Rolston to NYI, Hunter to NJD

[devlman]

We'll sign parise for about 6 mill p/yr. Hes not on Stamkos' level at all.

Edited July 28, 2011 by devlman

[DevilinLA]

Also interesting:

TGfireandice Tom Gulitti

Lamoriello said the intention is for Trent Hunter to be on the Devils in 2011-12.

TGfireandice Tom Gulitti

Lamoriello praised Rolston for his character and the way he handled "a difficult situation" last season.

TGfireandice Tom Gulitti

Lamoriello would not discuss whether trade of Rolston was linked to re-signing Parise, but called trade "a business transaction."

[Neb00rs]

This is a really unfair comment. It's like buying a BMW 750 with engine problems that need to be repaired and saying the car is worthless. Parise was playing injured (he confirmed this). We had a lot of new players. MacLean was unsure how to run the team. It was just not a good situation.

Wow...worthless? I'm not saying we are not a whole lot better with Parise healthy this year...The only thing I'm saying Is I don't see us as a Cup contender. We weren't one last year Parise healthy or not. With a new coach this year and questions up and down the roster I just don't see us competing for the Cup. For the third time I have us as a playoff team. I hope I'm wrong about the Cup. I hope Larsson is a superstar and I hope Tallinder plays like Scott Niedermayer out there, I really do.

Edited July 28, 2011 by ben00rs

[devlman]

If any devils fan is not happy by this move than I really am forced to question your understanding of the NHL salary Cap era.

A week ago the majority here thought BR was umoveable.

Just goes to show you people will complain about anything.

[iamtheprodigy]

Very good question. I don't like that we traded Rolston, to have as you aptly worded it, "a bit more wiggle room" to get a deal done with Parise. Having Rolston on the roster if anything improves Lou's negotiating position, he can say 'we love you and we want you here for the rest of your career and we can do that at 7ish million. Now Parise's camp can say you have room to pay us 10 million, and the Devils would do it if thats the only way Parise will sign. In this scenario, we lost our wiggle room, and lost Rolston.

Summary - This scenario is my primary concern:

Parise may have signed for 7.5ish. Now that we have extra cap space he may demand that extra cap space. In the end, all we did was swap Rolston for Hunter and I prefer Rolston.

I can see the other side of the coin and there are excellent points all around. This is just where I stand.

Yeah, that's not how it works. Zach is a UFA next year and that means he has all the leverage. He can go to literally any team. You think he's going to just accept a deal at an amount lower than he wanted because that's all we had room for? That's delusional.

Put another way, our cap space has no effect whatsoever on Zach's salary demands. He and his agents will demand an amount that they think is fair based on other deals around the league, and they could care less if we have 4 mil in cap space or 10 mil. If we said something "Well all we have is 6 mil for you," they'd probably say "Cool, see you in arbitration". Then, he'd get a one-year throw away deal and mull over his 25+ offers from other teams next July 1st.

[Scoopscj]

I see some speculation on this trade and ideas and opinions about making the playoffs and or making a cup run... What I do know from experience is that you never know. You just don't.

In football, in 1990 the NY Giants had a lot of question marks.. yet... they played great and won the SB. Same in 2007. Who thought Eli would lead them to the promised land at the start of the year? Not me that's for sure.

When Gomez and Madden were rookies and we won in 2000 against Dallas us fans didn't think those rookies would really step up and play off the charts. They did and that was a huge difference.

This year we will have Parise, and Kovy. That alone will make us competitive. Add a better coach than Johnny Mac and Jocob Josepheson and Teddy with more seasoning is a good start. I think we still have some question marks but I think this team has a legit shot at making a cup run if our youngsters make some improvements and our coach isn't a complete idiot.

Hate seeing a good character guy like Rollie go, but it had to be done.

Scoops

[NJDevs4978]

Good news shedding salary! And trent hunter is a decent player, too.

No way Parise is getting 9 mill a year. who would want that to happen?

Was a decent player...five-seven years ago. Then again if Rolston was the player he was five-seven years ago this trade probably doesn't happen. It's mostly a cap dump, which is fine. The fact that Hunter plays RW makes it better if he somehow stays healthy and turns back the clock, but it's not really a deal that helps us on the ice per se.

And I don't know why Tri's on this 5-45 kick with Zach either, it really doesn't serve either side to sign that deal. Zach would be leaving money on the table he could get with a longer-term contract and that cap hit would get us right back in the cap mess we got out of with this deal.

Edited July 28, 2011 by NJDevs4978

[Quinn01]

I see some speculation on this trade and ideas and opinions about making the playoffs and or making a cup run... What I do know from experience is that you never know. You just don't.

In football, in 1990 the NY Giants had a lot of question marks.. yet... they played great and won the SB. Same in 2007. Who thought Eli would lead them to the promised land at the start of the year? Not me that's for sure.

When Gomez and Madden were rookies and we won in 2000 against Dallas us fans didn't think those rookies would really step up and play off the charts. They did and that was a huge difference.

