After reading some of the comments from my fellow Devils fans, there are blatant holes in our play -- whether it be our offense's lack of scoring, our PP's inefficiency, our D's softness/incompetence, or overall team D. Those are a lot of voids to fill, and, obviously, not all of them can realistically be fixed.
But, if you were Lou, how would you approach the situation we are in? What deals would you pull off? If you were PDB, what line combinations would you put out there? Who would you want called up/demoted?
Include the deals that you would want done (again, please be realistic.. I'm not saying you should labor over your proposal for hours, but no Palmieri+Urbom for Kesler horse****), future line combinations, and prospects you would utilize -- all to make this team that much better!
EDIT: If we can generate some solid, agreed-upon proposals in here, I can transfer them to the main Trade Rumors board for further speculation.
To further qualify my proposal, this is not meant to be interpreted as a panicky, frantic call for drastic change. I believe we have the pieces needed for success, but we need some tweaking. This thread is meant to foster potential trade proposals that could tweak this roster, whether it be for offensive or defensive help.
Last edited by PADevil3034: 11-26-2011 at 08:12 PM.
There's not much he can do. What's out there? Sure he might find some nice players who would fit in, but there's nobody who's gonna solve our problems on the trade market. We just have to get Zajac back, and hope for the best.
Quick, we've won 8 of the last 12! Change everything!
I'm not supporting a fire sale or a massive roster-cleansing process, rather, trying to see what moves (even if they are insignificant) my fellow Devils fans would do to help this team out -- whether it be for offensive or defensive help.
Quick, we've won 8 of the last 12! Change everything!
This is the problem. The last 4 games have been awful when you think about it. Even the 2 wins there. 3 goal lead giveaway to the Panthers, shootout win over Columbus, 1 goal win over the Isles, and dropped a loss to the Isles which was their first win on the road of the year.
At least I can say I went to all the games on this bad stretch.
I won't badmouth Columbus. They played a hell of a game against us, and had won 2 in a row, and a shootout loss to Boston before that who had won 7 in a row. It's plain to see we've reverted to our low scoring ways though again. The Isles? What a joke! I like the Islanders too, and can't get over how much talent they have, yet come up short always. They always play well against us even when they lose, and Montoya kept them in the game a couple times last year against us. He made good stops the last couple days. I would definitely use him as a starter for the Isles.
What would I do though? Very simple. I would call a mandatory practice, and dedicate the whole day on how to not give up shorthanded goals. If todays game went the same everywhere else minus the shorthanded goal, and the last 2 seconds where we were screwed it would have went into OT. If everything in Florida happened aside from the shorthanded goal they got it would have went to OT tied also. No excuse for this. It's not even like we only gave up 5 shorthanded goals. I remember 5 other times at least where we stopped shorthanded breakaways already this season. This is pathetic.
The Devils need to figure out some way to increase scoring. Obviously a big part of that is some sort of contribution from our defense. We have to be in the bottom of the league in goal scoring from our defense, regardless of what Larsson did in today's game. The problem is that we have 3 of our top 6 are signed to long term deals and the two young players are right-handed shooters that I wouldn't include in any deal. Next year's team will see the biggest change.
Parise will sign with another team freeing up 6 million dollars for the financially strapped Devils.
Salvador's contract will expire and we must replace him with an elite offensive defenseman who is also responsible in our own zone.
There is a slim possibility that Broduer and Hedberg will retire so we better hope that Keith Kinkaid is the real deal.
The biggest change long term is that the Wendy's guy buys the team and adds some beef to the roster.
Tell Parise and Kovalchuk that if they don't score goals Lou will have their families made into slaves in Africa. Am I doing this rite?
I don't think I get your humor. Plus, I don't think there were ever slaves in Africa, except maybe South Africa.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tedenby21
Breaking up the geezer line might have to happen.
Parise-Elias-Sykora
Kovalchuk-Henrique-Zubrus
This doesn't help Kovalchuk, IMO. It just makes the lines even more top heavy. The Elias line gets an improvement in Parise, and the Kovy line downgrades to Zubrus.
If you put Parise with Henrique and Zubrus, they cycle for days. If you put Kovy with Elias and Sykora, Elias picks and chooses which sniper is going to score. I think it's better if you switch Parise and Kovy in your lines.
