Breaking: Pete Deboer Fired

[hit the post]

GOOD ......one boring azz guy.

[jagknife]

It's not really about blame...the team just stopped responding to him, public protestations aside.  When you get whipped by BAD teams, that's a sign that you need a defibrulator.

But it was against a tough, hungry, young team in a tough building...

[devils102]

The crappy defense this year did DeBoer in. He just had no answers the last few months.

 

Last year is an example of a crappy team playing a tight systems game and just not scoring enough to survive.

 

This year the team defense hasn't worked.

 

I'll agree with a lot of people here. DeBoer took an underrated and talented team in 2012 and got as much as he could out of them.

 

I think it'll take a few years before people here appreciate him as a coach. 

[jagknife]

I think it'll take a few years before people here appreciate him as a coach.

Is it bad I hope he doesn't pull a Julien?

My displeasure for him rivals that of Sutter, I award them no points and may God have mercy on their souls

[William D'Aquila]

Pete was a very good coach, but the cracks in his system started to show the last few weeks.

[dmann422]

Honestly not surprised at this point given Lou's track record with coaching changes... I think deboer is a good coach but I said 3 weeks ago that there were games in this stretch where it just seemed that he lost the team, although with the roster and injuries he has a bit of an excuse. He will coach in the nhl next year though.

I really hope Lou waits to name a permanent replacement at the end of the year- as others have said I'm not excited by most of the names out there like McLean, Stevens, and especially Oates. Boucher is interesting but there will probably be a few better options after the season.

In the meantime I hope for an internal interim like Barr or kowalsky- give them an audition for the rest of the season.

Oh and I still think you're crazy if Lou is feeling the heat, this is standard operating procedure for him. I don't think he's in jeopardy at all.

[MadDog2020]

Good take from Puck Daddy: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/should-lou-lamoriello-follow-pete-deboer-out-the-door-for-devils-211902811.html

[Chimaira_Devil_#9]

This move scares me. I like Pete I don't think he was the problem. He squeezed a lot out of a poor roster.

This is a poor move in my opinion.

[NJDevs4978]

It's amazing how many of these internet articles cite the goaltending carousel last year as the first thing to rip Pete on, when I actually think the Marty thing was above Pete's paygrade for the most part.  He was willing to sit Marty for long stretches until he went upstairs to complain

 

The only thing I really hold against Pete vis-a-vis Marty/Cory last year was playing Marty for three straight losses in November after Cory's best game of the season in LA.  I do agree the goaltending stuff THIS year (re: overplaying Cory) was all Pete though.

Edited December 26, 2014 by NJDevs4978

[jagknife]

Oh and I still think you're crazy if Lou is feeling the heat, this is standard operating procedure for him. I don't think he's in jeopardy at all.

See I find that to be a problem. If people don't want to throw PDB under the bus and feel he got the raw end of the deal, then blame has to fall on Lou. He has constructed this mess and disaster of a roster and while the draft is no sure thing, his dream team hasn't exactly been producing awe-inspiring classes

[RunninWithTheDevil]

Kowalsky time!

But seriously, it needed to be done, but Petey is reaping what Lou fvcked up..

I'd like this because its another Bobrovsky type cop name. You're back on the force Kowalsky! Here's your gun and badge! Don't make me regret it!

[devilsrule33]

Is it bad I hope he doesn't pull a Julien?

My displeasure for him rivals that of Sutter, I award them no points and may God have mercy on their souls

 

Not sure how Deboer can rival Sutter. In my opinion, Sutter is the most frustrating coach in Devils history. The 08-09 Devils were absolutely clicking. Had an incredible top line, great depth, good team defense and very good goaltending. Brodeur goes down for a month, and no one even notices that they switch from the reigning Vezina winner to one of the worst goalies in hockey.

 

Parise is a legit Hart candidate and top 5 player in hockey. Most of the year, Parise and Zajac are matched up against top lines and really dominating. I think in Noveber or December, he was on the ice for 1 goal against or something close to that. All of a sudden they hit a slide, and Sutter completely changes up his philosophy. When he came in, he said gone were the days of matching a shut down line against their top players. But here they were all of a sudden relying on Madden/Pandolfo/Shanahan to go against the top forwards.

 

Suddenly, the playoffs begin and the Hurricanes are playing their superstar, Staal 20+ a night. Instead of having the Devils best players on the ice, the priority is having Staal go up against Madden/Pandolfo/Shanahan. By the way, a year later, Madden is gone, Pandolfo is a healthy scratch, and Shanahan is forced into retirement. Game 7 against Carolina: John Madden leads the team in forward ice time. Zach Parise next with 18:11, but right behind a 95-point forward is 40+ year-old forward who was out of hockey months a few months previous, with 17:31 and Pandolfo right behind with 17:30. Patrik Elias, his second leading scorer during the season, was 8th for forwards on total ice-time.

 

That was a team that easily could have been in the ECF or SCF, and he got completely out-coached. Then, Sutter decides he is too home sick to stay. He misses his wife and 17-year-old daughter. Sure, I get that. Maybe, NJ wasn't for him. But he had to eat his cake too by taking the Flames job as well, which was still somewhat far away from Red Deer.

[hystyk28]

Pete was a very good coach, but the cracks in his system started to show the last few weeks.

What does this even mean?

[dmann422]

See I find that to be a problem. If people don't want to throw PDB under the bus and feel he got the raw end of the deal, then blame has to fall on Lou. He has constructed this mess and disaster of a roster and while the draft is no sure thing, his dream team hasn't exactly been producing awe-inspiring classes

oh absolutely, this is mostly on Lou, no argument there... (Although unless you're SD you have to at least acknowledge the underlying problem with the team is even beyond Lou's control- and that's the kovy/parise mess).

