Many people say that the drafting that takes place in pro sports is like a crap shoot…you never know what you’re going to get. Unless you’re the team with the number one drafting position, there’s no guarantee that the player a team wishes to pick is going to still be available when it’s that team’s turn to choose. Add to that the fact that neither the player nor the team ever really knows for sure whether or not they will be a good fit for each other until after they’ve spent a season or two together, and the act of drafting even one player could become way more trouble than it’s worth. This could be especially true for the top handful of draft picks in any given season. The top picks know that they’re exactly that – at the top of the draft class. They’ve been told for years by many people (coaches, scouts, teammates, family, the media and, of course, their agents) how exceptionally well they play their sport.  So it’s no big surprise that when the time comes for them to sign their first professional sports contract, they (and their agents) have some pretty big expectations regarding the bonus money they feel they deserve.

The Devils also have expectations when they offer entry level contracts to their players. Like just about every other team (the Rangers regarding Sean Avery notwithstanding) they expect the player to perform to his potential and conduct himself like a true professional. But the Devils also have a “team first” philosophy that they expect all of their players to subscribe to. Part of that philosophy, as described by Lou Lamoriello today, is that the organization does not provide any player with individual performance bonuses in entry level contracts. Incentivizing players to play more minutes or to score more goals than their teammates fosters competition among teammates and a “player first” (as opposed to “team first”) philosophy.

Despite Adam Larsson being drafted by the Devils fourth overall, his contract is no different. The Devils and Larsson reached a 3 year entry level deal shortly before Friday’s 5pm deadline (after which time, the Devils would have been required to pay $100,000 to Larsson’s team in the Swedish Elite League to extend the deadline until August 15th before Larsson would have had to play the upcoming season in Sweden if no deal had been reached by then). While Larsson will be earning the entry level maximum of $925,000 per season (including any signing and games played bonuses), his contract – just like all of the entry level contracts of his Devils teammates - does not include any individual performance based bonuses. It’s a two way deal, so Larsson could also play in the AHL this upcoming season and would earn the entry level maximum of $70,000 per season if he does so.

Lamoriello said that Larsson “is as mature as he can get at his age” while praising him for making the decision to forgo any performance bonuses in favor of not being different from any of his Devils teammates who have been given entry level contracts before him. It also demonstrates just how much Larsson wants to be a Devil. “I’m excited,” Larsson said. “This is what I wanted all the time, so I’m very happy for that. It’s like a dream come true.”

It would appear as if the entire experience of drafting Larsson has been a dream come true for both parties so far. First, Larsson was still available for the Devils to pick him fourth. Now, Larsson is willing to subscribe to the “team first” philosophy which is so important to the Devils. Of course the true test will come on the ice, where we will see if Larsson can live up to the hype that’s surrounded him for so long. Being the high roller and Devils fan that I am, I know where I’m putting my money. This match is already starting to feel like one made in heaven. (And, yes … my fingers and toes were crossed as I typed that last sentence).

FUN FACT:

The Devils’ refusal to provide individual performance based bonuses in entry level contracts is unusual compared to most of the NHL. The annual cap hit for the abovementioned contract signed by Adam Larsson is $925,000, and that includes the league maximum amount of salary for entry level contracts as well as a signing bonus. Any higher cap hit from an entry level contract would be due to individual performance bonuses. To get a perspective of the kind of money Larsson chose to forgo to play with the Devils, here is a list of the cap hits from some other recent entry level contracts signed by first round draft picks in recent years:

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2011: 1st overall by Edmonton) – 3 year entry level deal with a $3,775,000 million annual cap hit

Taylor Hall (2010: 1st overall by Edmonton) – 3 year entry level deal with a $3,750,000 million annual cap hit

Tyler Seguin (2010: 2nd overall by Boston) - 3 year entry level deal with a $3,550,000 million annual cap hit

Ryan Johansen (2010: 4th overall by Columbus) – 3 year entry level deal with a $1,945,000 million annual cap hit

Evander Kane (2009: 4th overall by Atlanta) – 3 year entry level deal with a $3,100,000 million annual cap hit

