93 replies to this topic

[mort4345]

Obviously none of us know right now if Zach will re-sign with the Devils or not. I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll be back in red and black next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not - especially if he makes it to July 1 and Minnesota offers him a stupid $90 million/10-year contract. In any event, I'm curious what the board thinks the Devils should do in the event that they lose their captain? I'm hopeful and pretty certain that Lou has a contingency plan thought out if that were to be the case, but I'm not entirely sure I'd even know where to begin. I think, for the sake of fending off a potential punch to the gut in a few weeks, we should all mentally prepare a battle plan for the post-Zach era. If he signs an extension, awesome. But if not, I don't want to cringe in the face of utter despair. What say you? What's the battle plan?

[mort4345]

Here's a pretty decent link to the 2012 UFA class complete with current salaries:
http://capgeek.com/f...-1&fa_type_id=2

Mix and match.

[justdo3043]

Think Lou would have a back up plan but obviously you can't replace Parise....remember when Paul Martin signed with Pitt the devils immediately announced the signing of Tallinder and A-Train

[thefiestygoat]

Think Lou would have a back up plan but obviously you can't replace Parise....remember when Paul Martin signed with Pitt the devils immediately announced the signing of Tallinder and A-Train

That back up plan has worked out a lot better than the Niedermayer back up plan did - Malakhov and McGillis.

[SterioDesign]

I think id be way more upset about my friends giving me sh!t about it than about not having him on the team

[Daniel]

Think Lou would have a back up plan but obviously you can't replace Parise....remember when Paul Martin signed with Pitt the devils immediately announced the signing of Tallinder and A-Train

Paul Martin also sucks.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

That back up plan has worked out a lot better than the Niedermayer back up plan did - Malakhov and McGillis.

Rafalski's loyalty made that turn out a lot better than it should have...he was basically waiting on Lou when he didn't have to.

McGillis and Mogilny I understood at the time (unfortunately the new NHL and the year layoff made it hard to tell who was still capable of performing), but Malakhov, especially at his price tag, was the one that had me saying "WTF" at the time, especially at $3.8 million per year.

Lou was clearly hoping Niedermayer would come back...so much so that he was willing to gamble on that, while better players were signing elsewhere. It blew up in his face unfortunately, but the only thing I think Lou could've done differently was to offer Nieds the max much earlier in the negotiations.

[coldply123]

The plan or likelihood is that Lou would look to sign a couple veteran forwards on short-term deals to try and maintain good depth on all three lines. You are not going to replace Parise per se, so the team would definitely change in terms of the lines for next year and how the whole roster fits together.

In such a case, the pickings are pretty darn slim. If Parise did leave, I could see Lou maybe trying to package one of our defensive prospects and maybe looking to swing a trade based on the available talent in FA.

[caron14]

buy tedenby steroid (it not on the salary cap ! )

and we are fine !

[thelastonealive]

What to do if we lose Parise? Easy...

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

Well re-signing Ponikarovsky might be necessary, and the team has to pray Tedenby isn't awful in his final shot.

Ponikarovsky - Zajac - Kovalchuk
Elias - Josefson - Zubrus
Tedenby - Henrique - Clarkson
Carter - Gionta - Bernier

The team is clearly worse, but that doesn't look like a disaster to me.

[caron14]

why josefson on the second and hanrique on the third... I love JJ but Henrique his better

[Mitico12]

Obviously none of us know right now if Zach will re-sign with the Devils or not. I'm cautiously optimistic that he'll be back in red and black next year, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's not - especially if he makes it to July 1 and Minnesota offers him a stupid $90 million/10-year contract. In any event, I'm curious what the board thinks the Devils should do in the event that they lose their captain? I'm hopeful and pretty certain that Lou has a contingency plan thought out if that were to be the case, but I'm not entirely sure I'd even know where to begin. I think, for the sake of fending off a potential punch to the gut in a few weeks, we should all mentally prepare a battle plan for the post-Zach era. If he signs an extension, awesome. But if not, I don't want to cringe in the face of utter despair. What say you? What's the battle plan?

We cry for a few days and move on...

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

why josefson on the second and hanrique on the third... I love JJ but Henrique his better

Well nothing is fixed, but those are closest to the lines the team last had in the finals, easier to visualize where the team goes from there. Would make sense to start camp with those I think, then alter if players start to give you reasons to.

[Marshall]

Don't worry, Teddy will pot 40 goals.

[coldply123]

Well re-signing Ponikarovsky might be necessary, and the team has to pray Tedenby isn't awful in his final shot.

Ponikarovsky - Zajac - Kovalchuk
Elias - Josefson - Zubrus
Tedenby - Henrique - Clarkson
Carter - Gionta - Bernier

The team is clearly worse, but that doesn't look like a disaster to me.

I don't see that being a playoff team.

[Triumph]

I don't see that being a playoff team.

It still has a great defense and solid forward corps, but yeah, relying a lot on Kovalchuk to score.

[SMantzas]

It still has a great defense and solid forward corps, but yeah, relying a lot on Kovalchuk to score.

You have to think Larsson is gonna improve offensively (hopefully a good deal), so that should help our transition. Kovy, Henrique, Zajac, Clarkson and Elias isnt awful,
But the offense does look a lot better with Parise

[cgb6397]

Burn the jerseys and make Kovy captain. But, he'll re-sign, I know it.

[Zubie#8]

Push hard for Parenteau if Zach leaves. This man had a TON of assists on a mediocre team.