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Lemaire is the Devils


msweet

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Sounds good!! Who here cant freakin wait for the schedule?

:cheers:

I can't believe I'm trying to re-work my work schedule so I can be home when the NHL schedule is released, but yet, it's what I'm doing. I want another home game on St. Patty's Day. That's really all I ask.

And lots of weekend dates, since weekdays are going to be impossible for me most of the year. :(

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At the risk of sounding idiotic,

Never stopped ya before :evil:

when does the schedule get released?

Wednesday, presumably. I'm not sure I've seen anything official, but that's when the press conference at Fenway is, and for the last few year's it's always been released the day after the MLB All-Star game.

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At the risk of sounding idiotic,

Never stopped ya before :evil:

when does the schedule get released?

Wednesday, presumably. I'm not sure I've seen anything official, but that's when the press conference at Fenway is, and for the last few year's it's always been released the day after the MLB All-Star game.

Now you're jumping on the bandwagon? "Nicest poster" my white irish arse!

If I wasn't the nicest poster, there wouldn't have been a smiley involved, indicating that I was joking (see? funniest, too!) :lol:

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its either released at 3pm or 5pm this Wednesday.. i read the definite time somewhere... cant wait to figure out what games i can and cant go to.. rest assured i will be posting my seats below face value for you guys for the games i cant attend

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Please read what I am writing: You will see little or no neutral zone trap from the Devils this coming year. What you will see is smart, defensive based, well-positioned hockey, which controls the tempo of games.....

Hope you're right...bring on October!

Edited by britoon
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I'm not really happy with Lemaire being the coach, but I pretty much agree with the OP. With Sutter's system, the only chance of success was extreme overachieving because the team really isn't talented enough to win highly offensive games. Not enough players are natural goal scorers, and the defensmen aren't good enough to protect a lead, so we could never run away with games.

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Not with mike mottau and andy greene

Mottau is a quality defenseman; not great, but not bad either.. Andy Greene might end up as an extra if Eckford or Corrente win the last spot.

The only quality Mottau has is being a 6/7 defensemen that is slow and must not be paired with Colin White. I like the way Andy Greene plays the game and his skillset is one we don't have a lot of but he is very weak in his own end. If he can improve there, he has all the tools needed to stick around. Greene kind of reminds me of a much lower ceiling Oduya. The difference being Oduya was forced to step in and play because we had no one else.

Msweet, do you really think this devils defense is 'very good'? I look at this defense and I see Paul Martin as a well rounded do it all #1 defensemen. Then Johnny Oduya as one of the best skaters and puck movers we have. He has out grown falling down and dropping his stick every 5 seconds from 2 years ago to become a great #3 that is forced to be a 2 here. Other than that I see nothing. Colin White and Bryce Salvador are both slow and one dimensional that are decent in there own end, good on the PK and tough as nails, but struggle to carry the puck or make smart passes so they just chip it off the boards when under pressure. I already talked about Mottau and Greene so that leaves us with the kids. The two that could make an impact this year are Corrente and Eckford and I'm thrilled about that because we've been so dry on blueline prospects in years past. My hope is that Corrente makes the team and plays well enough to EARN a top 4 spot, not just be handed to because we don't have the horses. That is unlikely, because I don't see anybody blocking his path so I guess he'll just have to prove himself on the go. Since I'm banking on Corrente playing a big role, I'd be estatic if Eckford can play a role of any kind this year. I'd love to see him on the back pairing with a chance to run the PP.

That's all I got for now and I hate doing this because it pains me to rip apart our guys like this. Hell, I've been watching Colin White play defense on this team half my life. Believe me, I'm still going to be as excited to the next guy when the season starts, blowing through money for tickets, rooting like a madman, believing this team is good enough to win the cup, but I just don't see it.

And this has nothing to do with free agents or anything, I've been behind Lou 100% when it comes to that. Looking at the last 2 years and seeing those first round exits made me think what's the worst that could happen with these young guys, we miss the playoffs? During the offseason I came to the conclusion that I'd rather watch these kids grow and play hard to make the NHL. Even if that includes missing the playoffs one year so we can make a future where we are cup contenders 10+ more years. I think that is a much better idea than duct taping the same team we had trying to get it over the hump and failing.

Edited by Devils Pride 26
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No, Lemaire is not the Devils' best chance to win a Cup. He's their best chance to get 100-point seasons and division titles in the regular season. But they have zero chance to win a Cup in the new NHL with the Jacques system and this group of players.

Unless Lou and Jacques BOTH have turned over a new leaf (and I refuse to believe it till I see it), this is just more running in place. Too competitive to sink, but no real chance to do damage in the playoffs. I had higher hopes for this offseason after the youth movement.

