Devils 2021 team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - part XXXI

[Guttersniped]

I was going to say, any one of the guys below is a direct comparison...

Paul Gagne 1981-1986

Patrik Sundstrom 1988-1992

Jason Miller 1993

Tom Chorske 1994-1995

Petr Sykora 1996-2002

Christian Berglund 2003-2004

Darren Langdon 2006

Mike Rupp 2007-2009

Ben Walter 2010

Ilya Kovalchuk 2010-2013

Ilkka Pikkarainen 2010

Michael Ryder 2014-2015

Pat Maroon 2018

Kenny Agostino 2019

Wayne Simmonds 2020

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

I have to confess I don’t remember Ben Walter existing even though we traded Tony Romano, who I do remember, to Islanders for him.

The only reason I remember Romano, who is a 2006 6th rounder, is I thought it would be fun for him to make the team because of his very Italian name. I’m not Italian at all but this a Jersey team. Tony DeAngelo kind of killed the sweetness of this decades long little fantasy for me so it’s another reason he’s terrible.

I just looked up Romano, he’s from Smithtown, NY (Suffolk Co., Long Island) so I assume he grew NYI’s fan. After a quick search, he in fact did, so it must have been a life long dream to be a failed New York Islanders prospect.

Ben Walter played 78 games as Lowell Devil and 2 games as a New Jersey Devil in the 2009-10 and I don’t remember him at all. That’s what get for having a bland name Ben.

Granted Walters was a forward who played 8:31 in his 1st game and 3:04 in his second game and has no stats in from those games other than one shot attempt and a tripping penalty.

 

[njdevils1982]

LOL Vishnevski. There is a name I have not heard in a long time.

i remember the vishnevski comics

 

[njdevils1982]

Semak's big year was even flukier than Gionta in 2006 lol

so great to watch…..half those goals were 3rd period or OT…..'gio time'

 

[Triumph]

I have to confess I don’t remember Ben Walter existing even though we traded Tony Romano, who I do remember, to Islanders for him.

The only reason I remember Romano, who is a 2006 6th rounder, is I thought it would be fun for him to make the team because of his very Italian name. I’m not Italian at all but this a Jersey team. Tony DeAngelo kind of killed the sweetness of this decades long little fantasy for me so it’s another reason he’s terrible.

I just looked up Romano, he’s from Smithtown, NY (Suffolk Co., Long Island) so I assume he grew NYI’s fan. After a quick search, he in fact did, so it must have been a life long dream to be a failed New York Islanders prospect.

Ben Walter played 78 games as Lowell Devil and 2 games as a New Jersey Devil in the 2009-10 and I don’t remember him at all. That’s what get for having a bland name Ben.

Granted Walters was a forward who played 8:31 in his 1st game and 3:04 in his second game and has no stats in from those games other than one shot attempt and a tripping penalty.

Romano had an awful D+2 season and I remember being thrilled that the Devils got anything at all for his rights, even if it was a non-prospect who the Islanders were likely to non-tender. Walter ended up being the leading scorer on the only playoff Lowell Devils team.

 

[aboriginal]

i remember the vishnevski comics

they were wow such quality before doge was very comic

 

[Guttersniped]

Semak was awesome for a season, then ...Poof gone
37 goals and 42 assists in 92/93 and never came close to that again, 5 years/3 teams later he was out of the league

I’m assuming injuries played a part. He only played 54 games the next season. Then the season after that was the shortened 1994-95 season where he was traded*. He was 28 year late old that season, people are ignoring the fact that he was 25 year old rookie forward and was 26 when he has his big season in 1992-93. It’s easy to fall out of the league at ~30. And scoring was higher, despite the Devils ruining hockey, goals were 3.15/per game in 1995-96.

*With Ben Hankinson to Tampa for Shawn Chambers and Danton Cole. I know who Shawn Chambers is out of that mess of names but my knowledge of obscure Devils doesn’t really start to kick in until the late 1990s.

Also, it’s also borderline hallucinatory for me to look at the 1995-96 Islanders.

