Shanahan leaves Devils

[GA Devil]

I think I was the only person who wasn't happy Shanny came back. So while I hope nothing is wrong with his life that is forcing this I'm happy he won't be playing for the Devils this season.

+1

[Triumph]

It seems ESPN and TSN are saying that it was Shanahan's decision to leave the team but with the quotes from TG's blog, it sure looks like the Devils said there was no room...goodbye.

while both sides are doing the whole 'raymond shaw is the kindest, bravest, most honorable human being i've ever met' routine, it does appear that both sides decided to part ways. lemaire says it isn't fair to put shanahan on a 4th line.

Again who are the kids? Who is replacing Shanahan in the top 9. If it is Halischuk, why is he the extra skater in practice today and that's with Elias still out? The thing is when Elias is back...there is no room for Pikkarainen or Halischuk in the top 9 anyway.

ilkka pikkarainen was in that spot in the top 9 during today's practice. i suppose he may or may not qualify as a 'kid', but he's never played in an NHL game, that's indisputable. point is, bergfors is DEFINITELY on the power play now, which is a great sign, because he belongs there and shanahan did not. if a top 4 winger gets hurt, it'll probably be bergfors sliding up to take that spot, while halischuk takes bergfors's. it's pretty easy to see how this makes more room for young players.

[NYGDevils32]

To make it even worse... 2 days before the season. He is the opposite of Brett Favre.

[Devils Dose]

'rebuilding' is a silly word that i am not sure how it became popular in sports

I think that rebuilding is a perfectly valid term in sports, but I would also agree that not every team is required to go through rebuilding phases. I think of rebuilding as being one option when an average to above average team reaches a crossroads. They can either trade their young, talented, but unproven players for older, pricier, known major league performers (this is "going for it" or "mortgaging the future" depending on whether it works or not ). Or trade away their better, experienced players for more young guys and get those young guys the experience to win in two to three years (that's rebuilding). But any team that can keep its good players and only slowly replace the aging guys with rookies who then go and perform at a decent level need not rebuild or go for it (Red Wings). It applies better to baseball since teams can acquire as many expensive players as they want.

[losdiablos103]

Holy sh!t. Big shock. Thought he would have been a good player to have, but maybe Lou or Jaques has something in store? I really dont even know how to evaluate this.

[devilsadvoc8]

Blaming Lou and Lemaire is foolish until we understand how much of this was Shanny's decision.

As for the drop off in talent: be honest with yourself. Shanny is a good guy but really had very little left in the tank. I don't think this is a rebuilding move or a youth move. It is plain and simple a hockey move.

I wish him the best.

[iamtheprodigy]

To add my two cents on the "rebuilding" discussion... I think rebuilding should only refer to a team who is trying to get a core group of players. Like the Islanders, they're trying to build a core of players with Okposo, Tavares, Bailey, DiPietro (obviously that's not going so well, but you get my point), etc. Also, the Penguins did this, getting Crosby, Malkin, MA Fleury, etc. Sometimes teams don't refresh their core for a while and they get too old to be a true core anymore and you rebuild it with younger guys. The Devils are pretty good at seamlessly adding to the core while staying competitive with good D, like how Parise, Zajac, and possibly now Clarkson are going into the core of the team.

I'm not sure if any of this is making sense but it does in my head at least.

[DaneykoIsGod]

Judging by the quotes, it looks like Lemaire is pretty high on Pikkarainen and, to a slightly lesser extent, Halischuk. We all saw that Halischuk got a "real" number earlier this week. We shoulda seen the writing on the wall. Also, apparently Pikkarainen played extremely well in a preseason game when replacing Langs on ZZPops? Did anyone see this game? I only saw him once and he was far from impressive, but Jacques has a lot of faith in his ability when playing with skilled linemates. Kinda sounds like what everyone's been saying about Bergfors for years.

Anyway, this sounds like it opens the door for Pikka on the third line and for Halischuk to eat up some fourth line minutes and be an emergency top-nine guy if anyone else goes down.

