Pro-valchuk or No-valchuk?

[CarpathianForest]

6 games into the season and this team will finish last in the league but the Leafs will win the Stanley Cup against the Dallas Stars because they are both still undefeated. Go Leafs!!!!!

[Mitico12]

We're seeing an awful lot of cliffjumping for this point in the season so I just thought now would be an interesting time to see where people stack up on this summer's most talked-about acquisition.

Mind you, I'm of the opinion that Mr. Parise has not been pulling his weight either thus far this season. Since game 1 he's been all but invisible in my opinion. But I'm decidedly Pro-valchuk because in my opinion he's been making just about any line he's been on dangerous.

Kovy is good. It's the elements around him that aren't so good.

[CarpathianForest]

I'm telling you, ship Kovy back to Atlanta for Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien

[eaglejelly]

Kovy not the problem here.

Soft defensive play in our end....that's where I would start!

But Kovy is one of the reasons we have a soft defense. You can’t act like they are not related.

[TravisZajac19]

WOWSERS my first post! Wish it was to say that the Devils were on top.

Devils management is to blame for the contract although I think he would be far better off somewhere else. Kovy's contract will forever effect the team and has done so already. People can blame other player's contracts, but management gave him what he wanted knowing full well where the team was with cap space.

Kovy lacks intensity and is easily frustrated (let's not forgot he's dropped the gloves twice in less than 45 games to fight and what would've happened had he broken his hand?). I saw him whinning to the referees in a preseasong game about Avery. The Devils don't need this guy.

If you don't think it is time to panic, you might be right. Last year the Hurricanes lost their first six games were never able to really recover despite some decent streaks. The Devils season might be in the same situation. Although we can say one game doesn't count ask the Rangers about one game last year and playing the Flyers. Ranger lose and they are off getting tee-times versus the Flyers who moved on should've beaten the Hawks.

Kovalchuk has scored and does lead the team, but I expect more from a guy who is making this much money. He got the money so start scoring and really making things happens. Anyone who blames the defense and goaltending alone should take a look at the scoring. Scoring chances don't put numbers in the win column unless you score. A crossbar or post doesn't count.

[overtime98]

Kovy is good. It's the elements around him that aren't so good.

Kovy is good. but Parise is good. Elais is good. Zajac is good. Arnott is good.

Its a team game. Win as a team lose as a team. No one gets a free "excuse" when we lose games

[Elias26]

The guys just have to pull it together. I think they will be fine.

[MantaRay]

Based on what Kovy's presence has done to the team, not just 6 games but going back to last February, I would say this trade is the end of the Devils era as a playoff contender.

This a fractured group of individual forwards with an incredibly weak defense and a world class goalie who will have to do more to keep us in games this year.

It is hard to watch them because they lack to coherency of years past. This acquisition has really damaged us for the next three years.

We are going to resemble more along the line of Tampa and Atlanta in terms of having top heavy salaries upfront and average defensemen and rookies in front of Marty.

Alot of growing pains and soul searching trying to find a new identity.

I am not even going to mention the fines, good young players, prospects, draft picks and current Devil players sacrificed for this mistake of signing Kovalchuk.

[CarpathianForest]

Based on what Kovy's presence has done to the team, not just 6 games but going back to last February, I would say this trade is the end of the Devils era as a playoff contender.

This a fractured group of individual forwards with an incredibly weak defense and a world class goalie who will have to do more to keep us in games this year.

It is hard to watch them because they lack to coherency of years past. This acquisition has really damaged us for the next three years.

We are going to resemble more along the line of Tampa and Atlanta in terms of having top heavy salaries upfront and average defensemen and rookies in front of Marty.

Alot of growing pains and soul searching trying to find a new identity.

I am not even going to mention the fines, good young players, prospects, draft picks and current Devil players sacrificed for this mistake of signing Kovalchuk.

Do you ever have anything, in the least bit, good to say about the Devils?

[Quinn01]

Its to early to tell this soon in, however, he does make a few dumb mistakes a game (doesnt pass when he should, when he does sometimes they are crap passes).

Saying hes on the top of the point list for the team isnt saying much.....the devils arent scoring enough.

Ill save my vote for another month.

