The saga of Brian Rolston is one that defines the Preposterous Dream. It likely will prove ill fated, but the Devils’ implausible turnaround still will be remembered among the team’s wealth of celebrated exploits.
Rolston will be an ownership posterboy against mega-signings when they talk CBA next year, and a Players Association example that intangibles matter, too. His season went from awful to a horror as he became the first whipping boy — even before John MacLean was fired — of the Devils’ disastrous first half.
Rolston, a 1991 first-round pick and a 1995 Stanley Cup winner, was humiliated when he and his $5 million salary, this year and next, were waived, available to anyone for minimal cash. The 36-year-old, 16-year veteran was embarrassed again when no one took him. Then he was doubly disgraced when no one took him at half price, the Devils willing to pay half his remaining salaries.
There is little question that general manager Lou Lamoriello was despairing of the season at that point. At the time, Lamoriello said, “I have to start somewhere,” with dismantling his dreadful players and shedding his massive payroll.
Unable to give Rolston away, the Devils at least didn’t demote him. With the return of Jacques Lemaire, Rolston received another chance, and he made the most of it.
Lamoriello is quick to applaud Rolston for proving him wrong.
“Because he’s human, it had to hurt,” Lamoriello said. “He’s an example for people as a positive person, an example of not letting what you can’t control affect doing what’s right.
“He never took it into the locker room,” he said. “It never showed in his body language. This is an example that good things happen to good people.”
Rolston was among the earliest adopters of the Preposterous Dream, and he still clings to it, despite the Devils’ current 1-3 crash that leaves them nine points out of a playoff berth with nine games left — a tougher deficit than being 27 points out with 41 games left.
“We’re up to the challenge,” Rolston said. “We’re still one of the best, if not the best team in the second half, as far as the stats.”
But he admitted the Devils must win their remaining nine games, and hope 90 points will be enough. They will need help, because the Sabres are on pace for 91, which the Devils cannot reach.
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Lemaire gave the team yesterday off, perhaps in recognition that it is a weary bunch, and its best players are the most burnt-out.
The Devils visit Pittsburgh tomorrow and have their death-defying showdown in Buffalo Saturday.
The Devils’ tragic number is 10 points, a combination of points they lose or the Sabres gain.