[Devils-list] Lou speaks

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>From tsn.ca...

Devils remain confident


 (Aug 23) PIERRE LEBRUN (CP) - While conference rivals Philadelphia, Toronto and Washington added to their rosters this summer, Lou Lamoriello has sat back and watched. The New Jersey Devils general manager didn't partake in the frenzy of free-agent signings and blockbuster trades, outside of bringing back veteran defenceman Tommy Albelin and signing a 27-year-old Swedish forward who's never played in the NHL. 


The Devils, the best team in the Eastern Conference for the better part of eight years, have mostly always built from within. And there's no reason to stop now. 


So while Lamoriello said goodbye to unrestricted free agents Alexander Mogilny (Toronto), Bob Corkum (Atlanta), Sean O'Donnell (Boston) and Ken Sutton (N.Y. Islanders), there are plenty of ready replacements from the AHL farm team in Albany. 


"We're going to give a couple of young players, who we think are ready to play, a chance," Lamoriello explained over the phone from New Jersey on Thursday. 


He cites forwards Pierre Dagenais, Andreas Salomonsson and Jiri Bicek as the likely candidates for a promotion. Dagenais and Bicek have paid their dues in Albany while Salomonsson has come over from the Swedish Elite League. 


"We really think highly of them," Lamoriello says. 


That's not to say any of those players can step in and replace Mogilny's 43 goals. The key, Lamoriello says, is that his young stars like Petr Sykora, Patrick (Editor's Note: hmmm, third leading scorer in the league and a first-team all-star and they can't spell it right) Elias and Scott Gomez will play bigger roles.
 

"Right now I think these players are ready to step up and accept more responsibility," he says, saying those players will see more ice time. 


"And with the infusion of Dagenais, Bicek and Salomonsson, we feel pretty good about our hockey club." 


On defence, Lamoriello says Albelin is a short-term fix while youngsters such as Sasha Goc, Mike Commodore and Josef Boumedienne find their way between Albany and New Jersey. 


"And they're very, very close," Lamoriello says of the three budding defencemen. 


The Devils, who have surpassed 100 points five straight seasons, have become the target of many teams in the last few years. 


The Maple Leafs brought in Gary Roberts and Shayne Corson last summer in direct response to their playoff loss to the Devils while Flyers GM Bob Clarke said earlier this week that his team's moves this off-season - which include the additions of centres Jiri Dopita, Jeremy Roenick and defencemen Eric Weinrich and Kim Johnsson - were a bid to match the Devils in the Eastern Conference. 


All of which makes Lamoriello look even better. 


"I think anytime there's a statement like that made it's a compliment to our organization," he said of Clarke's comments. 


"But you can't really think of those things because you might then think you're better than you really are," he added with a laugh. 


Perhaps the greatest compliment to the New Jersey organization is the number of Devils who may be at the Winter Olympics come February. 


Scott Niedermayer (Canada), Petr Sykora (Czech Republic), Patrik Elias (Czech Republic) and Brian Rafalski (U.S.) are already in for sure while Scott Stevens (Canada), Martin Brodeur (Canada), Jason Arnott (Canada) and Scott Gomez (U.S.) could also be on the ice in Salt Lake City. 


Lamoriello dispels the notion that having the Olympics on the line for some players will improve their play in any way. 


"The individuals that you're talking about are just quality people and quality players," he says. "They're not going to change their focus or change their approach to be the best they can simply because of the Olympics. 


"This is something that is expected of them and they expect of themselves no matter whether it's to make the Olympics or not." 


Also bound for Salt Lake is Devils assistant coach Slava Fetisov, named Monday as the head coach and general manager of Russia's Olympic hockey team. 


"Slava deserves it," Lamoriello said. "I'm really happy for him personally. I think the Russian federation made an extremely wise decision. 


"The players in the league have so much respect for him," Lamoriello continued. "He is a quality individual. We're blessed to have him." 


© The Canadian Press, 2001