[MantaRay]

Do you ever have anything, in the least bit, good to say about the Devils?

Yes, constantly over the past 10 years, I was told I was too optimistic, but unfortunately, there is not much good to talk about right now.

[Marshall]

He is under contract for 15 years. He has played 0.00487% of those years...excluding potential playoff games. I find it somewhat premature to pass any form of judgment, but let's say Pro-valchuk until proven a bust.

Edited October 18, 2010 by Marshall

[Maddog]

But Kovy is one of the reasons we have a soft defense. You can’t act like they are not related.

Alright so I guess what you a trying to say is since we signed Kovy we couldn't sign anyone to bolster our defense?

[TravisZajac19]

Based on what Kovy's presence has done to the team, not just 6 games but going back to last February, I would say this trade is the end of the Devils era as a playoff contender.

This a fractured group of individual forwards with an incredibly weak defense and a world class goalie who will have to do more to keep us in games this year.

It is hard to watch them because they lack to coherency of years past. This acquisition has really damaged us for the next three years.

We are going to resemble more along the line of Tampa and Atlanta in terms of having top heavy salaries upfront and average defensemen and rookies in front of Marty.

Alot of growing pains and soul searching trying to find a new identity.

I am not even going to mention the fines, good young players, prospects, draft picks and current Devil players sacrificed for this mistake of signing Kovalchuk.

I don't think I could agree more. The Devils still haven't made the decision of who is going to have to sacrificed to the wolves because of all the injuries. We are still dealing with the deal because it isn't complete.

Is there a Anti-'Chuk Army? We need a cool flag too!

[CarpathianForest]

Man if we didn't sign Kovy we could have signed Keith, Seabrook, Doughty, Pronger, Hamhuis, Kaberle, Marc Staal, Nik Kronwall, Brian Rafalski, Dan Boyle, Ryan Suter, Shea Weber, wait....most of those guys weren't available?

Where does this idea come from that we could have bolstered our defense if we didn't sign Kovy? By resigning Martin to a contract worth more that 5 mil to get him to stay in a place he didn't want to be in? I don't understand how if we had the money we would have been able to sign any above average d-man we wanted. There was like 5 or 6 guys available this summer and everyone was gunning for them. There's no guarantee that if we had the money we would have ended up with a Dan Hamhuis or Tomas Kaberle. So we wouldn't have signed Kovy and had cap space but do you guys remember 07-08? Vitaly Vishnevsky and Karel Rachunek. They weren't exactly top-tier d-men. We did, however, sign Anton Volchenkov, one of the best defensive d men in the league, and Henrik Tallinder, who, in my opinion, has at the very least made our d a bit more offensive minded. He may not be a Kaberle or Duncan Keith but at least he tries to jump up into the play when he sees an opportunity.

I mean it's all well and good to complain but the folks on here complaining never seem to bring up any realistic alternatives. This isn't a fantasy league where you draft whomever you want each season.

Edited October 18, 2010 by CarpathianForest

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

Based on what Kovy's presence has done to the team, not just 6 games but going back to last February, I would say this trade is the end of the Devils era as a playoff contender.

This a fractured group of individual forwards with an incredibly weak defense and a world class goalie who will have to do more to keep us in games this year.

It is hard to watch them because they lack to coherency of years past. This acquisition has really damaged us for the next three years.

We are going to resemble more along the line of Tampa and Atlanta in terms of having top heavy salaries upfront and average defensemen and rookies in front of Marty.

Alot of growing pains and soul searching trying to find a new identity.

I am not even going to mention the fines, good young players, prospects, draft picks and current Devil players sacrificed for this mistake of signing Kovalchuk.

Although Manta is way OTT and probably way to pesemistic, there is an element of truth in there.

The team has been fragmented since the signing. But it can, and hopefully will be fixed.

The annoying thing is that although the injurues have helped in the fact we can dress a full roster of players, it has just delayed the inevitable moves that lou is going to have to make to get this team ballanced and give JMac a full team to work with.

Lines don't form chemistry unless there is consitence, and the lines wont be consistant untill JMac knows what he will be working with.

[CarpathianForest]

So when Salvy is available to play do we drop him or Zubrus? Zubrus is excellent but Salvador still has some talent left in him and that being said if our defense is so porous should we keep him that way we'll have three pretty decent stay at home defenders.