If I told you the Devils signed a player that used to wear the Devils uniform at one point in his career, would you be surprised? I didn’t think so! The Devils have signed Cam Janssen to a one year, two-way contract. At this point in time, I really have to question if the Devils organization bothers scouting other teams and players or do we just wait until guys we traded away become available again? Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate when Cam Janssen was on the Devils, in fact, the Devils downright missed him during the period of time where Sean Avery was running amuck and screwing with Marty. He brings a physical presence to this team and I am sure if the Devils keep him in the NHL vs sending him to Albany, there will be a lot more fights in the Devils future. Janssen played 95 games for the Devils over two seasons (2005-06 and 2006-07), registering one goal, no assists and 205 penalty minutes. Oh boy!! One has to wonder if having Janssen on the team would allow Clarkson to focus more on the hockey part of the game instead of being the team’s enforcer but here I go again, looking for Clarkson to actually do something for this team.

The move was made, or we can assume it was made because earlier in the day, the Devils shipped Leblond to Calagry for a 5th round pick. I don’t think anyone is surprised to see Leblond go. Last season, we picked up a one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final 5 minutes against the Caps in a 7-2 blowout. That certainly didn’t sit well with the Devils as he was shipped to Albany for the remainder of the season and I guess they felt it was now best to move him instead of keeping him in Albany.

In other Devils news, it looks like former Devils defenseman Anssi Salmela has left the NHL to sign a two-year contract with Avangard Omsk of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League. I never really thought that Lou had any intention of trying to resign Salmela.

The Devils news is once again a little slow. What is that term we like to throw around?? "Status Quo"... That’s pretty much where we are today. We are waiting to see if the Devils can work out a deal with Zach Parise prior to an arbitration hearing. If you recall, the Devils signed Travis Zajac to a 4 year deal on July 22 back in 2009, which happened to be two days before the two sides went before an arbitrator. Let's hope the same will be done with Zach Parise. The Devils took care of the other needs last week after Greene and Hedberg were signed once they hit the open market. We are also waiting on news that the Devils have hired the next head coach for this organization.

I'm not one that likes to report on rumors but right now it is all we have. Rumors came out yesterday stating that Guy Carbonneau could very well be the next coach. He fits most of the criteria for the Devils so it makes sense. He’s been a coach, he’s currently available to coach and he has spent time in the Montreal Canadiens' organization, which has been a coaching pipeline for the Devils. Since this rumor surfaced yesterday, Carbonneau has since come out and said he hadn’t heard anything from NJ about coaching the Devils but do coaches ever say “Yeah, I’m the guy” before the organization says “Yeah, he’s the guy?”. Craig Ramsey, whose name had been mentioned for the position was hired by the Florida Panthers yesterday, so he is off the list. Would Carbonneau  be a good fit in NJ. I’ll be honest, I certainly don’t want to type that name over and over so if he’s hired, I think we would need a good nickname for him.

The fact is he did a decent job while he was in Montreal.  Sure, he eventually got fired but all coaches get fired. Let’s remember that Montreal is a CRAZY hockey town, although Vancouver and their rioting after losing the cup knocks Montreal down to #2 on the craziest hockey cities in Canada at the moment and NJ is FAR LESS crazy so he could probably handle it here. I do question Guy’s (maybe I’ll just refer to him by first name) ability to control his players. During his time in Montreal, guys like Carey Price, Chris Higgins and Mike Komisarek certainly had their off ice issues but does NJ have anyone like that?. Can Guy bring out the best in a player like Kovalchuk because Kovalchuk certainly has a lot to prove to people? Alex Kovalev isn’t anything like Kovalchuk but he is a talented winger who was supposed to really help Montreal win a cup but never lived up to his potential while in Montreal. Like any coach, there are upsides to Guy Carbonneau, like his ability to run a PP and there are downsides to Guy Carbonneau. Hiring Guy Carbonneau wouldn’t be the worse move in the world, at least in my opinion it wouldn’t be.  Names like Therrien, Hitchock and Eaves are still being thrown around as well but right now, it appears that Carbonneau is the horse in the lead. What are your thoughts on Guy?

