Devils Summer Update, part 1

I know that everyone has been clamoring, in fact dying, to know about how a professional hockey team that is pretty universally hated by most fans of the sport spent its summer vacation. Well I am delighted to share with you some Devils updates. Again, because nothing is more exciting to casual or non-fans than reading about ice hockey in August. And since training camps open up in a mere 2+ weeks, let’s get started.

Last season was a disaster. They traded a 2^nd round pick and a highly regarded prospect (Matt Halischuk) for Jason Arnott, who they eventually traded for a lower second round pick (2012) and more parts to clog the bottom 6 forwards. Zach Parise was lost to injury after 12 games. Coach Lt. John MacLean of the NYPD (yippee kai yay) was fired about half way through the season, or approximately 30 games after he lost control of the team. One would think that the man who singlehandedly defeated a bunch of euro-trash thieves would be able to hold the respect of the team he coached, but I guess it wasn’t to be. A new (old) coach was brought in and the team was revived until they crapped back out, but not before playing themselves out of both the playoffs and the running for the top pick of the entry draft. They played their kids to great effect (developmentally anyway). They traded a supposedly whiny captain in Jamie Langenbrunner for “essentially a 2^nd round pick (2011)” which then turned out to be actually a 3^rd round pick. But wait, then they won the draft lottery and wound up picking 4^th and stole the guy I thought they had missed out on by not picking 1^st: defenseman Adam Larsson from the Swedish Elite League.

And then some really important stuff happened to the roster, some good, some otherwise. I honestly don’t think anything bad happened to the roster. So what happened, exactly?

First, the team re-signed their 2 top free agents: Andy Greene (D) and Johan Hedberg (G). Both were important signings and good in the sense that they didn’t overpay for any of the junk or really shiny junk on the free agent market. That said, they still overpaid for Greene. His cap hit is reasonable for what other free agents were getting, but had he been signed a week before the UFA market opened, he probably would have taken 500k-1M less/year than he got. For better or worse, he is one of the team’s better defensemen and will be with them for a few more years as he enters his prime. Hopefully his prime is something in the 30-40 point range of a few years ago rather than being akin to last year’s debacle.

Fearing a low level of sack on the team, LL brought in free agents Cam Janssen and Eric Boulton. Both are expected to play 4^th line, energy kind of minutes. Throw the body, start a few fires in someone’s kitchen; you know, the usual. I feel like having both (alongside David Clarkson) is somewhat unnecessary, but I’m barely qualified to spout off on a blog on the interwebs, let alone really be a gm.

The last 2 new additions to the team are a little more speculative: defenseman Adam Larsson and forward Adam Henrique (2008 draft pick). Both are expected to get long looks in training camp but neither have any guarantee of making the big team. Henrique proved quite capable of playing without Taylor Hall last year in Albany (25g 25a in 72 games), playing both left wing and center. He probably has a better chance of making the team (as a center rather than wing) than does Larsson because of the team’s crazy depth at defense, especially with the prospects. He’s young and he might need some time in the AHL to adjust. That said he still has a chance and should see some time in New Jersey this year.

So let’s talk about the defense. There are 4 vets who will likely be guaranteed spots in the lineup, health permitting: Andy Greene, Anton Volchenkov, Henrik Tallinder and Bryce Salvador. Salvador’s ability remains to be seen as he missed all of last season with a concussion sustained the previous year. He was always a good second pair shutdown kind of guy; whether he can return to that after missing such an extended period because his brain was retarded remains to be seen. If he is healthy enough to play regularly, though, that leaves 4 spots for the kids, a list which likely includes Adam Larsson, Mark Fayne, Matt Taormina, Matt Corrente and Mark Fraser (with Brandon Burlon and Alex Urbom likely spending the year in Albany). In my eyes, that list will mostly narrow to the first three. Corrente could see some time on D or as a 4^th line wing but I think his ship has sailed. He’s still young so he might still develop into a useful piece, but I think he has still fallen pretty far down on the depth chart. As for Fraser, he’s about as useful as Corrente, but won’t be playing unless there are a slew of injuries like last year. He’s a good AHL defenseman (maybe?) but not good enough for the NHL, at least not the way this roster exists. I’m sure he would be the best defenseman on Edmonton.

I think that the 5^th slot is Fayne’s to lose. He played very well as a rookie call up last year and now has some experience on his side. Taormina was impressive (3g 2a in 17 games) until he broke something and missed the rest of the season. He made the team last year as an undrafted FA out of college because of a great training camp, so maybe with his body healed he can make it again. I think that last regular spot really comes down to him and Larsson. I honestly hope that Larsson starts the season in Albany because he will get more playing time and more big minutes. Let the 7^th spot go to Fraser or Corrente while Larsson gets 20+ minutes a night and continues developing into the future first pair stud he can be.

OK, take a breather...