Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Back to the Future IV: The French Connection

Ah, mid-July. The time of year when its very easy to get away from all things hockey related. Free agency has died down to a trickle, and most players and executives are on vacation. It’s the time of year when a mid-scrimmage fight at prospects camp becomes the top headline on a team’s website. Except of course, if you’re the New Jersey Devils, who still did not have a head coach to replace the grandest of all liars, Brent Sutter. And suddenly, the floodgates opened. Jacques Lemaire, back in the fold, bringing Mario Tremblay with him. MacLean accepting head coaching job in Lowell. Scott Stevens becoming an active tutor, Chris Terreri slowly but surely succeeding Jacques Caron as goaltending coach. Sure, no players were involved, but it was nonetheless a rather busy day by Devils standards. And while those of us here in Jersey (read: reality) love the signing, even if it comes with a tiny bit of skepticism, the hockey media is having a field day with it.

Okay, The Hockey News, we get it, it’s cool to hate Lemaire and it’s cool to hate the Devils. In fact I’m pretty sure you’re the ones who started that trend. You must be so proud. To be honest, THN, I don’t much care what you have to say. I’ve learned over the years that your writers are very much the hockey equivalents of Rush Limbaugh. You say things for shock value, not because you actually believe them. So fine, have your fun…preach like a darn prophet that 2010 will be 1995 all over again. Hey, if it means we win the Cup, you won’t find me complaining as we trap and clutch and grab our way to a parade down Mulberry Street.

But enough about those hacks. I’m here to talk about why Jacques Lemaire will be a great coach. Now, as usual, I’ve broken my argument down into easy-to-digest numbered points…nice and easy to read for all you THN writers out there. Keep practicing friends, you’ll get there.


1. Jacques works well with the young players.
Jacques Lemaire was terrific with a young Martin Brodeur, among other Devils youngsters, back in the mid 1990s, and considering the era of Devils history we are about to undergo this is the guy you want around. He knows how to get the most out of young talent, which means—oh dear god, Nicklas Bergfors might actually be played where he belongs and NOT on the fourth line? I must be dreaming.

2. Jacques can deal with Lou.
It takes a special breed to be able to play to the demands of master micromanager Lou Lamoriello and also manage to keep one’s sanity intact. Lemaire is such a coach. Not that Sutter wasn’t, but he quit on us and left, so…not really a relevant point anymore.

3. Jacques is probably just a placeholder.
John MacLean was just named the head coach of the Lowell Devils. Since I seem to see these things coming quite frequently, my early guess is that MacLean will get some head coaching experience in Lowell and be groomed to succeed Lemaire in a few years. It makes too much sense not to happen. Think about it…Bruce Boudreau and Dan Bylsma are now coaching a substantial crop of young players they had already coached in the AHL. With the new youth movement in full swing here in Jersey, MacLean may be about to meet the very same players he will be coaching in the NHL when his time comes. The players grow with the coach and vice versa, everybody wins.

Now this is not to say Lemaire hasn’t lost his touch, and might somehow believe that 1990s hockey can still succeed when we all know it really can’t. But early comments from both Lemaire and Lamoriello suggest the perfect scenario where success is almost guaranteed. Lemaire will come in and solidify the defensive side of our game, which clearly needs intensive rehab after last year’s playoffs. At the same time, he maintains the offense and the forechecking, and plays to the strengths of players like Parise and Elias, something he is also infamous for.

The players all want him, Lou wanted him, and most Devils fans wanted him. All he has to do is show up, leave the offense alone while solidifying the back end, and we can kill two birds with one stone; the one how Lemaire is bad for hockey, and the one that he won’t get his name on the Cup for the 12th time.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Free Agency Ain't Free

Though the 2009 NHL free agency period is just a day old, it’s already become clear what the Devils’ message is going forward.

Every year since the lockout, the trend has been the same. Have an outstanding regular season, clinch a playoff spot, possibly win the division, then proceed to play like garbage in the playoffs, leading to a first or second round exit. It’s a brick wall that Lou Lamoriello is tired of running into.

What is currently transpiring in the Devils Legion is not unlike two previous offseasons in the Devils’ history, those of 1998 and 2002. The Devils are usually a fairly stagnant team with minimal roster turnover every season, but once in a while when Lamoriello gets really sick of losing, he shuffles the deck. Time for a legal flashback, set your wayback machine to 1998.

