Right wing Marian Hossa and defenseman Brian Campbell have drawn the most media attention among the players that became unrestricted free agents at noon today, but it will be hard to find a player who has attracted more interest from teams than former Devil Brian Rolston.
Rolston's agent, Stephen Bartlett, said that he had offers from 17 teams as of 4:30 p.m. Although Bartlett would not say if the Devils are one of the team's involved, a source indicated that the Devils were interested. Bartlett wasn't sure if Rolston would pick a team today.
"It's been fast and furious and there's a lot of teams involved and I can't really handicap it at this point," Bartlett said. "We're just working through it. It's hard with that many teams to get down to a workable number and figure out which way to go."
Bartlett said Rolston has offers that meet what he is looking for in terms of years and money.
"I think we're in the range of what we had hoped for, so I'm not too worried about not ending up with a good package," Bartlett said. "Then, it becomes more difficult to pick the team."
Tampa Bay traded a conditional draft pick to Minnesota to acquire Rolston's negotiating rights on Sunday night, but he passed on the Lightning's offer to see what other teams were interested. That move appears to have paid off.
The Lightning signed Radim Vrbata this afternoon, so that would seem to take them out of the bidding for Rolston. "I wouldn't say they are out of it, but they're fading," Rolston said.
Meanwhile, Edmonton is rumored to making a heavy push to sign Hossa and Chicago and Atlanta have been seriously involved in the pursuit of Campbell.
I'm hearing Edmonton's offer is between $9 million and $10 million per season. As some of you noted below, Chicago and Atlanta are said to have offered $8.5 million per for Campbell.
cmon Brian you know you want to wear black n red again! With that said i hope Lou has a plan B.
Posted by: Ryan G | July 01, 2008 at 05:08 PM
not good.. doesn't look like lou is gonna land any of them.. starting to get worried Lou is failing us big time now.
boring UFA day
Posted by: whocares | July 01, 2008 at 05:09 PM
Bringing back salvador, pando and clarkson was step 1 in the right direction, picking up a guy like rolston and one of the top tier defensivemen available like campbell, redden, or even arguably one of the best stay-at-home shut down guys like Orpik would be another step in the right direction for this team
Posted by: jim b | July 01, 2008 at 05:09 PM
Wow, all this for a 35 year old with lots of miles. This market is getting out of hand. The negative aspect will be the trickle down where marginal players that should make a couple million a year for two years will make several million for 3-5 years. This could hamstring a team like the Devils who may decide the money is better spent elsewhere yet find no relative bargains out on the open market. I would move quickly to sign a few guys who can score and solidify the blue line. Get out of this madness before the other buffoon GM's turn this into a total mess.
Posted by: Kevin | July 01, 2008 at 05:09 PM
Not too many big moves have been made so far today, so we might see whether or Lou will make a big splash in the next few days
Posted by: jim b | July 01, 2008 at 05:10 PM
Hey..we're the New Jersey Devils. Nothing is new around here anymore. I just feel bad for Marty.....
Posted by: Devilswede | July 01, 2008 at 05:12 PM
where's Demitra? has he been signed? who else is still out there?
Posted by: LuziferDevs | July 01, 2008 at 05:13 PM
Jeff Finger.....3.5 million a season LOL
Posted by: Vishal | July 01, 2008 at 05:14 PM
Devils will not sign anyone. Can't even believe I got my hopes up. No way will Lou go out and severely overpay for Rolston or Hossa.
Evidently the Thrashers offered Campbell a long-term deal at 8.5mill/yr. Ridiculous.
Posted by: Brodeur30 | July 01, 2008 at 05:14 PM
I'm telling you, we should go throw an offer sheet at Pierre-Marc Bouchard. He can skate with Parise and Elias and set them up. He had 50 assists last season and wiill only get better.
Posted by: Brodeur30 | July 01, 2008 at 05:15 PM
another rumor has boston stepping in the hossa sweepstakes offering 11.3 million per for 7 years......wow....hes not worth that at all
Posted by: wake up lou | July 01, 2008 at 05:16 PM
Not sure Lou can do anything about the market here if Campbell gets about $9 mil long term and the Bruins are rumored to offer Hossa the max which is $11 mil. That's insane and not worth it, when you can add 2 or 3 players to fill some holes for that price like a Hainsey or Demitra and so on.
Posted by: rgfmich | July 01, 2008 at 05:16 PM
Lot's still out there, almost no one who matters has signed. The reported costs are what is troubling. We may end up getting some second tier guys but Lou would be wise to bow out of this. There is no way any team will be happy 5 years from now over the return they're getting for campbell or hossa.
Posted by: Kevin | July 01, 2008 at 05:17 PM
and huet's contract has him earning more than broduer......unreal.....this market is out of control
Posted by: wake up lou | July 01, 2008 at 05:17 PM
OFFER SHEETS! OFFER SHEETS!
USET THEM LOU!
Posted by: LuziferDevs | July 01, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Yeah, you know what...Lou didn't fail us, other GM's will have, I'd rather he NOT overpay for these guys. Campbell you're only worth 5 million a year, Hossa you're only worth 8 million a year, Rolston 3 million!
Posted by: Vishal | July 01, 2008 at 05:18 PM
Markus Naslund will command 7 million at this rate. Idiots in vancouver offered Sundin 10 million! This is just ridiculous.
Posted by: Vishal | July 01, 2008 at 05:19 PM
We have the room under the cap. We should be in the running for Campbell or Redden. I wouldn't mind to have Rolston.
I also heard a rumor about getting Shanahan? Any truth to this?
Posted by: Falcone | July 01, 2008 at 05:19 PM
I have faith that lou will make the right move for the team. Anyone disappointed we're out of the campbell sweepstakes is crazy. That contract will KILL the team he signs with in a few years (unless the cap keeps going up :P)
Posted by: JakeT | July 01, 2008 at 05:20 PM
You should stop reading Eklund rumors, they're just ridiculous.
Posted by: NJSwampdragon | July 01, 2008 at 05:20 PM
Oh and I'm not sold that Hossa would be our answer although Elias would be on cloud 9. Hossa is hurt very often and I think a little lazy. Might not chime too well with Sutter...which wouldn't be good if we're throwing huge $$ at him.
Posted by: Falcone | July 01, 2008 at 05:21 PM
im sorry but i have to repeat that huet's new contract has him earning more than the best goalie of all time, our very own marty brodeur.............its insanity guys
Posted by: wake up lou | July 01, 2008 at 05:26 PM
Anyone who thinks 4.5-5 million for Rolston is too much is an idiot. We signed Zubrus for 4 something last year, I mean come on, there's no comparison.
Rolston will bring a lot more to this team than just points.
Posted by: mike | July 01, 2008 at 05:27 PM
With these out of hand prices, I'm not mad at Lou at all, some of these Teams that will pay these crazy prices will be sorry later, one bad injury is all it will take to screw Your cap for yrs to come especially if the cap comes down, there will be alot of pretty good Players out of work.
Posted by: Shari | July 01, 2008 at 05:28 PM
Jake/Wake Up, Couldn't agree with you more. This is a bad sign when you have second tier guys (if they were FA) from last year making record contracts... If Sid and Ovie aren't worth 10MM per, no one is. LEt's get Jason Smith, Hainsey, and Shanny. Short terms, big money. Wait till the crop gets deeper.
Posted by: Kevin | July 01, 2008 at 05:29 PM