It was one of the most controversial and bizarre off-seasons in NHL history when Ilya Kovalchuk signed what appeared to be one of the most lucrative contracts in NHL history for 17 years and $102 million. But, when the league rejected that contract, the backlash started. There was an arbitration hearing and an amending of the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA). Also, the Devils ended up getting fined $3 million dollars, losing a 3rd rounder in 2011 draft and must surrender a 1st rounder in any of the next 4 drafts. Not to mention the Devils traded away Johnny Oduya, Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and a 1st rounder in 2010, so there are more losses in the process.
Kovalchuk's former team the Atlanta Thrashers are on a roll now, mainly due to the fact they overhauled their roster and brought Stanley Cup winning experience from Chicago in Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Eager, Andrew Ladd, and Brent Sopel. It seems that most Thrasher fans have already forgotten about Kovalchuk. Bergfors has been struggling, but is producing at about the same rate as Kovy has been with the Devils thus far. Kovalchuk himself is struggling with 5 goals and 6 assists and a -17 rating this year, his worst in his 10 year career.
On top of that the saga is also backfiring in the sense that it limited the time the Devils had to clear cap space, but the Salvador injury gave the Devils the relief they needed. In fact, most reports were indicating that Lamoriello was preparing to trade Salvador if it were not for the injury. Salvador is still on light workouts with no timetable to return. There was no indication that Lamoriello was attempting to even clear the cap space as no team was prepared to take on any salary from the Devils. Most of the contracts like Rolston, White and Langenbrunner have no trade clauses, which are usually tough to move, and the fear of being traded is translating into the game on the ice with most of the players who might have been moved struggling. The saga has created distractions on the ice, locker room, practice and the way MacLean coaches. MacLean remains on thin life support, but indications are that he will coach at least the next two games and most likely further than that. Many believe that Lou Lamoriello will decide on MacLean once he gets everyone healthy and the cap straightened out. But, by mid February, when all of that is expected to happen, it will already be late and there will be a lost season.
So, this is another reason why it might not hurt the Devils to miss the playoffs as next summer hopefully there would be no saga, just trying to sign Parise to a contract extension. But, yet again, a missed playoff year would not benefit the Devils chances of signing him to a new deal as the team has not gone past the first round since 2007, when they defeated a John Tortorella coached Tampa Bay Lightning team in 6 games. But, at least there would be less distractions. Two teams the Devils could learn from is the 2008-2009 Montreal Canadiens, who went through their in-season turmoil and the 2006-2007 Flyers, who finished 29/30 in the league and went to the conference finals the following year but fell to the Penguins. Both teams entered their respective season's with high expectations. Montreal went to the conference finals last year, but fell to the Flyers. Therefore, the Devils could learn more from missing the playoffs, than from getting eliminated from round one in consecutive years.
No comments:
Post a Comment