Battle Of Hudson

After being waived by the Devils and then bought out once he cleared waivers yesterday afternoon, it didn’t take two-time Cup winner Colin White long to land on his feet. Today Whitey signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the San Jose Sharks, and the irony is twofold. First off, Shark fans can recycle their Ian White jerseys (Colin will wear his familiar #5 in San Jose), plus now you really can call him the Great White Shark. Despite the fact he’s moved on, Devil fans won’t have to wait long to see Whitey again, as the Sharks make a trip into the Prudential Center on October 21. Thankfully we’re not seeing him any more than that – for rumors were the Penguins were also interested in him, among other teams.

I’ll be cheering him on in his return from my new seats in section 120 this year, for I’ve decided to move on as well. Not from the Devils of course, but from my section in 208 – which is now a thing of the past for me. After mourning not being able to have tickets there anymore, and resisting the temptation to buy season tickets I’ve finally decided to get back in the game, with good seats right behind the Devils’ net (for the first and third periods). At $22 per game, can’t really argue with the price, since it’s only $7 more than my extreme corner seats have been the first four years of being a season ticket holder in everything but name at the Rock.

Guess sometimes change can be good, whether we like it at the time or not. Here’s to hoping a change benefits Whitey as well.

With a second buyout period available to the Devils starting today, few thought anything earth-shattering would happen, especially with the Devils a little under the salary cap with a full roster. Maybe it was somewhat expected that new acquisition Trent Hunter would be bought out, although disappointing that now we have to deal with a dead cap hit for four years at 666,667 per season and comical that we essentially traded Brian Rolston for cap space only. There was some speculation that Bryce Salvador, with one year left on his deal would be bought out but since he’s still on LTIR it wasn’t a possibility.

However, the decision to waive two-time Cup winning defenseman Colin White came out of left field, as did the revelation that GM Lou Lamoriello has been trying to trade Whitey since the end of the season. There were no takers that White would waive his NTC for. In announcing his intention to buy out both White and Hunter if neither were claimed on waivers, Lou cited ‘budgetary’ concerns and the current depth of young players on defense and right wing. While I do agree we have a ton of young defensemen just about ready for the NHL, the fact is that if we don’t have a miracle return from Bryce Salvador or some other move before October, our fourth-most experienced defenseman going into next season is the immortal Mark Fraser. Yeech.

Of course, the budgetary admission does worry me, although it can be a fairly loose term – either referring to the team’s budget in terms of actual money spent, or the salary cap itself. Cap-wise we were approximately $3 million under the salary cap including Salvador and $5.5 million without him (replacing a minimum-salaried player with Salvador’s $3 million equaling a net difference of $2.5) before these buyouts. Assuming neither player gets claimed on waivers, the buyouts will give us an additional $3.3 million in cap space with a full roster. In terms of real money, it saves ownership just over $2 million of the approximately $7 million combined owed to Hunter, who was signed for two years and White – who was on the last year of his deal.

Still, after calming down about this a little I have to admit that it’s unlikely that a couple million dollars here and there would really make that big a difference so perhaps it wasn’t the overriding factor, it’s not like we’re booting $50 million off the payroll like the Mets, although the initial signs haven’t been good – from Parise not getting a long-term deal, to Rolston and White being given away and being stuck with a cap hit for four years because we wouldn’t stick Hunter in the minors. Although White was still one of the team’s best defensemen, maybe the Rolston and White moves really were a belated attempt to change the culture of a locker room that went through coaches like Kleenex.

Even if he was declining as a player and whether or not there were locker room issues, it’s sad Whitey’s Devil career has to end like this. He’s been a part of the Devils organization since he was 17, and he’s 33 now so do the math, that’s sixteen years. As Lou himself put it, White was a ‘true Devil’. He played ten seasons with New Jersey, playing a physical, gritty style at the start of his career that got him compared to one-time teammate Ken Danyeko. Two years after the lockout ended though, he suffered a career-threatening eye injury in camp but managed to return after only missing the first twenty games of the 2007-08 season. Physically, he wasn’t the same player but compensated with smarts and was frequently matched up against the other team’s best players. Even this past season, he was one of the few Devils who pulled their weight in the first half and helped a young defense mature in the second half.

