Hopes for the upcoming season

Hello everyone!
This is my first post and would like to present some of my wishes for the offseason:

1. SIGN ELIAS!! We got to sign him for at least 3 years min. It is going to be very costly and sir Lou needs to find the cap room to sign for min. 6.5M (which I believe he is going for) and also he needs to sign Gomer and Gionta to 1 year deals and hopefully he re-sign them to long term contracts after next season.

2. Make John MacClean the head coach and Scott Stevens an assistant (man that would be awesom!!) Both were prooven leaders for their respective positions and no the organization very well.

3. We need a good backup goaltender!! I noticed not people bringing this up but Marty needs rest!! I wish Lou could be convinced with this but I think Brodeur should be rested every 5-6 games next season. He is going to be 35. He is not young no more.

4. We got to get a speedier back line. I believe that was our doom to failure in the Caroline series.

5.Finally I like to see us sign a good 2nd line Centerman. We need to boost our offense and not rely on 1 line.

Welcome aboard!
}:-)>
I agree with all points to a degree, except that Brodeur's workload next year will still probably be left up to him. I think that eventually, he will begrudgingly admit that a good back-up is needed to give him a rest every now and then during the regular season, but how much is one going to cost us?

Hello everyone!
This is my first post and would like to present some of my wishes for the offseason:

1. SIGN ELIAS!! We got to sign him for at least 3 years min. It is going to be very costly and sir Lou needs to find the cap room to sign for min. 6.5M (which I believe he is going for) and also he needs to sign Gomer and Gionta to 1 year deals and hopefully he re-sign them to long term contracts after next season.

2. Make John MacClean the head coach and Scott Stevens an assistant (man that would be awesom!!) Both were prooven leaders for their respective positions and no the organization very well.

3. We need a good backup goaltender!! I noticed not people bringing this up but Marty needs rest!! I wish Lou could be convinced with this but I think Brodeur should be rested every 5-6 games next season. He is going to be 35. He is not young no more.

4. We got to get a speedier back line. I believe that was our doom to failure in the Caroline series.

5.Finally I like to see us sign a good 2nd line Centerman. We need to boost our offense and not rely on 1 line.Welcome aboard.

1. Elias is an important player. I hope he resigns for a price that isn't outrageous.

2. Scott Stevens seems like a better head coach to me than John MacLean.

3. Scott Clemmensen is a fine, inexpensive backup to Marty Brodeur. Brodeur knows how much rest he needs. It is funny that he doesn't need rest when the Devils win a championship. Brodeur had rest after he was brilliant in the Rangers series, and the Devils still lost the Carolina series.

4. Andy Greene has a shot at making the team after his impressive NCAA career. That could help. If the defensive corps consists of Rafalski, White, Martin, Hale, Matvichuk and Greene, that seems to be a pretty well balanced bunch of defensemen.

5. It will be very difficult to bring in a 2nd line centerman while resigning Patrik Elias. Keep in mind that Gomez and Gionta are RFA and need to be locked up either this summer or next.

The only concern I have for Scott Stevens is his lack of experience behind the bench. John MacClean has 1 year behind him and also he was calling most of the offensive plays for Lou last year. But who knows?? Lou has surprised us before with his choice and I am convinced he will do the same again..

Hey, how's Zach Morris these days? (c'mon! Someone had to say it!!!!)

Hey, how's Zach Morris these days? (c'mon! Someone had to say it!!!!)
I'm glad you said it, because I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.
:dunno:

}:-(>

I'm glad you said it, because I have no idea what the hell you're talking about.
:dunno:

}:-(>

Bayside

the high school all the saved by the bell kids went to :o

Bayside
the high school all the saved by the bell kids went to :o
Oooohhhhh...I think I saw like five minutes of that show in total while flipping past it.
<(-:**

Welcome to HF Boards! I agree with most of what you've got to say:

1) I agree, Elias is (IMO) the most important player on the team not named Brodeur. We saw how much his absence hurt us this year, and I think Lou will do everything he can to re-sign him.

