The title of this forum is "IN LOU WE TRUST". Trust in someone is based upon the belief that they will do the right thing. With trust also comes accountability, and I would suggest that the next time Lou may want to throw a jar of jelly he should be standing in front of a mirror.

"To state the facts frankly is not to despair the future nor indict the past. The prudent heir takes careful inventory of his legacies and gives a faithful accounting to those whom he owes an obligation of trust." John F. Kennedy

The obligation of trust is to be accountable to those who put their trust in you. Even though we have all not agreed with every move, the people on this forum have trusted Lou. Frankly we probably should, as over the last 15 years we have been a very successful franchise.

But trust can only be maintained when the actions of the trusted person instills that trust into the people who are granting it. I say for myself only that my trust is wavering, and I will explain why.

We have the privilege of having the greatest goalie ever to don a mask. Unfortunately he can only go for so long, and although he exhibits no signs of slowing down at some point he will choose to move on. The window is closing, and there is no heir apparent to step in. We are a win now team! Team management has stated in the media that this was the team, that we should expect a run, that this is the best group in years. Where are the results? Who is accountable? Where do we go from here?

The responsibility falls squarely upon the shoulders of Lou Lamoriello. Certainly we will hear over the coming days and weeks that he will take that blame, but does that mean that he will change his ways?

Over the past several years Lou has made questionable decisions that cannot be ignored, and have DIRECTLY contributed to our failures.

First and foremost is that he tends to reward players that he has affection for with large, long, and untradeable contracts. Yes I am talking about Jay Pandolfo (2.5 million) and Colin White (3 million). Colin White is serviceable, but if you run his numbers against younger and/or cheaper players he is not in the price range he is paid. Pandolfo has been a fan favorite, but you can’t have a 2.5 million dollar player sitting on the bench in the playoffs.

 Next, he has failed to address our defense. The reason we won three cups is directly related to the strength of our defense, and this group pales by comparison. Now I know you might say "but we won the Jennings Trophy", but that’s Marty’s trophy not the defenses.

 In my opinion Mike Mottau is a disaster and should have been replaced a long time ago. I think he would be a fine number 7 defenseman to step in for a game due to injury, but he is not a top 6 player. Andy Greene has been stellar for us, but the positive accolades stop there. We have some very promising young defenseman that needed to get NHL games under their belts, and that did not happen. We are such a slow defensive team that other teams exploit us almost at will, and we are not very physical. Paul Martin? Regardless of his injury this year the fact is that he is paid 3.8 million and is an unrestricted free agent. What is the market for him? How much do we pay to keep him? If someone offers him 5 million he is going to take it, and we should let him go. There are plenty of defensemen at that price who offer the same or better value.

 Finally, when the opportunity has presented for us to add a player to our roster Lou has chosen poorly in almost every case with the clear exception of Ilya Kovalchuk.

Brian Rolston is a personal favorite of mine, but his benefits to our team have not lived up to his contract. Do I need to even mention Pikkarainin? Clearly he was a disaster. And when there were holes to fill rather than bring up youth and speed we sign Rob Niedermayer and Dean McAmmond. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I would have rather kept John Madden who has more character than Nierdermayer and McAmmond combined, as CHARACTER was clearly absent in this playoff performance. Elias and Zubrus at least showed passion in this series, so I’m giving them a pass. Clarkson was a liability.

Maybe it’s too soon. Maybe the humiliation is too fresh. Frustration and disappointment clearly have prompted this post, but it’s how I feel today and only my opinion. But trust is earned every single day, and Lou needs to take responsibility and begin to reshape this team while we still have the most important asset in goal, and prove to me that he deserves my trust.

PS- SIGN KOVALCHUK, HE IS WORTH IT!

I wanted to relate my experience with the Snow Storm Game to see if anyone else thought that the conditions about the arena were as deplorable as I thought they were. 

As a point of reference I am a member of the 334 club (and have the tag to prove it) and have no regrets about trekking to Continental Airlines Arena that day. We had 5 guys in my SUV and it’s the only time I have ever seen cars abandoned in the middle of the Turnpike, but we made it in. Once we got to the Meadowlands Complex the conditions were not bad at all when compared to the weather, and we were able to park and walk into a well plowed and shoveled arena. I had no complaints about the conditions relative to what the maintenance staff could get done, and frankly it is one of my ALL TIME devils moments. The game, the experience of the journey with my friends, and the class with which the Devils handled the 334 of us that showed up made this a memorable experience.

Last night on the other hand was a polar opposite experience, and I do mean POLAR.  I was cautioned several times to not take the train because they were going to suspend service, but I did anyway and have no regrets. Penn Station was well plowed and shoveled before the game and after, but clearly no one thought it important enough to take any action between the train station and the arena. With the exception of the area immediately around the arena, the sidewalks between the Rock and the station were treacherous, and had not seen a shovel or salt.  I get it, it’s a blizzard, and we should expect that things may not be perfect, but not only were the sidewalks in bad shape, there was not one employee out there even making an attempt at it. Not one Shovel, Not one snow blower, not even one employee was in sight. I did see the city of Newark plows doing the streets, thank god, because you had to walk in the streets to make it to the station.

Now the Devils will say that the area between the facilities is not there problem, but isn’t it? Shouldn’t they make sure that their patrons can get into and out of the arena safely?  If there were people out there making an effort I would not be complaining, but I did not see one person on either end of the trip, and feel the Devils failed miserably in this regard.

I also didn’t agree with them sending home most of the concession employees after the game started. For those that weren’t there,  MOST of the concessions were open and working somewhat to capacity before the game, and then supervisors came around and started shutting them down and telling any employee that had to take Mass Transit that they could go home ( I heard it myself).  They were there, we were there, and they couldn’t come up with a better plan? They left very few stands open, so if you wanted to miss the entire game you could in theory get something to eat. Again, I get it that it was a snow storm, and if they had never opened the concessions fine. The employees were there, the concessions were open, 4000 PAYING fans were in the house, it was just a poorly managed event, and that’s what I’ll remember.

So I’m interested to know if the loss amplified my criticism or if anyone else thought that the job done around the arena was less than a fighting effort. Maybe that’s the point, that the on ice effort has infected the entire organization.

Anyone else disappointed in the fan fest yesterday? I think the players could have done a better job engaging the fans. They each had security and an escort, but they seemed to be a bit reluctant to engage the fans. They did take pictures with anyone who asked, but most seemed very disinterested, which just turned me off. I spent the time catching up with the people in our section. Zubrus, Rolston, and Parise were very accomodating.

They had a ton of stuff for the kids, but there just werent that many kids there, and if they didnt restrict it to a ticket per seat I would have taken my whole family.

Should have been a jersey event for at least the young players. I'm pretty up on our prospects and I had no clue who most were in thier street clothes. The young guys walked around pretty unbothered because people didnt know who they were.

Nice that they did it to kick off the season for us. I get it that they were in physicals and doing promos all day, but just wasnt feeling the love from our players.

Maybe in Lou we trust, but our hopes and prayers rest with Marty

Continue reading this post »