I don't think I get your humor. Plus, I don't think there were ever slaves in Africa, except maybe South Africa.
This doesn't help Kovalchuk, IMO. It just makes the lines even more top heavy. The Elias line gets an improvement in Parise, and the Kovy line downgrades to Zubrus.
If you put Parise with Henrique and Zubrus, they cycle for days. If you put Kovy with Elias and Sykora, Elias picks and chooses which sniper is going to score. I think it's better if you switch Parise and Kovy in your lines.
I'm not a fan of Kovy with Elias. They don't have good chemistry and always seem to be getting in each others way. Also not a fan of two snipers on one line. There is only one puck to shoot.
Putting Parise with Henrique and Zubrus is a down grade for his line though...either way someone downgrades.
When Zajac gets back those lines aren't as lopsided. It kind of sucks that Sykora pretty much needs Elias to be at his top potential.
Get Zajac back, trade for a puck moving defenseman pp specialist, have kovy stand around and let real hockey players do work so that he can wind up on a shot and score. I've noticed that prime chances that he probably would score on, he has to end up reaching for because guys can't get him the pass.
I'm not a fan of Kovy with Elias. They don't have good chemistry and always seem to be getting in each others way. Also not a fan of two snipers on one line. There is only one puck to shoot.
Putting Parise with Henrique and Zubrus is a down grade for his line though...either way someone downgrades.
When Zajac gets back those lines aren't as lopsided. It kind of sucks that Sykora pretty much needs Elias to be at his top potential.
From what I remember from previous seasons, Elias and Kovy clicked. I don't recall them playing that much together aside from PP time this season.
Also, I don't think what you're saying about Sykora is very fair. He hasn't played a single game this season without Elias, so we have no idea whether or not he "needs" Elias.
In fact, in the preseason, Sykora played more effective with Tedenby and Henrique than he did with Elias. Granted it's the postseason, but I still don't think Sykora needs Elias to succeed. It's not like Elias is turning him into a 40 goal scorer anyway.
We have Taormina. I don't know if he is still NHL effective, however.
No projects, only guys that have been able to do it in the past. CAR is desperate to unload Kaberle, and I'm just that tempted to bring him in since they're so bad.
No projects, only guys that have been able to do it in the past. CAR is desperate to unload Kaberle, and I'm just that tempted to bring him in since they're so bad.
Kaberle is really bad though. He would be a healthy scratch in NJ. And then you add in his contract and it's a no go. Maybe someone like Rafael Diaz on Montreal.
From what I remember from previous seasons, Elias and Kovy clicked. I don't recall them playing that much together aside from PP time this season.
Also, I don't think what you're saying about Sykora is very fair. He hasn't played a single game this season without Elias, so we have no idea whether or not he "needs" Elias.
In fact, in the preseason, Sykora played more effective with Tedenby and Henrique than he did with Elias. Granted it's the postseason, but I still don't think Sykora needs Elias to succeed. It's not like Elias is turning him into a 40 goal scorer anyway.
The way I worded it was ******. I meant more that they clearly have a lot of chemistry and should be kept together, meaning that you can't break them up to help the rest of the team.
From what I remember from previous seasons, Elias and Kovy clicked. I don't recall them playing that much together aside from PP time this season.
Also, I don't think what you're saying about Sykora is very fair. He hasn't played a single game this season without Elias, so we have no idea whether or not he "needs" Elias.
In fact, in the preseason, Sykora played more effective with Tedenby and Henrique than he did with Elias. Granted it's the postseason, but I still don't think Sykora needs Elias to succeed. It's not like Elias is turning him into a 40 goal scorer anyway.
Didn`t he center Tedenby and Clarkson? I remember some good laughs. Not sure if it was only in the pre-season though.
Said it a couple of time today, but I'll say it a gain. Leave the "old man" line alone. Send down Sestito and call Zharkov back up. Break up Sal and Volch. Then go with this (don't look at it like line 1, 2, or 3)
Kovalchuk-Henrique-Zharkov
Parise-Carter (Zajac when he gets back)-Clarkson
Zubrus-Elias-Sykora
Tedenby-Mills-Janssen (press box when Zajac gets back).
