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Hasan had a well thought out post on whether to Retool vs Rebuild Friday. He covered everything including whether it makes sense to keep the current Devil roster together. Personally, I think Lou has lost his mind. He thinks this roster is good enough but for what. Can a roster that relies heavily on vets and a some kids make the playoffs? It depends on Schneider and the health/production of Cammalleri, Henrique and Jagr. They need more from Elias and better consistency from Zajac. I don't get the ice-times for Gionta, Zubrus and the force feeding of Tootoo which is similar to Vigneault's fetish with Tanner Glass. These are role players. It's too bad about Clowe. He's basically done and should retire. He's a good player. Always been a fan of him but see it ending similar to Adam Deadmarsh. Another one of my faves. The only positive development is Severson, who's a stud. At the very least, they have a top pair defenseman who should be an All-Star. I don't see why the organization doesn't give Boucher a chance. Ditto Matteau. What is the plan? DeBoer isn't the right coach. He overplays Salvador and Zidlicky together. They are a disaster. You can't pair your 2 worst defenders. At least balance it out. Do they really miss Merrill that much? What's the plan with Larsson? You either play or trade him. He got 12 minutes. Final thing. You can't start Schneider every game. He's never even started 50. They should just give Kinkaid a game. Maybe tonight?

I've never spent any real time in Newark, but being from Trenton I am leery of the suburban crowed of naysayers of claim that all of Newark is a dump, all the people are sh!t, etc. Until about 6-7 years ago the crime in Trenton was never as bad as the reputation, but to hear peeps in the suburbs talk you would have been taking your life in your hands venturing too close to the city. I had friends who wouldn't come to my home even though there had been no violent crime in my neighborhood in years (decades?) whereas where they lived had recent murders. It didn't matter to them: they were told they were in a safe area and Trenton was dangerous. Eventually the reputation took its toll and has badly undermined the city, although Mack helped that along nicely. Now compare Trenton and Newark to Atlanta. If you go to Atlanta the city looks lovely, clean, etc. It looks much nicer than our dirty NJ cities. And yet the likelihood of having someone mug you, rape you, carjack you, or just shoot you are all MUCH higher. But I guess some people prefer to have pretty scenery while getting shot in the head. As for me, I'd rather be safe with grime than be a corpse somewhere that's all pertied up. It is just lipstick on a pig. That said, maybe if we changed our attitudes toward our cities here in NJ than maybe they'd become places of pride once again. Once upon a time Trenton Central HS was the best public HS in the nation. That's a laughable concept today. EDIT: as to. Those who feel that Newark, Trenton, and even Camden cannot come back I would say that this is entirely dependent on future events. For example, if the cost of gas were to rise suddenly, or mass transit become dominant, then I assure you the cities here would dominate again. The fact is we have adopted policies in the USA that destroys cities. We are one of the few nations that allow this to happen, but we do. However, times change. It may be ten years, it may be a century, but there will be a time when the pendulum swings again. And it will probably swing back as well. That's life. Owell, rant over, back to your regularly scheduled hockey....