Tsn Says Nieuwy To Leafs!!!

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

yeah nine years recapping... 200 plus games in person not to mention all

13 playoff home games.. and if there was anything I learned in all the years

of goalie abuse I've suffered it's goal talent .. but hey...at least he didn't

say I was a Marlins fan

I'd say more but he's prlly too busy reading my recaps page anyway

Chrstian Berglund in my semi-qualifed opinon is the worst prospect we've

let hit the NHL ice since Kevin Dean.. and all I said about Foster is he looked

and moved like Scott Gomez in last year's camp.. the last guy who caught

my eye like that was that lil known Rafalski guy.. but hey.. I'll end it now

and let my track record speak volumes on itself

but next time you want me to play another sport... make it football please

baseball is as dry as your comebacks

The last person I watched that looked like foster was a window, the guy will break after a couple hits, unless he dranks 10000 gallons of Milk this off season I don't think he will ever stay healthy. I agree he has amazing talent, looks alot like JR when I seen him play, I also heard comparisions to Weight but the point is he is injury prone.

I wacth 40 CHL games a year, a ton of minor hockey too, I know a great amount of hockey, have been following it since 5. I also get perspectives on our players from fans of other teams, a great way to see true value and skills of your own players without a biast thought.

Berglund has actually went backwords in development since he got to NJ, he got bigger, stronger but he is losing his offensive skills. I think he needs a chance to play on an offensive line. We never really gave him a true shot.

Pihlman and Suglobov for some reason get absolutly no respect on these boards, these guys are great prospects that should be given every oportunity to play and make the team. It seems some fans don't ven know who they are.

[Elias Sports Bureau]

Pihlman and Suglobov for some reason get absolutly no respect on these boards, these guys are great prospects that should be given every oportunity to play and make the team. It seems some fans don't ven know who they are.

Well most of us haven't gotten the chance to see these guys. So we put the faith in the Devils' staff, who certainly know when someone's ready a lot better than we do.

So if they make the team, they're worthy of making the team in my book. I can't have a bias against someone I haven't seen much of.

What we would have said about Madden? Dude was undrafted. We wouldn't have expected anything close to the player we got.

So we wait and watch. And hope there are more Maddens, Stevenses, Langenbrunners, Eliases, Martys and the like out there. Cause we'll need them within a few years.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

You have no stats to prove Elias and Gomez were good together. They were almost outscored by players on the 2nd and 3rd lines throughout the regular season. Last time I checked the first line was suppost to bring alot more offense then 2nd liners.

Also Gomez shouldn't be even playing center, the guy plays better on the right side, it has been said hundreds of times. He is too small to be a center and he is horrible on faceoffs. Maybe if Guolla and Rupp step up as 4th adn 2nd line centers Gomez can play the right side.

Well, they weren't outscored by the other players on the other lines, though. So there's a stat right there. They both spent a great deal of the year being switched around, with all kinds of players -- a lot of them fourth liners.

Elias was the top point getter in the Finals. Gomez was involved in I think all but one of these points. That's pretty critical to us getting the Cup. But both their productions went down because Burns' system was even more defensively oriented than the defensive system that went before.

I don't know if we'll get to see Marshall with them this year. But if we did, I would expect the point totals for both of them to go up. I don't think they'll be career highs, but yes, I'd think they'd be better.

If Larionov is true, well that could signal a change, and a breakup of that line. Maybe Friesen and Gomez would get another go, who knows what lurks in the mind of Burns.

Well Gomez playing right is a totally different kettle of fish. He seems to have a mind-set against it. He played pretty poorly when not playing center last year, but I think he was left wing instead of right for that time.

He did, also a problem with Gomez and Elias is the same problem Gomez had with Friesen, Gomez likes to take the puck up the left side making Elias become useless. It happened with Friesen at the start of the year, Lou actually picked that out.

For some reason I can't picture Larionov on the top line. The problem with NJ is we have 2nd line centers, and two 3rd line centers. We don't have a clear cut #1 center. We should have one out of Foster, Vrana, Khomutov, and Parise. Parise IMO is better then Gomez right now, kindoff a scary but good thought.

[CRASHER]

yeah training camp is non-contact... I don't miss all too often on seeing things

in players.. I also am assuming he will fill out as most draftees do (still was

waiting on JF Damphousse to fill out.. he was a RAIL when drafted !) and you

never know what a good conditioning coach can do

.. it's also really tough to say 'well this guy was awesome in the minors

so he will do well in the NHL'... doesn't always work.. and not to mention this

whole Devils team is built on CHEMISTRY.. the one thing no stat sheet will

ever tell you.. case in point.. Elias and Gomez.. no chemistry.. Elias Gomez

and Marshall (who can do the down low cycle game Elias thrives in)

chemistry

ditto Pandolfo and Madden, etc.. Id still give Foster a better chance of being

a legit player then say Rupp

[Elias Sports Bureau]

For some reason I can't picture Larionov on the top line. The problem with NJ is we have 2nd line centers, and two 3rd line centers. We don't have a clear cut #1 center. We should have one out of Foster, Vrana, Khomutov, and Parise. Parise IMO is better then Gomez right now, kindoff a scary but good thought.

