All on Lou

[MCDevils]

if you rate it out to an 82 game season henrique has more goals than last year.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

You expect anything less? Can't blame Lou for the bad bounces and head-scratching lineup changes. He calls people up, DeBoer doesn't play them...yep, Lou's fault. We don't have the money Parise wants to come back, Lou's fault. We give Zajac a contract the majority of us thinks he deserves, he underperforms its gotta be Lou's fault.

I haven't mentioned every other Devil not named Brodeur underperforming, but it all Lou's fault.

One thing I do find funny is now that Parise is gone he was the messiah and we let him go, but when he was here people complained incessantly about how he underachieved in the playoffs. I'm sure I could pull up all those posts if I did a quick search. If we win the cup people will complain that it took too many games.

 

[SJ20]

One thing I do find funny is now that Parise is gone he was the messiah and we let him go, but when he was here people complained incessantly about how he underachieved in the playoffs. I'm sure I could pull up all those posts if I did a quick search. If we win the cup people will complain that it took too many games.

Hopefully, you're not referring to me, but my problem isn't that we don't have Parise himself. The guy is a weasel for leaving and he was a no-show in last years playoffs. However, he is a very good player who helped us get to the playoffs. He wanted to leave, then leave but we had to bring in at least a half decent player to try and fill some of the void. We got Bobby Butler. What a fucking joke.

 

[TiLoBrown]

Who would you have replaced him with. Keep in mind they had to want to come here 9 times out of 10 and we needed the cap room this year with the cap lowering next. Its not like EA's NHL where they've never heard of NTCs. People actually have to WANT to come here. But hey, you're all fucking A+ GMs, you'd make it work

 

[SJ20]

Wasn't my job or anyone on this board's job to replace him. That would be Lou's job. Steve Sullivan was great. About 15 years ago. Can't blame the fans for players not wanting to come here. We do our part. Under Lou, in the NEW NHL, it hasn't fucking worked minus last year's miracle which ended without a Cup.

 

[CalamityX11]

who makes these trades for Zids, Poni(2nd time), Sullivan & release of Butler

not saying we're awful because of this but we aren't exactly getting better....

 

[Vortimous]

Who would you have replaced him with. Keep in mind they had to want to come here 9 times out of 10 and we needed the cap room this year with the cap lowering next. Its not like EA's NHL where they've never heard of NTCs. People actually have to WANT to come here. But hey, you're all fucking A+ GMs, you'd make it work

You wouldnt of had to replace him if Lou would have did his job two years ago BEFORE he became a free agent and signed him... and dont tell me then we didnt have the money because we did.... Parise left because Lou did what Lou does.... he doesnt sign them before they can leave so they leave.... just like Neid, Rafal, Gomez and now Parise.... you all keep saying after the fact... what about BEFORE the fact.... that is where its Lous fault....

And about the game.... not to blame the refs or anything (we would have lost anyway and if we won we still would not have made the playoffs) but they gotta look at this ref that OBVIOUSLY has it in for the devils... this is the same asshole that refed game 6 of last years Cup finals... we all know what happened with the call in that game... and then today... TWO unsportsmanlike conduct calls..... BS.... this guys has it in for us...

 

[MCDevils]

I'm not sure how much of the business stuff you delved into besides the major pieces, but it was very, very clear that the Devils did NOT have the money until the lockout was settled. The Kovy contract was the killer. Chambers never wanted to build a hockey team, that was always clear, he wanted to revitalize Newark, and frankly, if your business partner (Vanderbeek) forced Lou to outbid LA by $45-50M and then got a $5M fine thrown in for good measure, you would want out too. There was absolutely no chance that the JVB was going to be able to make even a $70M offer to Parise the year after Kovy's contract (which would have kept him here I believe). Did everyone choose to ignore the $50M they dumped on Zajac? That's JVB's ability to make those financial decisions unleashed. It's very similar to the Kovy contract. I don't believe Lou was given the final choice on either of those.

