GDT: New Jersey Devils @ New York Rangers 7pm

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I've been reluctant to post this because Chico has told me a lot of stuff that's yet to happen (ownership was supposed to be settled by April, Lou was supposed to be let go shortly thereafter) so I didn't want to look like a dope posting the Parise stuff but well, there you have it.

Quoting someone else doesn't make you a dope. It definitely makes for interesting (disturbing?) discussion.

Another from 9/8/2011 (NHL.com)

http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=2484

"We talked about both," Parise said of discussing short- and long-term deals. "Without getting into too much detail with respect to everyone involved, we came down to that and that made the most sense. We said it right after we signed it, that we were going to keep talking. It's not as if we're not going to talk until next June 30. We'll keep going and keep working on it."

Parise said despite the rumors that he wants to test free agency, he likes playing for and living in New Jersey and would like to stick around.

"I know people's initial reactions are, 'Oh, it's one year and get out of there.' But that's not how it went down, that's not how it worked out. We'll keep trying to figure it out."

Edited September 22, 2011 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Jerzey]

"We talked about both," Parise said of discussing short- and long-term deals. "Without getting into too much detail with respect to everyone involved, we came down to that and that made the most sense. We said it right after we signed it, that we were going to keep talking. It's not as if we're not going to talk until next June 30. We'll keep going and keep working on it."

Parise said despite the rumors that he wants to test free agency, he likes playing for and living in New Jersey and would like to stick around.

"I know people's initial reactions are, 'Oh, it's one year and get out of there.' But that's not how it went down, that's not how it worked out. We'll keep trying to figure it out."

The problem with this statement is that the one year deal doesn't make any sense at all for the Devils. It only makes sense for Zach.

[mrthemike]

The problem with this statement is that the one year deal doesn't make any sense at all for the Devils. It only makes sense for Zach.

It might make sense for the Devils. Doesn't a ton of $ come off the books next year?

Edited September 22, 2011 by mrthemike

[Triumph]

It might make sense for the Devils. Doesn't a ton of $ come off the books next year?

Yes, although with the White buyout and Rolston trade, there's much less $ coming off the books. Still, there's plenty to fit Zach in, but the Devils are not going to give him the best offer he'll get.

[njdevsftw]

If that truly IS his attitude he can let the door hit him in the ass on the way out.

If this is true than maybe ZP has been drinking the Gomez Kool Aid.

Agreed. If being the "main attraction" is more important to him then winning cups I hope he's outta here sooner rather then later. That said, I think Zack wants to both stay with the Devils AND win cups. I think he will resign after new years with a cap hit similar to Kovys.

[mrthemike]

Yes, although with the White buyout and Rolston trade, there's much less $ coming off the books. Still, there's plenty to fit Zach in, but the Devils are not going to give him the best offer he'll get.

Right, and that's when we'll see what motivates Zach...I don't believe that he's written the Devils off completely.

[Jerzey]

It might make sense for the Devils. Doesn't a ton of $ come off the books next year?

We still could have given him what he wants this year without having to risk him hitting UFA next year. A couple of more moves might have had to been made, but it was doable. We still have a few million left to spend this year, don't we?

Edit - Still have over 5 million in free space with Parise signed to 6 million. We easily could have signed him to what he's looking for this year.

Edited September 22, 2011 by Jerzey Devil

[Derlique]

if he makes it to july 1st, we're done. unfortunately, its the brutal truth

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

I think this camp has some interesting battles that are clear as day.

Steve Bernier vs Nick Palmieri : We know a healthy Bernier will give you 30 points, create space, some PK'ing and physical play. The question soon becomes, can the 22 year old Palmieri provide 35-40 points, create space with less physical play and no PK'ing. Game 1 goes to Steve Bernier who had a strong 3rd period being shifted from wing to wing.

Anton Stralman vs Adam Larsson vs Peter Harrold : This battle was won very quickly by Larsson so it now becomes...

Anton Stralman vs Mark Fayne : Larsson loses one battle and picks another. One of these defensmen should play with Volchenkov to keep him on his stronger left side. Fayne just needs to look somewhat comparable to last season's Fayne in order to beat Stralman. So Stralman moves on to..

