Offseason Grade

[Nasty_Magician]

Letter grade, how would you rate our offseason and why?

I'll go with a B+. I thought buying out A-Train was the right move and letting Fayne walk was a bit tougher but in the end it provides our young D the opportunity to play. The two UFA signings we made I believe are upgrades (the years on the Cammi deal could get interesting but in the short term I like it).

Getting Schneider locked up long term was huge.

Depending on the return, should we choose to trade some of our surplus up front, I think it could get bumped up to an A-.

 

[nj_cup]

i would say B.


take positive steps with cory and buying out volchenkov. but IMO takes a step back by bringing in injury prone oldish camaleri who i think is going to put up michael ryder numbers from last year.

but hey this off season could've been a lot worse. no inking cory keeping a train AND adding camaleri would've been bad off season in my book

 

[irishwhip03]

I'd go A.

Resigning Cory was huge. To go into the season with his contract situation over Lou's head would've really put a damper on the start of the year.

Getting a scoring forward was our top priority and we got in my opinion the best pure scorer on the market. Plus great value with Havlet.

I didn't love the Clemmenson move. Hoping were not done looking for a backup. Jacob Markstrom is a name I'd like to see linked to us.

Just a side note I've read plenty of offseason grading from different sites. Rotoworld had up at a C- , Bleacher Report graded us A. So it's really all over the map.

Don't think Lou is done just yet though. A forward will be traded and hopefully Carter gets resigned.

 

[rp2five]

B
I like the fact the team said this is now Cory's team and signed him long term.
A-Train just had to be dumped and that was done.
Cammalleri I was happy with but not the NTC part of his deal.
Havlat low risk move which I liked. He isn't that old either at 33.
I know Clemmensen was signed as insurance, but I do not care for signing a 37 year old backup.
From all I read, Kinkaid is ready. I still don't understand this move.

We have to hope that guys like Zajac, Ryder, Brunner improve this season.
On defense, Merrill, Gelinas and Larsson should get steady minutes.

I am pretty much ready for hockey season to start back up.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

I'd go A.

Resigning Cory was huge. To go into the season with his contract situation over Lou's head would've really put a damper on the start of the year.

Getting a scoring forward was our top priority and we got in my opinion the best pure scorer on the market. Plus great value with Havlet.

I didn't love the Clemmenson move. Hoping were not done looking for a backup. Jacob Markstrom is a name I'd like to see linked to us.

Just a side note I've read plenty of offseason grading from different sites. Rotoworld had up at a C- , Bleacher Report graded us A. So it's really all over the map.

Don't think Lou is done just yet though. A forward will be traded and hopefully Carter gets resigned.

I believe Rotoworld is primarily a fantasy site so it's tough to say what they are looking at when they grade.

B
I like the fact the team said this is now Cory's team and signed him long term.
A-Train just had to be dumped and that was done.
Cammalleri I was happy with but not the NTC part of his deal.
Havlat low risk move which I liked. He isn't that old either at 33.
I know Clemmensen was signed as insurance, but I do not care for signing a 37 year old backup.
From all I read, Kinkaid is ready. I still don't understand this move.

We have to hope that guys like Zajac, Ryder, Brunner improve this season.
On defense, Merrill, Gelinas and Larsson should get steady minutes.

I am pretty much ready for hockey season to start back up.

I think if, god forbid, Cory went down for an extended period of time one of the young guys would be called up and start. It's probably more beneficial for the quality guys to continue playing everyday in the AHL as opposed to wasting away on the bench for all but 12-15 games.

 

[MadCaptain]

I would give them a B+

Lou got all the important work completed.
The defense mess is cleared up and Schneider is around for a long time. The defense transition is starting up and is being done correctly with veteran complements.

I only give them low marks for his overabundance of forwards. Lou never acknowledged the coaching problems so he did nothing to control it.

I probably would give him an A if he didn't resign Gionta or Bernier

 

[CalamityX11]

I'll go with B+...

