Lou Lamoriello gave MacLean every opportunity to turn the ship around and MacLean was just unable to do so with the back to back beatings at the hands of Atlanta and Washington being the final straw.I don't blame all of the misfortunes this season for the Red and Black on MacLean,although he seemed awful beyond words in arranging lines,some of this has to go on the players lack of effort and some to Lou Lamoriello for his blunders in cap management and personnel decisions.
In hindsight,MacLean's lack of head coaching experience (just one year in the AHL) doomed him right away with some of the players that he would be coaching and it appears to be a bad match.
I had no problem with the hire and I was wrong.
No excuses.
I don't blame it all on MacLean and he sure didn't plan on losing Martin Brodeur for ten games and Zach Parise for half a season etc,but this was the only thing that the Devils could do at this time that could have an impact.
I think Lamoriello and the Devils are fooling themselves,if they truly believe that they are still in the playoff chase,although I would love to be proven wrong,but a winning streak couldn't hurt things any.
Jacques Lemaire will finish the season out,will likely not return for next season and should at least shore up a porous defense with his system and work on the defensive end.
I am sure that Jamie Langenbrunner is less than thrilled with Lemaire after their problems last season,but if that makes it easier for the Devils to move their less than industrious captain-that alone makes me OK with Lemaire being back in Newark.
One rumor is that the Devils are interesting in Bob Hartley for next season,which makes sense when you consider the success of Ilya Kovalchuk with Hartley in Atlanta,but Hartley is unemployed right now,if the Devils are interested,why not now?
I am not a Bob Hartley guy,(As you know,I am a Ted Nolan guy) but he might be what the Devils need-a different perspective.
Some are bashing the Devils for firing MacLean so close to Christmas and I see their point,but this is a business.
Looking at the sorry efforts on the road and the Devils starting a four game homestand with kids out of school for the holidays,the team couldn't take the chance of similar efforts in front of the home fans and allowing attendance to fall,just because of that reason.
John MacLean is a pro,he knows the score.
Finally,I have had three people email me this article and want my thoughts on it.
Scott Burnside is a Devil hater.
Period.
Think I am a homer on this?Just do a search on his columns and judge for yourself.
Burnside has been waiting for the Devils to fall for years and he has a bias.
Considering that though,he makes a good point or two.
The Devils free agent signings have struggled this season,although Bryce Salvador being hurt doesn't exactly make anything his fault and you can make a point that the Devils sometime do stay too much in house on things,but that has its positive side as well as players and coaches know what is expected of them and there is no learning curve there.
Brian Rolston's big signing has been a disaster and that is true,but let's look at Scott Burnside,who knew it was a mistake when he signed....
"Rolston and his booming shot will be a boon to a team that ranked 27th in goals per game and had the 25th-ranked power play last season".
Nice to see Burnside knew it was a mistake made as soon as he signed.
Burnside is critical of players"fleeing" the Devils.
I see little evidence of that-Scott Niedermayer wanted to play with his brother,Brian Rafalski wanted to play near home-those players would have left any team under those circumstances.
The others were either way overpaid-Scott Gomez or players that were easier to replace at cheaper cost-Paul Martin etc.
I don't see that as fleeing the organization.
Scott Burnside has a bias,so do I.
I try to tell the truth as I see it,I hope he does as well.
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