Milbury was forced to trade Palffy but Travis Green, Matthieu Schneider, Marty McInnis, Wendel Clark, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, Darius Kasparaitis... it’s always weird to see these players together on the Islanders.

New York Islanders 1995-96 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com

 

[Guttersniped]

Romano had an awful D+2 season and I remember being thrilled that the Devils got anything at all for his rights, even if it was a non-prospect who the Islanders were likely to non-tender. Walter ended up being the leading scorer on the only playoff Lowell Devils team.

But he was fast tho.

 

[The 29th Pick]

I’m assuming injuries played a part. He only played 54 games the next season. Then the season after that was the shortened 1994-95 season where he was traded*. He was 28 year late old that season, people are ignoring the fact that he was 25 year old rookie forward and was 26 when he has his big season in 1992-93. It’s easy to fall out of the league at ~30. And scoring was higher, despite the Devils ruining hockey, goals were 3.15/per game in 1995-96.

*With Ben Hankinson to Tampa for Shawn Chambers and Danton Cole. I know who Shawn Chambers is out of that mess of names but my knowledge of obscure Devils doesn’t really start to kick in until the late 1990s.

Also, it’s also borderline hallucinatory for me to look at the 1995-96 Islanders.

Milbury was forced to trade Palffy but Travis Green, Matthieu Schneider, Marty McInnis, Wendel Clark, Todd Bertuzzi, Bryan McCabe, Darius Kasparaitis... it’s always weird to see these players together on the Islanders.

New York Islanders 1995-96 roster and scoring statistics at hockeydb.com

Milbury sent all the good players packing when he was GM, we could have an entire thread on the stupid moves he made!

 

[MadDevil]

Nas still being here is such a joke, zero accountability for that guy apparently

We had a top 10 PK every year with him up until this one, so I can understand giving him a mulligan on this weird season. I do think the leash should be pretty short for him next year, although how often do just assistant coaches get fired during a season?

 

[Eggtimer]

Mercer is looking like he is getting better and better each game.
Watching shift by shift of his latest playoff games , the kid looks very impressive.
He has his head on a swivel all the time. With and without the
puck. You can see his hockey IQ is very high. He has the ability to read plays with and without the puck and anticipate where the puck will be and where his teammates are. That and add in his relentless motor and work effort .., he seems like he is always on the puck.
The only “negatives” I could see is that his skating is not elite. It’s not that he is slow but he doesn’t have elite top end speed or first step. His shot is decent but not amazing. Accuracy is good but he currently doesn’t posses a shot that would be able to beat NHL goalies clean from the top of the circle with a wrist shot or anything . He has good hands and can dangle pretty good but hopefully he can improve his shot.
Like some have said , I can see him being like a Patrik Sharp type player .
Some have said he will be “ the 3rd best player on a very very good NHL teams top line “

 

[Eggtimer]

Yesssss 3-1 Canucks s Oilers in the 3rd. 2 goals 16 seconds apart

 

[Eggtimer]

And Canucks pass us !!!
Hopefully they don’t win the lottery but them passing us is one less thing to worry about.
Just need the Islanders to lose in the first or second round

 

[Guttersniped]

Milbury sent all the good players packing when he was GM, we could have an entire thread on the stupid moves he made!

I know, as most, the Tales of Mad Mike’s Moves but it’s always wild to see those actual Islanders teams. I also love* how we all had to listen that smarmy assbag opine on functional GMs because, since he couldn’t get another management job, he ended up NBC. Garth Snow deserved better, that’s all I have to say.

*That’s very bitter sarcasm, if that’s not clear. So so very happy he’s fired and I rarely say that about anyone.

The 1997-98 squad is another good one with Bryan Berard (20), Zdeno Chara (20), Todd Bertuzzi (22) and Bryan McCabe (22) all on the roster.

And Tom Chorske (31) and Sergei Namchinov (34), Sergei being the oldest player on roster yet he managed to play four more years for some other team.

My “favorite” Milbury story will always be his infamous brutal takedown rant during Tommy Salo’s Arbitration hearing in 1997.