As far as what comes next, I give up. I have no earthly idea anymore, since we’ve been sending mixed signals all offseason. Are we rebuilding or going for it? Are we saving money or reallocating it? I didn’t see this one coming…it will be interesting to see if we actually use the cap space we’re clearing or not, or whether we clear even more salary? I’m kind of nervous to find out the answer.

How’s my night going? Let’s see…between 6 PM and 6:30 I got sucker-punched twice by the sports world, between the Nmandi Asomugha fiasco with him spurning the Jets (and Cowboys) for the Eagles at the last second after a three-day soap opera and then moments later hearing that talks between GM Lou Lamoriello and star winger Zach Parise came to a halt because the sides couldn’t agree on a long-term contract. As the immortal Joe Benigno would say: ‘What a disgrace!’

Clearly it’s been a great night so far. So we avoided arbitration by inking Zach to a one-year, $6 million deal, whoopdie darn doo. As much as both sides wanted to put a happy face on and emphasize the fact that they could agree to a deal after January 2012, it is now obvious that after months between the end of the season and now to agree to a long-term deal, if it wasn’t going to happen now it’s just not going to happen before UFA next summer. Things really shouldn’t have come to this, on either end. There are only a handful of reasons why it might have gotten to this point, none of which suggest a happy ending by next summer.

1) Ownership doesn’t have the money to pay him…we’ve heard this for a while now, and while it’s been denied right now those denials ring as hollow as the Mets’ assertions that the Bernie Madoff fiasco would not affect club operations. Clearly there was concern about having two long-term deals on the books at big money, with the huge money payouts on Ilya Kovalchuk‘s deal starting next year. Sure, I can’t prove that money actually is a factor but when ownership is in flux and has trouble dishing out money for Parise just one offseason after throwing $100 million at Kovy, you can’t stick your head in the sand either.

You also have to wonder what the recent Brian Rolston trade was actually about now, if it wasn’t to clear cap space for a potential long-term deal for Zach. Saving ownership a few more million? It sure wasn’t about hockey talent, for as much as I couldn’t stand Rolston he’s a better player than Trent Hunter without question. And it wasn’t about staying under the cap either since we still would have been at least a couple-few million under without trading Rolston.

2) Lou wants Zach to prove he’s healthy…okay I could buy that except for two things, one we benched him towards the end of the season when he could have gotten in a few games and proved he was healthy. If his health was that big of a question mark then he should have played down the stretch for the benefit of both himself and management. And if his health (after a knee injury that forced him to miss 3/4 of the season) really is a big deal, then why exactly did we go through this tete-a-tete for the last three months regarding trying to sign Zach long-term? We should have just tendered him a one-year offer when the offseason began if that was the case and avoided this drama.

3) Zach wants out…I won’t believe this one yet BUT the fact is while we spent all our time and attention on Kovy last offseason, when Zach wanted a long-term deal (and was healthy) we made no movement toward signing one. And when Lou had months to sign him this offseason little visceral movement was made towards that end, while we were signing everyone else from the waterboy to Mark Fraser to Cam Janssen and even the immortal Stephane Villeux. Sometimes being last-minute Lou does backfire and now we’re staring at having Parise go UFA next offseason with half the league in a position to bid on him handsomely.

4) Zach wants a big payday…when you don’t sign a long-term deal despite assertions to the contrary that you want one, a cynic might conclude that Zach was just conducting a PR campaign and had no intention of signing long-term until next offseason when he got to free agency. Granted, about 98% of sports athletes are all about the last dollar but in an offseason where Andy Greene, Johan Hedberg and even rookie Adam Larsson took less money to either stay or get to the Devils, it looks a bit disingenous at best that Zach couldn’t find any common ground with us while claiming repeatedly he wanted a long-term deal.

Whichever reason or reasons you want to believe, the fact remains the same…it is now a lot more likely that Parise hits UFA and that was the absolute nightmare scenario from this offseason. And for that, I’m frustrated with the mess that is ownership, angry at Lou (though admittedly some of that is my overall frustration with him since the lockout – his head coaching carousel, his inability to replace our defensive stars walking out the door or adjust to the post-lockout NHL) and dissapointed in Zach. Shame on everyone involved if this ends in divorce next July!