2) I don't think we're going to see MacLean as coach, if we were I think it already would have been announced. I think Stevens will make a great head coach in the future, but not right now with no NHL coaching experience. I'd love to see Stevens as an assistant, but we have a very good defensive assistant in Laperriere, so I'm not sure how that would work out.

3) I agree that Marty needs slightly more rest (just a few extra games a year might make a huge difference). Either they need to trust Clemmensen a bit more and play him a bit more often, or go out and get a cheap backup (I wouldn't mind seeing Dunham brought back).

4) Agree with you there too, but I'm not sure how much cap space we'll have to address this. I guess we'll find out.

5) Agree here too, but there's the same cap issue. Maybe we'll see if Parise is ready to be moved back to center?

The only concern I have for Scott Stevens is his lack of experience behind the bench. John MacClean has 1 year behind him and also he was calling most of the offensive plays for Lou last year. But who knows?? Lou has surprised us before with his choice and I am convinced he will do the same again..I wouldn't get too caught up in the idea that MacLean was running the offense. I'm not saying that he didn't do his part, and he helped the power play a great deal, but Lou Lamoriello was head coach at Providence College for 15 seasons.
Hey, how's Zach Morris these days? (c'mon! Someone had to say it!!!!)I completely missed that. I was wondering which bay the poster lived beside. As for Zach Morris, he was on NYPD Blue during the final two seasons or so.

1) Resign Elias. He is more important to this team than Gomez and Gionta. He is the heart and soul of the team now. Hopefully, Lou locks him up for four or five years while giving him the captaincy he truly deserves.

2) Get some upper mid-tier defensive help if the cap permits it in anyway. The second line center isn't as glaring an issue; I think Parise will start out as a center again next season hopefully with Elias flying on his left wing. Anyway, for defense, obviously, let Klee go and then trade one of Matvichuk or Lukowich. Then target a defenseman like Eric Brewer from St. Louis or Filip Kuba from free agency.
The defense corps would then look like:
Brewer/Kuba-Rafalski
White-Martin
Hale-Matvichuk/Lukowich/Greene

3) Get a disciplinarian coach again in the mold of Burns.

4) Cut down Brodeur's workload substantially.

When can Elias start taking offers from the other teams?

ARGHHHHHH. I don't know if I can survive this summer. Usually, I can get into baseball and I'm OK, but this year I'm having a lot difficulty transferring from the fast pace of hockey to the snail pace of baseball.

When can Elias start taking offers from the other teams?
July 1st is the first day UFAs can sign with other teams, but I've heard that teams can start talking with UFAs a few days before that, not sure if that's true.

NHL waives FA blackout period
June 07, 2006


TORONTO (CP) _ The Ottawa Senators have bought themselves two more weeks to re-sign star defencemen Zdeno Chara and Wade Redden.

The NHL and NHL Players' Association have agreed to scrap the signing moratorium for the last two weeks of June, both sides confirmed Wednesday.

Under the new rule in the collective bargaining agreement, teams were not allowed to negotiate contracts with their own free agents from mid-June to July 1. That meant the Senators had until June 15 to re-sign their star free-agent defencemen, as was the case with all other NHL clubs who had pending free agents.

1) Resign Elias. He is more important to this team than Gomez and Gionta. He is the heart and soul of the team now. Hopefully, Lou locks him up for four or five years while giving him the captaincy he truly deserves.

2) Get some upper mid-tier defensive help if the cap permits it in anyway. The second line center isn't as glaring an issue; I think Parise will start out as a center again next season hopefully with Elias flying on his left wing. Anyway, for defense, obviously, let Klee go and then trade one of Matvichuk or Lukowich. Then target a defenseman like Eric Brewer from St. Louis or Filip Kuba from free agency.
The defense corps would then look like:
Brewer/Kuba-Rafalski
White-Martin
Hale-Matvichuk/Lukowich/Greene

3) Get a disciplinarian coach again in the mold of Burns.

