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Defending Brian Gionta


Hellacious_D

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I've had enough of this Brian Gionta bashing and essentially everyone on this board offering him up as trade bait for the likes of Robyn Regher. While his numbers last year were by no mean exceptional, this guy was a goddamn bulldog and skated his ass off in nearly every shift. He had bad luck around the net and took some unfortunate shots into the goalie's chest - hell, it happens to the best players for long stretches.

Not that Brian Gionta is one of the best players in the league - but I have to say he's one of most reasonably priced offensive stars. This guy is 29 years old and is only TWO YEARS removed from a 48 goal season in the so called "new NHL." His 2006-07 season was shortened but if you extrapolate his numbers to a full 82 game season, he finishes with 60 points and more than 30 goals. Yes, not a 48 goal season, but at $4 million a year, I'll absolutely take a 30 goal scorer. Especially given the fact the Devs are paying Rolston the same money this year and he's 6 years older (for the record, I'm ECSTATIC that Rolston is back.

Personally, I think Gionta got hit two fold last year - no Gomez and a new coach that had a penchant for shuffling lines every 5 games. Gionta played up and down the top three lines last year. Having Rolston and Holik in the fold should help to solidify the lines for much of the season and define specific roles for specific players. This can only be helped further if Zajac recovers from a bad sophomore season and starts to round into shape.

Solid forward corps and a contract year for Gionta - I'm gonna project him to put up 35 goals and 70-80 points... and, assuming he remains with the Devils the rest of the year, you'll be worrying on June 30, 2009 whether or not the Devs will be able to keep him...

... of course that's just my opinion. I could be wrong (even if Dennis Miller has turned into a right-wing shill).

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Nice post Hellacious_D. I am with you here and I am not one for trading Gionta either but just sat here and read and read all the Gionta bashing and wanting him traded this off season. I think Lou and the Devils need to give Gionta a chance here and if he is still not producing the way he should be then a possible trade could happen during the season or by the trade deadline. Just not sure what everyone thinks Lou and the Devils will get in return for Gionta. :noclue: There has to be more involved in a trade with Gionta if everyone wants a big time player or a big time puck moving defenseman. Just have to wait it out here and see how Gionta starts off the season because I am not sure here if Lou and the Devils will want to trade Gionta.

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I agree. I have stuck up for little Gio several times on this board. With the right playmaker feeding him he could be a 35-40 goal / season player for a few more seasons.

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It's standard protocol around here.

Trade Niedermayer; trade Elias; trade Gomez; trade Martin...

Trade Brodeur?

:giggle: :giggle: :giggle: :giggle: :giggle: :giggle: :giggle:

If anyone actually brought that up.. they should be shot and sliced up and have their body parts thrown into the Hudson River.

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Well Rehger isn't a bad stay-at-home d-man but if we were going to trade Gio assuming we don't get a comparable forward back I'd at least want a defenseman that's capable offensively and that's not Regher (or Frantisek Kaberle, I mean please :puke:) or anyone else realistically on the market for that matter.

A defensive defenseman is nice but what exactly is the point of trading one of our few goal-scorers for that - to be the exact same team we were last year, winning and losing 2-1 games all over the place?

Having Salvador for a full season already improves the defense, as does a hopefully more healthy White and more experienced Oduya and Mottau. And signing Rolston improved the offense but losing Gionta would reduce the net gain to almost zero.

Edited by Hasan4978
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The way I see it is, Gionta is a very expandable player. He thrives on a playmaker and although he can't create much offense he is a great finisher. Also I feel that his size is somewhat holding the team back, he doesn't play like most people his size and dangle through everyone instead it's the same old skate up the right wing as fast as possible and shoot it into the goalies chest. I do believe Gionta is good for at least 40 goals a season but not on a team like the Devils, with that being said I think the reason everyone wants him gone is because he is the only player worth something that won't be missed, he is easily replaceable.

