Devils Summer Update, part 2

...And we're back with the dearly departed! And Brian Rolston, too!

So who has found greener pastures from last year? Well, coach Jacques Lemaire, for one. He immediately re-retired, opening the door for Peter DeBoer to eventually be hired, a process which was dragged out in typical LL style. He was fired as head coach of the Florida Panthers after last season. He is a little younger and demands hard work and discipline on every shift, which was lacking from this team last year. He is friends with former coach Brent Sutter, who was a really good coach who happened to be a whiny little homesick weiner with sand in his vagina. But probably the best coach this team has had in the post-Burns era. Fingers crossed that he can bring some stability to the bench and actually stick around for a few years. After watching him take a borderline pick up team in the Panthers to a 40 win level I think he’ll do some good things with a talented Devils team.

Also gone are long timers Colin White and Brian Rolston, 2 contract albatrosses who were always thought to be unmovable. White was bought out (leaving a cap hit of 2 million each of the next 2 years) and eventually signed with SJ. He was a mainstay on defense since 2000 although he was never the same after an eye injury a few years ago. Unfortunately, he was probably the team’s best defenseman last year, which really is indicative of how poorly the team played. His ceiling at this point is mediocrity. And then there’s the curious case of Brian Rolston who returned 3 years ago with many possibilities only to be hampered by injury and a lack of playing time with the right folks. He played well during the team’s amazing run last season alongside Elias and Zubrus, but it was too little too late and his massive cap hit made it so he still had to go. Granted, he had to go for a long time, but it wasn’t until this summer that LL conned the Islanders into taking him via trade, straight up for Trent Hunter (RW). Ironically, we needed to dump salary and they needed to collect salary so this actually worked out well for everyone. Granted, LL then proceeded to buy out Hunter (who I would have preferred over Boulton), who will now have a cap hit for the next 4 years (maybe 1 million or so). So to both: so long, thanks for the memories, don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out. But seriously, thanks for the memories.

And in the tradition of saving the best for last, here are two of the most important details of this offseason.

First, or penultimately, Zach Parise re-signed with the Devils for 1 year, $6 million. He was a restricted FA who narrowly missed an arbitration hearing. Everyone involved (assuming all sound bytes and quotes to be true) wanted him locked into a long term deal. I don’t know exactly what happened, but they couldn’t agree to something in that vein, so they settled on the 1 year deal which will take him to Unrestricted free agency after next season. Speculative minds might say that the payment structure was not to Zach’s liking or maybe LL wanted him to take a bit more of a hometown discount for the long haul or maybe LL was worried about offering a 10 year deal in the wake of Zach’s knee surgery last season. Only a few people know where that gap was and none of them will talk about it until someone’s tell all autobiography in 20 years (yes, LL will still be alive in 20 years and will still be the GM). All I know is that I am happy he is still with the team, didn’t go to a messy arbitration hearing and can officially re-sign on January 1^st, 7 months before someone else gets a chance to overpay him. That said I am still a bit worried about the fact that it needed to get done a long time ago and it still really isn’t done.

And finally, the Devils said goodbye to Mike “Doc” Emrick this off season. He was the play by play announcer for the Devils for a long ass time (I don’t feel like finding the actual number of years right now) and was widely regarded as the best in hockey. Think I’m just being a homer? He has a weekly podcast on NHL.com and was the voice of NBC/Vs at the last few Olympics and Stanley Cup finals. He also did the game of the week on NBC/Vs for as many years as Vs has been Vs (rather than OLN and TNN before it). He officially retired from the grind of 80+ games a season and will instead focus just on the NBC/Vs games.

You might think it ridiculous to feel regret over this but that means you probably also don’t turn the volume off when Tim McCarver and Joe Buck do baseball games on Fox. I was a Devils fan living in Hartford, Boston and Atlanta for most of a decade. I used to listen to 50+ games a year on the internet radio in Hartford before buying the Center Ice cable package in Boston a few times. I streamed games online for years in Atlanta, except for the few times the Devils played the Thrashers and was able to watch them either live or at least on TV. When you follow a team over a long distance you become acutely aware of the importance of good broadcasters, especially on the radio. I watched a lot of hockey back in the day and saw a lot of broadcasters and suffered through most of them. Suffered to the point of turning off the sound on the TV, which really does a disservice to the game (the sounds of hockey are a beautiful melody). I can’t fully verbalize how much of a pleasure it was to hear Doc calling play by play for the Devils. So rather than babble anymore or ramble on, I’ll just post this link and let you watch for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz7p7HNUGAc

Doc was one of the greatest Devils to never skate and deserves to have a likeness hanging from the rafters, next to 3, 4 and [recently confirmed] 27. Next to 30 when he decides to call it a day. Doc was there for nearly all of the most cherished moments for both Devils fans and players and it would only be fitting to have his microphone up there with them.