Anton Stralman vs Matt Taormina : Injuries happen, especially on a team with Volchenkov and now Salvador. Stralman had an excellent first game trying to work himself into the top 6. Taormina loses a lot of his value due to a double RH point PP. Stralman with secondary PP minutes on the 3rd pair should contribute 20-25 points while Taormina would do the same. It would be interesting if Kovalchuk loses some PP time with the amount of offense we have from the back end now.

Adam Henrique vs Petr Sykora : While it looks like Sykora is leading here to the average fan his defense is well below standards. It all comes down to Henrique's ability to break even in the 3rd line role. DeBoer is trying him a lot with Tedenby and Zubrus...that looks 3rd line to me.

Rod Pelley vs Vladimir Zharkov vs Brad Mills vs Steve Gionta vs scrubs : It seems Zharkov has the easiest go trying to make the Devils RW 4th line. Bernier or Palmieri won't play 4th line so his only competition seems to be Gionta. On the left side things become more interesting. Pelley is fighting for the split position with Boulton and fighting for that spot is also Veilleux and Mills. I think Pelley wins this battle.

In my head this is how the roster will look.

Parise - Elias - Bernier

Kovalchuk - Josefson - Clarkson

Tedenby - Henrique - Zubrus

Boulton/Pelley - Steckel - Zharkov

Tallinder - Larsson

Volchenkov - Fayne

Salvador - Greene

Taormina, Fraser

Brodeur

Hedberg

I went with 8 defensmen because we have youth and injury prone players on the back end. For the most part I don't see many up front who battle injuries.

Edited September 22, 2011 by Jas0nMacIsaac

[Triumph]

jason: that post is excellent, and should probably be its own thread, honestly.

i think with kovalchuk, we'll see if he's given the full 2 minutes. if not, they could use taormina when kovalchuk comes out. i'd like to see more of what we saw last night - the umbrella power play with kovalchuk sliding between the left point and left boards, with the opportunity to sneak in down low if the opportunity arises. it was much harder to do that with rolston back there because rolston is a left handed shot, so kovalchuk had to stay up high.

i wonder if this is why zajac had the highest S/60 ON on the devils' PP - when he was at the point, better things were happening.

Edited September 22, 2011 by Triumph

[skeeter]

I knew this would open up a huge can of worms. I don't fault anyone for not believing me but this is what I was told. Another thing Zach did say was that he will absolutely give his all this season (why wouldn't he?).

Chico isn't very fond of Lou at all, and when he broke everything down to me, I grew a lot less fond of him as well. As we are slowly starting to see, all isn't well in Devil-land, and A LOT of this is Lou's doing, even things we're blaming ownership for. He literally spoke to me for two hours and had an awful lot to say about the last few seasons. One story he told me was that one day during practice Zach was doing all sorts of amazing tricks with the puck, stuff we see Crosby and Ovechkin doing in commercials, etc. Chico and Lou are there watching it, along with the MSG+ crew. Chico says to the director "hey you really ought to film this! This is great!" Lou turns to him and says "Are you out of your fvcking mind? If you film that, then every team sees this and sees what he can do!" Don't mind the fact that the visiting team coaches are in the building at the time watching Zach do all of this...

Anyway, Vanderbeek WANTS to promote the players, make them available to fans, and let the fans get to know them better, but we all know how Lou feels about this. Vanderbeek is not happy at all with how Lou runs things, how he's spent a ton of money since the lockout with no results, paying a bunch of guys in the organization to do absolutely nothing ("special assignments" or office staff that has been there since the beginning of time that do nothing), how he insisted on owning our minor league clubs (now coming to an end), and even botching the Kovy fiasco. Vanderbeek may have given that deal his blessing but Lou is the one that ultimately submitted it. That wasn't the first time he's screwed up the salary cap, something he's apparently an expert in. Basically the gist of all this is that things have gone stale and a new set of eyes and a fresh perspective is needed. Who that is, I have no idea and Chico didn't either, or he didn't want to say.

Another thing he told me, the only reason Jacques agreed to come back last season was if Lou would stay out of his business. Notice how much the line juggling from years past came to an end and how Moose kept starting games even when Marty was healthy?

Ok enough typing, but here's a thought...if given the choice of Lou or Parise going, what would your choice be?

[Triumph]

I think Lou's out this year anyway, I had the same information from a different source that Lou was not going to be here at the end of last year. And while Lou does have his odd ways - the Devils have a ton of scouts, which can't make Vanderbeek that happy, he and his scouts still set this team up to have an excellent future, with or without Parise.

