Devils Under the Cap

When the Devils signed Ilya Kovalchuk to the massive 15-year, $100 million contract, it put them roughly $2.5 million over the salary cap, meaning that they would have to make a trade to get under the limit by opening day. Well, today is opening day and no trades have been made. Yet somehow, the Devils are now under the cap.

How did the Devils do it? Well, they sort of lucked into the situation because of one key injury - that of a concussion to defenseman Bryce Salvador. Obviously they were working to get under the cap in traditional ways, not assuming that Salvador would get injured. When he did, it gave them some flexibility by allowing them to put him on the Long Term Injured Reserve, which essentially takes his contract off the books for the time being.

To complement his spot on the LTIR, they also sent their young guys back to Albany and are now opening with the league minimum of 20 guys on the roster. That includes 12 forwards (4 lines of 3), 6 defenseman (3 pairs) and 2 goalies. Some are suggesting that this is a risky move because they will have no extra skaters in case someone gets injured. Obviously if they lose a forward in the first period of a game, then someone will have to get double shifted that night. But that will be a short term thing as they can simply bring someone up from the minors if the injury turns out to be serious.

If there is one thing I have learned from watching the Sounders this year, it's that some guys know how to get the job done when faced with roster problems. The Sounders left pre-season camp with too many men on their roster, but one of those guys, Nate Jaqua was put on the IRfor the first 2 months of the season. When he was ready to come back, they would have to make a decision on who to release, but they figured they could cross that bridge in the future. What happened? Well, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado tore his ACL and was done for the year. Ozzie Alonso hurt himself, as did Brad Evans. Suddenly, there was roster flexibility for when Jaqua came back. The Sounders were patient and it all worked out in the end.

I think this is what Lamiorello has planned. He knew that he had no leverage with respect to trades. Everyone knew they HAD to make a trade, so there was no way he could get any return on a trade. So he sat still for as long as he could and in the end, he was able to keep the team together and still make it under the cap. He will monitor Salvador's progress and I'm sure he will be active behind the scenes, but I don't see anything happening until Salvador is ready to come back. At that time, if there are no other injuries, then someone will get traded. Bottom line - Lou knows what he is doing. We will be fine.

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I wrote my buddy (and future contributor) Jay "Don't Call Me Paul" Martin about the Devils prospects after his look at them in a recent pre-season skate against the Rangers:

I think that Jacob Josefson will be pretty good. He's probably on par with Zajac, who really isn't spectacular but is in a really good situation. I'm sure Josefson will be on the team this year because they need centers and he's relatively cheap.

Mattias Tedenby was good, with some flashes of potential, but I don't think he'll ever be a real stud. He's second line material, probably a little better than Niclas Bergfors, but not much. I guess I never really thought Bergfors would amount to anything more than a 20 goal/20 assist kind of guy anyway, though; Tedenby could be a 25/30 type. It's tough, though, because both of them are so young, to really tell how they'll end up.

Matt Taormina needs some time, but he'll probably make the team, too, as a matter of needs. He looked good, and 70% ready, but that will have to be good enough. He looks like he'll be a 30 point d-man in a year or 3, similar to Andy Greene, but I just don't think the comparisons to Brian Rafalski are totally justified. The biggest difference, I guess, is that Rafalski had a few years in Finland and didn't come to the NHL until he was 26, so he's got a few more years to see if he'll get there. He's got some potential and will work out well as long as we don't expect the second coming of Bobby Orr.

I think Alexander Urbom will probably be a solid #2 or #3, but he's young, too. Just needs some time to get some experience. I know this all sounds cliche, but they all just need another year or two, but at least some of them will be on the team this year and will have some struggles. Personally, I'd rather see Mark Fraser and Matthew Corrente in the bottom pairing and let Urbom develop in Albany for most of the season. It'll probably work out better in the long run.

Actually, the guy who stood out most from the newcomers was Adam Mair. Granted, his ceiling is that of 3rd line center/wing, and he is 31 with 500 NHL games already so you can't really compare him to the kids, but he definitely had a lot jump and some talent. If he'll take a low contract, which I'd imagine he would, the Devils should absolutely have him in the starting lineup on Friday. He'll be a really good utility on the bottom lines. Better than Rod Pelley as a 4th line center. Honestly, I'd love to see a line of Tedenby-Mair-Clarkson, but I don't think that will happen.

All in all, of the rookies, I'd say that Taormina has the best year but that Josefson will probably have a better career.

[update: Josefsen, Tedenby, Taormina, Corrente all assigned to Albany to start the year. Fraser and Urbom on the opening day roster]