The fact that we rarely sign the biggest UFA available is because: 1) Lou has a concept of building a TEAM and not just signing whoever is out there (like that guy across the river), 2) Even when trying to sign a UFA, Lou won't always give him the insane amount of money the guy commands.
I don't believe this "nobody wants to come to New Jersey" thing at all. It's about the money. If the GM doesn't offer you as much cash as the other one, you're not a charity - you'll probably take more money to play elsewhere. When he does offer big bucks (or at least something reasonable), players come - see: Volchenkov, Kovalchuk, Zubrus.
The history of players coming back only strengthens the point that this organisation is run in a very smart way - if it was awful here, players would only run away and never look back, definitely not coming back.
We are still one of the very few clubs that have made the playoffs in every single post-lockout season. I know we demand more, but the current season shows you just how little it takes for a team to completely fall apart. We lost a lot of good players in the last few years and yet we're still in the playoffs every time. Who else can say that about his team?....and hasn't made it past the second round of the playoffs SINCE that 2003 Cup Run.... if you want to be a hard-ass organization like this one IS, and you DON'T win....people are certainly NOT gonna wanna play there.....it's not that complex......
Edited by Revan, 25 February 2011 - 02:29 PM.