I'm also not buying that Lou was behind the line-juggling in 09-10, because Sutter in 08-09 basically did no line juggling.

[Jerzey]

I started watching the Devils around the same time Lou came on board.

I'd honestly be okay with Lou moving on, as big of a fan as I am. I kind of like where the team is going with an offensive system and players. I think Vanderbeek has a lot to do with that, especially the Kovy signing.

If Zach wants out, I'm okay with that too. I'd just rather get something in return for him before he just leaves as a UFA, whether that be at the beginning of the season or at the deadline. I just think we'd get a bigger return for him now and it wouldn't make much sense to trade him if we're playoff bound.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Skeet, I wasn't trying to imply that I didn't believe you. What would be the point of you lying? I was just pointing out that Zach is saying very different things publicly (as should probably be expected, really).

I do know that Chico has been down on Lou...he really ripped the Zubrus signing when I spoke to him, among other moves that Lou had made. I remember being very surprised that he would be so open about that.

[skeeter]

Skeet, I wasn't trying to imply that I didn't believe you. What would be the point of you lying? I was just pointing out that Zach is saying very different things publicly (as should probably be expected, really).

I do know that Chico has been down on Lou...he really ripped the Zubrus signing when I spoke to him, among other moves that Lou had made. I remember being very surprised that he would be so open about that.

Yeah get him away from the cameras and the microphones and it's like a totally different person! Just shows the restraints they have on them on TV. I jokingly asked him if he wanted to be the GM and got a very loud NOOOOOOOO! He's a wealth of knowledge, it's just a shame it doesn't come off that way on TV. As for anyone thinking I'm lying, that's just the old nj.com user in me, not believing anything I read on a forum.

God, when I think about all the things he told me, you could easily fill a book. As time passes, and if things play out the way he said they would, I'll post more of his stories. They sure are a lot better than the ones in his book.

[Devilsfan118]

Well it seriously sounds like I need to track Chico down at one of these games and be enlightened as to what's actually going on in the organization...

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Letting Parise go would be a disaster, not only from the perspective of the fans, and as a legitimate face of the organisation post Brodeur. But mainly what sort of message does that send to the team in terms of ambition? I just don’t think you can afford to let your best players walk, otherwise you end up becoming Atlanta.

If you are looking to implement a more offensively minded, progressive system then you do not get rid of the player that personifies that style of hockey. I don’t think its any coincidence that Lou has appointed a coach with that philosophy .

I perosnally would be livid if we lost Zach.

[Derlique]

I knew this would open up a huge can of worms. I don't fault anyone for not believing me but this is what I was told. Another thing Zach did say was that he will absolutely give his all this season (why wouldn't he?).

Chico isn't very fond of Lou at all, and when he broke everything down to me, I grew a lot less fond of him as well. As we are slowly starting to see, all isn't well in Devil-land, and A LOT of this is Lou's doing, even things we're blaming ownership for. He literally spoke to me for two hours and had an awful lot to say about the last few seasons. One story he told me was that one day during practice Zach was doing all sorts of amazing tricks with the puck, stuff we see Crosby and Ovechkin doing in commercials, etc. Chico and Lou are there watching it, along with the MSG+ crew. Chico says to the director "hey you really ought to film this! This is great!" Lou turns to him and says "Are you out of your fvcking mind? If you film that, then every team sees this and sees what he can do!" Don't mind the fact that the visiting team coaches are in the building at the time watching Zach do all of this...

Anyway, Vanderbeek WANTS to promote the players, make them available to fans, and let the fans get to know them better, but we all know how Lou feels about this. Vanderbeek is not happy at all with how Lou runs things, how he's spent a ton of money since the lockout with no results, paying a bunch of guys in the organization to do absolutely nothing ("special assignments" or office staff that has been there since the beginning of time that do nothing), how he insisted on owning our minor league clubs (now coming to an end), and even botching the Kovy fiasco. Vanderbeek may have given that deal his blessing but Lou is the one that ultimately submitted it. That wasn't the first time he's screwed up the salary cap, something he's apparently an expert in. Basically the gist of all this is that things have gone stale and a new set of eyes and a fresh perspective is needed. Who that is, I have no idea and Chico didn't either, or he didn't want to say.

