Tue 3 Jul 2007
DEVILS LOSE LUKOWICH
Posted by Patricia Greuter under Notes Notes Notes! , RAD BRAD LUKOWICH , Summertime!Brad Lukowich is the latest Devil to leave New Jersey.
2MA’s favorite player has bolted (get it?) back to the Tampa Bay Lightning, signing a three-year contract.
I, for one am very disappointed.
Three Devils gone now. One not very surprising, one more or less surprising, and one outright disappointing in the eyes of this here fan.
You fill in the blanks.
Rad Brad, we will certainly miss you here at 2 Man Advantage. You may have been a whipping boy, but you were our whipping boy. You proved to be a capable defender, and you proved to be just as lovable as you are offensively challenged.
Regardless, however, we will especially miss your heroics against Philadelphia, and your infrequent bone crunching hits.
May you succeed in the NHL…except when you’re facing the Devils.
Bye.
July 3rd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
Great farewell “ode”! I’ll miss Rad Brad? That’s a new one on me. Lucky Luko (vs the Flyers) worked for me.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:15 pm
You know, I go back to work assuming Lou is dead or asleep or something and nothing’s going to happen for weeks, and we LOSE RAD BRAD?
And sign Zubrus…
BUT LOSE RAD BRAD.
Not rad.
Just bad.
Now I kind of hope we sign Souray (unless he’s off the market already?), just so sing his name to the tune of Ole. That’s the only good that can come from losing Lukoil.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:22 pm
He held out for Lou to call Him, because Lou said that He wanted to keep him and that He would call Him and they would work something out,in the mean time He turned down several offers from other teams to wait for a phone call that never happened, and how is that loyalty repaid? the Dev’s signed another D-man, poor Luc I liked that Guy, Take care and best of luck in sunny Tampa.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Ps, when We play Tampa He’s gonna come back and bite us in the Ass.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:04 pm
As disappointed as you guys are, I am elated! I’m glad to have the rad man back in the bay. We needed a decent defenseman, as you well know, and he fits the bill. Thanks Lou!
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Hey folks, John from Boltsmag.com here —
Personally I’m thrilled Brad’s back in the fold in Tampa. Watching him during the series was pretty hard to take (on the plus side — great to hear about the birth of his child, on the minus — helping you guys kick us out of the playoffs).
But the reaction in TB — from what I’ve seen on the more highbrow (read: non-puck bunny) message board — is disappointment.
You can view it for yourselves here. Some see too much money going to Brad, some don’t like this move because it seems lateral long term.
July 3rd, 2007 at 10:51 pm
I’m glad you are elated, RJ. Luko really stepped it up for us this past season. There’s nothing we like more than a Flyer killer. Not to mention blocking shots out the yin yang.
WTF Lou? What kind of ace are you holding up your sleeve?
July 4th, 2007 at 7:52 am
According to the Star Ledger, the Devs are high up in the running to get Souray. Apparently, Buffalo offered Zubrus more money as well.
July 4th, 2007 at 8:29 am
Too bad Brad left. I actually thought he made Paul Martin a better player. Everybody keeps talking about how good Paul Martin is. I just don’t see it. But when Brad played with Paul, Brad made everyone accountable….but better. Didn’t bring an offensive force, but was solid on D.
Letting Brad go, Lou must be getting close to signing Souray. We could use his size and his D.
July 4th, 2007 at 8:55 am
someone needs to check and make sure lou’s not dead
July 4th, 2007 at 3:13 pm
Yay!! Great signing by the bolts. I for one am very excited to have brad back in the bay area. He was right there with us when we won the cup in ‘04, and we still have some of the players from that old team still with us, so i think he’ll have a pretty easy transition. He also knows the Bolts’ system. He sounded super excited about the whole thing.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:38 pm
This is not a UFA signing situation, but JR has officially retired, not a big shock but I have to admit Love Him or Hate Him the East has been awfully quiet since He left, good luck JR.God help us all He is considering a career in broadcasting,maybe it will help the crappy TV ratings, could You just imagine JR and Cherry together?
July 4th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I really hope the Devils do not get Souray. Sure, he’ll be an excellent offensive defenseman. But if you didn’t like Rafalski for his mistakes - which in my opinion were fairly rare, I think he’s a very good positionally - you will hate Souray on defense. Souray is an all-star on the offensive side of things, but sometimes looks like a #6 man on the defensive side of the game. For a defenseman, especially a supposed #1 defenseman, I think it would be a bad move and cost the Devils way too much money.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:01 am
I’d take a 31 year old guy with potential to hold his own defensively in the system and to do some damage on the PP from the point for 3-5 mil a season over a 34 year old guy who’s looking for 6 mil. Let’s face it, Rafalski left to play with his favorite team and isn’t worth the $6 million just for his defensive abilities and his weak-yet-accurate wrist shot.
Souray fills a huge hole on the PP that’s been missing since Arnott left - and no, Langenbrunner hasn’t been dominant enough from the point - and if he can get the defensive game back in order, he’ll be fine. Lou drafted him, so he had to demonstrate potential. He beat out Bombardir and Bodger for a 6th spot in the late 90s and was traded away in 2000 for a much more experienced Malakhov. His departure was in no way a dumping a la Mike Danton or Bill Guerin, which tells me that Lou didn’t want to get rid of him, but had to pay a price.