They were talking about how much of a shot foster has. Fulton Reed-esque. I guess he was known for breaking glass pains in Tampa. I like the thought of him and kovalchuk playing catch with the prospect of either shooting the puck.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pntihTPvyHU

That puck is headed towards the faceoff dot a second after it went in…me likey.

Foster’s NHL numbers are uninspiring…. but it isn’t like the Devils have brought him in expecting him to be The Savior or anything. Other than the money (Foster makes $1.8 million this year), the Devils didn’t really give up anything of real value. I imagine Lou is simply taking a flier on a guy who might be able to help. In addition, the Devils open up a slot on the 23-man roster — which I imagine goes to Travis Zajac between now and Friday night.

Worst case scenario: the Devils are out some cash, while Foster replaces Fraser as the team’s 7th defenseman.

Otherwise, I imagine Foster could push Bryce Salvador for the last spot on the blue line. Should that happen, it would be a “good problem” to have.

I argued for trading Fraser for a bag of peanuts and signing Stralman early in the season, and this is essentially what this move amounts to.

Fraser has been a healthy scratch to make way for Taormina and Urbom in recent games, so it seems that among LEFTY defensemen Fraser sits roughly 7th on the depth chart behind those two and Tallinder, Greene, Volchenkov, and Salvador. I don’t think a player could get any more expendable than that.

The new development since I wrote that FanPost is that Larsson has struggled as a rookie in quarterbacking the PP. Acquiring Foster gives the Devils another option to bring Larsson along a little more slowly and is also good PP insurance in the event that Larsson or Fayne go down with an injury.

Pelley, like Fraser, has been scratched and seen Carter, Mills, and Sestito ahead of him on the center depth chart and Boulton and Janssen pass him as well, with Palmieri and Tedenby in the mix on the fourth line when they land in the doghouse.

I have no idea what Foster is like other than the reputation that precedes him, of course. Best case scenario is probably that he challenges Bryce Salvador’s spot, worst case is that he’s scratched just as Fraser was. He may very well turn out to be a PP specialist, but the fact is that he has something unique to contribute to the blueline that wasn’t there with Fraser.

And by the way, for all those worried about the Devils’ financial situation – this is no cheap pickup from a money point of view. Perhaps, finally, Lou has decided to save his cap space for filling gaps during the season and not to spend it willy-nilly on overpriced free agents, rather than being confined by a strict budget imposed by ownership.

Good move by Lou. Especially since he has already put Fraser and Pelley on waivers twice this year. The way I see it is that when they had all they’re regular skating d-men in a game they always had one pairing with two feft hand shots. Now they can put out three pairings with a right and left shot. Looks like the heat is on the left hand d-men two stay in the lineup.

Fraser and Pelley were doing nothing for us. If Foster can add some value on the PP and not hurt otherwise as the 6th D-Man, then this is a no lose pick up