Let's come up with better ways to spend $8.4 million

[devilsrule33]

yeah basically all these things plus once again metallidevils you are talking like new jersey lost the series which they haven't. lou can't plan for rolston's high ankle sprain - it's a fluke injury, there's absolutely nothing to suggest in rolston's previous 3 seasons that this would be his performance.

Sure...but do you actually think that at 37 years old next year he'll have that much better of a year? Maybe he scores 22-25 goals?

The guy is not very good. Bottom line. He has not had a single moment this year where I thought this guy could be worth the money or worth half that for that matter. His decision making is awful. It's been covered enough, but tonight his decisions on that power play were laughable. He passed on about 5 slap shots and finally took an awful wrist shot.

But I am tired of ripping into Rolston. Tonight was way more than that. They have looked awful defensively the last few games. Brodeur won them a game two nights ago, but tonight it was just too much. Jay Pandolfo is awful. They have been riding Parise's coattails for so long now. Live by Parise...die by Parise.

I was debating watching game 7 or not, but TSN is showing the Rangers-Caps game so in a way I am relieved. I just don't enjoy watching this team right now. I dont have a good feeling going into game 7. Hopefully they prove me wrong.

[metallidevils]

Again, what amazes me is that we got to this point (50+ wins) at all. I look up and down the lineup, and pretty much the way that the team has played this series is how I expected the team to play all along. Outside of Parise, I really feel like everyone overachieved this season and gave us the illusion that we were better than we were, and didn't pick up anything at the trade deadline, and now everyone is coming back down to earth.

We had 5 players with more than 40 points, on a 51 win team. It just doesn't make sense.

Edited April 27, 2009 by metallidevils

[maxpower]

Unfortunately this is the truth. Our play has degenerated so much over the course of this series that any chance we had at winning the cup has seemed to disappear.

the Rangers falling apart closed one of the doors, too, that somehow they fluke out two round wins and you draw a weaker opponent in Round 3,

while keeping home ice for the conference playoffs. They will be on the road for the next two rounds, minimum.

Edited April 27, 2009 by maxpower

[devils26]

Again, what amazes me is that we got to this point (50+ wins) at all. I look up and down the lineup, and pretty much the way that the team has played this series is how I expected the team to play all along. Outside of Parise, I really feel like everyone overachieved this season and gave us the illusion that we were better than we were, and didn't pick up anything at the trade deadline, and now everyone is coming back down to earth.

During the regular season, Elias made the second line at least a threat. That gave us two solid scoring lines, and coupled with an overachieving defense, gave us 50+ wins. Now, the defense is playing much worse than it should be, and Elias is playing like he's had a Hepatitis relapse. This gives us a sh!tty D and one scoring line, and with Parise being put on the milk carton in game 6, gave us no scoring lines. The result is tonight's game.

Edited April 27, 2009 by devils26

[metallidevils]

Also, I will admit that Zubrus played hard. He usually does. I'm not attributing his awfulness to a lack of effort, he's just not a gifted hockey player.

[halfsharkalligatorhalfman]

the Rangers falling apart closed one of the doors, too, that somehow they fluke out two round wins and you draw a weaker opponent in Round 3,

while keeping home ice for the conference playoffs. They will be on the road for the next two rounds, minimum.

I'd much rather play the Caps and then the Winner of Boston/Pitt

than

Play the Penguins and probably end up playing the Bruins.

[maxpower]

I'd much rather play the Caps and then the Winner of Boston/Pitt

than

Play the Penguins and probably end up playing the Bruins.

I'd rather keep home ice for as long as possible and hope for a positive draw down the road. Up until a couple of days ago, I thought the Rangers had a snowball's chance in hell of getting through 2 rounds on goaltending alone. I don't think that anymore. Even if they win Tuesday, they will probably get destroyed by Boston, who I wouldn't be surprised if they play 8 games to get to the third round if they draw the Rangers.

Washington? Get back to me when Madden and Pando are chasing around AO and Backstrom. If you want an idea of what might happen, watch the first game against Ottawa from a couple of years back as the Spezza line violates them, helps them up, and then violates them again.

Marty will have to be REALLY good because Washington swarms.

[devils26]

the Rangers falling apart closed one of the doors, too, that somehow they fluke out two round wins and you draw a weaker opponent in Round 3,

while keeping home ice for the conference playoffs. They will be on the road for the next two rounds, minimum.

I see what you're saying but I don't think the Rangers and the Devils would win the first two rounds. In all likelihood, the Rangers would just change our potential second round opponent from the Pens to the Caps, and we'd still run into the Bruins. With the way things have gone this series, Canes-Caps/Pens-Bruins-Wings does not give me much hope.

[mikeford]

8,400,000,000 Taco Bell tacos

[devils26]

8,400,000,000 Taco Bell tacos

That means a taco is a tenth of a cent.

[theamazingtiny]

Give that money to Scott Gomez so we could have a legit 2nd line center.

I threw up in my mouth.