To put this in perspective other than very early ones, which I don’t know about, Lou didn’t even go players’ arbitration hearings. He didn’t want to the asshole and the Devils lawyers/reps kept it professional, even our players admitted that. And still the players who were open about process, Gilmour, Holik etc and felt shamed, slighted and eventually seethed with anger during and after the hearing. Gilmour walked out. And none of them stayed with the team.

Milbury not only attended, he took the lead and that led to “the most horrific character assassination ever seen in an arbitration for an NHL player.” Yes, you’re arguing why you want to pay a player less money but leave it Milbury to personally be such a huge dick about it that it’s the most famous ruthless arbitration presentation in history. (Milbury did win though. Salo was making 300k and asked for 1.1m. Milbury offered 750k and that’s what the arbitrator gave Salo. And that savvy move shows why he got so many more GM jobs.)

 

[Guttersniped]

And Canucks pass us !!!
Hopefully they don’t win the lottery but them passing us is one less thing to worry about.
Just need the Islanders to lose in the first or second round

I’m sure their fans are thrilled.

 

[Guttersniped]

We had a top 10 PK every year with him up until this one, so I can understand giving him a mulligan on this weird season. I do think the leash should be pretty short for him next year, although how often do just assistant coaches get fired during a season?

I don’t know how often, the Pens fired their ACs after their bubble playoffs disappointment last off-season, that’s how Recchi was available. Mike Sullivan wasn’t fired.

I’d like them to fire Nas and hire Jacques Martin, who among other things turned the NYR PK into the top 9th unit in the NHL (sort of, they only played 7 teams obviously). But I respect Ruff standing by his ACs and it might be weird just firing Nas.

You don’t want to keep hiring and firing people so maybe this isn’t the time to bring in anyone new. Gives these guys one more year and then get serious after evaluating an actual season.

 

[The 29th Pick]

I know, as most, the Tales of Mad Mike’s Moves but it’s always wild to see those actual Islanders teams. I also love* how we all had to listen that smarmy assbag opine on functional GMs because, since he couldn’t get another management job, he ended up NBC. Garth Snow deserved better, that’s all I have to say.

*That’s very bitter sarcasm, if that’s not clear. So so very happy he’s fired and I rarely say that about anyone.

The 1997-98 squad is another good one with Bryan Berard (20), Zdeno Chara (20), Todd Bertuzzi (22) and Bryan McCabe (22) all on the roster.

And Tom Chorske (31) and Sergei Namchinov (34), Sergei being the oldest player on roster yet he managed to play four more years for some other team.

My “favorite” Milbury story will always be his infamous brutal takedown rant during Tommy Salo’s Arbitration hearing in 1997.

To put this in perspective other than very early ones, which I don’t know about, Lou didn’t even go players’ arbitration hearings. He didn’t want to the asshole and the Devils lawyers/reps kept it professional, even our players admitted that. And still the players who were open about process, Gilmour, Holik etc and felt shamed, slighted and eventually seethed with anger during and after the hearing. Gilmour walked out. And none of them stayed with the team.

Milbury not only attended, he took the lead and that led to “the most horrific character assassination ever seen in an arbitration for an NHL player.” Yes, you’re arguing why you want to pay a player less money but leave it Milbury to personally be such a huge dick about it that it’s the most famous ruthless arbitration presentation in history. (Milbury did win though. Salo was making 300k and asked for 1.1m. Milbury offered 750k and that’s what the arbitrator gave Salo. And that savvy move shows why he got so many more GM jobs.)

poor Tommy !!
I remember this trade that just had everyone laughing:
Milbury traded Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers along with centre Olli Jokinen for winger Mark Parrish and centre Oleg Kvasha that same day on June 24, 2000. The deal would later be seen to have disproportionately benefited the Panthers, as both Jokinen and Luongo would eventually develop into star players, in contrast to Parrish and Kvasha

 

[Beastdog75]

I have to confess I don’t remember Ben Walter existing even though we traded Tony Romano, who I do remember, to Islanders for him.