4) Cut down Brodeur's workload substantially.
Does anybody have an update on how Pat Burns is doing? If he is healthy enough to coach I would rather have him with Stevens and MaClean as assistants.

Does anybody have an update on how Pat Burns is doing? If he is healthy enough to coach I would rather have him with Stevens and MaClean as assistants.
Pat Burns won't be the coach next year. See this thread (http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=253373), post #38. Apparently his health is not good enough yet for him to return to coaching.

my hope for the upcoming season is the same as it always is: win the stanley cup.

Pat Burns won't be the coach next year. See this thread (http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=253373), post #38. Apparently his health is not good enough yet for him to return to coaching.
Blast! I really thought he was gonna be able to return next season.

Pat Burns won't be the coach next year. See this thread (http://hfboards.com/showthread.php?t=253373), post #38. Apparently his health is not good enough yet for him to return to coaching.That's bad to hear. I hope, first and foremost, that Pat Burns is able to regain his health.

2) Get some upper mid-tier defensive help if the cap permits it in anyway. The second line center isn't as glaring an issue; I think Parise will start out as a center again next season hopefully with Elias flying on his left wing. Anyway, for defense, obviously, let Klee go and then trade one of Matvichuk or Lukowich. Then target a defenseman like Eric Brewer from St. Louis or Filip Kuba from free agency.
The defense corps would then look like:
Brewer/Kuba-Rafalski
White-Martin
Hale-Matvichuk/Lukowich/Greene
Are you sure we want Brewer? He played 32 games last year. The guy separated his right shoulder in November, came back and then in January and dislocated his left shoulder and didn't play the rest of the year. It looks like last year may have been an anomaly, but it could just be the start of something ugly.
I hate to sound like a stat nerd, but the guy is -49 over 436 career NHL games. Sure the +/- might not mean much, but when it's a -49, then it starts to look significant.
}:-(>

2) Get some upper mid-tier defensive help if the cap permits it in anyway. The second line center isn't as glaring an issue; I think Parise will start out as a center again next season hopefully with Elias flying on his left wing.

I think the 2nd line Center issue is a bigger problem then defense.

The Devils have Paul Martin, Brian Rafalski, Colin White, David Hale, Richard MAtvichuk, Brad Lukowich, Dan McGillis, Andy Greene, Tommy Albelin all battling to fill 7 spots next season. Devils have some defensive depth on the big league level. Just limited depth in Albany.

The Devils however have to sign Gomez, Gionta and Elias in the near future. This could mean the loss of Erik Rasmussen. The Devils also might have to part ways with Gomez if Elias and Gionta deals are to much to keep all 3. Zajac might be ready for the season after next when Gomez could be somewhere else signed as a UFA. But he will be blossoming still. The Devils really need to address the 2nd line center positon next season. I do think Zach will shift to Center next season but I do not know if Lou feels the same way as I do.

I think the 2nd line Center issue is a bigger problem then defense.

The Devils have Paul Martin, Brian Rafalski, Colin White, David Hale, Richard MAtvichuk, Brad Lukowich, Dan McGillis, Andy Greene, Tommy Albelin all battling to fill 7 spots next season. Devils have some defensive depth on the big league level. Just limited depth in Albany.

The Devils however have to sign Gomez, Gionta and Elias in the near future. This could mean the loss of Erik Rasmussen. The Devils also might have to part ways with Gomez if Elias and Gionta deals are to much to keep all 3. Zajac might be ready for the season after next when Gomez could be somewhere else signed as a UFA. But he will be blossoming still. The Devils really need to address the 2nd line center positon next season. I do think Zach will shift to Center next season but I do not know if Lou feels the same way as I do.
Our power play was not consistant all year. That is where we need a good 2nd line Center man to split the pp with our 2 lines.