Since last offseason, Devils winger Brian Rolston has been rumored to be on the move and from mid-December on (when he got waived twice), nobody was more aware than Rolston himself that there was hard truth to the rumors. Particularly given his $5 million cap figure and declining production. However, nobody claimed him or dealt for him before last season’s trade deadline and Rolston picked up his play in the second half of the season like a professional, turning in some of his best hockey in either of his stints as a Devil with twelve goals and seventeen assists in his last 44 games played – including a memorable shootout winner over the Isles in early March where he ‘called his shot’ on the bench.

Despite that improved production, Zach Parise‘s return this year – whether he signs long-term or not – would have relegated Rolston to the third line once again, a role he chafed in earlier in his Devil tenure. Between that and his still too-high salary for next season, perhaps it was inevitable something would finally happen now that Rolston was on the last year of his deal. And today, something did happen as Rolston finally got dealt to the Islanders for injury-prone winger Trent Hunter – giving the Devils $3 million of cap savings – and another option at RW, a position we are a bit thin at.

While Rolston does have a NTC and could have declined to be dealt to the Isles, he admitted post-trade that he had for all intents and purposes waived the NTC for any destination GM Lou Lamoriello wanted to send him. For his part, Rolston was pleased to be going to Long Island given the proximity to his home and the fact he has a near-guaranteed role in the top six. Not to mention you could feel the edge in his voice just by seeing his quote about it being nice to go somewhere that he was wanted.

I’ve had my differences with Rolston since he returned to the Devils and has largely underperformed his contract, but you have to at least give him credit for not going in the tank and being an asset to the Devils’ second half run. Not everyone who knew they weren’t wanted would have reacted with the same professionalism (cough Jamie Langenbrunner cough). So, despite his underachieving I do wish him well next season and beyond. And while the Isles’ primary motivation may have been to acquire Rolston’s salary to approach the cap floor, they do also get the better player in the deal.

As far as where the Devils go from here, well the 31-year old Hunter if healthy (he missed most of last season witha n MCL injury) provides another intriguing option to the third or fourth line, an upgrade over a lot of the guys fighting for spots here – particularly on the right side where we have only the young Nick Palmeri, inconsistent David Clarkson and hard-working but undertalented Danius Zubrus currently above Hunter on the depth chart.

Sure, you can argue the Devils’ primary motivation for the deal was financial flexibility, since you can get rid of Hunter’s salary (via the minors or LTIR) where you couldn’t get rid of Rolston’s because of his 35+ deal. That said, I didn’t really think we needed another trade to fit in a possible long-term deal for Parise – not unless his cap figure was going to be north of $8 million and we wanted to give Bryce Salvador a chance to win a job in camp. Either way, getting rid of a non-essential piece and gaining much-needed financial flexibility (if not for Parise, then for another possible trade or signing down the road) should help us and gaining his salary and another vet presence should help the Isles.

With d-day now less than a week away for the Devils to avoid next Wednesday morning’s arbitration hearing with star winger Zach Parise, not only is the urgency there for both sides to get a deal done, but there really are no excuses not to get a deal done now that GM Lou Lamoriello‘s signed everyone but the waterboy and knows what a full roster could look like and exactly how much cap space he has right now. As Lou himself admits, Parise’s the ‘total focus’ now with no other outstanding contract figures to consider for anyone who could conceivably be on the roster next season. I’ll say this for Lou, as much as it’s driven me mad that he’s signed everyone but the waterboy (including Mark Fraser, who avoided his own arbitration hearing by inking a one-year deal for $550,000) before taking care of Zach, he really has lined all of his ducks in a row including finally hiring Pete DeBoer last week to be the head coach.

So now not only does Zach know how much room the Devils have for him, he knows who’s going to be coaching next year and hopefully beyond. And make no mistake about it, it behooves both sides to get a deal done. Sure, a cynic could say Zach might want to ride it out to UFA where he’ll almost certainly get more money than he could get in a deal with the Devils right now but two factors might preclude that – number one being the fact the CBA’s due to expire before next season, and if there’s a resolution to that before July 1 there’ll almost surely be new rules in the new CBA with regards to contract structure that could curtail intense frontloading. After all, it’s a lot easier for teams to hand out a 10 year, 70 million dollar deal if they can frontload a bunch of money now and buy out the deal at the back end when you have low-salaried seasons if the player’s no longer worth his cap hit. Plus after having missed all but one game in eleven months’ time between last October and this season’s Opening Night, another major injury this year could prove devastating to Zach’s open-market value.

