He looked pretty good in pre-season. At the very least he showed he's still capable of playing in the NHL. Considering how atrocious Toronto's defense was last year, I can't imagine he'd be a liability for you.
- CaptCrankypants

Yep, he could provide some veteran insurance in Franson's spot as a solid puck moving D with limited defensive capabilities. They could also basically sign him to the league minimum, good luck doing that in 2004.

He looked pretty good in pre-season. At the very least he showed he's still capable of playing in the NHL. Considering how atrocious Toronto's defense was last year, I can't imagine he'd be a liability for you.
- CaptCrankypants

Might be as bad this year until Carlyle is fired.

Maybe the Rangers can pick up Ruslan and he can concuss Mcdonagh or Girardi.

I thought Kaberle would take the #7 spot.
- Bowkes

Blasphemy!!! That's Pete Jrs spot for life!

Happy Dance!
- Crushers68

O what a relief.....

i'm fine with how old the team is. jagr's age is a non factor. I think Ryder and Clowe will be productive. Elias is slowing down but his smarts makes up for it. and Gomez is the best 4th line C option. Half the D are 24 and under. We're fine with our age. Boucher will be up when we have an injury.. and he's good enough to play with anyone I think.
- MartysBetter88

Elias had the highest pts/60 min on the team. If he's slowing down, it's not by much.

i'm fine with how old the team is. jagr's age is a non factor. I think Ryder and Clowe will be productive. Elias is slowing down but his smarts makes up for it. and Gomez is the best 4th line C option. Half the D are 24 and under. We're fine with our age. Boucher will be up when we have an injury.. and he's good enough to play with anyone I think.
- MartysBetter88

That's not really the point he has earned a spot and we don't let our players earn our spots because our gm makes stupid trades and signings just like last year players earned spots and didn't get them because Lou didn't get anything done and wouldn't lose a player for nothing that he ended up buying out anyways. To me it doesn't matter if it wouldn't hurt for him to go back it's the president that's gets set when you allow players who have been good enough to make the team go down because you love to dumpster dive. You guys have gotten used to the mediocrity here that you are literally terrified to give good young players as shot so what we have three young defense men how many young forwards to we have and how many are the exact sme player ? The entire bottom six is composed of basically the exact same player. Here in nj the only thing that matters seems to be the date on your birth certificate and not how much skill you have it's completely insane do you think any team looks at us in the past 3 years and says we are the model of success ? That they want to send all their young players down and grab as many guys who are old as they can ? How many teams finished better then us last season had more guys under 25 on their roster then us ? I would bet a handful and yet here we are saying we are happy with our young players going down even though they have possible outplayed a few of these guys who are locks ? Youth wins in today's nhl. This is the perfect time to start letting young players play and shedding the Ryder's and brunners and berniers and giontas. Clowe isn't going to be less effective on the third line neither will ruutu or Ryder or Brunner why not give Boucher spot on the second line ? It certainly wouldn't be the reason we miss the play offs if we do this season. It will be because we have way to many old guys who play the same type of game that doesn't generate much offence and are slow that will be the demise of this team but you guys will find a way to blame it on the youth.

i heard montral wants some more skill on their blue line... wonder if that would be a fit.......

That's not really the point he has earned a spot and we don't let our players earn our spots because our gm makes stupid trades and signings just like last year players earned spots and didn't get them because Lou didn't get anything done and wouldn't lose a player for nothing that he ended up buying out anyways. To me it doesn't matter if it wouldn't hurt for him to go back it's the president that's gets set when you allow players who have been good enough to make the team go down because you love to dumpster dive. You guys have gotten used to the mediocrity here that you are literally terrified to give good young players as shot so what we have three young defense men how many young forwards to we have and how many are the exact sme player ? The entire bottom six is composed of basically the exact same player. Here in nj the only thing that matters seems to be the date on your birth certificate and not how much skill you have it's completely insane do you think any team looks at us in the past 3 years and says we are the model of success ? That they want to send all their young players down and grab as many guys who are old as they can ? How many teams finished better then us last season had more guys under 25 on their roster then us ? I would bet a handful and yet here we are saying we are happy with our young players going down even though they have possible outplayed a few of these guys who are locks ? Youth wins in today's nhl. This is the perfect time to start letting young players play and shedding the Ryder's and brunners and berniers and giontas. Clowe isn't going to be less effective on the third line neither will ruutu or Ryder or Brunner why not give Boucher spot on the second line ? It certainly wouldn't be the reason we miss the play offs if we do this season. It will be because we have way to many old guys who play the same type of game that doesn't generate much offence and are slow that will be the demise of this team but you guys will find a way to blame it on the youth.
- blizzzard

I agree, it is frustrating. One of the main frustrations is the Bernier bs. Looking at the draft selections and the fact that Bernier was signed right off makes me think that they were hysterically adding "toughness" as a knee jerk reaction to the fact that the older players are made from glass.

