54 replies to this topic

[Vic Rattlehead18]

A good way to spot a stupid Devils fan is when they say Lou needs to retire.

[peteyvegas]

Lou wont rebuild. He's afraid that our delicate attendance situation will hit critical mass. This team needs to rebuild. But can it survive the impending low attendance while it does? We dont really know if Lou is capable of rebuilding anymore. The finances are in the way. We DO know that he can maintain a good regular season team, though.

[Devil Dan 56]

Well you never intentionally tank for a few seasons but the Pens went from good in the early 90's to bad when they got Fluery, Malkin, and Crosby.. They obviously did something to go from good to bad, even if it was an error.. I'm just saying, maybe you can't win as easily if you try to be consistently good because there's always going to be a team or two that's going all out to win that year at any cost so you'll lose to them.. Sure, in 5 years they'll have nothing and wont be in the playoffs but you'll be consistently making the playoffs only to lose to the team that's going all out that year

The Penguins have.

[RowdyFan42]

A good way to spot a stupid Devils fan is when they say Lou needs to retire.

Disagree. It may not be the correct answer, but a critically-thinking Devils fan should spend some time considering the question and not just dismiss it out of hand. Like it or not, this franchise is fast approaching a crossroads (if it's not already there). The retirements of Brodeur and Lamoriello are looming, and it's natural to wonder whether we'd be better off having those happen sooner rather than later.

The Penguins have.

And they came pretty damn close to leaving town a couple times in the process.

Peteyvegas makes a good point. The team needs to rebuild, but it may not be able to survive the process. I fear that Lou (or his successor) may end up trying a Rangers-style rebuild where you're bumbling along with no real direction for years, hoping to get lucky with a hot-shot prospect or a gathering of good free agents.

[Jerrydevil]

A good way to spot a stupid Devils fan is when they say Lou needs to retire.

Why don't you can it? Your statement is the ignorant one.

I don't think Lou needs to retire, but the suggestion is not as outlandish as you say it is. He has been the GM of a team that has been a playoff flop ever since the last championship. Two times reached the second round, two times dispatched easily. He has not done a great job hiring coaches, and this past year was a clusterfvck with Lemaire vs. the players.

[HellOnICE]

Disagree. It may not be the correct answer, but a critically-thinking Devils fan should spend some time considering the question and not just dismiss it out of hand. Like it or not, this franchise is fast approaching a crossroads (if it's not already there). The retirements of Brodeur and Lamoriello are looming, and it's natural to wonder whether we'd be better off having those happen sooner rather than later.


And they came pretty damn close to leaving town a couple times in the process.

Peteyvegas makes a good point. The team needs to rebuild, but it may not be able to survive the process. I fear that Lou (or his successor) may end up trying a Rangers-style rebuild where you're bumbling along with no real direction for years, hoping to get lucky with a hot-shot prospect or a gathering of good free agents.

I think he's done an OK hiring coaches btw. Sutter was fine, but then wanted to go home. Lou possibly knew that was coming, but hindsight is hindsight - he led them to two very good regular seasons. When he was hired, it was called a dynamite signing - and many people here were excited.

JL perhaps wasn't - but I never thought he was brought in here to win a cup. I thought he was here as a bridge for someone younger, and was here briefly to teach the Zachs and Zajacs nuances of the game that someone with his smarts could do. I hope he did that. At least earlier in the season, we heard a lot about that.

Julien? ClusterF.

About the Rangers style rebuild - those teams traded horribly and badly drafted. Lou hasn't made that many bad trades, we can go back and forth on Kovy if you want. Drafting sucks when you are #24 every year, but somehow we have Zach, Travis, Josefson, Tedenby, Urbom, and others coming. He's doing a good a job as he can.

Besides, you're going to see Lou help pick his successor. It may even be Chris.

I really don't see this team needs to crash-course rebuild. Alter its style of play, probably. Change the direction, yes. But a rebuild? What a strange word. Does rebuilding mean trading all of the good players away for picks?

We have a very good core here. Up front we Parise, Zajac, down the middle soon we're going to have Zajac, Josefson, and Henrique (this is all, from what we've seen - most likely? no?). If we sign Parise long term - we have our captain for the next decade at least.

On wing, we have a decent guy in Tedenby hopefully, and if they decide to sign Kovy then he'll be here for a period of time as well. Wings are usually easier to sign and trade for.

We need to rebuild the defense a little bit, but it's not like our D is complete garbage. Martin is in his prime and is an excellent D. Green is serviceable. White, Sal are good cogs (they really are people). We have a few good D in the wings. We, without a doubt, need a major impact Defenseman - that will let our D who we have now all be slotted correctly and not have to do things they can't do in crunch time. They need the #1 guy - which is the hardest thing to get in hockey - so it maybe a while.

You can't just actively burn the house down. No one does that on purpose. It's the bad decisions that always lead teams losing, then deciding "we are going to start over." Well - the Devils don't need to do that.

The playoff failures mean something, absolutely. But so does the division championships. For my money, it means we're closer to winning a cup, then having to rebuild.

Edited by HellOnICE, 19 May 2010 - 09:24 AM.

[Devil Dan 56]

Disagree. It may not be the correct answer, but a critically-thinking Devils fan should spend some time considering the question and not just dismiss it out of hand. Like it or not, this franchise is fast approaching a crossroads (if it's not already there). The retirements of Brodeur and Lamoriello are looming, and it's natural to wonder whether we'd be better off having those happen sooner rather than later.

My guess is that they both retire at the same time. Brodeur stated that one of the things he and Lou agreed on when he signed his extension was that Lou would be GM for the duration of the contract.

