Although it's been reported that Sergei Brylin has signed with SKA-St. Petersburg of the Russian Continental League, I received a message from Sergei this morning saying that he "hasn't signed a contract for next season."
Brylin is attending the NHLPA European Player Meetings in Rome and passed that message along via e-mail to me through someone with the NHLPA.
Brylin became an unrestricted free agent after neither he nor the Devils picked up the option on his contract for 2008-09.
Interesting.
Posted by: jdr30 | July 12, 2008 at 10:06 AM
Sather will make him an offer. He has Devils envy.
Posted by: JoeDevs | July 12, 2008 at 10:23 AM
tg -
any sense for whether lou is working on trading for blue line help? and i am curious, what is your view of khalinin?
i cant help but think the NYRs torched us again this off-season with the signings of redden, khalinin and naslund, let alone the heist for zherdev.
Posted by: SonicDude | July 12, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Well Brylin isn't on the Devils roster anymore so I guess he isn't coming back here.
Posted by: FOTC | July 12, 2008 at 10:38 AM
Sergei should sign in Russia, get as much as he can and play in front of the home crowd. It be great for him and for Devs not to see him in another NHL jersey.
Posted by: Al | July 12, 2008 at 11:06 AM
Sonicdude, Do you have internet access with a comment like that? Unless you believe what you read in the blueshirt blog.
Posted by: Bobmilldevils | July 12, 2008 at 11:10 AM
Here is what a Ranger fan thinks of their offseason from the NY Daily News blog.
Ranger-Mike. Agree with you 100% Rangers are in BIG TROUBLE. Drury and Gomez as I previously stated will be lucky to get 30 goals between them, especially with no Jagr to take the preasure off them by drawing the other teams top D pairing. Rangers filled none of their voids that needed to be addressed. No really good offensive defensman. Redden? Needed 2 scoring wingers to play with Drury and or Gomez, got maybe oneif we are lucky in Naslund. Zherdev? Love the potential, but work ethic? Only time will tell. No banging D man. Jagr's offense will be sorely missed. Mark my word. HUGE STEP BACK TAKEN THIS OFFSEASON. It is going to be a long short season unfortunately for us fans.
Posted by blueseats on Jul 6, 2008 2:25 PM reply Report Offensive Post
Posted by: Bobmilldevils | July 12, 2008 at 11:14 AM
I'm not a believer in throwing names out there for trade rumors just for the sake of doing that. If I hear something solid, I'll pass it along here or in the paper.
Posted by: TG | July 12, 2008 at 11:25 AM
Kalinin is OK. Nothing special. He's probably a third-pair d-man.
Posted by: TG | July 12, 2008 at 11:30 AM
TSN even is reporting sarge has signed with this russian team.
As for the rangers statement, im only worried about nasulund with gomez. a little concerned about Zherdev, becuase renny does have the abilty to balance out a locker room, look at this past season with all those different personalities, renny took care of em. I still think we'll beat the rags tho...and not just in the final game of the season.
Posted by: Brandon | July 12, 2008 at 11:32 AM
I should add that the Redden is better than Tyutin and Kalinin is better than Backman, so the Rangers definitely upgraded their defense.
And Staal is only going to get better.
Posted by: TG | July 12, 2008 at 11:38 AM
I think the rangers are in big big trouble. Not only did they lose Jagr, which is all anyone seems to talk about, they lost Straka, and Shannahan. That means they have ZERO leadership in that locker room now. Guys like Gomez and Drury, are fun guys to have in a locker room, but they are clowns. They aren't leaders. Who is going to whip Zherdev into shape? Scott Gomez? Who is going to make sure Naslund stays in shape, and motivated? Chris Drury?
And I know we all "hate" the guy, but losing Avery is also, just a knock out blow. I just can not see them being all that competitive next year.
Posted by: Jason | July 12, 2008 at 12:25 PM
Also, a guy we should be looking at for next year, is Mike Komisarek. He will be a free agent next June. This guy IS the next coming of Scott Stevens that everyone has been hoping for, and he is even bigger.
Posted by: Jason | July 12, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Jason- i agree with everything you said about the rangers being in trouble except for Drury being a clown. The guy is known as being one of the best leaders in the league and it was even said that the rangers should have stripped jagr of the C and given it to Drury upon signing because of the locker room impact this guy can make. But that would of been a slap in the face to the guys who had been there and already made the marks (jagr, shanahan, straka).
