Rolston "very excited" to be back

Newly-signed Devil Brian Rolston said the Devils were high on his wish lish as he approached free agency. That worked well because Rolston was No. 1 on general manager Lou Lamoriello's wish list, too.

That led to the Devils signing Rolston to a four-year, $20 million contract today that was first reported here on The Record's Fire and Ice blog.

"I'm very, very excited," said Rolston, who was drafted 11th overall by the Devils in 1991 and traded to Colorado in 1999. "It's been a long day today obviously. To be going back to New Jersey, I started my career there and now I'm 35 years old going back. I couldn't be happier. My family couldn't be happier coming back."

Lamoriello said Rolston's agent, Steve Bartlett, was the first agent he called when the free agent market opened for bidding. The Devils had to wait to make sure Rolston would become an unrestricted free agent first. Minnesota traded his rights to Tampa Bay on Sunday, but he turned down to a three-year offer at $4.5 million per season to see what he could get on the open market.

"We couldn't do anything or make a phonecall until 12:01 and to say that Brian, that wasn't the first call that we made, I'd be kidding you," Lamoriello said. "Brian Rolston was the first call we made at 12:01."

The Devils beat out the Rangers and the Detroit Red Wings among 16 total teams that submitted contract offers to Rolston. A league source said the Rangers were one of the finalists, but, in the end, Rolston chose to return to New Jersey.

"There were other teams in it," Rolston said. "I would say Lou stepped up big time and that means a lot to me. I respect Lou and the way he does business...It's a class organization and there were other offers that were maybe a little bit more (money), but at the end of the day I feel that this organization is where I want to be."

Lamoriello would not reveal if he tried to sign a defenseman today and, though he is clearly happy with the players he added (Rolston and Bobby Holik) and retained (Bryce Salvador, Jay Pandolfo and David Clarkson) today,m, he held back from saying he was done signing players or making trades this off-season.

"I couldn't answer that right now," he said. "If we go no further, we're delighted. If we can get better, whether it will be through signing or a transaction (trade), we'll certainly explore it and do it if we can."

According to my figures, the Devils have $2,231,467 remaining in cap space.

Comments

[bobmilldevils]

Most importantly we have added size. Any word on Streit the defensemen?

[Mike]

Terrific job, TG. Good to have Rolston back!

[ZachAttack9]

Streit just signed with the Islanders

[Grey Fox II]

TG. What are your thoughts so far on the Devils Activity. I am a little worried Rolston and Holik are be a bit too old.

[Pat D'Amico]

I would imagine we will make a trade. I am very happy this offseason so far though.

[Devilswede]

How the heck do Devils have money left under the cap? I just don't get it... Is my math really that bad?

[Njdev23]

Streit signed with the Islanders

[jules]

Very pleased with Lou today. Excited to have Rolston back as well.

Obviously, Lou's not done though.

[bobmilldevils]

Bertuzzi would be a nice upgrade from Rupp.

[AreJay]

Obviously, the Devils can spend more than the 2.2+ available until the season starts. What was the number, like 10%?

Anyway, that probably puts them out of the range of a Brooks Orpik, who will be sought after by the desperate teams losing out on Redden/Campbell. But right in the wheelhouse of a Jason Smith or even a Miroslav Satan.

[MoonDragn]

Well, we had about 18 mil left in cap space. We sign Pando for 2.5, Holik for 2.5, Rolston for 5, Salvador for 2.9, Clarkson for 800k, we should still have about 4 mil left.

[MAS]

The fact that he turned down the Rangers makes this signing even better to me.

[HBK27]

Great signing by Lou - was really hoping for Rolston to come back.

[ScottE]

Rolston's rights were traded to Tampa Bay for a draft pick, then he went unsigned. I almost feel bad for Tampa. Almost...

There's no way Barry Melrose would've wanted to coach any element of the '95 Devils on his team anyway. Take a look at this interview with Steve Levy, and skip to the 1:37 (time remaining) mark:

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?categoryId=2459791&brand=null&videoId=3459256&n8pe6c=1)

[bobmilldevils]

Thanks for the info. on Streit, I would like Orpik but would take Smith for a couple of years. That would give us more then enough size and leadership.

[MoonDragn]

Ooops I forgot about Vishnevski. With Vish we have about 2.1 mil left.

[Matt Buckler]

Wonder if Rolston or Holik will get their old numbers back?

[mikeP]

I bet Rolston will wear the #12 he had in Minnesota, Bergfors will get a new one

I'm sure Holik will arrange a deal to get his #16 back

I'm sure VV will either be traded or waived to Lowell to give us the $4M of cap space, but I'm now expecting a trade of one of our forwards for an offensive d-man. Jay Boumeester, who will probably get $5M like Mike Green (WAS) got, wants out of Florida, and J.Martin didn't exactly get a great return for OJ. Matt Schneider and Dan Boyle are other d-men that will be available by trade this offseason. Lou's not done, but no more UFAs just trades.

[seton1996]

Tom,
Your cap numbers do not seem to jive. In your Hossa article yesterday, you said we had $18.9 million under the cap yesterday. Today we signed Pando for $2.5M, Salvador for $2.9M, Rolston for $5.0M and Holik for $2.5M and lets say they signed Clarkson for $1M million and Tackelson for $750K. That adds up to approximately $14.5 million spent today, so about $4.4 million remaining, but you mentions in his blog in "Rolston Very Excited" entry above that they only have about $2.2 million left. So which number is correct?

[Brodie30]

This is a good day. Scoring depth and an improved powerplay mean that Elias and Gionta (if he stays) will likely score over 30 again. Zajac will make a big jump in his third year. Bergfors is ready to step in and contribute. Maybe Langenbrunner goes to the third line and they begin scoring in transition like in 2003. And not to mention a great PK with two good checking centers who can contribute as well as two shutdowns in Bryce and Colin (who hopefully recovers). Hopefully Martin continues to be the go to guy and maybe a specialist added via trade.

[BH]

You know you could probably all nitpick and find something wrong about these signings, but signing Holik for one year was a smart move, so if it does not work out, its only for a year. As for Rolston, I am worried about his age, but so many teams wanted him, so if they all were not worried about it, well than thats assurance for me. Its nice to see him back, and I feel with the resignings and signings, Lou did a good job today.

[Sean]

WHAT ABOUT D?!?!?! They really can't stand pat on the blueline, can they TG? Who's going to get the puck to the scorers? Do we really have a #1 or #2 defenseman. Martin doesn't seem to be filling that big role, as good as he is. White, will he ever be the White of old? The rest of the cast are depth defensemen. Do we depend on rookies to make such a big impact, Corrente or Eckford, can't bank on that. Campbell, Redden, Streit gone. Trade eventually? Thoughts TG? Thank you.

[BH]

I meant we could all nitpick, so I didnt mean that too sound like i was attacking people.

[jim b]

I am very very happy to have both of these guys back, Rolston adds offense and a great tool on the powerplay and plenty of leadership and clutch scoring, Holik adds his grittiness, faceoff skill, and now we can use him against some of the top guys and use Madden as more of an offensive tool instead of strictly defense. I think this team is much improved with these two signings and the re-signings of Pando, salvador and clarkson

Elias Rolston Gionta
Parise Zajac Langenbrunner
Pandolfo Madden Zubrus
Rupp Holik Clarkson

I think so far those are all 4 solid lines that we can roll

[Red Einstein]

So let's get these numbers straight:

We started with 18 mil and change, right?

Rolston: $5M
Holik: $2.5M
Pandolfo: $2.5M
Salvador: $2.9M
Clarkson: $875K
Tallackson: ?

Seems like we should have more than 2 Million and change.