Friday, August 21, 2015

Let's view the Devils news

This isn't really a cleaning of the inbox,it's more of a catching up on some news that I've missed at recent times...

This is old news,but the New Jersey Devils did buy out the final year of the contract of Dainius Zubrus.
Zubrus was signed to a six year deal in 2007 and then extended after that.
Zubrus was to me a disappointment with the Devils and even before his time in New Jersey,was a player that never seemed to live up to his potential.
Zubrus never scored more than 17 goals in a season with the Devils and last year scored just four in 74 games..
If I had to make a guess,at 37 years old,I'd wager that Zubrus might have played his last game in the NHL and might finish out his hockey years in the Russian KHL....

New Jersey also locked up Adam Larsson for the long term with a contract worth six years and 25 million.
It's a bit of a risk for the 22 year old,but Larsson's play really picked up once he began to play on a consistent basis after the firing of Peter DeBoer (imagine that-a player improving by playing!) and if his development continues,this contract would be a bargain for a top pairing level defenseman.
I see the risk,but I like the deal and think this will prove to be a smart decision,

The Devils also continued to inch away from the Lou Lamoriello era as the team broke policy from those years as far as uniform numbers go.
Mike Cammalleri will return to his number 13 that he wore in his other stops.
Cammalleri wore 23 last season as the Devils policy was never for a player to wear the number despite it not being retired.
In Lou we Trust (look for that name to be changed soon) reports that it was original Devils owner John McMullen's policy to not use it because he felt it to be unlucky and Lamoriello followed that request.
Cammalleri will be the first ever Devil to wear 13 and only the second in franchise history as Robin Burns wore it when the team was the Kansas City Scouts.
Eric Gelinas will wear 44,which was rarely allowed (Stephane Richer wore it last) by Lamoriello.
Lamoriello did not like skaters wearing numbers above 40 unless it was a bone thrown to players with a proven name signed as a free agent (a good example would be Jaromir Jagr).
Gelinas then had his old number grabbed by Jordin Tootoo.
The smallest change just continues to show that there are new sheriffs in town and things are going to continue to move away from tradition.

We'll be continuing to keep an eye on the Devils as training camp looms soon!

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