The fact that a lot of these guys are glass makes it immanent that Boucher will be up in no time, but it is a shame that he has earned a spot and will quite possible start in Albany just because we are bursting at the seams with players that frankly are not as good as he is. Also Shootout, Shootout, Shootout at least he can find the net on the (frank)ing shootout.

I agree, it is frustrating. One of the main frustrations is the Bernier bs. Looking at the draft selections and the fact that Bernier was signed right off makes me think that they were hysterically adding "toughness" as a knee jerk reaction to the fact that the older players are made from glass.

The fact that a lot of these guys are glass makes it immanent that Boucher will be up in no time, but it is a shame that he has earned a spot and will quite possible start in Albany just because we are bursting at the seams with players that frankly are not as good as he is. Also Shootout, Shootout, Shootout at least he can find the net on the (frank)ing shootout.
- TRDevil

None of these try outs should earn a spot over Boucher if Gomez gets a deal and Boucher is in the minors nothing as changed and we will have a very similar season this year as we did last only difference being is we wot have to pick 30th but we will draft a defense men and not let him earn a spot as been the trend. Or we move it for a guy over thirty at the deadline

Too Bad. Frantisek Kaberle is one of my all time favorite players.

Too Bad. Frantisek Kaberle is one of my all time favorite players.
- TheIronSheik

lol

None of these try outs should earn a spot over Boucher if Gomez gets a deal and Boucher is in the minors nothing as changed and we will have a very similar season this year as we did last only difference being is we wot have to pick 30th but we will draft a defense men and not let him earn a spot as been the trend. Or we move it for a guy over thirty at the deadline
- blizzzard

Boucher and Gomez are different as we could use some reinforcement in the middle, and I really like Boucher at RW.

It will be interesting to see how the lines look opening night. They let Kaberle go, hopefully that is a sign of good decisions yet to come. Things still might shake up a bit if Cammi dosen't stick with Zajack & Jagr.

Cammi-Henrique-Boucher?

Boucher and Gomez are different as we could use some reinforcement in the middle, and I really like Boucher at RW.

It will be interesting to see how the lines look opening night. They let Kaberle go, hopefully that is a sign of good decisions yet to come. Things still might shake up a bit if Cammi dosen't stick with Zajack & Jagr.

Cammi-Henrique-Boucher?
- TRDevil

This could be the first line post Jagr.

Boucher and Gomez are different as we could use some reinforcement in the middle, and I really like Boucher at RW.

It will be interesting to see how the lines look opening night. They let Kaberle go, hopefully that is a sign of good decisions yet to come. Things still might shake up a bit if Cammi dosen't stick with Zajack & Jagr.

Cammi-Henrique-Boucher?
- TRDevil

I wouldn't mind that I really think we would do better at least trying Boucher and henrique in the top six. I don't really care about equal minutes to be honest if anything you want to give Rico more minutes then last season and dial down what jagr and Elias got to keep them healthy. There where a few games last season where jagr had played like 23 minutes I think and that's just to much. I get these guys haven't shown that they have slowed down much but since we are always talking about what doesn't hurt then I'll say it won't hurt to dial jagr and Elias back and give younger guys who are improving increased responsibility and ice time. I think a lot of people forget henrique lead the team in goals last year and is seemingly only getting better we shouldn't be ruling out that he could lead us in goals again this year or certainly be one of the top two or three goal scoters on the team. Boucher played with who during his stint last season ? I can't say for certain but I feel like it was mostly fourth liners just like we have done with joesefson. We are seeing what happens when you play talented players with other talented players ! It actually produces goals ! I can't believe we are just figuring this out now and hopefully for our sake we have actually figured this out. Sick of seeing the b.s that guys didn't seize their oppertunities when Boucher is never going to playing with mike sislo and co. For me it all goes back to Pete using parise as the bench mark a glorified 60pt player at this point how many guys are even half as defensively reliable as parise but are more valuable to their team then zach is to his we want our players to strive to be grinders it's stupid IMO.

This could be the first line post Jagr.
- TRDevil

What? You don't think Jagr will be playing for us in 5 years?

