No time for kids in New Jersey this year, and no, we’re not referring to the abundance of aging forwards — then again, we’re all aging, aren’t we? — on the roster the Devils will present this season.
Rather, there will be no (good) time for kids to attend Devils home games this season. For the first time in franchise history, the team doesn’t have an afternoon match on the schedule.
The league giveth back (the 2014 first-round draft choice previously confiscated by Imperial Commissioner Gary Bettman but restored via executive order) but at the same time the NHL taketh a prime marketing platform from a franchise that historically has attempted to build a fan base by catering to families — but can’t and won’t this year.
The Devils were assigned just 10 Saturday home dates and two on Sunday by the folks on Sixth Avenue running the schedule. On all but three of those dates, either the Devils or their opponents are scheduled to play the previous night, so it would be impossible to play at home on a weekend afternoon.
That left three matinee opportunities for the Devils, who for whatever reason chose to schedule their Saturday, Oct. 18 home opener against the Sharks at night; chose to play their Saturday, Dec. 6 match against the Capitals at night; and set their Sunday, March 8 match against the Flyers for 5 p.m. rather than earlier in the day.
Ten afternoon games at home for the Flyers. Seven Saturday afternoon games and a Monday afternoon game in Boston for the Bruins. Three afternoon games for the Islanders at the Coliseum. None in New Jersey. None at home for the Devils.
No time for kids in New Jersey … in the lineup or in the stands.
Both Lee Stempniak (in on a one-year free agent deal for $900,000) and Matt Lombardi (in at $800,000 per for two years) will fall under the AHL threshold, so neither would count against the cap for so much of a nickel if either fails to make the Rangers out of camp.
But these additions of marginal NHL players doesn’t say a lot for the organization’s confidence in the readiness of kids in the organization such as J.T. Miller, Danny Kristo, Oscar Lindberg, Ryan Haggerty and maybe even Jesper Fast to nail down spots with the varsity, much less be difference-makers.
Seriously. Would Stempniak — who scored for the Penguins in Game 1 against the Rangers, then went pointless in the next six matches of the second round while bouncing all over the lineup — or Lombardi — who was in Switzerland last year and hasn’t had a productive NHL season since 2009-10 — have made a difference against L.A.?
And how three years at $1.45 million per for Tanner Glass — scratched by Pittsburgh for five of seven playoff games against the Rangers — is a better investment than one year at $1.633 million for Derek Dorsett escapes me.
Look, it’s not a matter of urgency the next 10 days or so, what with arbitration cases scheduled on July 23 for Chris Kreider, July 25 for Mats Zuccarello and July 28 for Derick Brassard, but the Rangers had best get busy on Marc Staal pretty quickly thereafter.
Because the number for Staal on an extension that would begin next season is going to start with a pair of fives at a minimum, as in $5.5 million per for six years, for that’s at least as much as the Blueshirts’ alternate captain would get on the open market next summer unless he sustains another concussion in 2014-15.
Either they believe he is worth it or they don’t. Because unless calamity strikes, the number isn’t going down. So the Rangers can pay it … or they can get to work right now investigating what Staal might fetch in a trade.
The Kings didn’t put themselves in position to win the Cup last year until their trade deadline acquisition of Marian Gaborik, so let’s not become hysterical over the apparent roster deficiencies of any team in the East just yet.
Cough, cough, Rangers, Rangers.
The Blue Jackets probably are improved with the addition of Scott Hartnell; the Devils improved by adding Mike Cammalleri and resolving their goaltending issue by locking down No. 1 (at last) Cory Schneider; the Islanders should be far more stable in nets with the Jaro Halak-Chad Johnson tandem; and the Lightning improved by keeping Ryan Callahan and adding Anton Stralman and Brian Boyle, but probably didn’t help themselves by signing Brenden Morrow and moving Teddy Purcell.
Still, there doesn’t seem to have been a single transaction or an interlocking set of transactions to have impacted the balance of power in the fair-and-balanced East.
So for how long will the $10.5 million cap hits of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane act as a glass ceiling around the league?
That likely will be up to Steven Stamkos, eligible for free agency in 2016, and who could push the bar to $12 million or beyond if he desires.
And in 2018, John Tavares, who by that time will have completed his six-year contract at $5.5 million per that is the NHL’s most club-friendly deal, will be able to sign a blank check.
Finally, it’s a good thing for Predators center Mike Fisher that the Nashville ownership doesn’t hold core values in opposition to providing surgery and rehab for ruptured Achilles tendons, isn’t it?