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dantesinferno

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Prospect (2/11)

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  1. I can appreciate that there are mixed opinions among the forum and players regarding morning skates. Phil Esposito didn't like them, Brendan Shanahan did. I can also understand that if a team is playing reasonably well, a coach may decide to forgo the skate. What about a team that is not playing well, struggling with a penalty kill, breakout or power play? Maybe a morning skate establishes greater accountability. And if some guys don't want to see each other every day, too bad. Get over it. It's your job. It's a team sport and they are your team mates. I would not have asked about this if the team was playing well, but especially after last night's disaster it seems they can all use a little extra work on the ice?
  2. I just don't buy that this team doesn't need practice on game days. Even if they only worked on the PK and passing. At least they didn't tire themselves out this morning practicing like Pittsburgh did.
  3. Another game day when the team is having an optional skate. I have not been keeping track but it seems like DeBoer does this a lot. I understand when they play back to back games or the fact that they have certain contractual rules with the player's association. I also get that there are some older players on the team that can benefit from a down day now and then. I wonder if anyone else has noticed this and if it's common around the league? BTW....Pittsburgh held a practice for tonight's game.
  4. The thing that caught me by surprise was the level of immaturity that Parise seems to display. His quote, “Ryan and I had talked throughout the year, we’d say to each other wouldn’t it be great to play with each other on the same team.” Really? Did you have friends in New Jersey? Wasn't it great to play with any of them? This is coming from the Captain of a professional hockey team while the season is underway? It’s like something Pee Wee players would text. Somehow I can’t see a Captain like Scott Stevens saying that. Sounds like a couple of giggling schoolgirls. And his other memorable quote, “I know how great a player Ryan is, I played with him in several tournaments. To play with a player of that caliber, it’s a great opportunity.” Uh, hello Zach...how about the great opportunity of playing with a player of Kovalchuk’s caliber? Several tournaments...? It almost sounds laughable. The wisdom of hitching the rest of your career to your childhood BFF reeks of some type of arrested development and delusional thinking. Moving “back home” may be one thing but a professional athlete tying his contract to a friend’s because it would be "great to play together" just sounds creepy and weird. The more this plays out and I read what went down and what Zach has to say, the more it seems he is just a kid with hockey skills. Adult leadership, honesty, integrity?.....nah.
  5. There have been three coaches in NJ since Kovalchuk came to town. Two of them have used him on the right wing, a position he is obviously not suited for. Lemaire played him on left wing and got production out of him. Why is that? I believe the rw debacle is all Lamoriello’s doing. He reportedly did not want Kovy on the team but was overruled by ownership. LL is an inflexible autocrat. He micro-managed every aspect of this team, right down to facial hair and sandwiches....(that’s another issue). Maybe he didn’t like being forced to sign Kovy....it was anathema to “Devil’s hockey” , Lou’s team philosophy and everything he worked hard to build for this organization. So, he forces the two coaches he can control to place Kovy on the RW. Upward discipline anyone? When Lou went to Lemaire in desperation, Jaques told him he would help but without any interference, he would be the only one running the bench. Thus, Kovy on left wing. Does anyone really think DeBoer was the first and only choice for the coaching job? I imagine no one wanted to touch the job when they realized that Lou would have direct input into how the bench was going to be run. Remember DeBoer's pre-season press conferences where he said he and Lou would discuss who would be playing? All this talk about who’s to blame for this mess....like Don Corleone said, “it was Barzini all along”. Also, no one has talked about the night Brodeur was pulled in Minnesota. He didn’t stay on the bench but watched the game from the locker room. From TG blog on 12/02.... Brodeur watched the rest of the game from the locker room because he didn’t think there was enough room for him on the bench. “When I went for a water break, I was looking at Heddy, how uncomfortable he was there, so I went to sit down, I looked at it and I might as well just go inside.” Really? I imagine Marty would have been uncomfortable sitting there....It was good enough for Moose but not Marty? What does that say about who’s running the team? DeBoer should have sent Robinson back to the locker room and told Brodeur to come out of hiding and sit with the rest of the TEAM so he could watch them try and dig out of their hole. When Tedenby is benched does he get to relax in the locker room for the rest of the game? Humility is good for the soul.
