The Day's Analysis

When it came to the volume of significant moves, I felt like a kid in a candy store today...if said candy store sold fire arms and bottles of liquid awesomeness. Though the only emotion that Kovie's signing elicited was relief, I must admit that I was a bit surprised with his decision. Los Angeles will not only be the better team this season, but for seasons to come, and I thought that he would almost certainly sign there. Nevertheless, he decided to stay in Newark... for the next seventeen years. His deal is worth approximately 100 million dollars, perhaps a little more. Now this deal has some serious implications for the Devils future. Parise, the team's other top young left winger, is coming to the end of his contract. Will he re-sign with the team if he has to compete with Kovie for ice time? Or will he flee from Newark for greener pastures (and money). The first line for the Devils will most likely look something like this:

Ilya Kovalchuk-Travis Zajac-Jamie Langenbrunner/Zach Parise/Patrick Elias

Langenbrunner is the only natural right winger of the bunch, however Parise is too good to waste on a second line. Nevertheless, he may be relegated to the second line to spread the offense more effectively through the top six. Elias could also take a top winger line now that Arnott is there to take the second line centerman spot. Kovie and Zajac should both definitely be top line players, with Kovie being their new signing, and Zajac being their highest scoring center last season. My guess is that Parise will take the top line winger spot with Zajac and Kovie, making quite the potent offensive unit. That makes the second line Langenbrunne, Elias, and Arnott. It's quite the nostalgic group of players taking the second shift in that case, and they may have some good chemistry due to their pasts with each other. Still, the age of that line may become problematic, especially in terms of endurance and energy. Plus, unless Parise gets first line time, I doubt he'll resign with the team. He's an offensive stud, and would make the first line on any other team in the NHL. A real kick in the pants would be to join the Penguins and play sniper to Crosby's feeder. But maybe we should just stick to this season for now.


Gagne Gets Traded To Tampa- Stevie Y is a Genius

The Lightning absolutely won out in this trade. Tampa gave up a fourth rounder and a tough guy to get a seasoned veteran who can score goals and provide depth on the second line, or prominent time on the first. With him in town, the Bolts could even have some sort of exclusively French line with Gagne, St. Louis, and Lecavalier. That may not make sense though. Lecavalier is a second line center on this team, as Steven Stamkos has developed into a Maurice Richard Trophy winning machine. St. Louis is need on the first line to play with Stamkos and pull some pressure off of him, and my guess is then either Gagne or Malone (probably Gagne) will take the first line spot. That makes a second line of Vinny, Malone, and Downie, which would be a very physical line capable of scoring a fair amount of goals. Either way, this was a steal, and Gagne's presence on this roster adds an immense amount of versatility and depth to their roster.

On the flip side, Philly loses out big time. In return for a quality top six forward, they get a guy who can fight (which they already have in Dan Carcillo) and a fourth round pick. Now, instead of having a stacked top six in Gagne, Briere, Leino (he had 21 points in 18 games in this year's playoffs), Richards, Carter, and Hartnell, they have the same top six with Nikolai Zherdev in place of Gagne. The move makes no sense. Why would you sign Zherdev and put yourself over the cap, thus forcing yourself to dump salary, when you already have a forward who's twice as good in Gagne. The Zherdev signing made no sense, and now they're paying the consequences for it.