Edited by Hasan4978
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No, Lemaire is not the Devils' best chance to win a Cup. He's their best chance to get 100-point seasons and division titles in the regular season. But they have zero chance to win a Cup in the new NHL with the Jacques system and this group of players.

Unless Lou and Jacques BOTH have turned over a new leaf (and I refuse to believe it till I see it), this is just more running in place. Too competitive to sink, but no real chance to do damage in the playoffs. I had higher hopes for this offseason after the youth movement.

Why does everyone think they know this guy inside out. Everything I read, from those who are not Devil or Ranger fans, have had nothing but great things to say about Lemaire. I see some using the Wild as evidence that he can't coach in this era, but I think most are forgetting that he took over an expansion team in 2000. Of those four expansion teams, none of them have had the success that the Wild have had.

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haha i liked how you linked to wikipedia for everything...

but i agree with the bulk of what youve written. My main objection with Lemaire is that its not good for buisness and public relations. Our arena is still considered new, and with a crop full of young guys coming up next season we need to let them loose (even if that means losing a few more games). Its part of growing pains, but at least exciting hockey helps the bottom line during this recession, and helps our long-term rebuilding.

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I agree 100 percent with your comment about the Devils' penchant for losing late leads the last two years being "an unforgivable sin."

I'm a little disappointed with how many Devils fans there are these days that look back on the teams of the past 15 years and see nothing but boring trap hockey. That sounds like frustrated Rangers fans talking. ... If nothing else, the Devils used to stand for defensive responsibility. Each offensive player had a personal responsibility to play both ends of the ice, and each defenseman was held personally accountable for protecting Marty at all costs. That philosophy won us three Cups and kept us in the playoffs year after year. Leaguewide, the team was well respected because of it. Sure, there were jealous fans and media types -- of other teams -- that called us boring, that knocked us every chance they had. But who cared?? The Devils were consistent winners, right up there with Detroit as the two best franchises in the entire league.

Yeah, yeah, I know, it's a new NHL today. The rules are a lot stricter. You can't win by clutching and grabbing and playing only defense. ... But what ... do we really think that Jacques Lemaire doesn't know that? It's not like the guy had left the game for a decade and now he's coming back to play a 1990s' style. And anyway, I think Lemaire's Devils teams of the '90s got a bad rap when it came to clutching and grabbing. If anything, Pat Burns' 2003 Devils team clutched and grabbed and smothered a lot more than Jacques' teams -- which was understandable because that 2003 team didn't have the offensive guns. Lemaire's defensive style was much more about proper positioning than clutching and grabbing. And that proper defensive positioning led to some major breakaways going the other way. Lemaire's Devils teams had some decent offensive pop, if I remember correctly.

It sounds like Jacques is only gonna be here a couple of years -- just enough time to get us back on defensive track and not so long that he starts to slip into a rut and risk the players tuning him out. And anyway, the first two years was when he did his best work with the team during his first go-round.

Edited by 95Crash
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<!--quoteo(post=783960:date=Jul 13 2009, 09:08 PM:name=Hasan4978)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Hasan4978 @ Jul 13 2009, 09:08 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=783960"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->No, Lemaire is not the Devils' best chance to win a Cup. He's their best chance to get 100-point seasons and division titles in the regular season. But they have zero chance to win a Cup in the new NHL with the Jacques system and this group of players.

Unless Lou and Jacques BOTH have turned over a new leaf (and I refuse to believe it till I see it), this is just more running in place. Too competitive to sink, but no real chance to do damage in the playoffs. I had higher hopes for this offseason after the youth movement.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Why does everyone think they know this guy inside out. Everything I read, from those who are not Devil or Ranger fans, have had nothing but great things to say about Lemaire. I see some using the Wild as evidence that he can't coach in this era, but I think most are forgetting that he took over an expansion team in 2000. Of those four expansion teams, none of them have had the success that the Wild have had.

Maybe because we've seen him as a coach five years here and another decade since then? Clearly he's had one style of coaching for much of his career. True his first couple of years the 'system' wasn't a total one-dimensional trap but after the Cup for whatever reason (maybe Larry Robinson leaving) Jacques became one-dimensional and coached only defense and that continued in Minnesota - obviously partly out of neccesity.

Still, he hasn't had any playoff success in a long time (since '03, before the lockout) or proved he can win in this new NHL.

