Can the New Jersey Devils Season Be Saved After Ilya Kovalchuck Signing?

It has been an abysmal season for last year’s Atlantic Division winners. During the offseason the organization believed it had taken a significant step forward by signing Ilya Kovalchuk long-term while acquiring Jason Arnott (Predators) and Anton Volchenkov (Senators).

Instead, the team is enduring a massive tailspin. As of Friday the team currently has 20 points in 36 games, a minus-53 goal differential and, as a result, sits in the league cellar.

Kovalchuk, a prolific Russian forward who had scored more goals than any other player since he was drafted first overall by Atlanta in 2001, was courted by the Los Angeles Kings and New York Islanders before he settled with the Devils.

The Thrashers had offered him a $101 million, 12-year deal before trading him to New Jersey last season.

New Jersey was the presumable winner in the offseason. They got the forward they needed to complement Team USA superstars Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner, Devil lifer Patrik Elias and prodigal sons Jason Arnott and Brian Rolston.

Instead, the Kings and Islanders appear to have benefited from missing out on Kovalchuk and his mammoth contract.

The Kings are currently second in the Pacific, behind the red-hot Dallas Stars, and, with a talented, young and inexpensive team, have the cap space to add a veteran player like Jarome Iginla to assist them at the deadline.

Nobody is going to mistake the Islanders for a powerhouse—they are one place ahead of New Jersey in the league standings—but they have a substantially smaller payroll and are playing marginally better hockey.

Most surprisingly, the Thrashers have improved the most since the Kovalchuk trade. At the time when their franchise player was traded, Atlanta appeared to be hanging from the last thread.

The team was going to miss the postseason again, Phillips Arena could barely draw a crowd of 10,000 for a home game and there was rumor that the team may be interested in relocation.

Following the Kovalchuk era, the Thrashers have parlayed their deal with the Devils and Blackhawks into to a cost-effective roster of talented young players that are currently competing for the Southeast Division title and could potentially win the first playoff game in Thrashers history.

While Devils enthusiasts may beg to differ, New Jersey is not going to recover from their fiasco this season.

The Atlantic Division is too difficult. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers are bona fide contenders and the New York Rangers have played ostensibly better hockey lately. As of Friday, all three teams have more points than the Northeast-leading Boston Bruins (45).

Even the Islanders have shown more life than the Devils throughout the season. They have won three of their last four.

New Jersey has a tough schedule in January. They must play Philly three times, Tampa Bay twice, and Pittsburgh and Detroit once. Seven of their games will be played on the road.

It will make an immediate recovery far-fetched.

This seemingly inexplicable collapse happened because New Jersey GM Lou Lamoriello, who has constructed three Stanley Cup winners since joining the organization in 1988, strayed from his template for success.

Before the Kovalchuk lemon, he ran the team like the small-market Buffalo Sabres, using draft picks, cunning trades, and astute free agent pickups to form a competitive roster.

By acting out of character this season, Lamoriello compromised his team. In an October 11 contest against Pittsburgh, the Devils had to dress 15 players, violating an NHL CBA agreement that states that each club must dress 18 skaters and two goaltenders.

This mismanagement could have calamitous ramifications.

New Jersey currently has the second-highest payroll ($66,157,123) in the league. Next year, only three players making seven figures—Jason Arnott ($4.5M) Zach Parise ($3.125M, RFA), Jamie Langenbrunner ($2.8M)—come off the books.

Fifteen players are already under contract next year.

Arnott is expendable and the team may choose to part ways with the aging Langenbrunner, who has served as team captain since 2007, but it is their best interest to re-sign Zach Parise, a franchise player who is entering his prime and will expect a windfall.

New Jersey’s attendance woes compound the affliction. Currently the Devils are 26th in attendance. Only the Columbus Blue Jackets, Atlanta Thrashers, Phoenix Coyotes and New York Islanders draw smaller crowds.

This puts the Devils in the conversation about teams in jeopardy of relocation. In New Jersey, the Devils vie for attention in a market saturated by Rangers and Flyers enthusiasts. Both the Flyers and Rangers sell out regularly, while the Devils struggle to get north of three-quarters capacity.

In 2007 the Sprint Center, an NHL-ready arena, was erected in Kansas City, Missouri. New Jersey has roots in KC—they joined the league as the Kansas City Scouts 1974—and could potentially return if they cannot clean up this mess.

There is no reason to panic in New Jersey, however. Lamoriello has time to get his team back on track, but he will have to be a Harry Houdini facsimile in order to create a contender again.

If anyone can do it, he can.

He has a contract with the Devil(s).