Devils Coaching Dilemma
For the third year in a row, the New Jersey Devils were eliminated in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by a lower seed. To add insult to injury, Devils Head Coach Jacque Lemaire announced his retirement today. It feels like this team is scrambling right now. It is not easy on their fans to get excited about this team either. Since the lockout, the Devils have won 2 playoff series and a total of 15 playoff games out of a possible 37 games. Since the lockout ended the Devils have lost veteran players such as Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski, Scott Gomez, Brian Gionta, and John Madden. Those aren’t the easiest players to replace. Although players like Zach Parise, Travis Zajac, Danius Zubrus, and Paul Martin have stepped up, this team can’t get over that hump to be successful in the playoffs.
The one constant in all of this is that the Devils will start from scratch come the off-season. The Devils have had five different head coaches since the lockout. Larry Robinson was to lead the team in the pot-lockout world in 2005 and didn’t get to Christmas. Claude Julien was hired to get back to the basics of the Devils defense-first philosophy and was fired with four games left in the 2006-07 season. Then came Brent Sutter, who we all thought would be that mainstay behind the bench that has been missing since Jacque Lemaire retired the first time. After his second season, he left to be closer to his family in Red Deer, Alberta. Then Lemaire comes back to the Devils and retires after one season.
I believe the reason for the Devil misfortune in the playoffs is in direct relation to their coaching situation. There is no consistency as to who will be behind the bench year after year. Come March the questions of, “Will he be here next year,” may start to creep in. I doubt it, but this team has had that look about them. Back to the fact of the three straight early playoff exits. If you look at the last three years only, you may see a pattern. Sutter was the coach for the 2007-08 season. A first year coach whose team did struggle a bit in the regular season, you kind of expect an early exit. But in the 2008-09 season, the Devils were basically unbeatable;e for most of the season. Then Sutter began questioning whether he wanted to go back home or not around the beginning on March 2009 and that is when the wheels fell off the Devils season. They lost 7 of their last 12 games to end the season and didn’t have any momentum going into the playoffs and lost in the first round to the Carolina Hurricanes. This season Lemaire led the Devils to their best 30 or 35 game start in franchise history. But at what point did he start to lose his focus and think about retirement. He had to be talked into coming back to New Jersey instead of retiring last off-season. When did the Devils start to slump this year? The beginning of March, when the season was starting to come to an end and the questions in Lemaire’s head possibly became louder.
The Devils need someone who is going to want to be here. Someone who is going to bring energy to the team game in and game out. What coach is going to want to come to the Devils when if it doesn’t work out, they’ll surely be fired? I think that man is in the organization and hs been for eight years. That man is John MacLean. He was passed over for the head coaching job for Sutter and Lemaire. But Lou Lamoriello appointed him head coach of the Lowell Devils and all he did in Lowell was lead a Devils minor league affiliate to the playoffs for the first time since 2000. He wants to be here. He knows the system as both a player and a coach. He will bring the energy this team desperately needs. It is time for the Devils to make this move. I feel they are making a mistake if the pass up MacLean again. His time is now.
