitriol the many have used.

[Pepperkorn]

Elias is still our best all around forward and can not be easily replaced regardless of his age.    

Yeah yeah - well he shouldn't be our best.  He should be our vet of perfection.  He should be able to choose to carry the team not to be required to.  I'm not worried about resigning Elias -- and if the team should be -- then there are MUCH larger problems that need to be dealt with and his leaving would be for the best.

[Pepperkorn]

I'm not gonna quote it all, but what CR76 said sums it up nicely without the anger and unreasonable vitriol the many have used.

ditto - I hadn't read it I just read manta's post before I wrote above. 

 

I think all Devils fans are on the same page.

[Devilsfan118]

Elias is still our best all around forward and can not be easily replaced regardless of his age.

Yeah yeah - well he shouldn't be our best. He should be our vet of perfection. He should be able to choose to carry the team not to be required to. I'm not worried about resigning Elias -- and if the team should be -- then there are MUCH larger problems that need to be dealt with and his leaving would be for the best.

Bingo, so well said. Elias should be a complimentary player, one whose presence greatly improves the 2nd line. He shouldn't be viewed as the go-to guy as a 37 year old, but I fear Lou might, again, out too much faith into a comfortable known option.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I know what Manta and others are saying about Elias, but the bigger question is how much longer is Elias going to be Elias?  Clearly Brodeur is not Brodeur anymore.  Ask older Yankee fans what it was like watching Mickey Mantle over his last four seasons.  I saw Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, Mike Piazza and others in their final Met days, and I can tell you, they weren't pretty.  Decline is far too common in players of Elias' age for anyone to assume that he can be penciled in to contribute to a level we've become accustomed to.   

 

My point is that I like Elias too, but just like Brodeur, he's not going to productive forever, and in my eyes, he's already not a guy you should have to count on for offense...not now and not anymore.  But if Lou re-signs him, I think both he and the team WILL be counting on him to provide more than he's capable of, and that admittedly worries me.