Yes, it was curious when Weekes signed on in New Jersey, considering he still saw himself as a starting goalie. Well, now he has the chance to prove himself.
A lot of outlets are predicting the Devils make a trade, and they are saying they should get Dwayne Roloson from Edmonton. Two problems with this...
1) They are guessing. They have no clue. Lou Lamoriello runs a tight-lipped ship in Newark and there are historically very few leaks and rumors to come out of there. People are estimating, and since Edmonton has 3 goalies, they are attaching Roloson's name there in hopes of being right.
2) Roloson is on a roll and is the starting goalie in Edmonton. Nearly traded last year at the trade deadline, he is now higher than Mathieu Garon on the depth chart in Oilerland.
Anyway, personally, I think the Devils should run with Weekes, but when they falter, they shouldn't blame him. The team there has been living on "the system" and Brodeur for the past three seasons. This year, the system isn't all there, and Brodeur is now gone. They don't have the forwards to put 4 goals in every night, and now they won't have those 2-1, 1-0, 3-1 games anymore.
However, I won't go further right now. There are more pressing issues at hand: a national election, and more importantly, a Ranger-Islander game at the Garden, where the Islanders always come out flying.
Can the Devils even afford to make a trade? They've been right up against the cap pretty much since the lockout, and that doesn't account for the times when they've been OVER the cap in training camp. I'm almost certain Roloson isn't happening for them. I hope they throw Weekes in there, if only because I'm curious to see how the Devils react. You know that stat in baseball, VORP (Value Over Replacement Player), that measures a player's impact on his team by replacing his stats with those of an average player? We're about to find out what Brodeur's VORP is.
ReplyDeleteI think they will stay with Weekes too
ReplyDeleteI think with Brodeur injured NJ Devils will still be a decent team. They can still make it into the playoffs with a strong overall team play and good coaching by sutter. THey are not in as much trouble as everyone says they are.
My predictions and thoughts:
http://jib-sports-culture.blogspot.com/