Another thing he told me, the only reason Jacques agreed to come back last season was if Lou would stay out of his business. Notice how much the line juggling from years past came to an end and how Moose kept starting games even when Marty was healthy?

Ok enough typing, but here's a thought...if given the choice of Lou or Parise going, what would your choice be?

Good stuff man. There are a few things that caught my eye

I find it hard to believe that something so trivial (performing tricks with the puck) caused so much controversy. These guys are NHL pros, most of these guys possess skills that a lot of us dont even know. It could be true though, because Zach has continually talks about how important it is to promote the game through players. For God sakes he just got finished two straight days at the NHL media tour. Now is the time to market our stars and Lou better realize that. Aside from Elias, we've never had individual talent like Kovalchuk and Parise, so why isnt Lou taking advantage of it?

With the Brodeur thing, iirc, Brodeur was the one that gave the games to Hedberg so he could work on his game. Unless Lou force fed that comment down Marty's throat, I dont think he would say that.

[mrthemike]

Letting Parise go would be a disaster, not only from the perspective of the fans, and as a legitimate face of the organisation post Brodeur. But mainly what sort of message does that send to the team in terms of ambition? I just don’t think you can afford to let your best players walk, otherwise you end up becoming Atlanta.

If you are looking to implement a more offensively minded, progressive system then you do not get rid of the player that personifies that style of hockey. I don’t think its any coincidence that Lou has appointed a coach with that philosophy .

I perosnally would be livid if we lost Zach.

Meh, depends on what we get in return tbh.

[Derlique]

Meh, depends on what we get in return tbh.

he's not getting traded. although I'd like to get something if we do have to cut the cord

[devlman]

Look, we all know Chico does some sort of illicit narcotic. So, keep that in mind when listening to him.

[Devil Dan 56]

he's not getting traded. although I'd like to get something if we do have to cut the cord

Knowing Lou, you're right. He will let it to July 1st instead of trading him at the deadline and cutting losses. Lou likes to run things his way and with an iron fist. I'm getting the unsettling feeling everyone who says the game has passed him by is right. Makes me wonder if Vanderbeek pulls the plug if he gets his full ownership.

[Derlique]

Knowing Lou, you're right. He will let it to July 1st instead of trading him at the deadline and cutting losses. Lou likes to run things his way and with an iron fist. I'm getting the unsettling feeling everyone who says the game has passed him by is right. Makes me wonder if Vanderbeek pulls the plug if he gets his full ownership.

The only way I see it happening is if we have absolutely no chance. It's gonna be the same situation as Gomez, keep him for a potential playoff run, knowing you're gonna lose him (if he truly wants out). That would create a huge hole in our top 6

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

The only way I see it happening is if we have absolutely no chance. It's gonna be the same situation as Gomez, keep him for a potential playoff run, knowing you're gonna lose him (if he truly wants out). That would create a huge hole in our top 6

Yeah, if they're looking good and playing well, kinda hard to trade him...and as we saw with Kovy, the return tends to be pretty "meh" on these things.

[NJDevs4978]

With the Brodeur thing, iirc, Brodeur was the one that gave the games to Hedberg so he could work on his game. Unless Lou force fed that comment down Marty's throat, I dont think he would say that.

You're thinking of two different stretches, when Marty 'gave' games to Hedberg it was mid-January, but he started to play better after that before getting hurt again. When he got healthy Hedberg kept playing, that's what the poster was referring to.

I really can't reconcile the Chico described in this thread with the one on TV...man, it's almost like multiple personality disorder. The only time I ever remember him being remotely critical of anyone on TV (besides the refs) is when Kovy was coasting in Atlanta

You guys really are depressing me with the rumors and stuff, but I think if Zach's unhappy here it's simplistic to say it's 'just' about Kovy or the contract. I mean he's a competitor and we haven't won jack since he's joined the team. Hearing about team sacrifice gets old when there's no real success to back it up. And as much as I detested Langs at the end, he was a big influence on Zach in the first few years of his career and seeing him and others (Pando, White, Rolston, Martin, etc) get unceremoniously dumped probably has soured him on the organization a bit personally too. Not to mention we know for a fact he's not thrilled with the coaching carousel or the non-Sutter systems.

Edited September 22, 2011 by NJDevs4978