Also, if you don't believe me go back into the archives and look at how many times Chambers wanted to force JVB to sell the team. If you're trying to unload the mountain of debt that is the Devils arena you're not going to add another $100M of debt on top of it and still be able to sell, it's that simple.

 

[nj_cup]

i had to chime in on this because vort and sj are right.

what has lou done since the last cup win? fired about 4 coaches? robinson "resigned" julien (won cup) sutter (bolt out the door) mac (historic flop) and now another playoff miss pdb.

how many 4th line scrubs has he signed in july? barch/janesen/kosotop/asham/holik/ damn im sure there are about 5 more im missing.

how many past devils flames has he brought back? sullivan/malakov/mogilny/shanny/holik/richer/ anyone else im missing?

how many 1st round flops has this team had? 6?
how many playoff misses 2 in 3 seasons

how much talent has fled this club? neids/gomez/rafalski/parise. 2 of which will be hall of fame players.

now people say well what was lou to do? they wanted to go home and play. well like sj and vort and myself have said it shouldnt even get to that point where they can think of going home. lock them up long term 2/3 years before they hit the market. mc mentions that money could've been an issue with parise. well you know what give him a 4 year extension then not a long term contract. others will say that parise hand cuffed lou with his promises? ummmmmm didnt the exact same thing happen with nieds? your telling me lou couldnt see that? the "greatest" gm of all time surely would've seen that as a possibilty! fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

someone mentioned that its not lou's fault that no free agents want to come here? it might not be his fault but he certainly doesnt help the cause. i find it amazing that one of the most successful teams in recent nhl history cant draw one single big time name to their roster. mc has pointed out that the devils had to pay kovy an extra 17 million to get him to stay. if that doesnt say something about the "ideology" of lou then i dont know what does.

bottom line is this since 03 the devils have done squat except one "fluke" yes a fluke run to the finals. hows it a fluke? i've mentioned it before we had the best matchups possible for us to advanced. this season 17-27 record i think kinda supports me. but getting back to lou....he keeps sending away these draft picks for over the hill 3rd liners and 4th liners. sure a 4th/6th for poni. a 7th for sullivan wont turn into much but why even make those moves?

lou has been here from the start of the great run and now hes here at the end so who else am i to blame? mcmullen? you want to call him the greatest then its only fair to call him the worst since the new nhl.

o and to answer the next question of "who would i have brought in" like sj has said...i dunno its not my job to figure that out. my job is to support the team which is what i do. if beek wants to give me a contract and pay me then yeah i will worry about bringing in the right people. so to answer your question its not my job so i dunno who to bring in

 

[nj_cup]

for the record

i did like the zajac signing and i still do. it was a move that lou needed to make.

that does not mean that i want clarkson resigned for anything more then 3 million a year. that is a move that lou doesnt have to make.


o also the way that lou has handled the draft pick situation has been a major flub. @ #29 you give the pick up. now you paint yourself into a corner and pray to god that this team doesnt miss the playoffs next year or it will look even worse!

 

[nj_cup]

also one more thing....i would like to put some blame on the devils scouting department. have they made some good picks? yes they have but they are far and few between.

i know we have some POTENTIAL good players right on the horizon but lets see how they pan out.

the last first rounder that the devils drafted that was good i believe was zajac? year before that parise. then who? heck outside of henrique who was the last good player that the devils have drafted? im just going off the top of my head but so far
jj/ted/bergfor all busts. heck i remember some clowns not wanting to deal bergfors lol.

so yeah the scouting department has been brutal. heck we dont even have a goalie in the pipeline thats really worth mentioning. but how can i blame conte when lou is his boss and i'm assuming lou is keeping him around? so again the devils scouting woes IMO fall on lou again.

 

[nj_cup]

Y! SPORTS

yup thats the greatest gm of all time right there.

