Confirmed with Link: Devils acquire Steve Sullivan from PHX for a 7th Round Pick

[Bleedred]

Popular pick (although maybe not 8-9 years from now) is probably Brian Gionta. But I'm going to go a little more off the board and say Matt Halischuk. Honorable mentions to Mark Fraser or Paul Martin.

I'd go with Gionta too. I think he comes back in 2014. I doubt he comes back earlier cause I think the Canadiens will remain competitive through next year, but if not maybe next years deadline. I think he'll come back or maybe Stephen will leave, and Brian will go play with him somewhere. Halischuk I could give or take.

Fraser and Martin please no!

 

[NJDevs26]

In like 8-9 years who will be the ex devil retreads? Johnny Oduya?

David Clarkson

 

[Saugus]

Imagine Zubes-Elias-Sullivan on a line???????

Geezer line redux, or complete disaster. Only one way to find out.

 

[mj2sexay]

In terms of people that are upset with the trade, what did you expect? Did you not see the price on Pomenville? I'm admittedly a Lou apologist, but he even said he left deals on the table because of cost. It would've been nice to clear some of the flotsam on defense, but I was really surprised when it appeared Zids was the odd-man out. I'd ship out Tallinder in a heartbeat.

Selling isn't an option when the team is selling out the building, old and in a playoff spot. Vanderbeek wants his shot at more extended revenue.

Let's hope this team can get some positive mojo going down the stretch, but unfortunately it couldn't start off with a worse opponent.

 

[MartysBetterThanYou]

In like 8-9 years who will be the ex devil retreads? Johnny Oduya?

Zach Parise

 

[Wingman77]

Never realized we snagged him in the 9th round (15 spots behind Moose), not often at all you get guys who have careers like he's had that late

Some stuff from TG's interview with Sully:

“I’ve gone full circle,” Sullivan said via telephone tonight. “I’m excited for the opportunity. We’re right in a dead heat right now for a playoff position. Maybe having a chance of playing for the Stanley Cup again is huge for me, so I’m definitely looking forward to it.”

Sullivan plans to leave Phoenix Thursday morning and is scheduled to arrive in New Jersey late in the afternoon. He’ll take his physical and, assuming he passes, will be available to play in Saturday’s home game against Toronto.

“Just the whole thrill of getting called up and getting the opportunity to play a National Hockey League game and scoring in your first game was definitely one of my fondest memories as a Devil for sure,” Sullivan recalled.

The next season, he was still living in the hotel across from South Mountain Arena, where the Devils practiced at that time, when goaltender Martin Brodeur invited him to live in the room in his basement for the remainder of the season.

“I had been (in the hotel) a little while and Marty was like, ‘Hey, listen. We’ve got a nanny suite in the basement. Why don’t you come and live there?’” Sullivan recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, thanks.’ So, I packed up all my gear and was getting ready to go the next day and got traded. It was kind of ironic.”

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Next year's 7th is pretty much the least we could have reasonably expected the Devils to give up today. I really can't complain about adding a forward that can ("can" the operative word...) score with what we've been watching lately, especially a guy with a little creativity that might mix up what D are used to seeing from the Devils.

That being said, this roster is still gonna look like **** until Kovy comes back, mostly because it means Pete has to roll our 3 centers on different lines. With Loktionov, Henrique, and Zajac all relegated to different lines, we're gonna have a tough time scoring til the big comes bag. There's just not enough high quality offense on this roster right now.

Elias - Zajac - Zubrus
Poni - Loktionov - D'agostini
Sullivan - Henrique - Clarkson
Carter - Gio - Bernier

That looks REAL ugly but every line at least has a guy that can make a play on it. No idea what the lines are actually gonna be, but Sullivan being here at least keeps one of the fourth line guys from having to take a shift in the top 6, hopefully.

 

[Bleedred]

I wish Sullivan was at least able to play tomorrow night.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Next year's 7th is pretty much the least we could have reasonably expected the Devils to give up today. I really can't complain about adding a forward that can ("can" the operative word...) score with what we've been watching lately, especially a guy with a little creativity that might mix up what D are used to seeing from the Devils.

That being said, this roster is still gonna look like **** until Kovy comes back, mostly because it means Pete has to roll our 3 centers on different lines. With Loktionov, Henrique, and Zajac all relegated to different lines, we're gonna have a tough time scoring til the big comes bag. There's just not enough high quality offense on this roster right now.

Elias - Zajac - Zubrus
Poni - Loktionov - D'agostini
Sullivan - Henrique - Clarkson
Carter - Gio - Bernier

That looks REAL ugly but every line at least has a guy that can make a play on it. No idea what the lines are actually gonna be, but Sullivan being here at least keeps one of the fourth line guys from having to take a shift in the top 6, hopefully.

When your best player goes down it goes without saying your lineup gets pretty ugly. Only a few teams in the league (Pitt) have the luxury of losing their best player and still having a beastly looking forward corp. Take Nash out of the Rags lineup and look how ugly it gets.

 

[apice3*]

Driving Play ‏@DrivingPlay 13m
It's been 953 games since Steve Sullivan last dressed for NJ - that has to be close to a record, no?

Not sure if anyone answered this but Shanahan went over 1200 games between Devils stints.

