Lou Lamoriello's Gamble Not Paying Dividends for New Jersey Devils

When Lou Lamoriello made the move to bring in Ilya Kovalchuk to the New Jersey Devils organization it was thought that he may represent the final piece to the Devils' Stanley Cup aspirations.

Thwarted in the first round of the playoffs by the Philadelphia Flyers, Lou’s gamble didn’t pay off, costing him defenseman Johnny Oduya, rookie forward Niclas Bergfors, prospect Patrice Cormier and New Jersey’s 2010 first round draft pick.

At the time of the deal the gamble was seen as a high-risk/high reward type of deal. That said, let’s face it, Lou Lamoriello rarely makes a bad move—but this time, given what the Devils have given up and the trouble the team looks to be in for the foreseeable future, it’s pretty safe to say that Lou came out on the short end of the deal this time no matter how you slice it.

With the Devils giving up so much for Kovalchuk, it was all but a certainty that Lou would make a bold move for the talented sniper in the summer, which Lou did to the tune of a 17-year, $102 million contract that was later rejected by the NHL on the grounds that the deal circumvented the collective bargaining agreement.

Not wanting to give up on their prize pig, the Devils somehow found a way to get Kovalchuk under contract, this time to the tune of $100 million over 15 years.

With Kovalchuk now under contract, concern grew about the New Jersey Devils salary cap issues, both now and for the future—especially next summer when the Devils will have a total of $48,483,332 (numbers courtesy of capgeek.com) allocated to just 13 players.

That leaves the Devils with just over $10 million with which to fill out their roster and with star forward Zach Parise set to become a restricted free agent (and in need of a big raise) the cost of adding Kovalchuk to the fold might just include having to turn their backs on Parise and other key pieces to the Stanley Cup puzzle.

The Kovalchuk conundrum is already rearing its ugly head in New Jersey, forcing the team to dress just 16 players in their 1-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres earlier in the season, followed by numerous undermanned games.

Concern about the Devils tactics has caused plenty of debate in hockey circles and now looks to have the attention of the NHL and NHLPA, who are looking into the incident (and how they may punish the Devils) as we speak.

For New Jersey Devils fans, the only thing that matters is the results on the ice. Trouble is, thus far the Devils have been terrible, leaving many Devils fans to wonder if Kovalchuk was worth what the Devils gave up?

The Devils currently sit in last place in the NHL standings with a 1-4-1 record and a goals for/against ratio of minus-11—which is also the worst in the NHL.

The Devils goals against per game is sitting at a staggering 3.50 goals per game, while their goals for of 1.67 per game is, once again, as inept as they come, earning the Devils the 30th-ranked offense.

On special teams, the Devils power play sits 21st overall—humming along at a 11.8 percent proficiency rate, while their penalty kill has been mediocre at best, sitting 15th overall with a proficiency rate of 85.7 percent.

For his part Kovalchuk leads the Devils in points, having scored twice, adding three assists for a total of five points in his first six games. Kovalchuk is also sitting at a minus three and has yet to score a power play marker.

While it is still far too early to suggest a complete lynching of Lou Lamoriello, it appears as if his gamble to make Kovalchuk a New Jersey Devil is not paying off, causing more than a few hockey experts to question his decision and, for the first time ever, question Lamoriello’s future with the Devils’ organization.

Simply put, whether the Devils find success this season or not, the acquisition of Kovalchuk looks to have handcuffed the Devils both now and in the future and for that reason alone it is easy to point the finger at Lamoriello and the Devils organization for making a very shortsighted decision when it came to signing Kovalchuk.

As it stands right now the Devils look old, slow and lack team chemistry. If those attributes do not turn around quickly, this team is in trouble…big trouble…

Time will tell if the Devils can turn things around. That said, if the Devils intend on playing with a compressed roster (which is not helping them in the speed department) I suspect this team will continue to struggle and eventually burn itself out by Christmas.

You cannot expect to continually play with a shortened bench and get the desired results—sooner or later your team will succumb to injury, exhaustion, ultimately leading to failure in the standings.

Yes NHL fans, Lou Lamoriello’s bold move to bring Ilya Kovalchuk into the fold may have looked good to some at the time of the Kovalchuk signing, but that prized pig is gonna need some lipstick soon—she’s getting uglier every minute.

Until next time,

Peace!