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[NJD] Travis Zajac extended (8 years, $5.75M cap hit)
The blind dismissing of everything the Devils do by the collection of clowns on HFRangers is one thing, I personally love that this guy is obsessed about the Devils.
He brought up the Kovalchuk 2010 debacle after the same player absolutely smoked them in the ECF last Spring. Where does it end?
I believe Zajac did a bit of damage against them last season as well.
This is a fan of a team who gave Scott Gomez, Wade Redden, Bobby Holik, Chris Drury, Darius Kasparitits bajillion dollar contracts and he dares questions the actions of the Devils GM?
The GM of the team who was able to crack the facade of the 6 goalie defense last season?
The same.
You're the one who is looking just as 'butthurt' as JA#11.
Question for Rangers fans that think this is a horrible contract: What do you expect Callahan to get when he gets extended? His second contract was similar to Zajac's second contract (Zajac's final year was 4.8M, Callahan's is 4.825M), and he is likewise a player that any GM would want on their team. Do you not expect him to get a lengthy deal north of 5.5? And will you complain if he signs an identical contract?
Yes, absolutely. I am however one of the few Rangers fans that don't want to re-sign Callahan for a long period of time.
You're the one who is looking just as 'butthurt' as JA#11.
This must be wishful thinking
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Originally Posted by CM Lundqvist
If you're gonna talk **** about me, at least read my posts and realize that I'm not saying anything bad about the Devils.
The only thing platonic here is you and your uncanny ability to stick your foot in your mouth.
I lolled. sick burn. I'll admit I did stop reading your posts after reading nearly 500 of them in Devils threads about how much better Ranger players are. I'll give you that. I'm sorry that I've stopped reading your posts and included you in the same realm as JA#11 who is unfathomably worse
Yes, absolutely. I am however one of the few Rangers fans that don't want to re-sign Callahan for a long period of time.
Callahan, like Parise, is the type of player who thrives on hard-work, his effort, and his relentlessness when he plays. Neither one should sign long term deals.
Zajac is a bit different in that sense, as he looks a lot more effortless when he plays, moreso than Parise.
I agree with most of this. Depth has certainly been harmed by the loss of Parise.
Like Daneyko said on the season preview, no matter what way you cut it, you just can't replace Zach. He did so much for that club. Gonna be some big shoes to fill and a lot of guys will have to step up.
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Not only that, but Ponikarovsky signed in Winnipeg and Sykora is chilling somewhere.
Losing Ponikarovsky hurt a lot more than has been let on for you guys. He provided a bit of depth in the top-9 and having him would alleviate the loss of Parise A LITTLE.
I thought you guys had resigned Sykora?
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Elias is going to slot in on the second line most likely and will need to provide secondary scoring.
To me, this is the biggest issue. Relying on Elias to score at 65-75 point pace again while aging. A year older with lesser depth. I think the offense hinges on Elias. If he's able to replicate 75-80% of his offense from last season, the Devils could get by just fine. If not, you run into big problems generating offense.
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They are banking on Henrique returning to form when he gets back plus improvement offensively from Josefson and even Tedenby. A healthy Zajac should help account for some of the lost goals from Parise and company. We'll see what Bobby Butler can provide...
Josefson is the guy that everyone is looking at and it's time for Tedenby to start living up to his draft selection.
Bobby Butler was a guy that I actually was going to mention. If he comes up and provides some depth and plays well, he's a guy that pay some large dividends for this team and help take some pressure off of the top-6.
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I like the defense a lot. Not only the current pairs but some of the young guys knocking on the door. Urbom, Merrill, Gelinas, and Burlon are not far off from potentially making the jump. It's a log jam on defense and I still expect Lou to make a move for some forward help.
The defense is the biggest concern, if you ask me. The unit they iced last season wasn't strong on paper, but played well together. I think more teams have more advanced scouting now on guys like Fayne and Larsson. Larsson, who to me, underperformed. Maybe it's because I expected him to come over and play better than he did (not saying he played bad) but I thought his transition would be almost seamless. I expected him to play at that super-rookie level, like Nuge, Lando, Henrique etc. I expect him to get better, I don't know about Fayne, I think you've seen the book on him. I think he's a classic overachiever. Zidlicky, year to year you don't know what you'll get with him defensively. His power play skills are great though.
I don't think you'll see Merrill until next season. He looked pretty rusty in the few games I've watched of Michigan since he's come back from injury.
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Originally Posted by GM17
I lolled. sick burn. I'll admit I did stop reading your posts after reading nearly 500 of them in Devils threads about how much better Ranger players are. I'll give you that. I'm sorry that I've stopped reading your posts and included you in the same realm as JA#11 who is unfathomably worse
This post says a lot about you and not in a good way.
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Originally Posted by Zippy316
Callahan, like Parise, is the type of player who thrives on hard-work, his effort, and his relentlessness when he plays. Neither one should sign long term deals.
Zajac is a bit different in that sense, as he looks a lot more effortless when he plays, moreso than Parise.
Parise is more of a Natural scorer than Zajac. I don't ever see Zajac being able to score at the level that Parise has. Parise's offense may come from hard work and then skill, but Zajac isn't even close offensively to Parise.
Also, what you said is exactly why Tortorella and I think that Callahan will not get a long deal around the price of what Zajac got. You can't give a 29 year old (he will be 29 when his current deal is up) that kind of deal.
Callahan, like Parise, is the type of player who thrives on hard-work, his effort, and his relentlessness when he plays. Neither one should sign long term deals.
Zajac is a bit different in that sense, as he looks a lot more effortless when he plays, moreso than Parise.
Yeah, you're right with the Callahan-Parise comparison.
This contract is a steal. You're buying his 3-4 years of his prime and eliminating any bidding war. Perfect signing. Easily would've been offered 6.5/year in the open market.
Devils fans not worried about the length? Even a little?
edit. obviously if the other option is to lose him to FA then you gotta five the man his money.
Not really. He'll be 36 at the end of the contract, so even if he is on the downswing of his career the cap hit shouldn't hurt them too much. And who knows what the cap will look like by then.
He was overpaid by about 1 million. NYR had no choice, honestly. They **** the bed and missed the other UFA defenders that offseason, plus they were never in on Campbell, as they laughed at his asking price.
For the situation, it wasn't the worst contract in the world.
Zajac will bounce back. He might not be the 67 point guy he was with Parise, but there is every reason to believe he could be a 50 point guy providing a strong two-way game.
Overpaid, but he had all the leverage here. It's not like Devils could go with Henrique and Josefsson as their top two centers going forward.