Clearly from the Devils’ end, they can’t afford to lose their most dynamic home-grown talent since Patrik Elias was in his prime, and an American Olympic hero at that. Even with the Devils’ great second half run without him last year, the Devils did still finish a point under NHL .500 overall with the worst offense in the league. Having Parise around will also make it harder for teams to key on Ilya Kovalchuk, who carried the offense almost single-handedly during the Devils’ winter surge. Not to mention perennial linemate Travis Zajac looked lost offensively last year without Zach.

True, even if the Devils wound up going to arbitration next week they could still theoretically have months to re-sign him before Zach hits UFA next July 1 but the possibility of that is a lot more unlikely if both sides endure a messy arbitration hearing. And if both sides agree to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration, then I may be driven insane by all the speculation over whether we should trade Zach (which we won’t) to get something back for him. It was bad enough last year when fellow fans were getting paranoid long before this looming arbitration hearing, it would be a total black cloud if it were allowed to hover into this season as well. Not to mention both sides have had months to negotiate this, almost as long as the NFL players and owners had to reach an agreement on a CBA where billions of dollars were at stake. If they can’t come to any more than a one-year agreement now with exclusive negotiating rights, that doesn’t bode well for any long-term deal next offseason.

At least cap space shouldn’t be a problem. Currently CapGeek (a useful website for amateur GM’s like me) has the Devils a few million under the cap, but that doesn’t factor in the unfortunate Bryce Salvador situation. Seeing as he hasn’t been cleared to play yet, it’s likely he’ll begin the season on LTIR. If Sal is cleared to play though, he could wind up facing a Dan McGillis-type fate with no NMC or NTC to prevent the Devils sending him to Albany, seeing as a trade would be extremely unlikely with Salvador having been out a year and one hit away from retirement if he even did get cleared. Either way, that would clear almost another $3 million in space.

So looking at a likely roster for next season, CapGeek has fourteen forwards (not including Zach) listed at $33.675 million combined. Having all of those forwards make the roster and factoring in Zach is extremely unlikely though, so figure on at least one of the forwards making under 600k – either Rod Pelley, Cam Janssen or Vladimir Zharkov – not making the team and the figure’s closer to $33 million. I’ll cut Janssen, giving us a $33.125 figure for 13 forwards not including Zach. Goalies Martin Brodeur and Johan Hedberg factor in for $6.425 million with another $1 million of dead cap space thanks to the buyouts of Jay Pandolfo and Andrew Peters last offseason. So adding that $7.425 would put us at $40.55 million.

Among our defensemen, if you go with the six returning players – including Fraser as the seventh D – and sub in Matt Taormina (a non-listed 550k salary) for the departed Anssi Salmela, you arrive at a cap figure of $15,267,500 for seven defensemen, not including Salvador or first-round pick Adam Larsson, whose cap figure would be 950k if he made the team. That would put our cap number at $55,817,500 which would be $8,482,500 below the $64.3 million cap celing. If Lou wants to give Salvador a legitimate chance to make the team, that does make the equation harder. If you sub out say, Fraser for Sal, that’d be around a net $2.35 million decrease in our cap space, putting our cap figure at just over $6 million. That would make it unlikely to sign Zach without either a trade or at least shortening the roster below 23 players.

Either way, if the Devils don’t get Zach done, it won’t be because of cap issues. Guess it’s time for another few anxious days of waiting before a resolution, one way or another. At least I have the NFL free-for-all to keep me occupied until then, not to mention the MLB trade deadline. If there’s been a nuttier week as far as total sports transactions, I’m hard-pressed to remember one. The first few days of NHL free agency following the lockout were somewhat comparable to what the NFL’s going through but you didn’t have corresponding action with another sport’s trade deadline to complement that. For me it’s particularly a goofy time, with literally all of my sports teams (the Mets, Jets and Devils) potentially making major transactions between now and next week.