Fact of the matter is is that this offseason was uncharacteristic of the Devils. Usually the team just loses one or two guys here and there over the offseason and we sign someone to plug in here or there. It was a total shakeup this summer. Kovy(although he did play last season), Arnott, Volchenkov, Tallinder, Hedberg, a few rookie callups, a rookie NHL Headcoach, a new assistant coach in Adam Oates. In Devils terms that's practically blowing up the team.

[Risky]

this is a cup year people who believe this is a transition year are totally lost.

Says the guy with a whopping 240 hours of posting experience.

We have a new coach who has never coached in the NHL, a salary cap debacle, and 4 new defensive starters. This is a transitional year. "Transitional" doesn't mean "15th Place," it means that the Devils are making a transition from one era to another.

If you don't believe that, you're more clueless than Dr. Van Nostrom.

[Derlique]

Based on what Kovy's presence has done to the team, not just 6 games but going back to last February, I would say this trade is the end of the Devils era as a playoff contender.

This a fractured group of individual forwards with an incredibly weak defense and a world class goalie who will have to do more to keep us in games this year.

It is hard to watch them because they lack to coherency of years past. This acquisition has really damaged us for the next three years.

We are going to resemble more along the line of Tampa and Atlanta in terms of having top heavy salaries upfront and average defensemen and rookies in front of Marty.

Alot of growing pains and soul searching trying to find a new identity.

I am not even going to mention the fines, good young players, prospects, draft picks and current Devil players sacrificed for this mistake of signing Kovalchuk.

maybe one thing you may seem to forget is why the devils traded for kovy in the first place. can you remember that they were struggling since NEW YEARS, not the trade

[CarpathianForest]

Well, one thing's for sure: if this is a transitional year this will truly separate the bandwagoners from the die hard fans. "And yea when MantaRay is asked he will deny his allegiance for the New Jersey Devils three times."

[RowdyFan42]

Based on what Kovy's presence has done to the team, not just 6 games but going back to last February, I would say this trade is the end of the Devils era as a playoff contender.

This a fractured group of individual forwards with an incredibly weak defense and a world class goalie who will have to do more to keep us in games this year.

It is hard to watch them because they lack to coherency of years past. This acquisition has really damaged us for the next three years.

We are going to resemble more along the line of Tampa and Atlanta in terms of having top heavy salaries upfront and average defensemen and rookies in front of Marty.

Alot of growing pains and soul searching trying to find a new identity.

I am not even going to mention the fines, good young players, prospects, draft picks and current Devil players sacrificed for this mistake of signing Kovalchuk.

Waaah waaah waaah, more "Kovy killed the Devils" crap from Manta. I'm starting to think he ran over your dog or something.

One could just as easily argue every single one of your points had the Devils never traded for Kovalchuk nor signed him during the offseason. This team's been in decline for a couple seasons now, Kovalchuk has nothing to do with it. Brodeur's too fatheaded to recognize that he's on the tail end of his career and he needs to play fewer games, and no one's got the balls to force the issue, not even Lou. The defense, once the envy of the league, has been in shambles ever since Rafalski left, maybe even before that. As a whole, the Devils used to be more than the sum of their infamously interchangeable parts; now they're just parts.

That's not to say all is lost. Far from it. Ladies and gentlemen, THIS YEAR'S roster is still in flux. We don't know who's going to be here and who isn't once the injuries have healed and the appropriate cap-compliance transactions have been made. On paper, the offense is one of the best in the league. Brodeur is still Brodeur, despite my earlier criticism of his declining skills. The defense could stand for some improvement, but what team can't say that? Once everything comes together, we'll be in a much better position to see where we stand. I have a feeling THIS YEAR'S TEAM is going to cause a lot of damage, first six games be damned. Maybe we'll win the Cup, maybe we won't, but one thing is clear, the Germans haven't even begun to bomb Pearl Harbor yet.

HEY KOOL-AID!!!

[Pepperkorn]

This team was way fragmented before the signing. WAY.

The signing can do no harm to a basically sh!t team to start with.

