Much has been made of the New Jersey Devils inability to ice a complete roster of players thanks to their bind with the salary cap. While guys like Anton Volchenkov and Brian Rolston dealt with nagging injuries and recently demoted enforcer Pierre-Luc Letorneau-Leblond was serving a suspension the Devils had to ice just 15 skaters on Monday night and will send out just 16 skaters for tonight’s game against Buffalo.
Fear not Devils fans, relief is on the way in the form of a sports hernia. I know that sounds gross, but in this case it’s a bit too accurate as Devils forward Brian Rolston is headed to LTIR as he’ll be getting his sports hernia operated on tomorrow and will be out of action for 4-6 weeks. With Rolston on LTIR, the Devils will be allowed to go over the salary cap by $5.062 million (Rolston’s cap hit), thus temporarily solving their salary cap problems. Expect the express from the Devils AHL home in Albany to New Jersey to open up instantly as reinforcements and depth players can be plugged in now with the added salary space.
As for who we can expect to be on the way up to New Jersey, wingers Vladimir Zharkov and Mattias Tedenby are candidates as well as potentially the return of Pierre-Luc Letorneau-Leblond. There’s an outside possibility that prospect Jacob Josefson could get the call to New Jersey as well, but you’d have to think that getting him consistent minutes in Albany would be more of a priority this early in his career.
Those who aren’t Devils fans are going to declare shenanigans on Devils GM Lou Lamoriello for the financially fortunate turn of events with Rolston. Lamoriello’s history of getting things worked out to make the money work for the Devils is the thing of legend now. Of course, having him have a high-priced player end up with a sports hernia, an ailment that takes time to recover from, seems almost all too convenient to just about everyone. Unless Lou Lamoriello has mastered the art of voodoo, he’s in the clear here and this is just dumb luck for him. Then again, I wouldn’t doubt Lou’s ability to work the books either.
For Rolston, his second tour of duty in New Jersey has been nothing short of a complete disaster. After two sub-par seasons, he headed into this season looking to prove his worth and ensure his spot in the lineup in New Jersey and not end up being traded away for salary cap relief. Instead, he’s laid up with an injury and ends up giving the Devils what they needed to help them out without even meaning to. Let’s just go ahead and nominate him for team MVP already.
Most of all for Lamoriello now, this buys him time to get a plan together for when Rolston is able to return from LTIR to help the team get back under the cap. The Devils won’t get to claim an emergency when it’s time for Rolston to come back to get under the cap and if they’d like to keep the NHLPA off their back, they’d be wise to get their act together. Getting a plan worked out now will be a must-have for the Devils. While they can send the guys they’ll call up now back down again then, they won’t completely be in the clear.
For now, the Devils have no worries other than getting Anton Volchenkov back on the ice and getting the roster replacements into New Jersey as soon as possible. Lucky Lou strikes again.