I don’t usually comment on the signings of other teams but I have to admit that I am a little surprised the St. Louis Blues not only signed Jason Arnott but Jamie Langenbrunner as well. Did they not pay attention to what the Devils accomplished last season? Truthfully, I was kind of hoping Arnott would come back to NJ and it’s the Langenbrunner signing that has me puzzled. For a guy who was named as the captain of the USA Olympic Hockey Team just less than 2 years ago, his game and attitude, I think have fallen really far. His interviews last season, while the team was tanking really bothered me but I suppose there is a place for everyone in this league and it is only a 1 year deal. The only puzzling part about Jason Arnott signing in St.Louis is that last season he only wanted to be traded from NJ to a contender and St.Louis only finished ahead of NJ by 6 points and missed the playoffs by 10 points and doesn’t really show any signs of being a team that will be drastically different next season. Why would he want to go there? If you were St. Louis, would you have signed them both?

As the initial “free agency frenzy”of 2011 comes to an end, it’s difficult, as a Devils fan, to forget how nerve racking last year’s free agency frenzy on July 1st (and the ensuing months) was. During free agency in 2010, the Devils were locked in an epic battle (first, against the Los Angeles Kings and then against the NHL, itself) for the league’s most coveted free agent to, arguably, ever become available on the free agent market in the prime of his career. That player was, of course, Ilya Kovalchuk, and the Devils pursued him in typical Devils fashion – stealthily and secretly – leaving us fans on the edges of our seats and constantly refreshing webpages for the latest updates.

This year’s first day of free agency has certainly been a quieter one for the Devils and their fans. The Devils only signed two players. Actually, they were “re”-signings, ensuring that both Andy Greene and Johan Hedberg will remain Devils. Defenseman Andy Greene signed a 4 year/$12 million deal, and back-up goaltender Johan Hedberg inked a 1 year deal (the financial terms of which have yet to be disclosed). Both players signed their deals after 12pm today, so they were able to talk to other teams as unrestricted free agents. Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice (blogs.northjersey.com/fireice) reports that both Greene and Hedberg had a few offers from other teams and turned down more money to remain in New Jersey. It’s nice to know that these guys feel such a deep sense of loyalty to the Devils…but are their contracts worth it for the Devils?

I’ve already expressed my view of Hedberg’s deal in my earlier post from today, and I stand by it. As long as his salary isn’t ridiculously high, I feel that keeping Hedberg is a good thing for the Devils since there’s no doubt about his ability to back-up Brodeur. I would have much rather seen the Devils address their future goaltending issues by signing Brodeur’s successor, but since that didn’t happen, the signing of Hedberg for one more season is probably the next best thing.

The fact that Greene will be making $3 million/year for the next 4 years is a little more difficult for this fan to get her head around. His numbers from the 2010-2011 season don’t justify him receiving anywhere close to that, but to judge him on this past season (a season during which every Devil’s numbers were drastically lower than usual) isn’t exactly fair. Lou Lamoriello described Greene today as a top-four defenseman and chose the terms of his contract accordingly. Obviously, Lamoriello knows way more about these things than I do, but I would think that your top-four defenseman would be able to log a good number of minutes without sacrificing the quality of his play and maybe play on the power play once in a while. Greene’s numbers tend to decrease as his time on ice increases and vice-versa, and I don’t remember ever seeing him on the PP. We’ll find out soon enough if this contract was worth it…I just hope that Lamoriello didn’t make the mistake of granting him a no trade or no movement clause (a la so many other worthless contracts the Devils still have on their books).

So, the team’s roster hasn’t changed at all, really, from last year. The Devils’ 1st round draft pick, defenseman Adam Larsson, would be the only addition at this point…and that’s only if he makes the team. This leaves many fans scratching their heads. Is it wise to keep almost the same team as last season when that team didn’t make the playoffs?