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While I am all for improving this team. Gionta is a player that embodies what it means to wear the NJ Devils sweater. I would rather use pics and prospects to add to our core. Removing pieces especially one of our few offensive talents is almost pointless to me. We are better off starting the season with the team we have. I agree having Salvador a full season plus Rolston and Holik makes us a more complete team. I'm rambling...anyway let's keep Gio. :koolaid:

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I, for one, have been for trading Brian. It's not that I have anything against him. I think he is a great player and really admire his grit. Its just that this team needs a top defenseman, and we really have no one else that could be the centerpiece of a deal to get one. We have a bunch of untouchables/NTC'd players (parise, elias, white, etc), and then a bunch of players that really have little value throughout the league. I feel like Gio is the only player that can realistically be moved. This is because he DID just score 48 goals on an obviously defensive team and that has to be very attractive to other GM's; imagine him on an offensive team with a legitimate play making center and a sick powerplay. Scary.

That being said, if he is traded away and anything other than a top pair defenseman comes bakc, I will be upset.

But If Lou can help the team by shipping him, so be it.

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Brian Gionta is the kind of player who provides little else other than scoring. Last season is absolutely unacceptable.

I don't think New Jersey will trade him, but I can't see a scenario where they don't let him walk next July. He doesn't pass well, he doesn't forecheck particularly well, he's not even that fast (how many breakaways did he get?). His role can be adequately filled by Bergfors and Clarkson by 2009-10.

So - defend him, but this is his last season in a Devils' uniform. 2 seasons out of 5 that have been productive doesn't cut it for this decade's version of Donald Audette.

and before I hear about Elias and Zubrus, Zubrus never got any ice with Elias or Parise past game 15, and Elias did put it together by the end of the season.

Edited by Triumph
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While I still think Gionta has the potential to come back and start to really perform again, I just don't think it's likely, at least not here. What confuses me about him is that his ability to finish just disappeared in a cloud of smoke after 2006. Not only was he scoring goals that year, but he was scoring big goals - he was second in game winners that year after Cheechoo. I don't know what can turn someone who was looking like a top sniper down the stretch that season into just a slightly above average offensive player that quickly, but at this point, it's really impossible to argue that Gionta is still as good as he was then. While I really like Gionta and think he does a lot of things well, his real contribution was as a sniper and as someone who could just find ways to finish, and with that gone, he just can' t be considered a real top forward anymore.

In terms of trading him, I think it would be the right move for both sides, assuming we could find a suitable deal. I think in a different setting, he could start to score again. But I the last two seasons, compounded with awful playoff production this year, is pretty convincing evidence that his time as an impact player in NJ is probably up.

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Gio is indeed being shopped around on message boards. Mostly it is not because people dislike him, but him being an expendable player with some trade value. As said before with a good playmaker Gio will net 30 goals. This combined with summertime, when there

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The cliche still applies, "you got to give up something to get something". Teams are not going to take Gio and Lou is not going to trade Gio for the hell of it. All teams want to make their team better whether it's with skilled players and/or the salary cap. There has to be a fit for both teams to make a trade, i.e. Sykora for Friesen and Tverdovsky. Sometimes the trade is good for both and sometimes not.

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Brian is what he is... and he isn't a 48 goal scorer. That's when we should have sold, when we could have got something great for him. You can trade him now but the return won't make anyone happy, so might as well let him stay as he obviously knows the system.

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This team needs a shake-up from last year. Yes, we added Rolston and Holik, and now have Salvador for a full year, but we need a bit more. I would like to give Bergfors a chance. We need to give our younger guys a shot.

Gio has been on the decline every since his 48 goal season. IMO, the addition of Rolston and bringing up Bergfors/Vrana makes GIO expendable.

Look at it this way who else can be traded on this team for a decent puck moving d-guy. i would not give up on Zajac either. the kid has potential and it was alot to ask him last year to anchor the second line. I predict he will score 20+ goals this year..

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I also wanted to add another reason why i feel GIONTA is expendable is because of Zubrus. Many people put ZUBS on the third line, but did LOU sign this guy NOT to be a TOP six forward on this team? I think with the addition of Rolston it gives us a second option at center and Zubrus can play wing with him. Where does that leave GIO? I know people are down on Zubrus, but he should have a bounce back year. If Zubrus of the Rangers series shows up this year and plays with Rolston, he will be a force and score 20+ goals. The lines should be as such.

