New Jersey Devils biggest need this offseason?

Question

The Devils had a great defensive regular season despite having a very unreliable defensive lineup, but their weakness on the blue line showed in the playoffs.

The Devils had long stretches where they scored just enough to win, but that didn't come through in the playoffs, either.

Which is the bigger need? Who should NJ try to sign OR trade for?

Answer 1

I gotta say offense they have solid d but with the new rules in the nhl the devils scoring 2 goals and playing defense the rest of the game just don't work in the game anymore in adition of their offense Brodure needs to always be on his game! i think nj shoud sign a top defense men and a good goal scorer.

Answer 2

First of all nips you are 100% wrong in what you said about elias.  He was there leading point scorer for the playoffs and thats what its all about.  But we did have alot of players that did not play up to there expectations.  Look at brian gionta 48 goal scorer a few years ago and now he cant get past 20 so obvoiulsy he CAN score.  Patrick Elais had a decent season point wise but i think his goal scoring should increase next season by at least 10.  Parise he is a star in the making he should have at least 35/40 goals next season or the season after that.  There defense isnt really the problem.  All they need is a defence that will let up 2 goals a game and that is why they should go out and get ralston....Him and Gionta would do AMAZING TOGETHEr.  Or hossa and elias both eroupeian born fowards that play alike.  Or go out and trade for martin havlet him and elias would do acceptional.  They also need Zubrus to be better than a fourth line foward.  He ussaly avg. around 25 goals/65 points a season   this season he was nothing short of terrible.  There not paying him that much money to be a 4th line guy and to only score 10 goals a season.  Belive me he should no waite has to pick it up this season....But Knowing the new jersey style of making moves they will not make any BIG moves so i dont expect them to get any one.  But me being a beat reporter for the devils scoures are telling me we will make a move to get chiago foward martin havlet.  But he is a 2nd line player ......so dont get your hopes up thinkin were going to get hossa becuase the devils will not lay out that much money for him.... even a guy like malone will do the job......what they need is some one who can reuinte gionta and elias so both of them can live up to there expecations

Answer 3

The need a goal scorer, period. Don't even worry about D men....they have enough.

Answer 4

they should go after Hossa. they can put him and Elias together. that would be a dynamic duo

Answer 5

One thing is for sure, they need a stronger defense.  Defense wins games, and of course you can't win games without defense.  They need to help out Brodeur a little bit

Answer 6

find a new goalie. i hear that Broduer is sighning for like four more years. hes good but old. also, they should go after a young hotshot that will work good with elias

Answer 7

Get at least one big forward, and strengthen the entire defense by getting rid of people like Brookbank and getting a few solid, but not necessarily superstar defensemen, to help Brodeur out.

After Gomez left, our offense went down the toilet.  After Rafalski left, our defense went down the toilet.  In one season our best forward and d-man left.  So it sucks.  Basically, sign a really good forward (not like Zubrus who we got to replace Gomez...) and get someone to replace Rafalski (and get rid of Brookbank I hate him so much).

They resigned Brookbank (and Mottau) a few weeks ago.  Hopefully they put Brookbank back in Lowell.

Answer 8

They need a lot! To move ELIAS is first! They need a couple of good Dmen and need to start training a replacement for Brodeur! Its going to be a tough couple of years for them, as LOU has lost his touch on which players to sign and which ones to let go.

Answer 9

I think first off we need of a strong defenseman that can bring our current players together and have them learn from a solid veteran.  I think Salvadore will be a good fit in our defense if we keep him.  Supposedly Rachunek is already back in Russia, and had that set since before the playoffs (which is why he barely played), so good riddance to him.  I like Motteau and of course Oduya is really shaping out to be a solid player.  Vitaly & Paul Martin are solid as well and should be kept (especially Vitaly since Colin White won't hit anymore).  If Colin White keeps playing hesitantly and almost afraidt hen he should be put up as trade bait.  I think we just need that veteran guy to bring all the inexperienced players together.  One or two pick ups in the defense would really help us out, after all we had one of the best defenses last year (until the playoffs) so by keeping that core together and loosing maybe Brookbank we can pick up a few solid veterans and really do some good for our team.  

The other thing we desperately need is scoring.  We have a lot of underachievers in that area including in past seasons Elias, Gionta, Zajac, Zubrus and Langenbrunner as well.  I think that these guys are all capable of 30+ goal seasons (Zajac in another few years maybe, but should be over 20+).  I think they have thier times of just being cold and not in a groove, but I strongly believe the scoring is there just not performing.  I think if we brought in a veteran big-name guy like Hossa that it would really pull everyone together and we would see amazing numberd from our offense.  Parise and Madden were our best skaters throughout the year and before Pandolfo got hurt he was right up there so I think if we can get Elias and G-O scoring again we could have a very potent offense.  Unfortunately that means we need a big name (Lou's least favorite idea), but it is something that is similar with the defense as well....one or two guys could make the whole team click.......

At the very least I think Lou finally realizes that we need SOMETHING (hopefully big) and he will fill the void this summer.....IN LOU WE TRUST!

Answer 10

There's no question the Devil's biggest need is a top defensemen.  The loss of Rafalski shows just how important he was to the team.  Some possibilities out there are Ron Hainsey who said he wants to test the free agent market, John Michael-Liles, and Mark Streit.