Don’t worry…the Devils aren’t done. Lamoriello alluded to the fact that he will look to make a trade soon as long as he can dump salary to do so. One would have to think that this trade would be for the puck moving defenseman that the Devils so desperately need. And while this may be very close to the same team that missed the playoffs for the first time in 15 seasons this past year, it is also closer (no Jamie Langenbrunner) to the same team that had the best record in the second half of the season and almost pulled off the greatest comeback in professional sports history. So, while the players may be the same more or less, it’s the coach that will make or break this team. Who the Devils hire as their next head coach could mean more to this upcoming season and the future of this franchise than any single player they did or didn’t sign. Look for the announcement of who the next head coach will be within a week or two. Finally, the Devils will once again be signing the best free agent out there – Zach Parise. True, he’s not a UFA and, since the Devils filed for salary arbitration, there won’t be any other teams fighting the Devils for him, but it’s pretty much widely agreed upon that if Parise was a UFA, he’d be the most coveted one this year. While it’s guaranteed that Parise will be playing for the Devils next season, Lamoriello once again insisted today that signing Parise to a long-term deal remains his top priority. When that deal is announced, the Devils, for the second time in two years, will once again find themselves emerging from free agency triumphant.

FUN FACT:

As mentioned above and as a friendly reminder, the Devils were essentially stuck in a bidding war for Kovalchuk during last year’s free agency market with the Los Angeles Kings. This year, the Kings have once again immersed themselves into a bidding war with numerous teams for the equivalent of this year’s Kovalchuk – center Brad Richards. Richards spent his day with his agent in Canada holding court as his various suitors lined up outside the building awaiting their turn to be granted an audience with Richards and present their offers to him. The Kings were among the suitors, of course, and after emerging from their meeting with Richards, Tim Leiweke (President and CEO of AEG, the parent company of the Kings) had an interesting quote for the hordes of reporters gathered outside. When asked about the meeting with Richards, Leiweke said, “This is not Kovalchuk. He (Richards) is a very smart kid, with some very smart agents.” (Read the entire interview here). Yikes. So, he’s basically saying that both Kovy and his agent, Jay Grossman, are stupid. Why? Because they chose the contract that offered more money…or because they chose the more consistently successful team who has won three Cups in 8 years? Leiweke certainly wasn’t saying this about Kovy a year ago. Think that maybe the Kings are still bitter about losing Kovy to the Devils, by any chance?

The Devils have reportedly agreed to a one year deal with back-up goaltender Johan Hedberg who became a UFA at noon today. Hedberg played the 2010-2011 season with the Devils going 15-12-2 with a 2.38 GAA, .912 save percentage and 3 shutouts. We are still waiting to hear the financial terms of both this deal and the 4 year deal with defenseman Andy Greene.

Barring a ridiculously high contract amount, signing Hedberg to one more year isn’t a bad signing, in and of itself. He certainly demonstrated that he can step up when needed and when he wants to. He’s a class act who slid seamlessly into the role of back-up goaltender after he was used to being the starting goaltender in Atlanta. Also, playing back-up to Martin Brodeur doesn’t come without its own pressures. Personally, I would have loved to have seen Lou Lamoriello sign a successor to Brodeur (whose current contract is up at the end of the 2012 season).

FUN FACT:

Hedberg’s 2.38 GAA and .912 Save % from last season with the Devils are his career best. Hopefully, he’ll improve even more this season.

If you take a close look at the Devils’ 2011-2012 regular season game schedule, you will notice that the Devils face the Winnipeg Jets four times, the same number of times they face Southeast Division teams. (You can check out the Devils' schedule here). That’s because, with the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to Winnipeg (read Darren's post regarding the sale here), the Winnipeg Jets have taken over the Thrashers’ spot in the Eastern Conference – this, despite the fact that Winnipeg is located in Western Canada and 1229 miles from Newark. Obviously, this will not only increase total travel time for all Eastern Conference teams, but it will mean crazy amounts of travel for the Jets, as well. While it’s too late to correct this for the upcoming season, the NHL’s Board of Governors has already discussed the situation and is, reportedly, close to agreeing on a solution.

