Thu 28 Jun 2007
Johnny O-Don’t chya
Posted by Patricia Greuter under Notes Notes Notes! , RAD BRAD LUKOWICH , Summertime!
It appears that the reign of Johnny Oduya in New Jersey has come to an end.
Reports are indicating that the Swede with the silly last name was not tendered a qualifying offer, thus letting him loose to test the free agent waters July 1st.
Wow.
I’m certainly surprised.
Granted, I wanted nothing to do with Oduya during the playoffs, but I really didn’t think the lad was that bad. Certainly overrated in his short stay with the Devils, but no worse than a post-lockout Vlad Malakhov or Dan McGillis.
Low blow. I apologize.
Seriously, though, this screams of intent to re-sign Brian Rafalski. At least, I hope now. I’m no Rafalski fan, but with the potential of having he, Rad Brad, and now Oduya out of the lineup next season, well, that’s just going to be scary. Paul Martin is no #1, and Colin White is poop.
I wonder who will replace Oduya, though, because there really isn’t anyone shining on the Baby Devils that could easily step up into a solid #5 or #6 role. Richard Matvichuk is still always around, but still with a questionable back, I worry.
I’d tend to think this was an incredibly bad move by Louie Lams, but I’m inclined to shove those thoughts out of my brain and think that, hey, Mr. Lamoriello has something up his sleeve here.
He always does.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Boooo.
Good thing I didn’t order that Oduya jersey I was considering.
This is pretty surprising, I was under the impression that he not only would return but would be pretty good next year.
June 28th, 2007 at 11:59 am
I think that Lou was trying to save money and may have let Oduya go to try to sign him at the same cost. Qualifying offers must be 5-10% raises and maybe Lou didn’t want to spend that.
I personally liked Oduya and could see him playing well in the future. Andy Greene is a solid defenseman and if Rafalski and Lukowich stay, he’s your #6.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Awe man, I like Johnny. I thought he showed some potential. I’m not sure how much money this move saves though, so perhaps Lou already has someone else in mind, probably the one-footed Alex Brooks.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Is it sad that I completely forgot about Andy Greene?
Yikes.
June 28th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I am really confused about this move. There seem to be conflicting reports:
First there was this report:
Form the Bergen Record…6/26/07
“Qualifying offers
As expected, the Devils made qualifying offers to all of their
potential restricted free agents — Paul Martin, Zach Parise, Johnny
Oduya and Cam Janssen — before Monday’s league deadline, preventing
them from becoming UFAs”
and from Larry Brooks of the Post today…
“The Devils did not make $605,000 qualifying offer to retain rights to
defenseman Johnny Oduya, The Post has learned.”
Also, this Swedish article http://expressen.se/sport/ishockey/1.737422
is stating that he was offered a qualifying offer from the Devils.
I hope the two reports that say he was qualified are right, I definitely think he will just continue to get better after a great rookie year.
June 28th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
damn i guess Greenes gonna have to step it up now. If for sure see lou signing Rafalski cause he loves to stick to that defensive style and if he let Rafalski go then he would have to switch everything up and we wouldn’t have a very promising season ahead of us. we we only gotta wait a lil while before contracts start finalizing. And i heard both Stevens and Claude Lemieux are gonna be considered for the hall of fame this year. that’s so awesome! oh and some guy named mark messier but who cares, like he won’t for sure be conducted in first.
June 28th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
I don’t understand. In the Bergen Record yesterday, Tom Gulitti noted that Cam Janssen, Zach Parise, Paul Martin, and Johnny Oduya all got qualifying offers.
Who’s saying that Oduya didn’t get a qualifying offer?
June 28th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
I have a couple sources on this one, one being the doubtful NY Post (which I more or less threw out the window), although a second party e-mailed the NY Post and Larry Brooks did confirm it through his knowledge and the knowledge of another NHL team.
An NHLPA agent has also confirmed that Oduya is UFA.
June 28th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
I also heard that Johnny O got an offer, now I’m really confused,I liked His game and was looking forward to watching Him develop, well I guess we will see on Sunday how things shake out, did any one hear the rumblings that the Wild is interested in Martin, and Parise? If they make them offers the Dev’s have to match and that could start a bidding war, I hope that it’s just a BS rumor, You know how crap comes out of the wood work this time of year, I also heard that Gomer has said He is interested in being a Ranger. If Rafalski gets an offer He will stay, He told His agent to do what it takes to make it happen, I have always liked Rafalski and I really hope that he stays, and way to go Capt’n Crunch, He was a shoo in.
June 28th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
i dont think its a big loss, he f’ed up so many times on plays especially in the playoffs.. i much rather have the guy who played the best defense for the Devils in this year’s postseason: Richard Matvichuk.. just hope he can stay healthy! Plus the Devils have the couple pair of Mark Fraser and Alex Brooks that they used a couple times for injuries this past season.. But i too see it makes signing Rafalski an even more MUST sign..
June 28th, 2007 at 9:27 pm
I’d also like to add the only enjoyment i got out of watching Oduya play was his impression of Gomez’s coast to coast he did in the beginning of the season.. i think they might’ve gotten a couple goals out of that too.. but after that he wasn’t much help, too WAY too many penalties (especially in the playoffs)
June 28th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Nick, Alex Brooks is not an NHL defenseman and I don’t really liken Mark Fraser as the type who could really step up quite yet.
Richard Matvichuk was awesome in the postseason, but let us remember, he did miss the ENTIRE season. Those salary cap injuries are the worst.
In all seriousness, I love Mattie, but I still am wary of him.
You’re really thinking of postseason Oduya ahead of regular season Oduya. Johnny really had a difficulty in the transition of a longer schedule and it easily showed during the postseason — his penalties were awful and his coverage wasn’t so hot either. He wasn’t the best invention since sliced bread, but for a first-year defenseman in the New NHL, he really wasn’t that bad.
I think Johnny will be a solid defender in this league, and I expect a good year out of him next season. I do think he could be a helluva lot more physical, though.
June 29th, 2007 at 5:48 am
Taken from The Star-Ledger
“The Devils yesterday signed free-agent forward Mike Rupp to a two-year, $1 million contract and hope to re-sign defenseman Brian Rafalski by the weekend, but they will take their chances on keeping Johnny Oduya after failing to offer the Swedish-born defenseman a qualifying offer to prevent him from becoming unrestricted.”
“‘Oduya was not qualified,’ general manager Lou Lamoriello confirmed. ‘There was no reason for the decision, but we will do everything we can on (Sunday) to sign him. We want to keep him.’”
June 30th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Maybe Lou is playing the $ game, if he Qualify’s him then Johnny O has to get a certain Minimum salary that goes with the whole restricted FA rules, and that min salary is more then He wants to pay Him, so if He takes a chance and let’s Him go UFA, then Lou can resign Him at league min and that resrticted min goes out the window and Lou still gets to keep Him like He sais that He wants to, and if Johnny O gets an offer from another team that Lou does not want to pay, He can still bring up Fahey, or Brooks or just give Rafalski 38 mins a game like some of the games earlier in the season (ha ha).