I think everyone is overlooking the rangers loss of Avery who was one of the biggest impact players they had. Not only was this guy an agitator but he was a hell of an offensive threat. Look at the rangers records with and without Avery in the line-up i think its some crazy difference. if i find it I'll post it.
Posted by: Umero | July 12, 2008 at 01:10 PM
I think next June is a bit far away to start gettin hopes up for any player. But back to topic, as much as I would like to see sarge back, it seems pretty well established that it might not be that easy. Cap space is running low on us, with the signing of Holik and Rolston. Hopefully Lou works his magic and gets him back, but i don't see that happening. I have a feeling he's going to play back home this season.
Posted by: RSmith | July 12, 2008 at 01:11 PM
Looking at the whole picture signing Holik to a one year 2.5 mil deal is a bit of loose spending by Lou which i never thought i'd say. If Bobby ends up a fourth line center with secondary PK time and not much offensive contribution wouldn't he be a more expensive, larger version of Brylin? A mil more on the cap space with brylin in the line up could have been a better deal in the end.
Posted by: Umero | July 12, 2008 at 01:21 PM
TG, I'll tell what Redden is, and will be for the Rangers: James Patrick reincarnated (i.e., a whipping boy).
Zherdev is the wildcard, he reminds me of Kovalev in the early years.
Posted by: segundo | July 12, 2008 at 01:22 PM
Rangers lost their best player by a country mile (Jagr) and replaced him with very little. The Rangers scored about as many goals as the Devils last year with him in the line up. Unless someone really steps up this year, I'm not sure they make the playoffs.
Posted by: Brodie30 | July 12, 2008 at 02:39 PM
Two comments:
(1) The Rangers have a lot of potential at this point and a solid D.
Gomez - Naslund - Zherdev
Dubinsky - Drury - Dawes
and Callahan/Korpikoski coming up...
Redden - Staal
Rosi - Girardi
not too shabby. We can argue about the losses of Straka, Shanny, Avery, and Jagr, and the prices paid, but that's a talented team. I wonder if Zherdev and Nasland can adapt to a trapping style though?
(2) TG, any chance you could touch base with Lou about the Ice and any other major changes to the stadium / infrastructure for next season?
Posted by: RNC | July 12, 2008 at 03:26 PM
No organization has more history of destroying 'potential' than the Ranger$. Tom Renney has started to change that but I don't think it'll really change till Slats is gone.
Posted by: BishopQ | July 12, 2008 at 03:36 PM
you guys are giving too much credit to the rangers for their pickups... they lost all their chemistry they had by dropping jagr avery tyutin shanahan etc. it'll take them a half a season just to find new chemistry.
as far as the defense TG himself said that redden has been on the decline the last couple of seasons and was run out of ottawa. in buffalo lindy ruff didn't care for khalinin's attitude nor indifferent play and made no attempt to keep him.. tyutin and girardi had good chemistry and was probably their best defensive pairing.
renney is going to need to stock a warehouse full of advil to coach zherdev, who on their team is going to keep him in line when he goes on one of his selfish tantrums when he gets benched ?
Posted by: mikeP | July 12, 2008 at 03:57 PM
truth
Posted by: RSmith | July 12, 2008 at 04:47 PM
Rumors on hockeybuzz - Gionta for Bieksa.....What you guys think?
Posted by: Hattrick4419 | July 12, 2008 at 05:59 PM
I loled cause it says Bieksa+. That would be great if we gave up Gionta and got Bieksa AND something else.
Honestly weve talked about this trade for along time since it makes sense. The Nucks want scoring forwards bad and we want Dmen. They have PLENTY of Dmen. According to Eklund theyre very high on Gionta also.
Id take it but its still a risk since our team is just now looking good offensivly. Trading Gio would kill us unless Vrana or Bergfors can really play this year (which its very possible they both can making Gio un-needed).
Posted by: Xander Crews | July 12, 2008 at 06:21 PM
LMAO this is so funny
http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=16043
It says the Leafs signed Finger BY ACCIDENT and meant to sign Sauer.
They got them confused or something. Its so stupid and funny i hope its true. They have some pretty good evidence to back it up.
Posted by: Xander Crews | July 12, 2008 at 06:35 PM