Parise-Zajac-Langs

Rolston-Zubrus-Clarkson

Pikka-R. Nieds-Bergfors

Peters/Pando-Pelley-P3L/Halischuk

And with Elias back and everyone healthy:

Parise-Zajac-Langs

Rolston-Elias-Clarkson

Pikka-Zubrus-Bergfors

Peters/Pando-Pelley/R. Nieds-P3L/R. Nieds

Halischuk back to Lowell

If Pikka uses his body to protect the puck as well as Lemaire's quotes indicate, then that third line could be beastly along the halfboards. Switch Clarkson with Bergfors and that's a big line.

[Devil Dan 56]

I think people are being a little dramatic on this one. I love Shanny, great guy, hell of a shot. But if Jacques Lemaire and Lou Lamariello think Halischuk, Bergfors, and Pikkarainen are ready, then there ya go.

This was surely not an easy decision. Obviously, they gave him the whole pre-season to prove himself, but in that time, the kids proved themselves, too. Shanny can't do top 9 minutes, and they can't let him block kids who are ready to make the jump. Supposedly, it was a mutual decision.

Also, Lou singled out Zharkov as a guy who is close. Add Vasyunov who is probably a year off, plus Tedenby and Josefsen, and you can't blame Lou and Jacques for wanting Bergfors, Halischuk, Pikkarainen, etc, to get some experience. Otherwise, your looking at 6 or 7 rookies all trying to make the team at once. I think this was a long-term decision as much as it was a here-and-now one.

[mrthemike]

Ok, my first thought when I read this was...

Wow, we are finally going to rely on your youth movement instead of looking at the old geezers? This is great news! Finally! I am totally OK with this decision!

My second thought was...

Holy cow, I love my first thought!

Edited October 1, 2009 by mrthemike

[iamtheprodigy]

And with Elias back and everyone healthy:

Parise-Zajac-Langs

Rolston-Elias-Clarkson

Pikka-Zubrus-Bergfors

Peters/Pando-Pelley/R. Nieds-P3L/R. Nieds

Halischuk back to Lowell

If Pikka uses his body to protect the puck as well as Lemaire's quotes indicate, then that third line could be beastly along the halfboards. Switch Clarkson with Bergfors and that's a big line.

I think Clarkson should be switched with Bergfors anyway. If Bergfors continues to play like he did in the preseason, that second line could be a serious scoring threat once Elias is back and ready to go (they'll need to get some chemistry going but once they do, the potential is definitely there). Pikka/Zubrus/Clarkson also has the potential to be a really good line. Three big guys with some scoring touch, if they get chemistry going and charge the net, they could be a tough line to play against, provided they aren't stupid defensively. Then the fourth line could be Pelley, Peters, and Nieds, with Pando alternating with Peters (bring Peters in for the rough games). Unfortunately I don't think PL3 makes the team this year; there's just no room. Same with Halischuk, but he looks to be a good option to bring up in case of injury along with Zharkov if necessary.

[marty_is_better30]

i was really wanted hiim back but w/e hopefully he will get traded

[Middlesex]

I smell a Scott Niedermayer, Junior Seau situation? anyone else?

If not i would love to have him in the organization, brillant mind.

[nyrsuck26]

Shocked. Did not see this coming for a second. I thought he was gonna have a good season too.

[John Wensink]

Well I'm no Shanny fan at this age but now all you youth lovers are going to get to see how good or bad our farm really is.

I hope Lowell's talent is better than it looks from here, I think it may not be.

At least I'm interested in the regular season again.

[Par9]

Will miss him but a good move...we have our vets in Marty, Elias, Whitey, and Pando. Time will tell...

[sundstrom]

I read it. I just don't get what changed when Lou signed him. Does anyone think the top 9 changed? I mean we all knew Bergfors was in the top 9 all off-season.

Did Shanny have to go because Pikkarainen needs to be on the third line? I didn't see any games, but did Halischuck play so well that he was the reason? Right now in practice he is an extra skater, so it couldn't be him? I don't get who is even replacing Shanahan in the top 9 now?

i think neidermayer was the big change - that's what really pushed shannahan out of the top 9

In Practice today Bergfors was with Rollie and Zubrus. So my guess is:

Parise Zajac Langs

Rollie Zubrus Bergfors

Pando Rob Clarkson

With a forth line of (assuming)

Peters Pelley Halischuk(?)

But that doesn't make much sense. Why waste Halishcuk on the 4th line.

i think halischuk moves up to 3rd line and pando eventually makes his way to 4th line.