Parise-Elias-Zajac

Zubrus-Rolston-Lagenbrunner

Where does that leaves GIO? 4 million dollars for a 3rd line player? That is why I feel he is expendable. I would like to keep him, but we have to shed cap space and still bolster our D.

IMO, i say trade GIO now. Everyone is saying contract year and he will do well. What happens if we keep him and say 25 games in he has 7 goals and 5 assists and looks like the GIO of this year. Then what? We wouldn't get anything in value at the trade deadline. I say trade him now because he will bring back something good in a trade. I am not willing to take a RISK on him having a BAD or sub-par season again. Let's get something for him now.

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Our offense was terrible last year. Dropping Gio and Getting Rolston is a marginal upgrade at best. Now a simple addition of Rolston on top of our core is a much better yeild.

Gionta > Zubrus by about 10 fold I can't believe that's even an argument.

Again, people are ONLY looking at numbers. Rolston is a HUGE upgrade for this team and upgrades everything from our PP, to HAVING balanced scoring lines. Last year we had two people that played consistently on O Elias with Parise. They were our only scoring threat. After that WHY did our team struggle? Because we had no one to anchor the second line as a legit center. I don't care how good your wingers are, if you have a crappy centerman that can't create your wingers are going to stink.

Zubrus as down as people are on him. He was one of our better players in the playoffs and if he had someone that could put the puck in the net on his line, he would have done well. Zubrus brings size and grit and with Rolstons speed and better playmaking ability it will make a good line w/ Lagenbrunner. What impact did GIO have in the playoffs? i didn't even notice him.

Also why do we need GIO on the PP to tip shots in? We now have either Zubrus and Holik -two big boys that have that role now. Again, GIO can be replaced by other players this year. We still need to bolster our D-core which is more important that keeping GIO IMO.

We have 4 good wingers in Zubrsu, Zajac, Parise, Lagenbrunner for our TOP 2 scoring lines. GIO is expendable.

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Gionta's been with the team long enough now that I'll always think of him as a Devil no matter what. I'd like to see him stick around and get his scoring touch back. We need the goals.

But if he does go, it had better be for someone decent who can make a difference somehwere, somehow, or else I'll be disappointed that we didn't just keep him..

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Again, people are ONLY looking at numbers. Rolston is a HUGE upgrade for this team and upgrades everything from our PP, to HAVING balanced scoring lines. Last year we had two people that played consistently on O Elias with Parise. They were our only scoring threat. After that WHY did our team struggle? Because we had no one to anchor the second line as a legit center. I don't care how good your wingers are, if you have a crappy centerman that can't create your wingers are going to stink.

Zubrus as down as people are on him. He was one of our better players in the playoffs and if he had someone that could put the puck in the net on his line, he would have done well. Zubrus brings size and grit and with Rolstons speed and better playmaking ability it will make a good line w/ Lagenbrunner. What impact did GIO have in the playoffs? i didn't even notice him.

Also why do we need GIO on the PP to tip shots in? We now have either Zubrus and Holik -two big boys that have that role now. Again, GIO can be replaced by other players this year. We still need to bolster our D-core which is more important that keeping GIO IMO.

We have 4 good wingers in Zubrsu, Zajac, Parise, Lagenbrunner for our TOP 2 scoring lines. GIO is expendable.

Because Zubrus did so much for us as well... Sure we all know he worked his butt off and it was apparent he was working hard, but Gionta has been supported to be a hard worker too. You can't just propose that Zubrus and Rolston will click immediately, if the season starts and you try and it and it busts what then?

With a solid centerman, why not put Gionta on that line and have him being set up for another 40 goals? He is totally reliant on the center and it's been proven that he can score with the right guy setting him up.

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Getting Rolston helps us a little bit offensively by simply getting Elias back at wing and having less pressure on Zajac. Gio is a 30+ goal scorer if we had better centers. Last year we suffered without a #1 center we are a little better now.

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