The solution will probably come in the form of a realignment of the entire league. This will most likely happen by moving either Nashville, Columbus or Detroit to the Eastern Conference and then dividing each conference into two divisions – one consisting of eight teams and one consisting of seven. According to Rich Chere on NJ.com, the divisions could look like this:

Eastern Conference

Division A

Boston

Montreal

Ottawa

Rangers

Islanders

Devils

Toronto

Buffalo

Division B

Pittsburgh

Columbus/Nashville/Detroit

Philadelphia

Washington

Tampa Bay

Florida

Carolina

Western Conference

Division C

Columbus/Nashville/Detroit

Columbus/Nashville/Detroit

St. Louis

Chicago

Minnesota

Winnipeg

Dallas

Division D

San Jose

Los Angeles

Anaheim

Vancouver

Calgary

Edmonton

Colorado

Phoenix

I have to say that, at first glance, I’m not loving the new configuration that much. If the above-mentioned divisions become reality, this would obviously mean that the number of games between the Devils and both the Flyers and the Penguins would decrease since those two teams would be in a different division than the Devils.  This could seriously put a damper on the current rivalries that exist between the Devils and these teams.  I also think it would provide the Flyers and the Penguins with a somewhat easier schedule than what they’ve been accustomed to playing. I’m not trying to insult any teams here because you never know how any team is going to play in any given year (this past Devils’ season has certainly taught us that), but, historically speaking, Southeast Division teams as a group don’t exactly rack up the points in comparison to Atlantic and Northeast Division teams. Other than Washington, maybe Tampa Bay and hit or miss with Carolina, there really aren’t any other teams in that division that could pose real competition for the Flyers and Penguins - except each other and especially if Columbus is moved into the Eastern Conference.

I’m just not sure what the problem would be with moving one of those three Western Conference teams (Columbus, Detroit or Nashville) into the Eastern Conference and leaving it at that. Isn’t Nashville actually located in the South? In my opinion, the Predators could slide seamlessly over into Atlanta’s vacated place and everything else could remain pleasantly “status quo”. If anyone else has any insights or other ideas, please enlighten me in the comments below.

FUN FACT:

The Devils play the Jets in Winnipeg on December 3rd and January 14th. Travis Zajac is a Winnipeg native, and the game on December 3rd will be the first time he will play an NHL game in his hometown.

On Monday afternoon, the Devils made qualifying offers to defensemen Matt Taormina, Matt Corrente, Mark Fraser, Maxim Noreau, Vladimir Zharkov, Steve Zalewski, Nathan Perkovich and Jeff Frazee. By doing so, the Devils prevented those restricted free agents from becoming unrestricted. Alexander Vasyunov was given a qualifying offer but has signed a one-year contract to play in his native Russia next season for Lokomotiv Yaroslavl of the KHL.

The news of the day wasn't really who they gave offers to, but more about who they didn't. Defenseman Anssi Salmela did not receive an offer from the Devils and is free to field offers from other teams in the league on Friday. Salmela, who returned to the Devils in the Kovalchuk trade, had seven points (one goal, six assists) in 48 games and was minus-11 last season.  Salmela has always been a kid I wanted to see succeed. He's been a part of the Devils two separate times and both tours with the club have been underwhelming which is probably why he didn't receive an offer yesterday. Lou did mention he would continue to talk with Salmela but when you look at the little amount he would have gotten had the Devils made him an offer, I would tend to believe there won’t be a lot of talking from the Devils.

Free Agency opens up on Friday but I would have to believe that the Devils will be very quiet.  They do need to sign someone to fill Hedberg’s spot,  although I am hoping that it is Hedberg that they sign and there is the unsigned Andy Greene that the Devils need to deal with.

The Devils used the best draft pick they’ve had since 1991 (4th overall) to choose Swedish Defenseman Adam Larsson. If the commentators on TSN/Versus are to be believed, the Devils pulled off the steal of the draft by acquiring Larsson as the 4th overall pick. According to those same commentators, Larsson is the most NHL ready prospect in this year’s draft. He has great vision when passing the puck out of the defensive zone and also shoots right-handed (a rare sight on the Devils’ blueline lately). Of course, only time will tell whether or not the experts on TSN/Versus are correct in their assessment of Larsson. We have no way of knowing what either Larsson or the Devils’ thoughts are yet because, unlike with every other team and for reasons I can’t figure out, TSN didn’t interview the Devils or their pick.  One would have to assume that the Devils are thrilled...they did choose Larsson, after all.  But it would have been nice to actually hear them express their excitement and to hear what Larsson had to say.  (I'm just sayin'...)

