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It was a roller coaster weekend for Devils fans as free agency opened on Saturday and players started signing around the league. New Jersey struck out with their biggest free agent target in Kevin Shattenkirk and saw him land across the Hudson with the Rangers. The Devils grabbed Brian Boyle for depth and a stable veteran presence but the first day of free agency was a disappointment overall. With fans growing frustrated on Sunday, Ray Shero shifted the narrative with a surprise move (and a very good one) to acquire Marcus Johansson from the cap-strapped Washington Capitals.
On this weeks episode of Talking Red, David Sarch and I talk about all those moves and more. We go over the disappointing first day of free agency, the impact of the Johansson trade, and what other moves Shero and the Devils could try to make to improve the team, particularly on defense. We also talked about the interminable Kovalchuk situation, the departure of Beau Bennett, and took listener questions. It’s a jam-packed episode as Dave also interviews not one but TWO other guests this week on Devils prospects. First he talked about the Devils’ draft with Steve Kournianos of The Draft Analyst and then talked Swedish Devils prospects with Mans Karlsson of Hockeysverige.se.
Apologies as you’ll notice the episode abruptly starts as the first couple minutes were eaten by technical difficulties. Be sad that you missed a couple minutes of mild praise of the Brian Boyle signing. Otherwise there is still plenty of Devils hockey talk on this episode, which is almost 80 minutes altogether. The ways to listen to Talking Red are the same as ever. You can listen to it directly on the Talking Red website. You can download it on iTunes, Stitcher, or other podcasting apps. Or you can stay on this page and stream it right from here. This episode is 35.08 MB large and is 1:16:36 long.
Thanks to all of you for downloading, listening, and, of course, leaving rave reviews on iTunes, Stitcher and all of the other podcasting services. If you have any questions or comments, you can leave them below, contact David on Twitter at @TalkingRed, or leave a message or voicemail at the Talking Red site. Thanks for listening.