GDT: The Return of Kovy: Kings @ Devils, 7 PM, MSG+

[Satans Hockey]

atlanta on ice. i know i said support but the general meh support this team gets. what did you want him to leave and make less money playing in russia? would that have been better?

I don't care all that much about Kovy even though I wouldn't mind seeing Santini or Wood take some runs at him. I just don't agree with your point about Neids and Parise getting a free pass on the hate because neither of them did.

Nobody hates Neids nowadays cause it's so far in the past already(he retired almost 9 years ago which is crazy) and people still love the guy cause he brought us 3 cups and so many good years. Any hatred was buried when we retired his jersey and that was the move on moment from that.

Parise still gets booed a ton when the Wild play here. He just missed a few of those games cause he was hurt.

 

[JrFischer54]

As usual, it's about HOW he left. He could have made a statement at the end of the season, thanking the team and the fans and said that he wanted to go home. Instead, he decided to completely dissapear in like mid August, months after free agency and left us no way to replace him on the roster. And then we missed the playoffs 5 years in a row. And he never said anything about it. That's why people hate him

i think your leaving out a big part of this story. LOU! i'm sure lou had an idea and hint he was leaving if he didn't? then hes a bigger idiot then i thought. hes the one that puts a team out there. instead of realizing this he goes out and trades for cory brings in havlat ryder brummer and other misfits

 

[R8Devs]

Kovalchuk saved the team from that contract. Imagine having a 36 year old signed for 8 more years right now. And also if he retired any time later the cap recapture would be even worse. I understand booing just for the hell of it because it’s funny but if you seriously hate him idk what to say lol.

If Cory starts this game and can’t get a win when the Devils are home against a low scoring team who is on the 2nd game of a back to back — then idk seems like there’s no better opportunity than this game to break the streak

 

[JrFischer54]

I don't care all that much about Kovy even though I wouldn't mind seeing Santini or Wood take some runs at him. I just don't agree with your point about Neids and Parise getting a free pass on the hate because neither of them did.

Nobody hates Neids nowadays cause it's so far in the past already(he retired almost 9 years ago which is crazy) and people still love the guy cause he brought us 3 cups and so many good years. Any hatred was buried when we retired his jersey and that was the move on moment from that.

Parise still gets booed a ton when the Wild play here. He just missed a few of those games cause he was hurt.

when neids and parise left everyone was UNDERSTANDING of it because 1 left to play with his brother and the other left to play at home. kovy seeing the writing on the wall decided to leave and not be part of a bottom dwelling team when he was with one in atlanta for years. he was probably sold a bill of goods how they would keep parise and improve this and that imo. when that didn't happen he left for home and more money. the only difference is that he had a contract

 

[Satans Hockey]

that right there is my problem!!!!!!!!! your making it sound ok that he left us high and dry. o well gee he left to play with his brother thats ok i guess. not really since that wasn't a decision he just woke up on july 5th or whenever it was and was like yeah i'm going to play with my brother. he knew way ahead of time he was leaving but still dragged it into ufa and we were left holding the bag as usual.

i'm not denying parise should get booed i'm glad he does. its just when he left everyone was like "well he went to play at home can't blame him" "i understand why he left" again making excuses

You're making a lot of assumptions that Lou was clueless and in the dark about what Scott wanted and also forgetting we were 1 point behind the Flyers in 03-04. We finished with 100 points that year coming off a Cup win so it's understandable that Lou wouldn't trade Neids anyway cause Lou had always been about winning right now.

Look at Lou's history and how many upcoming bigger name ufas he never traded away, Parise, Gomez, Holik, Rafalaski just to name a few. He wasn't trading Neids that year anyway.

Also I remember rumors of Lou trying to trade for Rob and not being able to get it done so I'm not going to pretend and just assume like Lou didn't know what was going on.

 

[Satans Hockey]

when neids and parise left everyone was UNDERSTANDING of it because 1 left to play with his brother and the other left to play at home. kovy seeing the writing on the wall decided to leave and not be part of a bottom dwelling team when he was with one in atlanta for years. he was probably sold a bill of goods how they would keep parise and improve this and that imo. when that didn't happen he left for home and more money. the only difference is that he had a contract

Minus Parise that 12-13 team was mainly the same roster so I'm not buying the writing on the wall bit. That's just another assumption.

 

[NJDevils7]

that right there is my problem!!!!!!!!! your making it sound ok that he left us high and dry. o well gee he left to play with his brother thats ok i guess. not really since that wasn't a decision he just woke up on july 5th or whenever it was and was like yeah i'm going to play with my brother. he knew way ahead of time he was leaving but still dragged it into ufa and we were left holding the bag as usual.

i'm not denying parise should get booed i'm glad he does. its just when he left everyone was like "well he went to play at home can't blame him" "i understand why he left" again making excuses

Zach Parise was a free agent and chose to sign with his hometown team. Ilya Kovalchuk signed a 15 year contract to be the face of the franchise and bailed out after 3 years without giving any explanation. How on earth are you comparing those two...