- Cory getting resigned was huge for the obvious, no detailing this one.
- Buying out A-Train for clearing money was good but I personally like A-Train, the guy never took off a shift and gave A LOT out there.... wasn't the most skilled but no one could match his toughness and competitiveness IMHO. But its the new NHL n moves have to be made.
- Letting Fayne go irks me a bit, I rather see Greene out believe it or not. I'm ready to move on from Greene(not so much yrs ago, but I am ready to part with) but Fayne taking up money was the icing IMO.
- Cammalleri is a big name signing, after seeing big name signings/old guys last yr, I want to see results or close to it.
- Havlat, another big name but expectations are on/off... I like the low risk high reward scenario.
- Resigning Bernir n Gio... I like, I like Bernier on this team, a lot and Gio is our only effective speedster IMO,I still don't see any speed on this team.

here's to my first Post Marty Season with the devils, cheers

 

[DevilishWon]

Really cant grade until we know the fate of our excess forwards, Right now B+ but could climb depending on who we unload and for what

 

[MCDevils]

I always thought the Devils would be effed when they had to transition from Marty. Since that's not the case I give Lou an A++ for getting Cory inked.

 

[Indian Chief]

I waffled a bit on this one, but in the end I'll say a solid B.

The biggest move was a two-parter. Getting Corey signed to a long-term deal, but also ending the Brodeur drama. If Lou gave Corey that deal but we still had a situation similar to last year it would have been a mess.

Jettisoning A-train was a big plus and we had to move one other defenseman to make room for the young guys. I don't love that it was Fayne, but I can live with it. And Cammalleri is at least an attempt to get some more offense on this team.

The truth is, I thought a lot of this should have been done last year. We knew that no Parise and no Kovy was going to cripple this team in the short-term, but the Devils seemed unwilling to commit to blowing it up properly. I just hope that this year they are willing to make the moves necessary to get this turned around. If they are out of it at the deadline again, I hope they consider moving guys that can bring back draft pics and/or free up cap space.

I am willing to say up front that I would suffer through a couple awful years if they make the right moves for the future. The problem with that is last year was a bad year but they really didn't get anything meaningful done.

 

[nj_cup]

I waffled a bit on this one, but in the end I'll say a solid B.

The biggest move was a two-parter. Getting Corey signed to a long-term deal, but also ending the Brodeur drama. If Lou gave Corey that deal but we still had a situation similar to last year it would have been a mess.

Jettisoning A-train was a big plus and we had to move one other defenseman to make room for the young guys. I don't love that it was Fayne, but I can live with it. And Cammalleri is at least an attempt to get some more offense on this team.

The truth is, I thought a lot of this should have been done last year. We knew that no Parise and no Kovy was going to cripple this team in the short-term, but the Devils seemed unwilling to commit to blowing it up properly. I just hope that this year they are willing to make the moves necessary to get this turned around. If they are out of it at the deadline again, I hope they consider moving guys that can bring back draft pics and/or free up cap space.

I am willing to say up front that I would suffer through a couple awful years if they make the right moves for the future. The problem with that is last year was a bad year but they really didn't get anything meaningful done.

i agree with this...except i dont even think we are in a rebuild since we singed camalari imo he isn't the answer to what we need. it only handcuffs the devils down the road if we are looking to make a trade or say next year if bobby ryan does hit UFA we cant make him a legit offer (yes i know the theories are that he wants to go right to the flyers) would assume that if they can't make a deal we would be the next best option for him for obvious reasons. i mean we have the 9th highest payroll in the nhl how is that even remotely possible? seriously 9th? o and can we stop giving out NTC left and right no good come from them just ask the sens who knows how much they were held back with heatly and spezza NTC's now they are paying for them

 

[MCDevils]

There will never be a rebuild while Lou is in charge. He's said it a million times, that he totally doesn't believe in the idea of a rebuild. I'm not saying I agree with his stance or whatever, but it's how he feels, and until he's not making the decisions, that's the way it will be.

 

[MadCaptain]

Rebuilds are for new GMs trying to learn the business. It gives them 5 years to fuck up a bunch till something finally clicks or they get dumped and end up on tv as a talking head.

I would never trust a GM who tries to work out a rebuild plan.

 

[Indian Chief]

It doesn't matter what you call it. It only matters what the outcome is. So call it a retool; or don't call it anything. This team needed to cut the fat. They didn't do that. They managed to add more fat last year. This off season they finally started moving toward showing some guys the door.

I'm not even saying they have to rebuild. What I am saying is that this team needs better personnel. If they can do that while making the playoffs, great! (Even though they have already proven they cannot.) But if it happens that this team is in the lottery for two years then I'll give them a pass. That's all.

 

[irishwhip03]

Teams like the Oilers, Flames, Panthers, Sabres and Isles have been rebuilding forever. All those high picks havent gotten them anywhere. There is a reason why teams like that are more talented than us on paper but we usually finish higher in the standings. System counts for something.

