78 replies to this topic

[Triumph]

1)

Parise-Zajac-Zubrus
Torres-Elias-Langenbrunner
Zharkov-Moore-Clarkson
Winchester-Pelley-Nokelainen

2)

Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Rolston-Elias-Ponikarovsky
Zharkov-Zubrus-Clarkson
Leblond-Begin-Pelley

2 is better at C, but I'm not convinced that's that much better overall.

neither am i. i'm not discussing the rosy scenarios where the devils get the guys that 15 teams are clamoring after, or at least not yet. not only are the devils unlikely to get these players, but when they do, they will probably not like what they find because they will have had to overpay for them. that's why i'd rather just avoid getting a center altogether, because all of the centers available this off-season are going to get overpaid - there's a league-wide shortage of them. we have 3 guys who can theoretically play the position for at least another 2 years, let's take advantage of that. matthew lombardi is precisely the kind of player i'd like to avoid - he'll cost $3 million a year, and there's just no guarantee that he really makes the team better. (you can argue this about poni as well, but the devils do have 2 of their top 3 RW UFA in a year)

Edited by Triumph, 13 May 2010 - 03:37 PM.

[DaneykoIsGod]

Before I get yelled at for not putting Corrente on the team - Fraser and Salmela are basically non-entities, so it's not hard to waive such players if needed. I imagine Corrente will make the team out of camp, but one never knows. It also might be because I forgot about him and didn't want to re-make the spreadsheet. You decide which.

I really like these themed offseason plans that take us to various extremes. They're a lot more fun than most of what's going on this time of year. Great work, Tri!

I'm curious to see whether you can whip up a "Miracle Worker" plan where Lou magically makes all the bad contracts disappear. This is not just out of curousity as to how you'd dump them, but also to see what you'd do with that cap space.

[MantaRay]

The one constant that the remaining playoff teams have: depth at Center.

Which is exactly what we have lacked since losing Gomez. The Devils will continue to be an early exit team until we finally get a legit #2 Center.
Signing old, cheap vets like Niedermayer and Mcammond aren't the answer.

Without breaking the bank I would love for Lou to take a stab at

Tomas Plekanec
Matthew Lombardi
or even Kyle Wellwood.

If that doesn't work Koivu or even Doug Weight to help the PP.

Tired of seeing Elias and Zubrus playing out of position and negating their strengths.

[Triumph]

i'd be fine with wellwood in the same role that the canucks used him in - 4th line center and power play specialist - but i don't think lou would do that. plekanec and lombardi will both receive way too much money and really aren't worth investigating.

[sundstrom]

you said it tri - most people will like this better. other than ponikarovski, you've got me signed on with these. i really don't like elias/zubrus @ center but it is not nearly the worst case scenario your first example was.

I'm curious to see whether you can whip up a "Miracle Worker" plan where Lou magically makes all the bad contracts disappear. This is not just out of curousity as to how you'd dump them, but also to see what you'd do with that cap space.

i think that's what I did

at least tri suggested that it was "almost impossibly unlikely"

[sundstrom]

i'd be fine with wellwood in the same role that the canucks used him in - 4th line center and power play specialist - but i don't think lou would do that. plekanec and lombardi will both receive way too much money and really aren't worth investigating.

all UFA's get too much - very rarely does d. moore or malholtra get the contract that they should.

i'm w/ you in the anti-lombardi camp. i would give plekanec 4/18 if he'd come for that.

while i can't imagine marleau even thinking on NJ as a possibility unless they gave him $8MM/year, I would certainly consider giving him $6.25/year for 4 or 5 years and forgo the though of resigning kovalchuk.

[MantaRay]

i'd be fine with wellwood in the same role that the canucks used him in - 4th line center and power play specialist - but i don't think lou would do that. plekanec and lombardi will both receive way too much money and really aren't worth investigating.

What are you thinking that Plekanec and Lombardi would demand on the market? If a premier center like Savard can sign for $4.2 million per season I can't see them getting more that that.

Edited by MantaRay, 13 May 2010 - 04:17 PM.

[Triumph]

all UFA's get too much - very rarely does d. moore or malholtra get the contract that they should.

i'm w/ you in the anti-lombardi camp. i would give plekanec 4/18 if he'd come for that.

while i can't imagine marleau even thinking on NJ as a possibility unless they gave him $8MM/year, I would certainly consider giving him $6.25/year for 4 or 5 years and forgo the though of resigning kovalchuk.

i don't think marleau does enough. new jersey just doesn't have enough players that inflate shooting percentage - they are bad on the power play. you don't just get better at this by signing forwards left and right. they need distributors, and marleau is not enough of one.

as for manta - i think plekanec gets 5.5-6 million and lombardi gets 3 million. marc savard's contract has no bearing on theirs.

[MantaRay]

i don't think marleau does enough. new jersey just doesn't have enough players that inflate shooting percentage - they are bad on the power play. you don't just get better at this by signing forwards left and right. they need distributors, and marleau is not enough of one.

as for manta - i think plekanec gets 5.5-6 million and lombardi gets 3 million. marc savard's contract has no bearing on theirs.