 

[JrFischer54]

You're making a lot of assumptions that Lou was clueless and in the dark about what Scott wanted and also forgetting we were 1 point behind the Flyers in 03-04. We finished with 100 points that year coming off a Cup win so it's understandable that Lou wouldn't trade Neids anyway cause Lou had always been about winning right now.

Look at Lou's history and how many upcoming bigger name ufas he never traded away, Parise, Gomez, Holik, Rafalaski just to name a few. He wasn't trading Neids that year anyway.

Also I remember rumors of Lou trying to trade for Rob and not being able to get it done so I'm not going to pretend and just assume like Lou didn't know what was going on.

i'm not saying lou shouldve traded neids at the deadline. but if he didn't have an idea or a contingency plan in place for when he left? i dont know what to tell you. didn't they bring in malakov and mcgillis when he left?

 

[JrFischer54]

Minus Parise that 12-13 team was mainly the same roster so I'm not buying the writing on the wall bit. That's just another assumption.

elias was older broduer on fumes

 

[JrFischer54]

Zach Parise was a free agent and chose to sign with his hometown team. Ilya Kovalchuk signed a 15 year contract to be the face of the franchise and bailed out after 3 years without giving any explanation. How on earth are you comparing those two...

outside of the contract were either of them leaving different situations?

 

[NJDevs26]

Kovalchuk saved the team from that contract. Imagine having a 36 year old signed for 8 more years right now. And also if he retired any time later the cap recapture would be even worse. I understand booing just for the hell of it because it’s funny but if you seriously hate him idk what to say lol.

If Cory starts this game and can’t get a win when the Devils are home against a low scoring team who is on the 2nd game of a back to back — then idk seems like there’s no better opportunity than this game to break the streak

I don’t buy the whole altruistic fantasy of looking at it like ‘well he saved us the recapture leaving when he did’. Sure it was a nice byproduct but that’s not WHY he left and he left after a contract that cost us the #11 OA anyway, because he wanted to get every dime - which is also the reason he left. He was getting paid more money for less work.

 

[Satans Hockey]

i'm not saying lou shouldve traded neids at the deadline. but if he didn't have an idea or a contingency plan in place for when he left? i dont know what to tell you. didn't they bring in malakov and mcgillis when he left?

What contingency plan does one even have to replace a hall of famer? Lou brought in those two cause he lost out on Neids. Sure they were awful signings but nobody else was going to fill Neids role anyway.

 

[NJDevs26]

i'm not saying lou shouldve traded neids at the deadline. but if he didn't have an idea or a contingency plan in place for when he left? i dont know what to tell you. didn't they bring in malakov and mcgillis when he left?

Nieds was one year away from FA when the lockout hit and then all of a sudden a FA after the long lockout under an entirely new system. How was Lou supposed to ‘plan’ for that? If anything we saw his plan B and it wasn’t pretty, although it did include resigning Rafalski too. Plus at that point guys like Hale and Paul Martin were the future and Martin did turn out to be a decent pro.

 

[R8Devs]

Who cares if it’s altruistic or not which I don’t think it is either at the end of the day the Devils still benefited massively from it.

And the first round pick it cost is not really on him, the Devils could have just given up #29 in the 2012 draft

 

[JrFischer54]

I don’t buy the whole altruistic fantasy of looking at it like ‘well he saved us the recapture leaving when he did’. Sure it was a nice byproduct but that’s not WHY he left and he left after a contract that cost us the #11 OA anyway, because he wanted to get every dime which is also the reason he left.

i wouldn't put it past lou and beek agreeing with him leaving to save the money. he absolutely didn't do this alone or without the team blessing or knowing. dont get upset with the pick either because lou shouldn't kept the 29th! we should've had the 11

 

[Satans Hockey]

elias was older broduer on fumes

Elias led that team with 36 points in 48 games and had 53 points in 65 games the next season. He was the least of those team's problems.

 

[JrFischer54]

Elias led that team with 36 points in 48 games and had 53 points in 65 games the next season. He was the least of those team's problems.

why are you even comparing the 12-13 season kovy was on that roster.

your right elias did have a great year. how many points did he have in 15-16? what about broduer what were his stats in 15-16?