Don't tell me Top of the Atlantic is marvy. It's not... the team has sucked since they last won the Stanley Cup. They folded mid-season the following year and never came back after the lockout.

There is a prevailing bad attitude in the room come playoffs. Who knows why but Lou is doing anything he can to shake out the staleness and I approve.

Middling is acceptable for Mantaray -- but it's not the Devils way and it's not acceptable to me. BEing sh!t bottom is FINE as long as there is SOMETHING going on. As far as I'm concerned the squads of past were nothing but unfocused talent gone to waste.

WORST --- VERY WORST that can be said about this team is that it's actually being honest about what it is now. No pretenses CAN go on -- so the problems can honestly be addressed.

Manta - you have to do what it takes to be stellar -- if you're not willing to do that - well then you're not Lou are you?

As far as I'm concerned with the exception of ALLOWING Lemaire to walk Lou is doing just as I would be for the most part. Whatever he's not doing I can chalk up to outside influences preventing him.

Manta I know you're not young -- so I'm just surprised you don't understand what's going on here -- you simply resist change. For no other reason than change isn't good in your opinion. You'd rather fail the old familiar way rather than make headway in the game of hockey (whether it shows in the standings or not). You dont like hockey I'm beginning to see, You like success no matter how limited. I think that's sad. I think it's foolish as well. So I'm glad Lou's not like that! I understand so you dont have to reply - Id rather you not -- this way I can pretend you understood what I wrote -- but I know you'll need to make some stupid ill-conceived comment about one select part of my post -- how you don't see how GR you are now is amazing to me. I cannot believe how like GR you are. He seems more rational than you these days that's for certain.... maybe it's man cycle - man-o-pause.... thaaaat makes some good sense actually.

[Pepperkorn]

Yeah Rowdy!! We were posting at the same time!

[Jerzey]

Although Manta is way OTT and probably way to pesemistic, there is an element of truth in there.

The team has been fragmented since the signing. But it can, and hopefully will be fixed.

The annoying thing is that although the injurues have helped in the fact we can dress a full roster of players, it has just delayed the inevitable moves that lou is going to have to make to get this team ballanced and give JMac a full team to work with.

Lines don't form chemistry unless there is consitence, and the lines wont be consistant untill JMac knows what he will be working with.

True, and the sooner the better in my opinion. Might as well make changes now while the team chemistry is such crap.

[MantaRay]

This team was way fragmented before the signing. WAY.

The signing can do no harm to a basically sh!t team to start with.

Don't tell me Top of the Atlantic is marvy. It's not... the team has sucked since they last won the Stanley Cup. They folded mid-season the following year and never came back after the lockout.

There is a prevailing bad attitude in the room come playoffs. Who knows why but Lou is doing anything he can to shake out the staleness and I approve.

Middling is acceptable for Mantaray -- but it's not the Devils way and it's not acceptable to me. BEing sh!t bottom is FINE as long as there is SOMETHING going on. As far as I'm concerned the squads of past were nothing but unfocused talent gone to waste.

WORST --- VERY WORST that can be said about this team is that it's actually being honest about what it is now. No pretenses CAN go on -- so the problems can honestly be addressed.

Manta - you have to do what it takes to be stellar -- if you're not willing to do that - well then you're not Lou are you?

As far as I'm concerned with the exception of ALLOWING Lemaire to walk Lou is doing just as I would be for the most part. Whatever he's not doing I can chalk up to outside influences preventing him.

Manta I know you're not young -- so I'm just surprised you don't understand what's going on here -- you simply resist change. For no other reason than change isn't good in your opinion. You'd rather fail the old familiar way rather than make headway in the game of hockey (whether it shows in the standings or not). You dont like hockey I'm beginning to see, You like success no matter how limited. I think that's sad. I think it's foolish as well. So I'm glad Lou's not like that! I understand so you dont have to reply - Id rather you not -- this way I can pretend you understood what I wrote -- but I know you'll need to make some stupid ill-conceived comment about one select part of my post -- how you don't see how GR you are now is amazing to me. I cannot believe how like GR you are. He seems more rational than you these days that's for certain.... maybe it's man cycle - man-o-pause.... thaaaat makes some good sense actually.

Pepper find your meds QUICKLY.