Also, apparently Pikkarainen played extremely well in a preseason game when replacing Langs on ZZPops? Did anyone see this game? I only saw him once and he was far from impressive, but Jacques has a lot of faith in his ability when playing with skilled linemates.

i saw the game - until he was put with zajac and parise, he was invisible. when he was with them, he wasn't totally god awful. i saw nothing in that game that would warrant this decision at this time. until elias returns, lines 2 and 3 are essentially equal and could get shuffled with 3 possible centers if you want to count rolston. pandolfo on the 3rd line over shannahan is a joke no matter the circumstance.

i'm not saying shannahan was the bees knees or anything, but until Elias returns, he was better than pandolfo.

as for taking bergfors PP time, that wasn't happening until Elias got back.

PP1 opening night:

Parise-Zajac-Clarkson-Langenbrunner-Martin

PP2 opening night

Bergfors-Zubrus-Shannahan-Murphy-Rolston (before today). Neither Halischuk nor Pikkareinen deserve Shannahan's spot there. So unless they put Mottau on the other point and move Rolston (which might not be so terrible actually - he's been brutally bad at the point since he's gotten here).

Shannahan isn't that great at all, but he WAS going to be top 9 until Elias got back.

[maxpower]

Dunno why you'd blame anyone for this. If you watched Shanny, especially in game 1, could you honestly not find grounds to cut him? His name was what was keeping him around. Yes, he can shoot the puck. The problem is that is all he can do. The system was friendlier to him last season, I thought he looked flat-out awful this preseason, and I am not a Lemaire fan by any stretch of the imagination, but at least he doesn't give a sh!t what other people think.

Good "cut". If he wants to come back and take the fourth line role that is below him, he can. If not, oh well.

This is very akin to Mogs. Mogs was more productive but had a sh!tty attitude because he was depressed about his condition. Shanny wasn't going to be productive but would have had a good attitude. But, they were both borderline crippled out there.

[theamazingtiny]

Shanahan didn't light up the scoreboard but he brought a lot of intangibles to the table. I hope the youth movement can make up in the scoresheet for what they will lack in intangibles.

[ClarkyDano23]

One thing's for sure, this makes Cangialosi's life a bit easier

[Steadevils]

This just raises another question to a team that is full of them..I can't remember the last time the Devils went in to a season with so many question marks...That being said never doubt the Devils, every preseason analysis the last 5 years= "every year I pick the devils to drop off and every year they surprise me..But in all honesty this is going to be the year"..

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist=The greatest trick the Devils ever pulled was convincing the analysts they wouldn't make the playoffs

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Bergfors is on the second line with Zubrus and Rolston.

[maxpower]

One thing's for sure, this makes Cangialosi's life a bit easier

not really, the man can't tell the difference between 18 and 19 even though he has the lines in front of him....

it'll probably get worse now.

"SHANAHAN!!!!!!! WAIT, I MEAN BERGFORS!!!!!!"

"nineteen"

"ZAJAC!!!!!"

[Par9]

Deep down we all knew this was going to happen, no way Shanny could play this long...sadly.

As far as our roster goes I don't think anyone should be making up possible ones cause the roster is set. I guarantee this is what we will look like.

Zach Parise Travis Zajac Jamie Lagenbrunner

Brian Rolston Dainus Zubrus David Clarkson/Nicklas Bergfors

Jay Pandolfo Rob Neidermeyer Nicklas Bergors/David Clarkson

Andrew Peters Rod Pelley P. Leblond/ Ikka Pikkaranien

I don't think Pando will last there but when Elias comes back.

Zach Parise Travis Zajac Jamie Lagenbrunner

Brian Rolston Patrick Elias Nicklas Bergfors/David Clarkson

Jay Pandolfo Dianus Zubrus Nicklas Bergfors/David Clarkson

Andrew Peters Rod Pelley Rob Neidermeyer

Then you have Pikky and PL3 but Neids is a fulltime roster player...we'll have to see what Lou does there.

Is our center problem solved and do we now have a left wing problem????

Anyway who agrees this is what we will look at.

[Toaster13]

Wow this is pretty surprising. I was expecting him to play on the 3rd line this season. I wonder how the lines are going to be like on Saturday and how things are going to change when Elias comes back from the IR.