[Mio41]

Originally Posted by njdevil26

I have to say I think Daneyko and Stevens would be terrible in today's NHL. Same with the duo of Madden and Pandolfo. With the increased speed and how young and skilled the players are today, these guys would have trouble keeping up. The Devils came late to the "new NHL" party. You can see Lou is still clinging on to the old says signing guys like Salvador, Andrew Peters last year, Janssen, Boulton, and so on. As far as defensemen, Niedermayer was set in going to Anaheim. The Devils even offered more money but he wanted to play with his brother. Nothing NJ could do about that. Rafalski is the only one I miss... but in a cap world, he was asking for 6 mil and that was a TON. Paul Martin had Scott Gomez syndrome. Thrived with the Devils, commanded a large contract, and never lived up to it. Pens fans hate Martin just as much as everyone hates Gomez. I would say keep an eye out for the Devils defense. Even without a UFA signing, Larsson is maturing and Merrill is coming. It will get a whole lot better in 1-3 years.

Rafalski was a huge loss