munichdevil

Ilya Kovalchuk -------- 44 (+1)
Patrik Elias ------------ 37
Ryan Carter------------ 32
Andy Greene---------- 23
Steve Bernier---------- 22
Andrei Loktionov-------22
Adam Larsson--------- 21
Martin Brodeur-------- 17
Dainius Zubrus-------- 15
Adam Henrique-------- 14
Travis Zajac------------ 11
Mark Fayne------------ 8
David Clarkson-------- 7
Jacob Josefson------- 4 (-1)
Marek Zidlicky --------- 2

Eliminated!
Bryce Salvador
Anton Volchenkov
Krys Barch
Johan Hedberg
Harri Pesonen
Tom Kostopoulos
Steve Sullivan
Matt D'Agostini
Henrik Tallinder
Alexander Urbom
Alexei Ponikarovski
Peter Harrold
Stephen Gionta

Loktionov +1

Josefsson -1

Ilya Kovalchuk ----- 35
Patrik Elias------------- 34
Ryan Carter------------ 28
Andy Greene---------- 21

Andrei Loktionov-------21

Adam Larsson--------- 20
Steve Bernier---------- 19
Adam Henrique-------- 16
Martin Brodeur-------- 15
Dainius Zubrus-------- 14
Mark Fayne------------ 12
Travis Zajac -----------12
David Clarkson---------12
Stephen Gionta-------- 11
Jacob Josefson------- 7
Marek Zidlicky --------- 3 

Eliminated!

Bryce Salvador
Anton Volchenkov
Krys Barch
Johan Hedberg
Harri Pesonen
Tom Kostopoulos
Steve Sullivan
Matt D'Agostini
Henrik Tallinder
Alexander Urbom
Alexei Ponikarovski
Peter Harrold

The future looks bleak right now, but a lot can happen in one offseason.

Lou's a magician, he won't let this team go into the season next year like this.

I really don't think the future looks all that bleak. There will be a lot of movement during the summer, but Lou has to be willing to cut off deserving players. Actually, this summer is a great chance to change the look of the franchise big time. There is a lot of defensive talent in the system, not just in Albany, but also in juniors (Scarlett for example), and he should start dealing some of it for offense. Also, we probably will miss the Playoffs and draft high. This is a great draft. Maybe we can even trade up a little and get somebody real good. The core is not bad and I am confident Lou will change the face of the team and do it well. Heck, we're one year removed from the finals, it can't be all bad. 

They're paying the price for 20 years of top 10 finishes. They lost franchise players that can't just be replaced through free agency. Stevens, Niedermayer, Rafalski, Parise... these are guys you either draft early or get lucky in acquiring. 

 

I agree that last year's pick should have been forfeited but if Matteau can be another Zubrus, he will be very valuable to this team. Part of me thinks they kept the pick in hopes that Subban or Vasilevski would be around at 29th overall. 

Sure it's tough to have low draft picks year after year. No doubt you're losing out on the biggest talent that way. However, that is no excuse for handing out long term contracts to already old, slow defensemen or overpaying for Zajac. They NEED to buy out Volchenkov and Salvador in the summer. Of the UFAs, I would try to resign Elias, Zubrus and Clarkson only and let the others walk. Elias and Zubrus should get 2 years max, if they want more than that it has to be good bye. As for Clarkson, I would not overpay to keep him like we did with Zajac. There will be lots of FA available in the summer, we have to go shopping there. We need another goalie too. 

As my Buffalo fan friend told me tonight after I bitched about the Devils constantly losing, "maybe you guys just need to call up all your AHL players... seems to have worked for us."

For that to work you have to have some talent on the farm. We have no offensive talent in Albany other than maybe Joe Whitney, who is smaller than small. Hopefully Reid Boucher will develop into something useful. In any event, they should play Larsson every game. He needs games, he is the future. Play him.