We don't have a lot of clear-cut first liners. We have one actually. One seriously needs help to get his job done and is not like one of those do-it-yourself guys (which is good, cause in today's NHL they're not faring too well).

We'll see if Burns sees what I did in the Elias-Gomez-Marshall line and tries Larionov with Friesen-Langenbrunner (or Gionta) first. He could want to give Gomez and Friesen another go. Friesen did some serious growing last year, those kind of intangibles could make a pairing go like gangbusters this year. Also Langenbrunner, will Burns put him with Madden, or put him with the second line, or even the first line cause he does have some measure of chemistry with Elias, or mix it up like he did last year.

It'll be interesting. I'm still taken aback by Larionov.

Parise I don't think we'll see full time for a couple of years. But he seems like a textbook Devil and it's def. something to look forward to.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

I hate Rupp, I would trade him while ppl think he is good, the guy is 6`5 and Gionta plays tougher then him, almost a full foot in the difference. Watch out for Kadeikin, I think he will have Burns sctaching his head whether to keep him or not. The guy is a rock on the point, hits like a F250, and has a rocket shot (doesn't use it enough).

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

I don't know what Parise can work on, I seen him at the WJC and he was complete as they come, could be the next Modano (smaller)

[Elias Sports Bureau]

I don't know what Parise can work on, I seen him at the WJC and he was complete as they come, could be the next Modano (smaller)

I guess he's just gonna stay in school for a while. Not a bad idea.

It was pretty exciting when the Devs traded up for him at the draft, you kinda got the sense of there being something bout this kid.

I look forward to getting to see him... whenever that is.

[rbdf]

wow, did this topic ever go off topic.

Jas, just a short bit of advice, try not to jump on people personally here, nobody likes a bully, you know. Everyone has their opinion, everyone has their own reasons for it, whether it's one game they've seen or 1,000, be it pro, amateur, high school whatever. And you don't have to have been a player to understand or be a scholar of the game, let alone have an opinion of it.

O.K., that being said, you seem to have a great deal of knowledge on the prospects coming around, and I'm sure a lot of people here who don't have that knowledge would love to know your opinions of these guys. Typically, here in NJ, we don't see or hear too much about guys playing in europe, russia, quebec juniors, the O, etc. So feel free to fill us in and get us up to date.

Lastly, be a little more consistent in your posts. I'm confused by the way you jump around. Do you like foster, do you think that 40 or 50 games in the A will help him eventually make it to the NHL, or is he injury prone and unable to endure the A?

I'm not picking a fight or anything, just a little friendly criticism with the hopes that maybe everyone just got a little emotional here today, and we can move forward and gleen information, opinions and differing perspectives from one another.

Now, can we get back to the original "nieuwee to leafs, ouch" topic, please.

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

I don't think Foster will stay healthy for the first 40 games, that being said, if he does play 40 fairly healthy then its worth while giving him a shot. Only if he stays healthy for the first half of the AHL year.

[rbdf]

foster hasn't played a full season anywhere since he was 15 I think, the scouts see something special in him, that's why upon drafting him, lou put him under the care of the devils doctors and training staff and only let him play a handful of games at the end of the season in juniors. They further coddled him last year after repairing a different rib muscle or whatever, and only let him play a handful of the final rats games. I don't think, with the time and effort they've given him thus far, that you'll see them rush to put him in the NHL lineup. He'll do a full season in albany, regardless of how well he performs. 82 games is a long time, especially when your season high was like 20 in the last 3 or 4 years.

[NJDevs4978]

Pardon my whining, but THIS ISN'T FAIRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         

You know what, Ineed to stop having favorite players on this team, because the second I declare someone my favorite, they seem to be on their way out! UGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!

*sigh*

Good luck in Toronto, Joe. (pains me to say it)

I was thinking of you last night too, in addition to our Dallas converts.

Oh well, at least he can get his ring same night the rest of the Devils get theirs.

(I don't know whether to laugh, roll my eyes, or puke at the above sentence )

[NJDevs4978]

Wow did this thread blow up in the last fifty posts

First off, I agree leave the Gomez-Elias-Marshall line alone for now. Maybe they didn't set the world on fire statwise but they definitely showed chemistry and improvement late in the year and in the playoffs. No maybe Marshall isn't a first line winger on a normal team but this isn't a normal team. This team actually looks at things such as intangibles instead of a stat sheet. I want the best playmaking center with the best scorer, and it's nice to have a physical presence that can score a little with both of them. Surely that all has some logic to it, right? You can't always blindly put your best three scoring players on the first line and your next three best on the second line, hockey doesn't work that way.

Second off, who cares how much or how little hockey someone watches; that doesn't exactly equal knowledge. Triumph for one, doesn't get to watch many games because of where he lives, yet he seems one of the most knowledgeable ones here. Conversely though people should respect each other's opinions no matter how much or how little hockey they watch unless they're just saying things to stir up the pot for their own ego.