During the season, after trading original Devil John MacLean, the Devils pulled off a deal that would prove historic: Bill Guerin and Valeri Zelepukin went to Edmonton for Bryan Muir and one Jason Arnott. At the time, Arnott had loads of potential but had not yet blossomed. Though he had been somewhat of a bust during his tenure with Edmonton, the right situation brought out the best in Arnott, who would go on to score the Cup-clinching goal in 2000. The next summer, the Devils signed the best player in the world not already in the NHL, Brian Rafalski, an undrafted enigma from Michigan playing in Finland. At the same time, fans saw the entrance of a new rookie class including Colin White and John Madden. Looking back, it’s hard to imagine winning in 2000 without the contributions of these four.

Fast forward to 2002. Though it was only one year removed from coming ever so close to defending their title, the ever popular A-line was becoming too dependent on one another for Lou’s liking. That, combined with their poor playoff performance signaled another major shakeup. Arnott was at the centerpiece of another major trade, this time heading to Dallas along with Randy McKay for Jamie Langenbrunner and Joe Nieuwendyk. Nieuwendyk’s impact would be immediately felt, while Langenbrunner was solid but truly saved his best for the 2003 playoffs. Completing the transition was the acquisition of Jeff Friesen and Oleg Tverdovsky from Anaheim for Petr Sykora and Mike Commodore, a trade with Columbus to land Grant Marshall, the debut of rookie Brian Gionta and later on rookie Mike Rupp stepping in when Nieuwendyk went down.

Now, here in 2009, Lou has deemed it time for another makeover. Gone are the same players who ushered in the last “new era,” with Gionta off to Montreal, Madden to Chicago, and Rupp to Pittsburgh. Scott Clemmensen, who made the 2008-09 season worth playing, is now in Florida. And to be honest, I truly don’t understand the instant backlash from Devils fans.

I’m not attempting to say that this is the beginning of the road to Stanley Cup number four. I am saying that this is necessary, and we will be better for it. It’s not a knock on the play of any of the recently departed, and it’s not a reflection personally on any of them. It’s just the simple truth that if you continue to leave things as they are, you’re going to continue to hit brick walls. Maybe you don’t even make the playoffs next season.

The holes left are not expected to be filled by veterans, save for the potential re-signing of Brendan Shanahan. Rather, like White and Madden in 2000, like Gionta and Rupp in 2003, it’s time for the next wave of kids to hit the lineup. Remember these names, because you may very well see them in your program lineup at some point next year:

Matt Halischuk: Spent some time with the team last year, good solid young forward.
Alexander Vasyunov: Pure sniper, loads of skill.
Nicklas Bergfors: May finally have the chance to be used in his proper role.
Matt Corrente: Big solid defenseman with a mean streak.
Tyler Eckford: Quality puck-moving defenseman.
Rod Pelley: Mini-Madden may get his chance now.
Pierre-Luc Leblond: Instant fan favorite, sparkplug.
Jeff Frazee: Quietly training to become Brodeur’s successor, could potentially be the backup next year after an All-Star season in the AHL.

Of the above, maybe only two will make the 2009-10 roster. But with this promising group of prospects waiting in the wings, now is the time to get younger. We were an old and slow team last year, and everyone who predicted that the Hurricanes would skate circles around us proved to be right. Will it mean one or two down years? Maybe. But we will be much better for it in the long-run for a few reasons:

1. Everyone else. Look at the rebuilding teams in our conference sure to get better by the season: Montreal, Florida, the Islanders, etc. They only take 8 teams per year folks, and if someone is coming in, someone must come out. And with teams like Washington and Pittsburgh ready to maintain their levels of success, the Devils need to keep up. Sitting idle and pretending like everything was fine last year would have been a foolish route to take, and would surely see the Devils miss the playoffs for the first time since 1996. It’s one thing to miss the playoffs during a period of transition; it’s wholly another when you’ve got what you feel is a Cup-contending roster.

2. The salary cap. Both GMs and insiders alike are predicting the salary cap to go down after next season, possibly from 57 down to 50 million. While high spending teams like Philadelphia will be forced to unload players, the Devils will be sitting pretty on a few entry level deals. They may even have the cap room to pick up a quality player that another team can’t hold on to.

3. The next few summers. In the summer of 2010, priority #1 will be Paul Martin. In the summer of 2011, Zach Parise. In 2012, Martin Brodeur. We have too many contracts of core players to worry about in the future, and I’m sure any fan of the Devils would rather see our money spent on Zach Parise instead of Gionta or Madden. I know I would.

Look, I understand that Devils fans have become accustomed to rejecting change because it happens so infrequently, and I’m not going to deny that I get that way as well. But Lou is beginning to look progressive, and we as fans must adapt with him. Being stagnant was terrific in a non-cap world, but that world is gone. It’s time we joined everybody else here in the present. You can’t keep everyone, nor should you want to. The amount of backlash is understandable, but is also ill-advised. I wanted to point that out, and anyone who is upset with the Devils right now will be eating their words in a few years.