Running in place

July 13, 2009   ·   Hasan   ·   Jump to comments

Well doesn’t this just figure, I leave the state for four days and all hell breaks loose. 

Actually, the news of Jacques Lemaire’s return to New Jersey comes as zero surprise to this blogger for three reasons.   One, Lou Lamoriello’s tradition – which he even made a joke about a few days back – of constantly bringing back ex-Devils.  Two, Lou and Jacques have always had a good relationship.  And three, both Lou and Jacques have to this point refused to adapt to the post-lockout NHL of agressive play.

From what little I’ve been able to see up to this point, the predictable articles in the wake of Lemaire’s return are how the team will remain agressive and offense won’t be forgotten – there’s a term for this, it’s called lip service.  It’s foolish to expect not only one but two old-school leopards to change their spots.  I did have a faint hope of Lou realizing the success of this team last year being due to an agressive style and implementing youth (while letting old guard like John Madden walk) to help further that.  Clearly the hiring of Lemaire is a huge step back in this.

Don’t get me wrong, if you want 100-point seasons and division titles, Jacques is the best man for the job in the next couple years.  And clearly he can max out role players and has kept suspect Wild teams competitive the last few years.  As down as I am on Lou I believe that he honestly feels Lemaire is his best chance to win and win big.

Let’s be honest though, this team needs to go away from trying to win the same way it did pre-lockout.  NHL hockey is different now.  If you look at the final four teams in any given year, almost all of them were forechecking teams that used offense to its advantage.  Detroit, Pittsburgh and Chicago definitely fall in this category, and even Carolina played agressively under Paul Maurice though they didn’t have the younger legs of those other three teams. 

Look at all the teams that won the Cup – Carolina in ‘06, Anaheim in ‘07 and Detroit in ‘08 along with Pittsburgh last year.  Among those three only the Ducks really won with defense, but if you can get two of the five best defensemen in hockey (and a goalie in J. S. Giguere who historically has been pretty good in big games) you can probably get away with a defensive approach, but even they used their offensive talent and didn’t play a straight trap.

Why Lou (and Jacques) still refuse to believe that the game is different now I don’t know.  A lot of times the old guard becomes guilty of denying a new reality.  I’m afraid that’s what’s happening with the Devils right now.

More intriguing were some of the Devils’ other moves over the weekend.  I was happy to hear about the addition of Yann Danis as (apparently) the backup goaltender this season, after Danis did such a good job last year in a hopeless situation for the Islanders.  I wasn’t thrilled to hear Lou’s double-talk about Kevin Weekes though, how this doesn’t neccesarily close the door on bringing him back to be the backup. 

First of all I don’t really see how Weekes can come back unless Danis signed a two-way deal which I doubt, or Weekes signs a two-way deal which I also doubt.  It’s just more Lou double-speak for the sake of being vague.  I get the feeling if Lou could get away with it, he’d say Zach Parise has to earn a roster spot in training camp, he’s always been very careful about what he divulges to the media but now it seems like he’s doing it gratuitously.

Some of the Devils’ other coaching moves today ranged from intriguing to head-scratching.  Bringing in Mario Tremblay as an assistant just is not a good fit in my book.  When Jacques was able to get his message across in New Jersey the first time, he had Larry Robinson as a buffer.  After Larry left, the icy relationships between the players and Jacques became much more of an issue.  Having another bad-cop type on the bench isn’t the right move imo. 

Somewhat predictably, the Devils announced former HOF defenseman Scott Stevens would be taking a ‘more active’ role in coaching down at Lowell, without any real assistant job yet.  Ironically it’s an ex-teammate of Stevens’ – John MacLean – who’s the new coach in Lowell.  Perhaps it was time to see if Johnny Mac can sink or swim as a head man, and this is a good way to give him a quasi-tryout.