[mikeford]

That means a taco is a tenth of a cent.

eh, im drunk. my math skills lack when drunk.

[sundstrom]

I think at this point, they have lost. It's just a matter to who. Win Game 7. Get Washington or Pittsburgh. If you somehow win that, get Pittsburgh or Boston. If you somehow win that, a decent likelyhood you're playing the Wings.

respectfully, this is one of the dumbest things i've ever read (not the first part - that's fine if you want to believe that).

if the devils win tuesday, then "somehow" win the next series, then "somehow" win the ECF, and then get to the "likelyhood" of the wings, they will most CERTAINLY have been playing well to do so. you don't luck your way to the SCF when you're playing good teams. carolina '06 is referred to as the argument to my statement but that's because its the ONLY time something like that has happened. it is astoronomically difficult to have the odds go in your favor like they did for carolina to get every correct matchup at the exact time to play the teams they did - and then still get ridiculous luck along the way with bounces.

look, lou-speek aside, if the devils make it to the SCF and get smoked by detroit (or anyone else for that matter), I'll consider the season a tremendous success. should they lose on tuesday, i'll just call it an "acceptable success" because of the things that happened direction wise for this team. of course, eulogizing this team is ridiculously premature. we've got at least another 12-14 days to worry about that.

[devils26]

eh, im drunk. my math skills lack when drunk.

I know what you mean. I was just messing around. It took all of my willpower to stay sober after tonight's piece of sh!t game.

[sundstrom]

zubrus is fine and is not the reason we are where we are. who are you honestly replacing him with? who were the devils signing (that was going to sign with them)? who were they trading for (and with what).

guess what kids - elias had an EXCELLENT season this year after two lackluster ones. guess who was his center? YES that has something to do with it. and if gionta had played this year like he has the last 2 weeks, that line would've been even better.

zubrus is not the problem.

if you want to really know what seperates a team like the wings from a team like the devils, look at jasonmacissac's mantra which ^7^ took up tonight. HOCKEY SENSE. the devils just seem to have too many key players that have little to none. if you want to fault zubrus, this is about the only thing (along with a consistent ability to finish) that you can get the guy on. but he's far from alone on the devils. if you want an obvious example, look at everyone's favorite (and trust me, i think he's very good) paul martin. end of game 4 - fall on the fvcking puck. instead, weak backhand to the point. tonight on goal 2. catch a puck at the blue line and drop it to your stick with two canes on you?! dummy - bat it out of the air into the neutral zone. its things like these that win and lose hockey games.

[Devils Pride 26]

I'd love to throw some of that at Ohlund this summer. Dang

[devilsrule33]

look, lou-speek aside, if the devils make it to the SCF and get smoked by detroit (or anyone else for that matter), I'll consider the season a tremendous success. should they lose on tuesday, i'll just call it an "acceptable success" because of the things that happened direction wise for this team. of course, eulogizing this team is ridiculously premature. we've got at least another 12-14 days to worry about that.

How can you call it an "acceptable success." A loss Tuesday is the end of a complete waste of a season. 5 weeks ago after Brodeur broke the record, people were figuring out where in Newark they'd have the parade route. Everyone was talking about feeling something special about this team and how the Devils could easily handle Boston.

The team collapsed down the stretch for whatever reason, and the team we are seeing now is a complete 180 of anything we have seen this season.

[sundstrom]

How can you call it an "acceptable success." A loss Tuesday is the end of a complete waste of a season. 5 weeks ago after Brodeur broke the record, people were figuring out where in Newark they'd have the parade route. Everyone was talking about feeling something special about this team and how the Devils could easily handle Boston.

The team collapsed down the stretch for whatever reason, and the team we are seeing now is a complete 180 of anything we have seen this season.

the team collapsed for no other reason than that was the time that their swoon showed up. name me a team this year that didn't have that kind of period in their season?

i agree that this was a year that lou was planning for a deep cup run. and yes, when things were running high and the devils blew out anyone that got in their way, i had that feeling.

but then reality hit me when the playoffs started and i remembered that once you're in the tournament, just about anything can happen. its rare that things like boston-montreal happen and wings-CBJ where from the drop of the puck, one team had absolutely no shot.

for those that say regular seasons mean nothing, well then its a tough sh!t world because only one team wins it all at the end of each year. that means the ratio of total success to anything else is a pinprick to a GD truckload.

this team is not a 180 from the team we saw all season. in fact, its the EXACT team we saw all season. one where, once every 6 games, they just don't have their legs and nothing goes right. but for the other 5, they are one of the better teams in hockey.

whats different is that the opponent every night is a good and motivated team. during the season, you get that combination of opponent 25% of the time.

