176 replies to this topic

[cgb6397]

We are not Montreal or Toronto where the fanbase practically controls the team. Whoever the coaching staff picks as the Captain is the best choice for the team because they know best.

I'm not saying we control the team or anything. But who does get the C impacts the fans and I'm sure Lou knows it. Look around the league, you think Landeskog and Giroux are captain material? And that's just this year, Ovechkin,Crosby, all decisions that had to have been made with something other than leadership in mind.

[Daniel]

In his last full season he got 44 points.. I like Zajac as much as anyone but can anyone tell me that he is worth 5.75 a year

It's all about opportunity costs. Is there someone else the Devils will not be able to sign that they otherwise would because of Zajac's deal? If the answer is no, then the dollars don't really concern me.

[iamtheprodigy]

That's a good point but look at it externally for a second. Who gets the C is just as important to the fan base as it is the team. Zajac is a guy that's a draft pick, been a top forward for us for a while and just got signed to a long deal, vs. Sal who (not to sh!t on him) but is older, a bit of a journey man and not as good a player as Zajac. Besides, if Sal is the leader he is assumed to be, he should do it regardless of what letter he gets

Definitely disagree on the bolded point. The coaching staff picks the captain because they know the team better than the fans. Also, how is Salvador a journey man? He's played on only 2 teams in his 11 year career. I think as Devils fans we sometimes take for granted how rare it is for players to play their whole careers in one place.

Listen, I don't mean to stir up a whole big argument on this because frankly, I don't think whoever gets to wear the C is such a big deal. We all know who fills the "veteran leadership" slots on our team, the C is more just a formality. But it does bug me when fans act like they know better than the coaches about this sort of thing. It's fine for all of us to have our opinions on it, but ultimately the coaches are going to know best.

[Triumph]

It's all about opportunity costs. Is there someone else the Devils will not be able to sign that they otherwise would because of Zajac's deal? If the answer is no, then the dollars don't really concern me.

One unfortunately stupid consequence of the Devils allowing Josefson to play for them in 10-11 is that now he and Henrique are UFA the same year (2017). Now depending on what sort of contracts they sign that may not be an issue (and depending on their career trajectories, etc.), but I imagine 2017 is when the 'pain' from this contract might begin to be felt. Before that, it's smooth sailing through calm seas.

[maxpower]

In his last full season he got 44 points.. I like Zajac as much as anyone but can anyone tell me that he is worth 5.75 a year

Way to cherrypick and ignore the two years that came before. You're surprised that a team that absolutely blew for half a season.... and then turned around and won a bunch of 2-1 games, had individual players with low point totals? Kovalchuk just made it to 60 points and no one wanted to hold that against him.

[cgb6397]

Definitely disagree on the bolded point. The coaching staff picks the captain because they know the team better than the fans. Also, how is Salvador a journey man? He's played on only 2 teams in his 11 year career. I think as Devils fans we sometimes take for granted how rare it is for players to play their whole careers in one place.

Listen, I don't mean to stir up a whole big argument on this because frankly, I don't think whoever gets to wear the C is such a big deal. We all know who fills the "veteran leadership" slots on our team, the C is more just a formality. But it does bug me when fans act like they know better than the coaches about this sort of thing. It's fine for all of us to have our opinions on it, but ultimately the coaches are going to know best.

Yeah that's what I mentioned in the other post about Landeskog and Giroux. The C doesn't really hold anything like it used to. When it comes to crunch time late in the season and late in games, players aren't going to be checking the patches on their jerseys for who to listen to. And just to close it out, Sal still probably gets the "C" no matter what we speculate about Travis

[Devil Fan]

5.75 cap hit a little bit too high, but not given he is in his prime theoretically, the contract sounds OK to me.

[lucifer91]

One unfortunately stupid consequence of the Devils allowing Josefson to play for them in 10-11 is that now he and Henrique are UFA the same year (2017). Now depending on what sort of contracts they sign that may not be an issue (and depending on their career trajectories, etc.), but I imagine 2017 is when the 'pain' from this contract might begin to be felt. Before that, it's smooth sailing through calm seas.

In four years, will 5.75 Av still be considered high?