My point was more that even though it's mostly on Lou, he's in no serious danger- there's no doubt in my mind that he gets at the very least all of next year to show improvement... It's not as if he's looking at it like he needs to quick fix this for his job.

[devilsrule33]

It's amazing how many of these internet articles cite the goaltending carousel last year as the first thing to rip Pete on, when I actually think the Marty thing was above Pete's paygrade for the most part.  He was willing to sit Marty for long stretches until he went upstairs to complain

 

The only thing I really hold against Pete vis-a-vis Marty/Cory last year was playing Marty for three straight losses in November after Cory's best game of the season in LA.  I do agree the goaltending stuff THIS year (re: overplaying Cory) was all Pete though.

 

Good refresher about last year. People forget that Deboer said goodbye to Brodeur after giving him the Brodeur life-time achievement award for the Outdoor game. When Brodeur was flat out garbage, Pete said it was Cory time now up until Marty kept talking about going somewhere else and wanting a new place to play.

 

Marty acknowledges he had a few conversations with Lou and left hearing something he was happy about, then all of a sudden its back to Brodeur getting all the opportunities in the world. You can't blame Pete for that mess. I also really don't see any overlap of the people killing Pete for Marty starting so much and the ones wanting him fired.

 

As for the young players, you honestly have a better case of saying Deboer had something against Swedes then saying he has something against young players. Severson and Merrill have blossomed under Deboer, and to bring up Gelinas as a player that hasn't as an example of him not giving younger players a chance is ridiculous. As Mark Fayne said last year when asked about it, "how many games has Gelinas played". The answer was a ton, except the issue was the more he played, the more he kept getting exposed. Even with all his faults, Deboer played him a lot.

 

Larsson is the only defenseman that anyone really has a case for. But if it wasn't for his injury last year, he might have been on his way. Then it was Lou that sent him to Albany when he got healthy. He probably deserved a bigger role sooner, and it just might have happened if he didn't get hurt.

Edited December 26, 2014 by devilsrule33

[HellOnICE]

I just don't like Greg's or, what it seems to me is everyone's lack of perspective on the ownership situation and how fvcked up everything was and how there's no way it couldn't have affected player dealings. Also, will we ever know if it affected scouting, traveling, etc. I'm just throwing stuff out there, but we do know ownership was complete crap for about a 3-5 year period and that's just not easy to handle from any GM - ask Maloney. 

 

The young players stuff - I don't buy as well. we haven't drafted good forwards. Yes, true, but we've figured out everything else. 

 

And again - The Marty/Cory thing last year eh I wish Cory started more but it was a really difficult situation to look at and it's easy to armchair quarterback that one without having to deal with the personalities involved. 

 

I don't buy the Cory starting games either. It made no difference. Our difference was the offense not being existent. 

 

"Those things happen" Greg says - I don't think those things happen in such a short period of time to one team and they survive. 

[Gunslinger27]

Bringing back "The Trap"   lol.......

[caron14]

this thread is awesome.

MErry Christmas

[capo]

I'll be surprised if Lou is not behind the bench tomorrow.  I think he will assess who to keep and who to bounce by getting inside the locker room himself.  We'll probably see the house cleaning coming soon.  It doesn't make sense that this move was made to spark the team.  There isn't anything to spark.

[Hellacious_D]

Great article by Chere, which is like seeing Haley's comet: http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2014/12/its_time_for_the_devils_to_thank_lou_lamoriello_and_show_him_the_door.html

 

Myabe I haven't been paying attention lately, but kinda surprising such a strong stance coming from Chere.  Was never really Lou's lap dog by any means, but always seemed to be parotting the company line.

Edited December 27, 2014 by Hellacious_D

[ghdi]

already posted oops

Edited December 27, 2014 by ghdi

[Sneax]

I've wanted pete gone for a while now, but this move makes no sense at this point in time unless Lou thinks we can somehow make the playoffs.

This season is lost unless we are brining in a guy that will win even less, what is the point of this move? To win some games and take us out of the sweepstakes?

[newjerseydamo]

I've wanted pete gone for a while now, but this move makes no sense at this point in time unless Lou thinks we can somehow make the playoffs.

This season is lost unless we are brining in a guy that will win even less, what is the point of this move? To win some games and take us out of the sweepstakes?

Which is exactly the same situation as John MacLean.

There are so many problems within the organisation, the coach was one of the problems.

I'm happy to see the firing, it was really needed.

Next it's Lou, plus a fire sale to dump players before trade deadline and go in to the draft with a lot of picks, try and sick up on young talent and start moving forward again.

[DevsMan84]

Great article by Chere, which is like seeing Haley's comet: http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/2014/12/its_time_for_the_devils_to_thank_lou_lamoriello_and_show_him_the_door.html

Myabe I haven't been paying attention lately, but kinda surprising such a strong stance coming from Chere. Was never really Lou's lap dog by any means, but always seemed to be parotting the company line.

Chere is right in some areas while coming off as another idiot wayward fan who only glances at situations instead of looking at the big picture in other areas.

Most of the article is click bait fodder and his nonsense about parise is exhibit A.

[coldply123]

oh absolutely, this is mostly on Lou, no argument there... (Although unless you're SD you have to at least acknowledge the underlying problem with the team is even beyond Lou's control- and that's the kovy/parise mess).

My point was more that even though it's mostly on Lou, he's in no serious danger- there's no doubt in my mind that he gets at the very least all of next year to show improvement... It's not as if he's looking at it like he needs to quick fix this for his job.

This is a rebuild. We will not be a contender next year and the reason we are in the mess we are in is because Lou is all out of bullets. This is a move of desperation by somebody who is out of moves and ideas.