The only way you can rebuild successfully in today's NHL is if you get lucky like the Hawks and Pens did and land that superstar. Is McDavid that next guy? Possibly. But there's no way were getting the #1 pick next season so its pointless to think about.

Why would the Devils build through the draft when they have been horrible at that the last decade? Best you can do is find a franchise goalie..and hopefully get lucky along the way.

 

[Burghfan]

Teams like the Oilers, Flames, Panthers, Sabres and Isles have been rebuilding forever. All those high picks havent gotten them anywhere. There is a reason why teams like that are more talented than us on paper but we usually finish higher in the standings. System counts for something.

The only way you can rebuild successfully in today's NHL is if you get lucky like the Hawks and Pens did and land that superstar. Is McDavid that next guy? Possibly. But there's no way were getting the #1 pick next season so its pointless to think about.

Why would the Devils build through the draft when they have been horrible at that the last decade? Best you can do is find a franchise goalie..and hopefully get lucky along the way.

I don't know about that. Look at the Red Wings. They habitually draft low, yet they've made the playoffs for 23 years now. The Black Hawks haven't been drafting that high either, but they are doing well too. They got Toews when Shero decided to draft Jordan Staal instead.

If you're going to build through the draft you need a good organization, with good scouts a good GM and a good Coach. Not too many teams have that combination.

 

[irishwhip03]

The Red Wings have a great scouting department. I think they are the exception , not the rule.

Plus look at the Devils 1st rounders since like 2000. Outside of Parise and Zajac , and hopefully Larsson/Schneider , its horrible.

So unless we were to drastically overhaul the scouting department I think a complete blow up was very risky. Factor in the new ownership taking over. Attendance problems. Rangers recent success. Not getting a pick other than 30th last draft. etc

So many reasons why a blow up never made sense. Might make sense 3 years from now when Jagr/Elias/Zubrus/Havlat/Clowe/Zids/Sal are gone. I'll wait and see for my opinion on that though.

 

[nj_cup]

The Red Wings have a great scouting department. I think they are the exception , not the rule.

Plus look at the Devils 1st rounders since like 2000. Outside of Parise and Zajac , and hopefully Larsson/Schneider , its horrible.

So unless we were to drastically overhaul the scouting department I think a complete blow up was very risky. Factor in the new ownership taking over. Attendance problems. Rangers recent success. Not getting a pick other than 30th last draft. etc

So many reasons why a blow up never made sense. Might make sense 3 years from now when Jagr/Elias/Zubrus/Havlat/Clowe/Zids/Sal are gone. I'll wait and see for my opinion on that though.

this is the huge problem i have with this team.

if the devils miss the playoffs this year i'm not going to give them a pass and say "hey they are a bad team it happens" yes they are a bad team but they shouldn't be adding on salaries like the ones they have added on. like i said we have the 9th highest payroll. only 2 other teams have high cap hits then us that haven't made the playoffs last year. the canucks and the caps. both have some type of "elite" talent that you can at least argue the reason for those high hits. what do we have?

clowe?
camalari?
elias?
jagr?
zajac?

now this is a "bad" team. making the playoffs will be considered a success but keep in mind this team last year would've made the playoffs if we won a couple shootout games. so was adding camalari really a need? thats how bad the eastern conference is and how much parity is in the nhl. the answer is no we didn't need to add him but now we are stuck with him for 5 years.

me personally i would've rather seen someone brought in or brought up and play it out i'm not saying to lose intentionally but what we are doing now isn't working either and it will continue not to work. we are trying to address the needs of this team every year through UFA which isn't what your suppose to do. your suppose to pick up the "missing" piece during july. your suppose to build your team through trades/drafting IMO.

what do we really have to offer in trades? not much really "proven" talent but when was the last time this team made a LEGIT trade for an impact player that changes things? 03 with newindyk? i know its hard to pull of such trades but still i believe thats what this team needs.

 

[irishwhip03]

Well they pretty much gave up nothing for Kovalchuk.

And wouldn't making the playoffs in a "weak eastern conference" be beneficial?

 

[nj_cup]

Well they pretty much gave up nothing for Kovalchuk.

And wouldn't making the playoffs in a "weak eastern conference" be beneficial?

you are right i forgot about kovy guess since he wasn't on the team anymore good call.


listen making the playoffs is great. if its a choice between making them and not making them. i'm all for making them obviously. i just dont want people thinking this is some type of small miracle we are making the playoffs and that we are "contenders" or stuff like that