This year we will have Parise, and Kovy. That alone will make us competitive. Add a better coach than Johnny Mac and Jocob Josepheson and Teddy with more seasoning is a good start. I think we still have some question marks but I think this team has a legit shot at making a cup run if our youngsters make some improvements and our coach isn't a complete idiot.

Hate seeing a good character guy like Rollie go, but it had to be done.

Scoops

Very well said.

[DevsMan84]

Good trade IMO. Nice to see we are in a better position to sign Parise.

And about next year, all I know is that I don't know sh!t how we are going to do next year as it hasnt even happened or started yet. Let's just hope for the best and leave it at that lol.

[NJDevs4978]

I guess I'm still holding out hope that one day a light bulb will pop over his head and he'll suddenly get it.

To be fair vis-a-vis Manta, the Devils haven't exactly done anything that would get him off his kick - since we've been basically a .500 team from the Kovy acquisition on. Now I, and most people agree with you that last year's first half was a one-off and the team should return to about a 100-point level this year but until they do Manta's whining is fair game unfortunately.

Of course if the Devils did get 100 points and lose in the first round, Manta would ***** about that as if it were Kovy's fault, never mind that's what we were doing for five years before he ever got here

[StormJosh]

Yeah, that's not how it works. Zach is a UFA next year and that means he has all the leverage. He can go to literally any team. You think he's going to just accept a deal at an amount lower than he wanted because that's all we had room for? That's delusional.

Put another way, our cap space has no effect whatsoever on Zach's salary demands. He and his agents will demand an amount that they think is fair based on other deals around the league, and they could care less if we have 4 mil in cap space or 10 mil. If we said something "Well all we have is 6 mil for you," they'd probably say "Cool, see you in arbitration". Then, he'd get a one-year throw away deal and mull over his 25+ offers from other teams next July 1st.

It's not delusional at all. Zach has leverage, but not all the leverage. He was in a position where he can take a GOOD (read: 7.5ish) deal now and lock it in or take a CHANCE on the next CBA. He could get an EXCELLENT (read 8,9,10 million) deal next season or have the same chance at getting a BAD deal if the CBA doesn't go the players way. I'm willing to bet both sides would have agreed that taking the GOOD deal is not a bad approach.

His agents can demand all they want. The arbitrator will side somewhere in the middle, Zach will be UFA next season, and depending on the CBA he could win or lose.

Edit: Now I feel that he will certainly win with whatever demands he/his agents make and the Devils won't be a better team having Parise locked in at 10 million as opposed to locking him in at 7 million or whatever the numbers come down to be. This trade was DEFINITELY a win for Parise, but I don't know yet if it is a win for the Devils.

Edited July 28, 2011 by StormJosh

[Triumph]

Was a decent player...five-seven years ago. Then again if Rolston was the player he was five-seven years ago this trade probably doesn't happen. It's mostly a cap dump, which is fine. The fact that Hunter plays RW makes it better if he somehow stays healthy and turns back the clock, but it's not really a deal that helps us on the ice per se.

And I don't know why Tri's on this 5-45 kick with Zach either, it really doesn't serve either side to sign that deal. Zach would be leaving money on the table he could get with a longer-term contract and that cap hit would get us right back in the cap mess we got out of with this deal.

like i said, everyone underestimates the risks involved with super long term deals, from both sides. the player risks becoming an untradeable albatross, or risks becoming a cap casualty when his level of play no longer matches his cap hit. the team is taking a chance that the player won't become injury-prone or won't turn into a pumpkin. there's already two of these deals that have gone sour, the hossa deal doesn't look great, the kovalchuk deal is like a lock to blow up, and having two is a bad idea. 10 years is the maximum i would sign parise for.

[NJDevs4978]

like i said, everyone underestimates the risks involved with super long term deals, from both sides. the player risks becoming an untradeable albatross, or risks becoming a cap casualty when his level of play no longer matches his cap hit. the team is taking a chance that the player won't become injury-prone or won't turn into a pumpkin. there's already two of these deals that have gone sour, the hossa deal doesn't look great, the kovalchuk deal is like a lock to blow up, and having two is a bad idea. 10 years is the maximum i would sign parise for.

At this point 10-80 would be fine with me. I was hoping for between a 7-7.5 million cap hit but now that we have basically ten million in space (including Salvador being out one way or another) theoretically we can go a bit above that now.

[iamtheprodigy]

It's not delusional at all. Zach has leverage, but not all the leverage. He was in a position where he can take a GOOD (read: 7.5ish) deal now and lock it in or take a CHANCE on the next CBA. He could get an EXCELLENT (read 8,9,10 million) deal next season or have the same chance at getting a BAD deal if the CBA doesn't go the players way. I'm willing to bet both sides would have agreed that taking the GOOD deal is not a bad approach.

His agents can demand all they want. The arbitrator will side somewhere in the middle, Zach will be UFA next season, and depending on the CBA he could win or lose.