  6. This team is playing exactly how a team built by Lou should be playing. No excitement, no intensity, no individuality and no leadership. I watched the River Rats play for years, they didn’t emphasize winning. The mission was to train players to become part of the machine and weed out the ones who wouldn’t or couldn’t play that way. Now that empty, emotionless philosophy has come home to roost. Ultimately, this team is going nowhere with Lou at the helm. His smothering, disciplined organizational philosophy sucks the spark and individuality out of players and the team.....no facial hair allowed huh? Great rule, how’s that working out for you Lou? No creativity on the power play? Maybe players are afraid to break out of their assigned roles for fear of bringing down the wrath of Lou. He might take the tomatoes or lettuce out of their sandwiches. Maybe send them to bed without milk and cookies. Does this team look like they are having fun on the ice? I don’t think so. How does the saying go? “ winning is fun and you have to have fun to win”. The Devils have no chemistry, intensity or excitement. They sign an elite, high scoring forward and immediately begin the process of breaking him down and making him adapt to “Devil’s hockey” instead of working to bring out the player’s individual strengths. Leadership, intensity, focus, drive to win? I can’t ever remember Scott Stevens giggling and yukking it up on the ice during a face-off like we saw Parise doing last night in the third period. Especially when LOSING. Way to show how much you care. Steven’s nickname was Capt. Crunch, maybe Parise should be Capt. Giggles. Lou rode the coat tails of some fantastic players. Most have retired and Brodeur is in his achy-breaky twilight years. Three cups made Lou look like a genius....until Stevens and Niedermeyer left. Times have changed, players have changed and most importantly, the game has changed. Lou hasn’t changed. Until management gets with the new NHL, expect the same old status quo.
  7. These recent deaths will no doubt cause changes in the NHL. However, I am not convinced that the cause and effect is simply being an NHL enforcer. As others have said, the psychological trauma of suddenly losing your occupation, livelihood, ego persona and personal identity at such an early age certainly looms large. Throw in alcohol abuse and suddenly being unceremoniously ripped from your network of friends and co-workers and the mental trauma is obvious. I also question just how much serious head trauma these NHL fighters really suffer. While they are no doubt tough guys and fight on a regular basis, most of it is jersey tugging and hitting helmets with their fists, usually the head shots are glancing blows. On the rare occasion that they land a direct hit to the head or jaw...the fight ends immediately and both combatants skate away. They are not boxers taking sustained hits to their head. If they have been suffering repeated head trauma during these fights, where is the NHLPA to stand up for their contractual rights re: concussions? ( Are fighters examined and checked for a concussion after every on-ice fight? ) The real question is, why are some of these guys even in the NHL? They don’t score, they play minimum minutes and honestly, some can barely skate. I’m not saying they are not good people. These are tragic deaths. But, did fighting contribute to brain damage that altered their mental attitude or were they unable to cope with being unemployed? Either way, the league should address this issue and move towards eliminating fighting from professional hockey.
  8. No injuries in a decade? Didn't he hurt himself trying to punch Gomez in the 2006 playoffs? Say no to Jagr, let his nostalgic return burden another team. As a matter of fact, he would be perfect for the Rangers!
  9. I know Brodeur is getting older and his reflexes will naturally slow down. It's obvious that his game has declined drastically and rapidly this season. Maybe part of it is getting older and lack of confidence but it also seems that at times he almost struggles to get back on his feet after dropping down. Could he have a hip, back or knee injury that either he or the team isn't talking about? Has anyone watched him during warm-ups? Is he able to move cleanly up and down without difficulty?
  10. I think Lemaire was asked to take over in order to give Lou an intelligent, experiences assessment of the team, per his first impression comments. do they want to try and right the ship and win some games? Yes, but they all know the season is dead. They are looking at who to trade and dump. The team has cancer and Dr. Lemaire is going to help decide where and what to cut in order to save the patient. I think no one is safe or exempt at this point. Isn't it interesting that a day or so before the coaching change there are wild trade rumors involving Brodeur and others?
  11. Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
  12. I remember when the Devils were playing the Red Wings for the Stanley cup. A Devils fan held up a large sign for the Wings that said "WELCOME TO HELL". That sign takes on a whole new meaning with this team.
  13. In the 1st period when the game was scoreless, the Capital's coach was asked what he thought so far. He wasn't happy and said they needed to be more aggressive in NJ's zone. During the second period, with NJ down by a goal, MacLean said the Devils were playing fine and they should do OK....shortly after those comments, Washington scored twice. You know.
  14. Maybe this is what he has always wanted....which is exactly why it is so sad. Now he has to face the fact that he got his shot and it was a failure. As far as the GM still backing him? I think MacLean would have been fired (or asked to resign) already but Lou can't find any takers with more than Mite coaching experience.
  15. I hope the movement to fire John MacLean ends after last night’s loss. I actually feel sadness and pity for him now. Does he have any pride and self respect left? I don’t want to see him fired. I want to see him announce his resignation immediately. I want him to have a press conference and publicly reveal exactly what is going on inside the locker room. Reveal all the dirty laundry and call out every player and quitter that has had an active role in this travesty. Let them all finish the season with shame, disgrace, personal humiliation and an empty arena. This team will have the distinction of going down in Devil’s history as being the worst in 20years….congratulations on that proud legacy. MacLean may or may not be an incompetent coach…but this team quit on him for whatever reason and he owes them nothing. I hope he walks away from this crap heap with some shred of dignity and doesn’t look back. Oh yeah, good luck finding a replacement.
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