Player Discussion: Alexander Romanov
- Thread starter YearlyLottery
- Start date
Torrey Redux
Please!
That's true, and is true about all fan bases whether they post on boards such as these or not. It's absurd really, but there is an immediate attachment and willingness to see them as perhaps better than they really are as soon as they put the team sweater on. I guess it's just human nature. No, the problem with overrating players occurs when the GM does it. You know, like when they think that character can make up for a lack of skill or speed or hockey smarts.
Seinfeld, as he has on so many topics, nails it:
Exactly. Lou's biggest downfall is being a fanboy with his own players. On a human level, they're all good guys and you want to see them do well. You also probably want to believe in them. There are few organizations that treat players purely like assets, the Golden Knights being the most obvious example. The Isles are on the other side of the spectrum. If you look at Lou's history, he fell in love hard in Jersey and Toronto. Jersey didn't notice and he ruined that Franchise for a long time, and is only now coming out of the rubble he left behind. Toronto noticed, and went with Dubas. Dubas immediately cleaned house. While the Leafs are not perfect, they are in much better shape with Dubas making personnel decisions instead of Lou.
I've said it many times. Lou is great at setting the culture. It had been set with Trotz. When they fired Trotz, they needed to bring in a better talent evaluator and a person who understands how to build the modern NHL team.
Mike C
Registered User
doublechili
For all intensive purposes, your nuts
- Apr 11, 2006
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That's what Devs fans say, anyway. Lou was hired in 1987. He built a borderline dynasty and won 3 Cups. They were in the Cup finals in 2012. Lou left after the 2014-15 season. From 2012-2015, the 4 drafts after being in the Cup final, the Devils had all of their 1st, 2nd and 3rd round picks every year except for the 1st round pick they traded for Cory Schneider in 2013.
It's now 8 seasons after Lou left and the Devs are finally good again. Lou did such damage in 3 years that it took 8 years to get good again? Wow.
IslandersFan17
Registered User
Mr Misunderstood
Loser Point User
If that's ruining a franchise, I hope Lou burns UBS to the ground
After the cup run in 2012, there was never a pivot to get younger.
If you start 12 years prior in 2000, these are the players the Devils drafted that made any positive impact or played at least 400 games.
2000: Paul Martin, Mike Rupp, Deryk Engelland
2001: Nobody
2002: Nobody
2003: Zach Parise
2004: Travis Zajac
2005: Nobody
2006: Nobody
2007: Nobody
2008: Adam Henrique
2009: Nobody
2010: Jon Merrill
2011: Adam Larsson, Blake Coleman
2012: Damon Severson, Alex Kerfoot
2013: Miles Wood
2014: Nobody
2015: Pavel Zacha
That's 16 seasons of pretty bad production from the draft. Parise was elite. Zajac/Henrique were good top 6 forwards. The rest are replacement level, dealt, or underwhelming.
On the trade front, the most significant move was Kovalchuk, which he won handedly, then tried to circumvent the cap. The other trades were mostly inconsequential except for Marek Zidlicky at the deadline.
The signings however were brutal:
Kovalchuk: 6.66 x 15 years - brilliant if it worked. They got scolded for it. Then he left after 3 seasons.
Zajac: 5.75 x 8 years in 2013: 40-50 pt guy, contract aged very poorly
Schneider: 6 x 7 years in 2014: Injuries derailed his career. He fell apart after 3 elite seasons due to injury, then a buyout.
Volchenkov: 4.25 x 6 years in 2010: Again, terrible contract for a limited player - got bought out eventually
Greene: 5 x 5 years in 2014: Decent player, but was 32 at the time of the signing. Aged poorly, but was the captain on some bad teams for whatever that's worth.
Mike Cammalleri: 5 x 5 years in 2014 - Bought out after 3 years
Ryane Clowe: 4.85 x 4 years in 2013 - out of the league in 2 years due to injury, but bad signing at the time too
So we cannot discount the dynasty he built in the 90s. However, his work with the Devils when it came to drafting and signings in the 2000s was mostly brutal. They spent most of it with an empty cupboard and bad contracts. Sound familiar?
doublechili
For all intensive purposes, your nuts
- Apr 11, 2006
- 18,678
- 15,050
But saying he drafted poorly during the Cup runs is different than saying he decimated the franchise out of loyalty to players or by failing to rebuild. And when you're winning Cups you're drafting late, so the players tend not to be as good as bad teams get. You say there was "never a pivot to get younger" after the 2012 Cup finals appearance. But "never" in this case is 3 years. IDK, the Devs' fans blaming Lou after what he did for that formerly pathetic franchise always seemed like sour grapes to me.
8 years after Lou left to emerge from the rubble? Sounds like that was a little more than Lou’s handiwork.
Fair point. That 3 year span was really bad though. He obviously did some great things with the Devils, but he also set them back at the end of the tenure. I think both things could be true. As far as drafting poorly goes, it's extremely bad. 16 years of draft picks produced one star player (Parise), two top 6 forwards, and two 2nd pair dmen. Regardless of draft capital, that is really bad. It's almost as if they weren't trying.