And they came pretty damn close to leaving town a couple times in the process.

Oh, I don't in anyway support such a thing. I'm just saying that's how Pittsburgh can manage to get Lemieux, Jagr, Malkin, Crosby, etc. Extreme highs and lows.

Peteyvegas makes a good point. The team needs to rebuild, but it may not be able to survive the process. I fear that Lou (or his successor) may end up trying a Rangers-style rebuild where you're bumbling along with no real direction for years, hoping to get lucky with a hot-shot prospect or a gathering of good free agents.

It will be so incredibly interesting to see who takes over this team when Lou goes.

[overtime98]

Maybe people want Lou to retire... So someone impatient can come in and trade away players when they dont score 2 goals a game. or maybe they want it to be more like NHL2010 video hockey and trade at will all over the league.

[Jerrydevil]

Maybe people want Lou to retire... So someone impatient can come in and trade away players when they dont score 2 goals a game. or maybe they want it to be more like NHL2010 video hockey and trade at will all over the league.

This post insinuates that no one could do better. I don't think he should retire, but come on ... let's be a little bit honest.

[Triumph]

This post insinuates that no one could do better. I don't think he should retire, but come on ... let's be a little bit honest.

i think lou has been in a very, very difficult position and that it's pretty remarkable what he's been able to accomplish in spite of that. there've been a few mistakes along the way for sure.

[overtime98]

This post insinuates that no one could do better. I don't think he should retire, but come on ... let's be a little bit honest.

That post was oozing with sarcasm.



The GM can only do so much. The coach and players need to make it work on the ice.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

Lou remains one of the best GMs in the league. The Kovalchuk trade shows that he's aware some things need to change with regard to the dynamics of this team. Signing Josefson and Tedenby is a great sign I think that he knows he needs to get younger and faster. Devils have made the playoffs for 13 straight years, only team with a longer streak is Detroit at 19. Third longest is San Jose at SIX.

http://en.wikipedia....earance_streaks

I would not feel better about the Devils if they were in another GM's hands.

[Neb00rs]

Great. The OP is another fair weather fan who loves Lou when we win and calls for his head when we lose. Lou is a great GM and as the above poster stated, the Devils have the longest playoff appearence streak in the Eastern Conference. Lou is still one of the 2 best GM's in the league.

[Jerrydevil]

The OP is another fair weather fan who loves Lou when we win and calls for his head when we lose. Lou is still one of the 2 best GM's in the league.

Come on, you're a fair-weather fan if you think the game has passed Lamoriello by? Yeah, we keep making the playoffs, but you'd think there would be at LEAST one three-round run in there. Why isn't there one?

I think Lou has earned the right to find the right formula, but if fans believe we need a change at the top, that doesn't make them fair-weathered.

As far as Lou being a top-2 GM in the NHL ... a lot of people would disagree, based on results.

[Triumph]

Come on, you're a fair-weather fan if you think the game has passed Lamoriello by? Yeah, we keep making the playoffs, but you'd think there would be at LEAST one three-round run in there. Why isn't there one?

I think Lou has earned the right to find the right formula, but if fans believe we need a change at the top, that doesn't make them fair-weathered.

As far as Lou being a top-2 GM in the NHL ... a lot of people would disagree, based on results.

the devils haven't had a top 10 draft pick in the NHL draft since 1996. they haven't had a pick higher than 10 since 1991. the only team with even remotely similar success are the red wings, and if nicklas lidstrom retires, they may well be entering a period like new jersey where they are making the playoffs but not going deep in them.

Edited by Triumph, 19 May 2010 - 03:54 PM.

[Jerrydevil]

the devils haven't had a top 10 draft pick in the NHL draft since 1996. they haven't had a pick higher than 10 since 1991. the only team with even remotely similar success are the red wings, and if nicklas lidstrom retires, they may well be entering a period like new jersey where they are making the playoffs but not going deep in them.

Why does that hurt us in the playoffs but not the regular season?

[Triumph]

Why does that hurt us in the playoffs but not the regular season?

the devils are excellent at 4 on 4 overtime and at the shootout. they are also great at drawing penalties relative to the number they take. brodeur playing a great deal of time has also helped. most of these things don't really matter in the playoffs.

they have gotten some pretty piss-poor luck in the playoffs, all things considered, but the playoffs are real short and a few bad bounces means you're out. they haven't vastly outplayed anyone in the last 3 years, but neither have they been vastly outplayed, either.

Edited by Triumph, 19 May 2010 - 03:59 PM.

[Devils731]

Why does that hurt us in the playoffs but not the regular season?

Because the playoffs have a lot of variance, due to smaller amount of games, while the regular seasons is a better representation of team quality, due to larger amount of games played.

Before 2000 Devils fans could of had a lot of the same talk. Devils had missed the playoffs the year after winning the cup and Lou had forgotten how to build teams that would win in the playoffs, regular season only wonders.

[Jerrydevil]

Because the playoffs have a lot of variance, due to smaller amount of games, while the regular seasons is a better representation of team quality, due to larger amount of games played.

I'm ready for some of that positive variance. I think we all are.

Or it could be that the team isn't "built for the playoffs," whatever that entails.

[Devils731]

I'm ready for some of that positive variance. I think we all are.

Or it could be that the team isn't "built for the playoffs," whatever that entails.

Sure, but I'm pointing out an example, every time between '95 and '00 where people could be saying the same exact things as now. A playoff miss and just absolutely dominant teams failing in the playoffs. In '99, people could have easily said Lou stunk and didn't know how to build teams for the playoffs, just look at the last 4 or 5 years.