 

[nj_cup]

------ pointed to Zach Parise’s departure to Minnesota via free agency last summer as the biggest difference between this team and the one that went to the Finals. General manager Lou Lamoriello tried adding several depth players, but never brought in anyone capable of filling the void created by Parise’s absence.

“That’s a top 3 forward we never got back. It’s tough,” ----- said. “We felt we played extremely good for a long part (of the season), but at the end it came back and when Kovy went down, it made a big difference in not having another top guy.” That was probably the big difference that you see.”



woah woah woah what devil player had the balls to actually say that? finally something i can say i agree with him on!

 

[devs30rko]

Y! SPORTS

yup thats the greatest gm of all time right there.

that's DEVS30RKO's music!



Okay sorry I had to.



On point the one key w that article is do you buy into us being worse next year than now? Or even two years. We're picking in potential franchise player range and already have a wealth of D prospects.


I gotta say I do not expect to be picking this low next year. We may not win it all, but were not this brand of mediocrity

 

[SJ20]

------ pointed to Zach Parise’s departure to Minnesota via free agency last summer as the biggest difference between this team and the one that went to the Finals. General manager Lou Lamoriello tried adding several depth players, but never brought in anyone capable of filling the void created by Parise’s absence.

“That’s a top 3 forward we never got back. It’s tough,” ----- said. “We felt we played extremely good for a long part (of the season), but at the end it came back and when Kovy went down, it made a big difference in not having another top guy.” That was probably the big difference that you see.”



woah woah woah what devil player had the balls to actually say that? finally something i can say i agree with him on!

AMEN, CUP!

This is exactly what I've been saying. What did we expect to happen when we lose a top 3 forward and don't even replace him with a guy who is HALF as good as him?

 

[SJ20]

that's DEVS30RKO's music!



Okay sorry I had to.



On point the one key w that article is do you buy into us being worse next year than now? Or even two years. We're picking in potential franchise player range and already have a wealth of D prospects.


I gotta say I do not expect to be picking this low next year. We may not win it all, but were not this brand of mediocrity

Hello RKO! Hope all is well!

 

[nj_cup]

no draft pick is a sure thing but the lower you pick the better your odds are that you get a better player. picking at 29th was the 2nd best spot to give up the pick. they should've given it up. even if we make the playoffs next year we will be looking at a pick probably in the 16-20 range with a good draft class? thats a no brainer then. give up the 29th. its a move that will def come back to haunt them unless they make the finals or win the cup

 

[nj_cup]

AMEN, CUP!

This is exactly what I've been saying. What did we expect to happen when we lose a top 3 forward and don't even replace him with a guy who is HALF as good as him?

3 people on the devils you cant criticize 1.marty 2. elias 3. lou

all good things come to an end people. i really did wish i had a job security like lou. blind faith by the people who support i need and able to live off the success of over 10 years ago.

 

[Vortimous]

3 people on the devils you cant criticize 1.marty 2. elias 3. lou

You got that right Cup.....

 

[Nasty_Magician]

You can criticize whoever you want if it's justified. It's unjust criticism that bugs people. I'll do some bashing of each of these guys.

Marty was a stubborn ass for years with how many games he played and there were at least 2 playoff series where we had a good chance to win and he let in shots that he should've made, could've been the difference between advancing and not. Although I don't think there's a ton you can put on him the past 2 seasons.

So much of what's wrong with the team could be fixed if Elias stepped up to the plate and really became the leader we need him to be. Talent wise he's still there, he plays great 2 way hockey but at this point he should have the C on his chest, not Salvador, there's a reason he does not. That bugs me.

I hate that Lou didn't move any D this year, and I'm annoyed that he brought Salvador back for as long as he did at the price that he did. In theory it seemed like an okay idea to roll with 8 guys on D at the NHL level, but I think it really fucked with guys heads and created more problems than solutions.

I also don't like that we held on to our pick last year. It just seems like basic logic that the 29th pick in a mediocre draft class will not be as good as whatever picks we get this year or next (I believe both are considered very good classes).