The only reason I remember Romano, who is a 2006 6th rounder, is I thought it would be fun for him to make the team because of his very Italian name. I’m not Italian at all but this a Jersey team. Tony DeAngelo kind of killed the sweetness of this decades long little fantasy for me so it’s another reason he’s terrible.

I just looked up Romano, he’s from Smithtown, NY (Suffolk Co., Long Island) so I assume he grew NYI’s fan. After a quick search, he in fact did, so it must have been a life long dream to be a failed New York Islanders prospect.

Ben Walter played 78 games as Lowell Devil and 2 games as a New Jersey Devil in the 2009-10 and I don’t remember him at all. That’s what get for having a bland name Ben.

Granted Walters was a forward who played 8:31 in his 1st game and 3:04 in his second game and has no stats in from those games other than one shot attempt and a tripping penalty.

I totally forgot about Romano, but the only reason I remember Ben Walter is that his father is former Montreal Canadien Ryan Walter.

I remember there being some buzz here when we signed Jari Viuhkola, and I don't think he even lasted at the AHL level.

 

[Guttersniped]

I totally forgot about Romano, but the only reason I remember Ben Walter is that his father is former Montreal Canadien Ryan Walter.

I remember there being some buzz here when we signed Jari Viuhkola, and I don't think he even lasted at the AHL level.

Props for remembering Ben Walter.

 

[None Shall Pass]

iykyk

 

[Emperoreddy]

The return of Vish comics.

 

[aboriginal]

And Canucks pass us !!!
Hopefully they don’t win the lottery but them passing us is one less thing to worry about.
Just need the Islanders to lose in the first or second round

Nucks win! Nucks win!

The return of Vish comics.

 

[britdevil]

iykyk

The good ol' days...

 

[The 29th Pick]

so great to watch…..half those goals were 3rd period or OT…..'gio time'

Gio was great in the shoot-out too

 

[devilsblood]

Nucks win! Nucks win!

I watched a bit of a recent Blackhawk game and their play by play guy was very reminiscent of Harry Caray. Or at least the Will Ferrel impersonation of Caray.

A Chicago thing I assumed.

 

[devilsblood]

I know, as most, the Tales of Mad Mike’s Moves but it’s always wild to see those actual Islanders teams. I also love* how we all had to listen that smarmy assbag opine on functional GMs because, since he couldn’t get another management job, he ended up NBC. Garth Snow deserved better, that’s all I have to say.

*That’s very bitter sarcasm, if that’s not clear. So so very happy he’s fired and I rarely say that about anyone.

The 1997-98 squad is another good one with Bryan Berard (20), Zdeno Chara (20), Todd Bertuzzi (22) and Bryan McCabe (22) all on the roster.

And Tom Chorske (31) and Sergei Namchinov (34), Sergei being the oldest player on roster yet he managed to play four more years for some other team.

My “favorite” Milbury story will always be his infamous brutal takedown rant during Tommy Salo’s Arbitration hearing in 1997.

To put this in perspective other than very early ones, which I don’t know about, Lou didn’t even go players’ arbitration hearings. He didn’t want to the asshole and the Devils lawyers/reps kept it professional, even our players admitted that. And still the players who were open about process, Gilmour, Holik etc and felt shamed, slighted and eventually seethed with anger during and after the hearing. Gilmour walked out. And none of them stayed with the team.

Milbury not only attended, he took the lead and that led to “the most horrific character assassination ever seen in an arbitration for an NHL player.” Yes, you’re arguing why you want to pay a player less money but leave it Milbury to personally be such a huge dick about it that it’s the most famous ruthless arbitration presentation in history. (Milbury did win though. Salo was making 300k and asked for 1.1m. Milbury offered 750k and that’s what the arbitrator gave Salo. And that savvy move shows why he got so many more GM jobs.)

Ya Milbury as lead intermission commentator was such a head scratcher because not only was he an awful GM, but he was completely joyless. Just came off like a no fun, smarter-then-you A-hole.

I never heard the above story, but it confirms my long held opinions of the guy.