 

[Tretyak 20]

Would like to see Sullivan on a a line with Elias and Henrique or Zajac - give him a chance to cherry-pick a little and maybe we actually get some goals.

 

[njdevils1982]

when was the last time a devils 7th rounder (or later) done anything of substance for the team? zelepukin?

this deal is decent......now lets see it does anything for the playoff push.

 

[Chessarmy]

Henrique-Loktionov-Kovalchuk
Elias-Zubrus-Sullivan
Ponikarovsky-Zajac-Bernier
Carter-Gionta-D'Agostini

My lines when healthy. Geezer line version 2.0

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

When your best player goes down it goes without saying your lineup gets pretty ugly. Only a few teams in the league (Pitt) have the luxury of losing their best player and still having a beastly looking forward corp. Take Nash out of the Rags lineup and look how ugly it gets.

It wasn't nearly as big a deal when we had Kovalchuk and Parise. Kovalchuk's the only heavy hitter left. This team NEEDS a new top 6 forward unless Henrique can be that guy on the top line with Kovy and whichever center can handle it.

 

[Bleedred]

when was the last time a devils 7th rounder (or later) done anything of substance for the team? zelepukin?

this deal is decent......now lets see it does anything for the playoff push.

Scott Clemmensen haha. No seriously he was. I think he was an 8th round pick too.

 

[Hockey Sports Fan]

Tyler Eckford was a 7th rounder pick, wasn't he? He came pretty close to the show for a guy who realistically didn't have a real shot of getting there.

 

[Bleedred]

Tyler Eckford was a 7th rounder pick, wasn't he? He came pretty close to the show for a guy who realistically didn't have a real shot of getting there.

Yeah I think he was. Sullivan was the highest I know of. 233rd overall, Eckford 217th, Clemmensen 215th.

 

[njdevils1982]

Scott Clemmensen haha. No seriously he was. I think he was an 8th round pick too.

basicly im saying its far and few that actually do anything......sure sully was a late pick back then but he was shipped out in the multi player/asset trade for gilmour and had a good career elsewhere, not for jersey.

lou didnt damn the future for a short term gamble. the price was just too high.

sully was essentially given to the team for free.

 

[BrodeursCups]

Speaking of bringing guys back...I have this feeling Vrana will be back at some point.

 

[Scott04]

I was discussing the 7th rounder with a friend before. I'll preface by saying I picked an arbitrary year for it, but I looked at the 7th round of the 08 draft. Of those 30 picks, only 4 have played in the NHL. Jason Demers has had a nice career so far, Anders Lindback is getting there to. The other two guys have a combined 20 games played, so they've been there, but done nothing. The other 26 have not made it to the NHL at this point. Again, arbitrary year and not much of an indicator, but 86% of that 7th round hasn't made the NHL in 4+ seasons since the draft. The odds the draft pick we sent sniffing the NHL by 2018-2019 is pretty slim at least. When you think of it that way.... its about as little as you can give up for a current NHL player.

For what its worth, I went back and glanced at a few more drafts just now (just in case 08 wasn't far enough back to give it a fair chance). 9 guys from the 7th round in 2005 have made the NHL (Sergei Kostitsyn, Anton Stralman, and Patric Hornqvist being the most notable), 5 from 2006 (Eric Condra and Derek Dorsett having the longest run so far), and 5 from 2007. So I'm content here.

 

[Bleedred]

basicly im saying its far and few that actually do anything......sure sully was a late pick back then but he was shipped out in the multi player/asset trade for gilmour and had a good career elsewhere, not for jersey.

lou didnt damn the future for a short term gamble. the price was just too high.

sully was essentially given to the team for free.

I'm cool with it. My biggest gripe is he isn't playing tonight in Boston!

Speaking of bringing guys back...I have this feeling Vrana will be back at some point.

Peter Vrana? Haha is he even in North America anymore?

 

[njdevils1982]

id wager there's a better shot at finding a decent undrafted player then a 7th rounder. which the devils have proven.

zetterburgs and lundqvists are rare.

 

[Emperoreddy]

It wasn't nearly as big a deal when we had Kovalchuk and Parise. Kovalchuk's the only heavy hitter left. This team NEEDS a new top 6 forward unless Henrique can be that guy on the top line with Kovy and whichever center can handle it.

Henrique might be. Point is guys like that don't grow on trees. I know you know that, but it seems others don't seem to realize it. Especially when you have to go outside the organization to find them. Becomes really expensive and we don't have much we would want to part with considering how thin our prospects and picks are.

All I want out of Sullivan right now is just that bit extra to keep us afloat and help us get in or at least until Kovy returns.

 

[BrodeursCups]

I'm cool with it. My biggest gripe is he isn't playing tonight in Boston!

Peter Vrana? Haha is he even in North America anymore?

Went to the Czech league and now in the KHL this year. Lou will bring him into camp at some point in the near future...

 

[DevilChuk*]

yay?

meh trade.. won't hurt us, won't really help us much.

I just want this team to get in the playoffs and get healthy.. I'm not down on them yet. Going to be an uphill battle most likely facing Montreal/Boston/Pitt in the first round but hey, anything can happen come playoffs..