I mean, again, it's just sticking your head in the sand to pretend that A: the Devils don't have much better AHL players this year and that B: most of them are overage type players. The Devils exchanged Whitney, Timmins, K. Zajac, Sestito, and Mike Keenan, and got back Lorito, O'Brien, O'Neill, Tropp, and Gragnani. That's a large upgrade. And I didn't even put Mozik on this list. Blandisi and Boucher were huge, but I don't think Blandisi will play in the minors for the Devils again - maybe they'll send him down on clear day and he'll play in the playoffs if NJ doesn't make the playoffs - and Boucher may not either. Their impact will therefore be less and less important as the season continues. The Devils are going to have a very hard time keeping a good Albany team going forward because they're still short on draft picks, and a lot of those older players will be going elsewhere eventually. The only 'sure things' coming to the AHL are Quenneville, Jacobs, Chatham, Rehill, and Baddock - I could see the Devils not signing any one of the latter 3, or even none of them, and while I imagine Quenneville will be decent, that won't make up for the almost certain loss of O'Neill.
.