The job he did set the Devils up for failure after he left. That doesn't take away from what he accomplished, but he shouldn't be given a pass for ignoring the prospect pool and signing bad players to long contracts.
Dutch Frost
Battle Level
Just keep trading away 1st round draft picks. The rebuild is going to be beautiful come 2029. I truly hope this is Lou's last year as GM. I thank him for everything, he brought legitimacy and now its up to the owners to build a solid culture of winning.
IslandersFan17
Registered User
I have absolutely zero issue moving first rounders for known commodities. Especially young ones, but Romanov is so far off from being worth it, it’s not even funny.
Hopefully the kid develops into something, but he’s just so bad.
PK Cronin
Bailey Fan Club Prez
- Feb 11, 2013
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Could you (or anyone) explain to me what he's so bad at exactly? I keep seeing the hate but I don't get it. He's made miscues, but he's young and does a lot of things right. Plus he seems willing to do what a lot of guys aren't, hitting and blocking shots.
ScaredStreit
Registered User
Kevin27NYI
Registered User
- Aug 5, 2009
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If this kid could just move the puck faster I would love him.
He made a step up in the neutral zone that was perfect. Then he comes up with it and gets closed off and loses the puck in the neutral zone too when he had a forward he could have passed to coming down the middle. So frustrating.
He made a step up in the neutral zone that was perfect. Then he comes up with it and gets closed off and loses the puck in the neutral zone too when he had a forward he could have passed to coming down the middle. So frustrating.
I joked last summer that I would have hired Big Z as the strength & conditioning coach. Noah definitely needs to add at least 15 pounds of muscle to his slender frame. I'm not sure how physical he was in Jr's but he can't be timid micky out there either. I think if he added muscle, which allowed him to win board battles and move players from in front of the net, his aggressiveness would tick up a bit.
BTW I met big Z at the All Star game this year, nicest dude you'd ever want to meet, very accommodating to fans
Mike C
Registered User
ideally, that's something a coach might point out to him either right then if he sees it or certainly at the next skate/practice
I think it's because of his lack of offense that some people are disappointed. But again, you never know, his offense may develop later (personally I doubt it, but I think he has enough talent to be a good second pair defenseman).
crashthenet
Registered User
Houda has done less than a stellar job this year. They should have brought back Seidenberg to run the D. Or just someone better.
Mike C
Registered User
YearlyLottery
The Pooch Report
It must be convenient for Devils and Leafs fans to blame all of their struggles on Lou. Fact of the matter is two things f***ed the Devils:
1.) Kovy randomly retiring
2.) Parise leaving around the same time as Kovy leaving
If Kovy doesn't retire the Devils would have been fine.
1.) Kovy randomly retiring
2.) Parise leaving around the same time as Kovy leaving
If Kovy doesn't retire the Devils would have been fine.
ScaredStreit
Registered User
Agreed. Lou can't be blamed for Kovalchuk leaving, there was no way to predict that. Hell we all wanted Kovalchuk and gladly would have signed him to that deal.
It's weird that posters want to point Lou's tenure with the Devils as a negative.
Devils:
27 seasons; 3 Cups; 5 Cup Finals Appearances; Made the playoffs 21 times
Let's not forget we had been a laughing stock in the NHL for decades for Lou showed up here. In a few seasons Lou is removed A LOT of the stink that's been stuck on us since the mid 90's.
Main issue with Romanov is positioning and gap control. He has poor defensive instincts and should be much better given how bad he is offensively. He has poor hockey IQ as well, which goes with gap control and positioning issues. In the offensive zone, once he touches the puck, the play is basically over as it gets blocked or he does the least useful thing with it.
With that being said, I know he's young. He's not terrible. He's not good. He's an adequate bottom pairing defenseman. Again, this was all predictable based on his micro stats from his days with the Canadiens. The problem will always be the cost paid to get him. Frank Nazar was chosen with the pick he was traded for. At the moment, he has more trade value. The trade was bad at the time. Still bad now. Then we gave him 2.5 mil, which isn't a lot, but still an overpayment given he's an average bottom pairing defenseman. So we basically gave up a top 50 NHL prospect for a bottom pairing dman who is currently worth league minimum in terms of production.
Considering we could've had de Haan of Gustaffsson or about 100 other cheap defenseman to provide the same value at a lower cost cap-wise and costing nothing in trade value, it's infuriating to Isles fans like myself to have a GM who is so bad at talent evaluation. I'm still holding out hope that Romanov somehow becomes good, and I'd gladly take the L on that. Otherwise, it's another to a long list of moves Lou has made to set the franchise back.
Sparksrus3
Registered User
- Jun 2, 2012
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everything you wrote is meaningless when Sorokin needs to sign to stay here and Varly might be gone . The Russian kid needs some countrymen on this squad . Don’t believe this doesn’t happen everywhere. Tr91tor was the reason some of the moves made were done by Snow .