[SterioDesign]

In four years, will 5.75 Av still be considered high?

yeah exactly the cap will go up and up and up so it won't be too bad

[nyrsuck26]

Awesome. Nice to see us locking up our players long term for once. Time to go buy the Zajac jersey.

[newarkdev01]

In four years, will 5.75 Av still be considered high?

I think this will be the real question, how much will the cap and revenues grow over the next few years.

[Triumph]

In four years, will 5.75 Av still be considered high?

Not really, but

A: we figure Zajac is probably going to be worse

B: we figure NJ won't be getting that much more revenue than they are now - I'm not worried about the cap at all, just NJ's budget vis a vis the cap.

NJ is going to have to load up on UFA wingers in the coming years even as they should be able to forgo UFA D entirely - I imagine it to be either an expensive-ish team or a not very good team in a few years (or both).

[Zubie#8]

HFBoards - Joke

"Devils fans have the blinders on here I'm sorry. Giving a guy, with a stat line declining (whether from injury or not) from 67 points down to 44, and most recently to 6 freakin points, an 8 year contract is insane first off. Secondly, making the cap hit worth $5.75 million with a declining cap is going to hamper future deals and cost you a different player. Not to mention a FULL NTC, we're talking about Zajac here right? This has Gomez/Redden written all over it."

[maxpower]

HFBoards - Joke

"Devils fans have the blinders on here I'm sorry. Giving a guy, with a stat line declining (whether from injury or not) from 67 points down to 44, and most recently to 6 freakin points, an 8 year contract is insane first off. Secondly, making the cap hit worth $5.75 million with a declining cap is going to hamper future deals and cost you a different player. Not to mention a FULL NTC, we're talking about Zajac here right? This has Gomez/Redden written all over it."

The funny thing is, the same 14 year old that wrote this, would claim he was worth a bajillion dollars on the open market, if 1) he goes for about 60 points pro-rated with a good + and a few short handed goals. And then would laugh at the Devils for not signing someone whose first 5-6 years in the league are comparable to Kesler.

[coldply123]

Agree with Tri's comment about having to eventually load up on a couple UFA wingers the next few offseasons.

[Devils731]

Agree with Tri's comment about having to eventually load up on a couple UFA wingers the next few offseasons.

If you let Zajac go then you still need to get those wingers and you have to get another center.

I don't think Zajac was going to get less than this on the open market. Grabovski signed within the last year and has almost the same cap hit, gets points at no greater pace than Zajac, and isn't as good at preventing goals, IMO, as a comparison contract.

[DevilNurn]

Very glad about this deal. Might be a smidge more than we would ideally pay him, but honestly, Zajac is exactly the type of player we want to be paying $5.75mil per season if he doesn't have a huge dropout in the immediate future. Much better than paying $5 million to what's left of Brian Rolston or some other veteran on the open market. Zajac is a serviceable, versatile forward, and I have no problem with him being a part of our core.

Would like to see Clarkson signed next. Not necessarily for 8 years. But I'm glad Lou made an exception after losing Zach and didn't just stand on failing principle.

[Daniel]

One unfortunately stupid consequence of the Devils allowing Josefson to play for them in 10-11 is that now he and Henrique are UFA the same year (2017). Now depending on what sort of contracts they sign that may not be an issue (and depending on their career trajectories, etc.), but I imagine 2017 is when the 'pain' from this contract might begin to be felt. Before that, it's smooth sailing through calm seas.

If Josefson, Henrique and Larsson are good enough that Zajac's deal might make it difficult to sign all of them when they hit UFA status, then we're in very good shape for the next four years.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

In four years, will 5.75 Av still be considered high?

After a GM figures out the loophole to this CBA probably.

It's a fair deal at this point. Zajac deserves it. I don't love it for NJ, eight years is a really long time, but Zajac's too important to the team for the next 5 years to let him leave.

Edited by halfsharkalligatorhalfman, 16 January 2013 - 04:36 PM.

[Onddeck]

good sh!t. i wouldn't be able to deal with losing parise and Zajac for nothing.

5.75 is OK.. its not a bargain but whatre you gonna do