 

[NJDevs26]

i wouldn't put it past lou and beek agreeing with him leaving to save the money. he absolutely didn't do this alone or without the team blessing or knowing. dont get upset with the pick either because lou shouldn't kept the 29th! we should've had the 11

If there was some conspiracy or quid pro quo between him and Lou then why didn’t he go to the Isles this offseason? He would have been able to stay in the area.

And yes Lou goofed on the pick but fact is we still lost a first/lost value on it because of the actual negotiation.

 

[Satans Hockey]

because lou shouldn't kept the 29th! we should've had the 11

At least we agree on something lol ugh and for Stefan Matteau which makes it even worse. What a bust as it is and looks even worse when we could have had the 11th overall pick if we just gave up 29th in 2012. Ugh.

 

[JrFischer54]

At least we agree on something lol ugh and for Stefan Matteau which makes it even worse. What a bust as it is and looks even worse when we could have had the 11th overall pick if we just gave up 29th in 2012. Ugh.

yeah talk about upsetting. having that name even on the jersey is a slap in the face of this fan base.

 

[JrFischer54]

i dont want to go further down the rabbit hole. i said what i had to about kovy. i think he gets a bad rap and i think he did more good then bad in his short time here. he got us over that first round/second round hump in 2 years when broduer and parise couldn't do it in 10 years.

that playoff run in 2012 was probably the greatest run this team ever had outside of 95. they knocked out the rival flyers and rangers. the rangers to the day of messier guarantee in 94 in overtime at home no less! i dont think any of that happens if he wasn't here. so i will take that trade off of 2012 for him leaving when he did no questions asked.

i also think if the rangers made the finals that year they probably beat the kings or at the least make it to game 6-7 and anything can happen at that point

i've seen them win the cup at home (not 95). but honestly that game 6 against the rangers to me was the greatest moment i've seen in person as a devils fan

 

[TrufleShufle]

I don’t buy the whole altruistic fantasy of looking at it like ‘well he saved us the recapture leaving when he did’. Sure it was a nice byproduct but that’s not WHY he left and he left after a contract that cost us the #11 OA anyway, because he wanted to get every dime - which is also the reason he left. He was getting paid more money for less work.

Who cares why he left, it saved us big time. And he didn't cost us the the #11 OA, whoever made that call did, AND the contract has to be decided on by two parties, players should always try to get whatever they can, I thought that was a universal thought. But at the same time, Gms give those players only what they are willing to pay them.

I'll pretend for a minute that we all know 100% for a fact he left for selfish, evil reasons, but I still don't care, everything worked out better, and the things that didn't were more on management than him.

 

[Satans Hockey]

why are you even comparing the 12-13 season kovy was on that roster.

your right elias did have a great year. how many points did he have in 15-16? what about broduer what were his stats in 15-16?

Cause you brought up that Elias was on fumes and Kovy saw the "writing on the wall" when I don't think either was true. Elias wasn't a problem with those teams and I don't think Kovy has a crystal ball.

Kovy misses the playoffs 1 season after making the finals and magically sees the "writing on the wall" and bounces?
Honestly that makes it even sound worse and portrays him as more of an asshole to me. He couldn't stick it out even 1 more season to even see if Lou would make improvements to the team anyway? It's weak.

 

[JrFischer54]

Cause you brought up that Elias was on fumes and Kovy saw the "writing on the wall" when I don't think either was true. Elias wasn't a problem with those teams and I don't think Kovy has a crystal ball.

Kovy misses the playoffs 1 season after making the finals and magically sees the "writing on the wall" and bounces?
Honestly that makes it even sound worse and portrays him as more of an ******* to me. He couldn't stick it out even 1 more season to even see if Lou would make improvements to the team anyway? It's weak.

you make it sound like he signed a 3-6 year deal. he signed a 15 year deal. yes he could see the direction this team was going and that elias wouldn't be around a few years from then broduer also.

i'm not going to expect you to believe me or anyone else for that matter. but i do know that the devils were aware during the lock out that he didn't want to come back and play that shortened season. they knew he was going to leave. a family member was on speaking terms during this time period (their kids played on the same hockey team).

 

[NJDevs26]

Cause you brought up that Elias was on fumes and Kovy saw the "writing on the wall" when I don't think either was true. Elias wasn't a problem with those teams and I don't think Kovy has a crystal ball.

Kovy misses the playoffs 1 season after making the finals and magically sees the "writing on the wall" and bounces?
Honestly that makes it even sound worse and portrays him as more of an ******* to me. He couldn't stick it out even 1 more season to even see if Lou would make improvements to the team anyway? It's weak.

Plus Kovalchuk cares so much about winning he’d rather quit the league and go to a lesser league? Yeah okay. And when he finally came back it was with a similar team to the one he left so he wasn’t exactly a soothsayer this offseason lol