One thing we do know is that Larsson couldn’t have gone to a classier organization than the Devils. Lou Lamoriello once again demonstrated this when he first took to the podium up on the draft stage. Before getting down to the business of the draft, Lamoriello congratulated the Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins on behalf of the New Jersey Devils. So, congratulations to Adam Larsson for being chosen to become a part of such an amazing organization!

FUN FACT:

With the pick of Adam Larsson, four of the Devils’ last five 1st round picks have been from Sweden.

Niclas Bergfors (2005)

Mattias Tedenby (2008)

Jacob Josefson (2009)

Adam Larsson (2011)

They didn’t have a 1st round pick in 2007 and chose Matt Corrente (who is from Canada) in 2006.

Today is Day 1 of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The Devils, for the first time in what seems like forever, actually have a decent drafting position. After missing the playoffs for the first time since 1996 and subsequently winning the draft lottery, the Devils find themselves in the 4th drafting position (the highest position they’ve had since they held the #3 spot in 1991).

So, who do the Devils have their eyes on in this entry draft? No one not named Lou Lamoriello or David Conte knows for sure, but Tom Gulitti at Fire & Ice (http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fireice) has reported that there are seven prospects that the Devils have had two interviews with. These include: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (C), Adam Larsson (D), Jonathan Huberdeau (F) and Gabriel Landeskog (F) (who are widely considered to be this year's top four overall prospects).  The remaining three are:  Sean Couturier (C), Ryan Murphy (D) and Ryan Strome (C). If the Devils pick one of the three prospects that are not considered to be in the top 4 overall, then they will likely be able to trade down their number 4 pick to a team with a lower pick and, in the process, could acquire better picks for the following rounds or future years’ drafts and even current prospects and players . You can watch live coverage of the 1st round of the draft starting tonight at 7pm on Versus.

FUN FACT:

As mentioned above, this year’s 4th pick will be the highest the Devils have had since their 3rd pick in 1991. The Devils used that pick to acquire Scott Niedermayer who went on to become not only one of the greatest Devils players of all time but also one of the greatest defensemen to ever play in the NHL. Here’s to hoping the Devils choose just as wisely this year!

As expected, the Devils filed for club-elected arbitration with Zach Parise before Friday’s 5:00pm deadline. But never fear, Parise fans, as this was actually a smart move by the Devils. All the filing means at this point is that Parise will not be able to field offer sheets from any other clubs if he continues to remain unsigned by the Devils by 12:00pm on July 1, 2011 (at which point he will become a Restricted Free Agent).

It does not necessarily mean that the Devils and Parise will actually attend an arbitration hearing. The earliest date that a hearing would take place is late July, and if the Devils and Parise are able to work out a long-term deal before the hearing date then there would be no need for the hearing. As per Lou Lamoriello, the Devils are continuing to work on a deal with Parise and have filed for arbitration merely as a means to protect the club’s interests by providing more time to get the deal done without the worry of offers coming in from other clubs.

Obviously, this also prevents Parise from being able to test the market and see what other clubs would have offered for him, thereby eliminating the possibility of the Devils being forced to match the largest amount offered in order to keep Parise on the team. Ideally, for both sides, an agreement will be reached before the hearing date.

FUN FACT:

This year’s RFA class is loaded with talent. Not only does it include Parise, but it also includes the likes of Steven Stamkos and Drew Doughty. It’s fortunate for the Devils and their fans that Parise is eligible for arbitration - allowing the Devils to file for it today. The same cannot be said for the Tampa Bay Lightning and Los Angeles Kings (Stamkos’s and Doughty’s teams, respectively) and their fans. Neither Stamkos nor Doughty have played 4 full seasons in the NHL so far and, as a result, both are ineligible for arbitration. Of course those players can re-sign with their current teams before July 1st, but it would probably be in their best interests to become RFAs and field offers from other teams forcing their current teams to match the best offers they receive (if their current teams wish to keep them).