Edit: Now I feel that he will certainly win with whatever demands he/his agents make and the Devils won't be a better team having Parise locked in at 10 million as opposed to locking him in at 7 million or whatever the numbers come down to be. This trade was DEFINITELY a win for Parise, but I don't know yet if it is a win for the Devils.

The CBA doesn't expire until next September, months after free agent frenzy. Zach will be signed before then so it has no effect on his contract.

[StormJosh]

The CBA doesn't expire until next September, months after free agent frenzy. Zach will be signed before then so it has no effect on his contract.

Good point. Though it will still certainly have an effect. Which way I don't know, but owners/players will know what kind of battle they are heading into before that.

[Devil Fan]

We robbed the Isles and NYI made another bad trade.

[DaneykoIsGod]

The only way this trade isn't fantastic news is if the ownership issues have the team on a self-imposed cap for budget purposes, and the salary dumped goes toward that and not toward Parise.

That said, I friggin love it! I like the free salary and I like Hunter.

I also have to tip my cap to Rolston. He stayed classy through everything. The guy will probably be more productive if he gets a top-6 role on the Isle. Best of luck to him.

[NJDevs4978]

The CBA doesn't expire until next September, months after free agent frenzy. Zach will be signed before then so it has no effect on his contract.

That's if they haven't agreed to a new CBA by then which I guess is a safe assumption cause every labor negotiaton in every sport seems to go down to the wire at least.

The only way this trade isn't fantastic news is if the ownership issues have the team on a self-imposed cap for budget purposes, and the salary dumped goes toward that and not toward Parise.

That said, I friggin love it! I like the free salary and I like Hunter.

I also have to tip my cap to Rolston. He stayed classy through everything. The guy will probably be more productive if he gets a top-6 role on the Isle. Best of luck to him.

Agreed, I do admit being paranoid enough to think after we did this deal well maybe we needed the room if Parise does go to arbitration and gets a figure we don't like.

We robbed the Isles and NYI made another bad trade.

I don't know how it's a bad trade for them, given they get the better, healthier player and actually need his salary to hit the floor for next year since people don't want their money. By the same token it's a fine deal for us cause we needed the financial flexibility if not for Zach per se then possibly to do other things. Plus Hunter's a RW which gives us another option there.

Edited July 28, 2011 by NJDevs4978

[iamtheprodigy]

When I asked Lamoriello how Hunter can help the Devils, he replied, “He has size and strength and we’ll leave it at that.”

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but Lou doesn't seem all that thrilled about Hunter. I think there's a decent chance he gets bought out.

Edited July 28, 2011 by iamtheprodigy

[Blown01NJ]

How anyone could NOT like this trade is beyond me. Obviously Rolston was done after this year, but the whole point is if we cant lock up Parise long term NOW we will have issues.

Awesome trade. Lou is god again.

If any devils fan is not happy by this move than I really am forced to question your understanding of the NHL salary Cap era.

A week ago the majority here thought BR was umoveable.

Now here are the benefits of this move:

1.) Roster space for younger players

2.) A $3M savings

3.) The option of burying Hunter for a $5M savings THIS year - a move to AHL - either way FLEXIBILITY.

4.) The potential that Hunter lives up to his contract and provides any minimal RW support and grittiness.

5.) A change in attitude that the Ol' Devils Vet Club (Arnott, Langs, Rolston, etc.) days are indeed done. With the exception of those who have a shot at rafter-hanging aka (Elias, Brodeur)

This $$$ can be spent elsewhere.

All of these things can equate to:

1.) ZP retention

2.) Potential additions (however unlikely)

3.) Youth and energy

Even those folk who enjoy taking shots at LL can at least admit he cleaned up his mess.

Lastly, if you thought we were a lock for a "contendor" this year, and the loss of Rolston makes you question that - I can't help you. At the very least this allows us to keep Parise and IF we get close to looking dangerous add at the deadline.

/thread

[Quinn01]

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but Lou doesn't seem all that thrilled about Hunter. I think there's a decent chance he gets bought out.

I think its because at this point Lou was looking to dump Rolly to anyone he could and this is what he was offered and he said OK!

[Triumph]

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but Lou doesn't seem all that thrilled about Hunter. I think there's a decent chance he gets bought out.

that was my thought as well. i mean, what an odd thing to say - lou seems like an awfully prickly pear today.

[NJDevs4978]

Maybe I'm reading into it too much but Lou doesn't seem all that thrilled about Hunter. I think there's a decent chance he gets bought out.

lol that sounded like his description of Fraser. He was more complimentary of Korolyuk when we got him

[Devils731]

Maybe Lou already has an idea he can flip Hunter so doesn't want to talk up too much on what he'll do for the Devils.

[mmajeski06]

Then again, Lou is pretty tough to read. I guess we'll find out soon enough. Though I thought I saw a tweet from TG where Lous said he expects Hunter to be on the Devils roster in 2011.