14 replies to this topic

[DINO COSTA]

http://www.nypost.co...vils_179106.htm

PAST is prelude and we've seen this movie before. The Devils aren't simply going back to Jacques Lemaire to coach the team that Brent Sutter walked out on. They are going to be going backwards -- backwards into the neutral zone, backwards in the standings.

Lou Lamoriello's decision to hire Lemaire 11 years after the end of a first five-year term that put the Devils on the NHL map but ultimately ended in underachievement is a misplaced reach into the past.

The future belongs to coaches who can, have and will adapt to a game that is evolving into a showcase for offensive talent, risk/reward attack, and creative, puck-possession teams. Lemaire, though, is wedded to the past. He is an obstinate, safety-first zealot whose defensive demands stifle creativity no matter how much he might disagree.

Lemaire was a great coach for two seasons after arriving in New Jersey in 1993-94. He was a guide to excellence who won a Stanley Cup in 1995 and then made the fatal mistake of thinking that he and his system had been more responsible for winning the championship than Claude Lemieux, Scott Stevens, John MacLean, Stephane Richer, Neal Broten and Shawn Chambers.

The Devils trapped in Lemaire's first two seasons, but they also attacked. Indeed, New Jersey finished second in the league in scoring in 1993-94 before losing to the Rangers in the epochal seven-game Eastern Conference finals.

But Lemaire's Devils didn't attack after winning the Cup. They backed up. They changed incessantly on the fly so that Lemaire could match his checking lines (plural) against the opposition's top guns on every single shift in every single game. His scorers got considerably less ice than their peers around the NHL.

That was then. This is almost now -- two years ago when Lemaire was coaching the Wild, winger Marian Gaborik finished seventh in the NHL with 42 goals. He was 43rd in the league among forwards in ice time with 19:35 per game and fourth among Wild forwards, trailing Brian Rolston, Mikko Koivu and Pavol Demitra.

And that stat wrapped in Lemaire's philosophy explains why Gaborik rejected Minnesota's contract extension offer this past October of 10 years at $78 million. The winger instead signed a five-year, $37.5M free agent contract with the Rangers.

Edited by DINO COSTA, 14 July 2009 - 04:23 AM.

[Devils731]

You need to edit the post and not include the full article. The sites been asked to do that. Snippets of articles are ok.

Also, this article reinforces that Lemaire was a good choice if Brooks is so sure it's bad.

[DINO COSTA]

You need to edit the post and not include the full article. The sites been asked to do that. Snippets of articles are ok.

Also, this article reinforces that Lemaire was a good choice if Brooks is so sure it's bad.

Thanks for the heads up - is it alright now?

[Devils731]

You need to edit the post and not include the full article. The sites been asked to do that. Snippets of articles are ok.

Also, this article reinforces that Lemaire was a good choice if Brooks is so sure it's bad.

Thanks for the heads up - is it alright now?

Well there are no hard of fast rules so I can't say what DM is comfortable with. I would normally keep it to just 1 paragraph or a few key sentences. Basically the newspaper don't want there to be so much info posted that people feel like they don't have to clink the link to go to the news site and give it a hit.

[BlueSkirt]

...And Scott Gomez was restrained by the devils system. He is an elite talent that will flourish on another team and be a point-per-game player at a minimum, who can score upwards of 100-points if he weren't held in check by New Jersey's brass....

Envy !

[DevilinLA]

DINO - I'd go a little shorter to be safe.
Basically one paragraph is considered "an excerpt", anything more than that is just really "editing"
Its a good rule of thumb to gauge by if you're not sure.

[Triumph]

what a silly stat brooks dredges up to make his point. brooks is of course being selective - marian gaborik led the wild in even strength TOI that year, as i suspected he did, without even having to go look.

[devilsadvoc8]

what a silly stat brooks dredges up to make his point. brooks is of course being selective - marian gaborik led the wild in even strength TOI that year, as i suspected he did, without even having to go look.

come on Tri, one player's stats for one year are certainly enough to stereotype a coach's ability..............

[USC09]

Larry Brooks=Scott Burnside=Mark (N)Єverson=Єklund (2.3% accurate) (2.3% accurate)=Douche bag

[AEWHistory]

Not to mention, does this even include Gaborik's proclivity for injury? I mean, c'mon, how many minutes did he lose to 'tweaks' and 'mommy, my tummy hurts!' Huh?

Larry Brooks=Scott Burnside=Mark (N)Єverson=Єklund (2.3% accurate) (2.3% accurate)=Douche bag

Hey now, that isn't fair......

Don't douche bags serve a actual purpose?

[bostondevil11]

Hey now, that isn't fair......

Don't douche bags serve a actual purpose?

NO they don't anymore. NOt even sure why it is still sold.

[Pepperkorn]

Sounds like a big wet dream for Brooks! Wishful thinking.

I think the team will go back in the standings -- which I've always thought was a good thing. if you're on top and don't know it then it's OK to finish at the top of your conference. but I much prefer guys to be experimenting and learning during the regular season. standing schmandings -- but I do get frustrated when they appear to be treading water during a losing streak.

I think our defense will learn how to read the puck better. If that means slowing a step or hanging back a little to see the ice more clearly then so be it. I suspect that Lemaire is very good at articulating how to see the ice. and that is a major problem with the team -- the ice vision isnt' the same. Our defence is especially bad about keeping the puck in our attack zone at the blue line. I really hate that. It riuns a game for me. and worrying about getting in Marty's way thus NOT COMMITTING to playing the puck when they're in po-fvcking-sition!! that fvcks marty over 6 ways from Sunday!!!

Anyhow -- I can see LOTS of things Lemaire has to work on and playing the trap is not one of them. I think maybe what the trap did was buy some time to see. I think someone MAY have to clue him in that the team and hockey today needs to see the ice while on the move a little more. It's very common sense hockey and I just can't see Lemaire as some stodgy curmudgeon -- he's too exuberant and into hockey. I think maybe this can be a learning experience for him too. I think that can happen because there ARE some voices he can trust in this organization like no other. Some --- you know some -- like special assignment coaches,.. that are, you know -- expected to play a larger role in things... I know some guys don't like to step up and say something btu they need to learn how to be at the same level as their mentors in order to learn the actual business of coaching and find their own voice.

[RockingTheRed81]

I hate Larry Brooks. He never has anything good to say and most the time he doesn't know what he's talking about.

[Sickman]

This is a piss poor article even for Larry's standards.

[Prucenterrules]

Wow brooks you deffinetly have no life and still live at home. Your a complete a$$hole. I wish Lou would let loose PL3 on him.