What? You don't think Jagr will be playing for us in 5 years?
- CaptCrankypants

Actually I am pretty certain he will be. Not in the NHL though, he will probably be frustrating a bunch of kids in some Euro league.

How about Kaberle for Toronto's 7th defenceman?
- Leafsandbolts

I wouldn't mind that I really think we would do better at least trying Boucher and henrique in the top six. I don't really care about equal minutes to be honest if anything you want to give Rico more minutes then last season and dial down what jagr and Elias got to keep them healthy. There where a few games last season where jagr had played like 23 minutes I think and that's just to much. I get these guys haven't shown that they have slowed down much but since we are always talking about what doesn't hurt then I'll say it won't hurt to dial jagr and Elias back and give younger guys who are improving increased responsibility and ice time. I think a lot of people forget henrique lead the team in goals last year and is seemingly only getting better we shouldn't be ruling out that he could lead us in goals again this year or certainly be one of the top two or three goal scoters on the team. Boucher played with who during his stint last season ? I can't say for certain but I feel like it was mostly fourth liners just like we have done with joesefson. We are seeing what happens when you play talented players with other talented players ! It actually produces goals ! I can't believe we are just figuring this out now and hopefully for our sake we have actually figured this out. Sick of seeing the b.s that guys didn't seize their oppertunities when Boucher is never going to playing with mike sislo and co. For me it all goes back to Pete using parise as the bench mark a glorified 60pt player at this point how many guys are even half as defensively reliable as parise but are more valuable to their team then zach is to his we want our players to strive to be grinders it's stupid IMO.
- blizzzard

Boucher has a pretty high ceiling IMO. I would love to see him and Henrique on the same line. Looking at the lines, I am guessing they might wait for Havlat to get injured and put him in his spot, which if it was last year, great but this year it just isn't a good arrangement for Boucher, let the boy feed your dog.

With Karbele gone, I believe that the Devils have their defensemen set for opening day. I believe that Helgeson and Severson are getting long looks because they will be the first defensemen to be called up from Albany in case in injury. Helgeson and Severson also seem to the "heir apparents" to Salvador and Zidlicky; both veteran players who are on the last year of their contacts.

Of course, the Devils still have more decisions to make. Do they keep Gomez and/or Tootoo. Both have played well in pre-season and would make the team better. Will Boucher and Mattheu be on the NHL roster on opening day? Boucher brings scoring and speed, two areas the Devils have lacked in the last two seasons. And, what about Carter? Does Lou make a a trade or two to make room for one or more of the above mentioned players? Will Lou make room via waivers or a buyout?

Lastly, both Clemmensen and Kinkaid seem to be playing at the same level. With the Devils planning on playing Schneider, 65-70 games this season, do they name Clemmensen THE BACKUP for his experience of being an effective goalie after not playing for a while; this is experience he demonstrated backing up Brodeur. Are the Devils concerned that playing less than 20 games will not help the development of Kinkaid as a goalie?

I am kind of excited to see what the Devils decide to do next...

How about Kaberle for Toronto's 7th defenceman?
- Leafsandbolts

If its true he looked solid at camp, I wouldn't be against it.

"Although rookies Damon Severson and Seth Helgeson have played their way into what DeBoer called, 'the conversation' on defense..."

The most flattering thing Deboer has ever said about a prospect.

"Although rookies Damon Severson and Seth Helgeson have played their way into what DeBoer called, 'the conversation' on defense..."

The most flattering thing Deboer has ever said about a prospect.
- TheJerseyDevil1

If they have only played themselves into the conversation then how the hell has Salvador not played himself right off the damn team

"Although rookies Damon Severson and Seth Helgeson have played their way into what DeBoer called, 'the conversation' on defense..."

The most flattering thing Deboer has ever said about a prospect.
- TheJerseyDevil1

Assuming they don't bring back Sal or Zids and don't sign any veterans our D would look like this for 15-16

Greene - Merrill
Larsson - Gelinas
Helgeson - Severson

average age would be 24-25 yrs

Assuming they don't bring back Sal or Zids and don't sign any veterans our D would look like this for 15-16

Greene - Merrill
Larsson - Gelinas
Helgeson - Severson

average age would be 24-25 yrs
- Senor_Elias

I don't care how young they are, as long as they are good and solid defensively. And since Helgeson and Severson might be their first year, depending on this year, I would do this to break up them up. I think we could bring back Martin though, but hopefully not to long.

Greene-Severson
Merrill-Gelinas
Larsson-Helgeson