devils102

Um... isn't Niedermayer a devil until the free agency period begins and its therefore illegal to contact him about contract negotiations. Also with no actual CBA officially in place yet that rumour has absolutely no chance of being true. Am I the only one whos nervous that Elias won't be back next year. If hes still recovering from hep. A and won't be back until december at least (last I heard, could be wrong about that) I wouln't be surprised if Lou buys him out and replaces him with someone who can play. Grim scenario, I would hate to see him go, but the devils will have so little salary cap space its hard to see them wasting it on a guy who may not be able to play next year...

Well done. Happy 4th

I'm sure he's not the only one thats frustrated... Still if he wants to blame anyone, blame his fellow players, their the ones who caved not Goodenow. Goodenow would hold out for ten years to get his way if he had to.

They didn't fire him because they felt Sutter did a poor job or anything. They hired a new general manager and he wanted to bring in his own people. Somewhat understandable, if not unfortunate for Sutter.

gilmour not a bad guess. ahgh, im obssessed with this post now. anybody got any defensemen that might be up there?

Turgeon? played for montreal, st. louis and dallas

Hmmmm.... Mario Gretzky Sakic Lindros Jagr Yserman Forsberg Fedorov Hull Claude Lemieux(wishful thinking, but it would be nice to see a devil up there)

I think Neely should be in, he defined the power forward position. That said it is shaky ground when you let a guy in on the basis of potential numbers he would have had if you pro rate his career. We've seen guys who have had great years in their careers but never really been able to sustain it. Lindros, Jagr and Yashin are examples of guys who were down right dominant in their prime but have slipped considerably. Maybe Neely would have ended up like that as well. As for Derek's nominee I dont think he deserves to be in, for the reasons already mentioned... character and playing in the eighties. Thats a pretty good list of potential hall of famers... The only one's I'd argue you on are Cujo and Turco. Oh ya, and where's Ronnie Francis?

Steve Simmons seems to be assuming that all these players are leaving their current teams to opt as free agents. There will be alot of free agents this year thats a given, but alot of those big names will resign with their clubs i'd wager. Ya derek i dont get that owen nolan thing either...

It would depend on who got my favorite Devils... Ugh, i prefer not to think about it though.

NO! Are you joking? Sammy Pahlson? Cmon, you dont have to like Madden but at least admit that he's good at his job. He's one of the best shutdown men in the league and can put up a consistent 40 points, and has been somewhat of an ironman over the years. Regardless he's loved by Burns and by Lou so he's not going anywhere.

Madden or Langenbrunner would both make great captains.

I guess we should change it to New Jersey Angels. First the big steroids hoopla now this... Don't politicians have anything better to do than harass sports teams?

Sorry Ice man, but check out the devils record last year before Stevens was injured and after. They were smoking for the first two months or so, but then cooled off considerably without Stevens. He's getting paid for more than his on ice production, he's also their heart and soul leader and without his intensity the Devils are a much different(and lesser) team. I just wish he could have returned last year for the playoffs, because with him in the lineup the Devils would have HANDLED the Flyers. As for Niedermayer, I think he's gone, and I think it will be because off bitter fealings toward Lou. Sad, but it may work out for the best. Nieds is NOT the future captain of this team. Don't get me wrong, he can be a great captain in the right environment, but taking out the fiery Stevens and replacing him with the mellow Niedermayer, too drastic a change. It didn't work last year and I can't see it working in the future. And what's with all this Rafalski talk? Is he a free agent already? Was his deal last year only a one year deal? As for the other questions, yes to pay cut to Friesen, no for Brodeur (he's already getting less than some of his callibre are) . I also wouldn't mind if Lou was able to lose Kozloz, I don't normally look book on Lou's deals with disgust but this guy was a disaster, and he'll never improve on a Pat Burns coached team. Whatever happens there will be alot of changes when the league comes back so, hopefully the Devils will come out on top.

Don't forget that Elias is likely to miss some time with Hep. A, and Gomez was injured in the ECHL if i'm not mistaken. With both those guys out, somebody, likely Parise, will get some shifts in the NHL. The D is gonna be kinda rough too. Stevens could retire and Niedermayer will likely leave via free agency. Theres no defenceman in Albany that I could see replacing those two. I'd expect Lou to sign a defenceman if need be.

I don't think this is worth getting that riled up for. I read on a TSN article that ESPN is more than likely going to come up with a new contract that costs less, so when its all said and done the NHL could still be on ESPN next year anyway. And for all those who are so sure that the NHL won't find a home on another network, who could have seen NBC picking them up when ABC(or whoever it was) dropped them. They'll always have someone that's willing to gamble on them.

Interesting.... I don't see any advantages or disadvantages to a blue ice surface. I can't see how it makes the puck any easier to see. But let them "experiment" if they must. I doubt this particular change will last very long.

Good, they could use the help

Having second thoughts Jeff? Can't blame him really, if I was him and had spent my entire tenure as an owner so far watching Bettman's posturing i would have doubts too.

To provide another answer to Don's "what if" scenario, a half-empty building in Florida with replacement players is still a HUGE victory for the owners. Replacement players will be dirt cheap, if there is no floor salary, owners could spend as little as 10mil per team. The tickets would cheaper but the owners would still bring in massive profits with the attendance you described. The only way that replacement players would fail is if the grames drew so few people that it is no longer profitable for the owners to keep doing it.(the more likely) I'd say Bettmans betting on scenario A while Goodenow is betting on scenario B. To me this lockout has been multi-billion dollar game of chicken, each side not believing the other will take the next step, and then when they do its kinda like "o s***, now what?" Hopefully they'll figure this out before replacement players become a factor.

Where is he going to go where he's not going to hear about this ever again? This was the biggest story in hockey last year. At least in Van. hes got a fairly supportive community and fan base behind him. Why leave just because naslunds leaving? Sure theyre close friends, but doesnt he have other friends on the team? Doesnt make much sence to me...

Wow, a former player makes a comment on the lockout thats not dripping with ego and doesnt contain the phrase " The players are in it for the money now." I actually agree with most of what he said.

After Stevens and niedermayer leave, the devs will also have an extra 14 mil to spend. I wouldnt be surprised if the devs decide to pocket it and try to actually break even, but if it comes down to it, dont be surprised if lou decides to spend some money and pick up a few quality players.

Good one Souray, Belarus, Hahahaha.... o wait... that sucked. Where were you during those Olympics by the way? Not playing. Salo's career may have taken a turn for the worse, but he's right. Souray would never have the balls to say something like that about a goalie during an NHL season. Just because you can beat up a bunch of guys in the Swedish "Elite" League doesn't make you tough Sheldon.

First it was Lou, then it was Mario and Gretzky, now Booby Clarke. The PA is just trying to get someone in there with some credibility amoungst the owners who will agree with them. Somehow I doubt even the daft Clarke is going to suddenly see things there way.