[devilsrule33]

the team collapsed for no other reason than that was the time that their swoon showed up. name me a team this year that didn't have that kind of period in their season?

i agree that this was a year that lou was planning for a deep cup run. and yes, when things were running high and the devils blew out anyone that got in their way, i had that feeling.

but then reality hit me when the playoffs started and i remembered that once you're in the tournament, just about anything can happen. its rare that things like boston-montreal happen and wings-CBJ where from the drop of the puck, one team had absolutely no shot.

for those that say regular seasons mean nothing, well then its a tough sh!t world because only one team wins it all at the end of each year. that means the ratio of total success to anything else is a pinprick to a GD truckload.

this team is not a 180 from the team we saw all season. in fact, its the EXACT team we saw all season. one where, once every 6 games, they just don't have their legs and nothing goes right. but for the other 5, they are one of the better teams in hockey.

whats different is that the opponent every night is a good and motivated team. during the season, you get that combination of opponent 25% of the time.

See I'm not one who says the Devils must win a cup every year, but the team has been awful in the playoffs since 2003. The Devils haven't seen past a 5th game in the second round once. And for a team that prides itself on winning...that just isn't good enough. This team has so much work to do, and it's a shame there isn't much in the minors because I'd love to see a team just full of kids playing, which is the opposite now there are only 3 forwards in their 20s.

It's just hard to even think of the future when your team is your team. Rolston, Zubrus, Pandolfo for a few years to come. And speaking of Zubrus. I remember right after he signed, Pierre McGuire was going crazy talking about how ridiculous it was to give this guy 6 years and 21 million. He was calling it one of the most shocking contracts coming from a GM like Lou. I just blew those comments off, but boy was he right.

[Kulags]

oh this one's easy. buy 8.4 million quick picks for this tuesday's mega millions drawing. last i checked it was at like $181 million.

[sundstrom]

It's just hard to even think of the future when your team is your team. Rolston, Zubrus, Pandolfo for a few years to come.

depending on how this offseason goes and next year's start, i think pando's getting bought out or traded to a team that needs "leadership" (read: needs to hit the cap floor).

this team will have some serious turnover:

gionta

madden

shannahan

rupp

holik

oduya

havelid

greene

weekes

that's 8 of 23 guys that likely will NOT be on this team next year. in truth, 2 will probably be (oduya and greene are my bets). but that's a huge percentage that's going to need to be filled with new guys. bergfors is going to get his shot for sure. so will corrente or another defenseman. capwise, the devils have no choice but to let at least one of these cheaper guys come in.

and as for your wish for a lot of kids - if the devils try to replace everyone above with bergfors, halischuk, cormier, corrente, eckford and vrana - well they just won't be that good.

Edited April 27, 2009 by sundstrom

[devilsrule33]

depending on how this offseason goes and next year's start, i think pando's getting bought out or traded to a team that needs "leadership" (read: needs to hit the cap floor).

this team will have some serious turnover:

gionta

madden

shannahan

rupp

holik

oduya

havelid

greene

weekes

that's 8 of 23 guys that likely will NOT be on this team next year. in truth, 2 will probably be (oduya and greene are my bets). but that's a huge percentage that's going to need to be filled with new guys. bergfors is going to get his shot for sure. so will corrente or another defenseman. capwise, the devils have no choice but to let at least one of these cheaper guys come in.

and as for your wish for a lot of kids - if the devils try to replace everyone above with bergfors, halischuk, cormier, corrente, eckford and vrana - well they just won't be that good.

Oh I agree. It just beats watching Pandolfo, Zubrus and Rolston.

[njmar]

depending on how this offseason goes and next year's start, i think pando's getting bought out or traded to a team that needs "leadership" (read: needs to hit the cap floor).

this team will have some serious turnover:

gionta

madden

shannahan

rupp

holik

oduya

havelid

greene

weekes

that's 8 of 23 guys that likely will NOT be on this team next year. in truth, 2 will probably be (oduya and greene are my bets). but that's a huge percentage that's going to need to be filled with new guys. bergfors is going to get his shot for sure. so will corrente or another defenseman. capwise, the devils have no choice but to let at least one of these cheaper guys come in.

and as for your wish for a lot of kids - if the devils try to replace everyone above with bergfors, halischuk, cormier, corrente, eckford and vrana - well they just won't be that good.

I agree with that too. And it will take more than a season, but it can be done. 'Hawks are a good example of a young team finally coming into their own.

[Beezer34]

Zubrus, I remember right after he signed, Pierre McGuire was going crazy talking about how ridiculous it was to give this guy 6 years and 21 million. He was calling it one of the most shocking contracts coming from a GM like Lou. I just blew those comments off, but boy was he right.

As bad as that contract is (and it's a disaster) the Rolston contract is worse. When you look at the money Zubrus will be making in his final year -vs- Rolston's (and then take age into account) it's asinine. But they're both justifiable in the long run, because after all... they were pursued by many teams!!! We won the prize! and in the end, they have to play... By any means necessary! -The Rangers have been using this approach for how long now? It's paid off in spades for them hasn't it?

[El Diablo]

At the end of the day lou made these deals to guide us thru the post season -- rolston, holik, havelid --- massive FAIL again

(shanny gets a pass)