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Msweet, do you really think this devils defense is 'very good'? I look at this defense and I see Paul Martin as a well rounded do it all #1 defensemen. Then Johnny Oduya as one of the best skaters and puck movers we have. He has out grown falling down and dropping his stick every 5 seconds from 2 years ago to become a great #3 that is forced to be a 2 here. Other than that I see nothing. Colin White and Bryce Salvador are both slow and one dimensional that are decent in there own end, good on the PK and tough as nails, but struggle to carry the puck or make smart passes so they just chip it off the boards when under pressure. I already talked about Mottau and Greene so that leaves us with the kids. The two that could make an impact this year are Corrente and Eckford and I'm thrilled about that because we've been so dry on blueline prospects in years past. My hope is that Corrente makes the team and plays well enough to EARN a top 4 spot, not just be handed to because we don't have the horses. That is unlikely, because I don't see anybody blocking his path so I guess he'll just have to prove himself on the go. Since I'm banking on Corrente playing a big role, I'd be estatic if Eckford can play a role of any kind this year. I'd love to see him on the back pairing with a chance to run the PP.

Our defense was "Very Good" in 2009 for sure. We were 4th in the league with 207 Goals against. 4th in the league at anything is very good if not excellent. We tend to be a bit spoiled here in NJ over our defense, which was and is currently very good.

Also, if I remember correctly, we had to have our backup goaltender in for about 50 games...making the defensive effort even more impressive.

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Hasan4978

Maybe because we've seen him as a coach five years here and another decade since then? Clearly he's had one style of coaching for much of his career. True his first couple of years the 'system' wasn't a total one-dimensional trap but after the Cup for whatever reason (maybe Larry Robinson leaving) Jacques became one-dimensional and coached only defense and that continued in Minnesota - obviously partly out of neccesity.

Still, he hasn't had any playoff success in a long time (since '03, before the lockout) or proved he can win in this new NHL.

And we've been tearing up the playoffs since that year too?

Look he may be a step back...I swear if he goes crazy matching lines I'll scream, BUT there was no-one with more experience.

Plus, nobody on the Devs, including Marty can look down at him or dismiss him. He WILL be respected.

Finally I'm interested in next season to see the way they play. I hope it is a pleasant surprise.

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Msweet, do you really think this devils defense is 'very good'? I look at this defense and I see Paul Martin as a well rounded do it all #1 defensemen. Then Johnny Oduya as one of the best skaters and puck movers we have. He has out grown falling down and dropping his stick every 5 seconds from 2 years ago to become a great #3 that is forced to be a 2 here. Other than that I see nothing. Colin White and Bryce Salvador are both slow and one dimensional that are decent in there own end, good on the PK and tough as nails, but struggle to carry the puck or make smart passes so they just chip it off the boards when under pressure. I already talked about Mottau and Greene so that leaves us with the kids. The two that could make an impact this year are Corrente and Eckford and I'm thrilled about that because we've been so dry on blueline prospects in years past. My hope is that Corrente makes the team and plays well enough to EARN a top 4 spot, not just be handed to because we don't have the horses. That is unlikely, because I don't see anybody blocking his path so I guess he'll just have to prove himself on the go. Since I'm banking on Corrente playing a big role, I'd be estatic if Eckford can play a role of any kind this year. I'd love to see him on the back pairing with a chance to run the PP.

Our defense was "Very Good" in 2009 for sure. We were 4th in the league with 207 Goals against. 4th in the league at anything is very good if not excellent. We tend to be a bit spoiled here in NJ over our defense, which was and is currently very good.

Also, if I remember correctly, we had to have our backup goaltender in for about 50 games...making the defensive effort even more impressive.

While being 4th in the league in GA is good, it really doesn't mean much when it comes to the playoffs and playing against top teams for 7 games. Thus has been the problem the last few years for the Devils, playing great in the regular season but struggling in the playoffs. When push comes to shove, our defense has gotten abused in the playoffs, they just don't stack up. The talent on the backend is just to thin at this point.

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Our defense was "Very Good" in 2009 for sure. We were 4th in the league with 207 Goals against. 4th in the league at anything is very good if not excellent. We tend to be a bit spoiled here in NJ over our defense, which was and is currently very good.

Also, if I remember correctly, we had to have our backup goaltender in for about 50 games...making the defensive effort even more impressive.

While being 4th in the league in GA is good, it really doesn't mean much when it comes to the playoffs and playing against top teams for 7 games. Thus has been the problem the last few years for the Devils, playing great in the regular season but struggling in the playoffs. When push comes to shove, our defense has gotten abused in the playoffs, they just don't stack up. The talent on the backend is just to thin at this point.

Yes... my point was similar in my article... good but not great = no Stanley Cup... need a different coaching style and philosophy

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