Lombardi is worth a shot at $3 million. He was misused in Calgary and starting to come into his own.

No offense, but I just can't see Plekanec getting any where near $5.5 million per season.

[Triumph]

Lombardi is worth a shot at $3 million. He was misused in Calgary and starting to come into his own.

No offense, but I just can't see Plekanec getting any where near $5.5 million per season.

why would i take offense to this? plekanec is definitely getting that, he's the top center available.

[maxpower]

you said it tri - most people will like this better. other than ponikarovski, you've got me signed on with these. i really don't like elias/zubrus @ center but it is not nearly the worst case scenario your first example was.



i think that's what I did

at least tri suggested that it was "almost impossibly unlikely"

I kinda like the bellicosity of the first group. Sure, they'll suck, but if you give me forwards from 1 w/ defense from 2, I could live with that as a bad-case scenario.

[Triumph]

I really like these themed offseason plans that take us to various extremes. They're a lot more fun than most of what's going on this time of year. Great work, Tri!

I'm curious to see whether you can whip up a "Miracle Worker" plan where Lou magically makes all the bad contracts disappear. This is not just out of curousity as to how you'd dump them, but also to see what you'd do with that cap space.

addressing this - the more i look at the free agent list, the more i think it's terrible, especially if the cap goes up to 58 million like it's rumored to be. i mean, getting rid of rolston would be great, but there's not really any other contracts i'd just get rid of.

[SS-SS]

Sign Alexei Ponikarovsky 4 years, 13.2 million
Sign Steve Begin 1 year, 800k
Sign Paul Martin 5 years, 25.5 million
Sign Pavel Kubina 3 years, 11.4 million


Parise-Zajac-Langenbrunner
Rolston-Elias-Ponikarovsky
Zharkov-Zubrus-Clarkson
Leblond-Begin-Pelley

Very good plan men, love it.I am agreeing with all those choice expect one and that's the Ponikarovsky one because I just think that this guy is a total mess in the series (this year) and he is not a guaranteed guy for the type of money he will get.

If you are planning to give him 3.3 per year then why not go for a quality second Center instead of him and possibly promote one of our young RW or let Elias play on the wing.I mean I prefer being short on a RW instead of a Center on second line especially when you consider that Elias prefers playing on the wing.

Edited by SS-SS, 13 May 2010 - 07:41 PM.

[Devils Pride 26]

I'd like to see one of these plans include Palmeiri, Halischuk, possibly even Tedenby or Josefson. Nevertheless great work with this stuff.

Most here posted they are anti-lombardi, how are the general feelings on Belanger and Comrie?

[Triumph]

I'd like to see one of these plans include Palmeiri, Halischuk, possibly even Tedenby or Josefson. Nevertheless great work with this stuff.

Most here posted they are anti-lombardi, how are the general feelings on Belanger and Comrie?

i don't think palmieri should make the team next year. halischuk is whatever, he can't stay healthy and isn't that good anyway, but he'll be the first callup from albany or a spare forward. tedenby should certainly never make the team.

comrie's terrible, i'd never sign him. i'd sign belanger but he'll have 8 teams who want him, and i'm not willing to get into a bidding war for him.

[NJDevs4978]

I'm biding my time waiting for the 'nuclear' plan The one where Lou goes all Bob Gainey circa last offseason and blows up half the team because the locker room was terrible.

[sundstrom]

I'm biding my time waiting for the 'nuclear' plan The one where Lou goes all Bob Gainey circa last offseason and blows up half the team because the locker room was terrible.

again, that was mine

it's not a great ufa class but they'll never really be anymore - at least there shouldn't be.

i remember thinking gainey was absolutely bonkers for his habs offseason - and he might very well be still after this cinderella year. really, if it's price instead of halak in there, i doubt there where they are.

my biggest problem - from a fan's point, i don't really LIKE this team anymore. i'm sour on langenbrunner. i'm sour on white. i'm sour on feeling like these guys are just stale.

[Triumph]

gainey still had a terrible off-season and the habs still aren't a good team. if anyone wants to debate me about this, do it in another thread, but this is just a fact - the habs get killed at even strength, they are not a good team.

i don't like this team either but the good news is that for the most part it's not signed for very long. this wasn't true 3 years ago.

[HellOnICE]

Anyone think about the possibility of getting Arnie back for one season? (as a stopgap for Henrique)

[DaneykoIsGod]

i think that's what I did

at least tri suggested that it was "almost impossibly unlikely"

haha You're right, my bad. All it takes is one dopey Langenbrunner article and all memory of prior things goes out the window.

And I'm in the same boat as you, per your other post. I just don't like much of this team anymore. Usually after our trademark early exits I feel like the core of the team is still good and good things lie ahead. Now I'm disgusted with some players and disappointed in several others.