Kovalchuk healthy scratch??????

[Jerzey]

ESPN.com changed their original story. They now have a quote from MacLean saying he was benched:

"He knows (why)," MacLean said after the Devils' 6-1 loss to the Sabres.

MacLean refused to say what Kovalchuk did to get benched, and he wouldn't say whether the star forward will be back in the lineup for Sunday night's game against the rival Rangers in New York.

"I'll make that decision in the morning," MacLean said.

MacLean refused to say whether his decision was related to hockey.

"I'm not discussing it," MacLean said. "It was my decision. I made it. He knows. I spoke to him and that's where it's going to stay."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=5720756

You've got to be fvckin kidding me.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Jerzey Devil

[Jas0nMacIsaac]

Scotty Bowman did similar stuff to his stars in Detroit and everything worked out. He will learn to play the Devils way or he will go back to Russia. We have 15 years to break him in.

[maxpower]

he plays on the left side even when he's playing on the right side. he hasn't attacked from the right side since the first period of the first game. he was attacking well from the right side in the preseason.

then he spent a few games bumping into Parise when Parise didn't switch to the right side, and sometimes when he did.

[yort44]

I'm sure all this BS will bode well when we try and lock up Parise long term. Maybe Martin knew something when he said he needed a fresh start. Perhaps this whole organization does. We can't even play "Devil's" hockey anymore. Not sure what, but a MAJOR shakeup is needed, and needed NOW. And benching Kovy wasn't it. Didn't look like the team rallied around that decisions, did it?

I wonder if it's revolt on Johnny Mac time. We need a leader on this team right now....oh Scott Stevens...where are you when we need you?

[maxpower]

there is nobody that can make this team good defensively. so you change the coach, which means this team's backsliding, someone rancid core wins again.

and then they still suck anyway. then what?

[Joe B]

Scotty Bowman did similar stuff to his stars in Detroit and everything worked out. He will learn to play the Devils way or he will go back to Russia. We have 15 years to break him in.

Scotty Bowman had a couple more wins under his belt then Johnny Mac. A player should(cause it didn't make it better for Langs with JL) have more respect for the coach that has won a ring or two then a rookie head coach. Much riskier move for a coach with 8 games under his belt so there has to be some reason. The team just played it's best game of the year, have a rivalry game the next day(it's tough to stay motivated for the doughnut hole game as it is) and you throw this at a fragile team?

You make a move like this after a loss or a good stretch when one player is dogging it.

If this isn't for a specific incident(food poisoning, blowing off a practice, personal problem, some exchange between player and coach) this just doesn't make sense.

Joe

[Jerrydevil]

Scott Stevens...where are you when we need you?

Forget Scott Stevens. Wish for the old Lou. It's hard to believe this is a team he put together.

[Zubie#8]

Would the capitals bench Ovechkin? No

Would the penguins bench Crosby? No

Would the lightning bench Stamkos? No

Would the blackhawks bench Hossa? No

This is complete horsesh!t what johnny mac pulled off. If the decisiion was made based on kovalchuks performance against the habs then theres a serious issue. How the hell can kovy work with josefson and elias. Elias is freaking invisible and josefson is developing. Even if there was another issue this is still wrong. Benching your number one player to make a point to the team? If thats the case then there are serious problems going on. I pay money to see the devils play every year and especially now with kovalchuk. If the devils are gonna suck all year then fine but i would love to see kovy dazzle us and excite us every night. He is the head of the franchise now, boost attendance, promote the team, lead the team, but no YOU BENCH HIM!? Mac benched our face of the franchise for the next fifteen years. What an embarassing moment for this franchise i am just baffled beyond belief,

Edited October 24, 2010 by Zubie#8

[ice dog]

Would the capitals bench Ovechkin? No

Would the penguins bench Crosby? No

Would the lightning bench Stamkos? No

Would the blackhawks bench Hossa? No

This is complete horsesh!t what johnny mac pulled off. If the decisiion was made based on kovalchuks performance against the habs then theres a serious issue. How the hell can kovy work with josefson and elias. Elias is freaking invisible and josefson is developing. Even if there was another issue this is still wrong. Benching your number one player to make a point to the team? If thats the case then there are serious problems going on. I pay money to see the devils play every year and especially now with kovalchuk. If the devils are gonna suck all year then fine but i would love to see kovy dazzle us and excite us every night. He is the head of the franchise now, boost attendance, promote the team, lead the team, but no YOU BENCH HIM!? Mac benched our face of the franchise for the next fifteen years. What an embarassing moment for this franchise i am just baffled beyond belief,

i agree... this is so bizzarre.

if i had shelled out $200 for a couple good seats expecting to see Kovy on a saturday night...i'd be pissed.

[Jerrydevil]

Would the capitals bench Ovechkin? No

Would the penguins bench Crosby? No

Would the lightning bench Stamkos? No

Would the blackhawks bench Hossa? No

This is complete horsesh!t what johnny mac pulled off. If the decisiion was made based on kovalchuks performance against the habs then theres a serious issue. How the hell can kovy work with josefson and elias. Elias is freaking invisible and josefson is developing. Even if there was another issue this is still wrong. Benching your number one player to make a point to the team? If thats the case then there are serious problems going on. I pay money to see the devils play every year and especially now with kovalchuk. If the devils are gonna suck all year then fine but i would love to see kovy dazzle us and excite us every night. He is the head of the franchise now, boost attendance, promote the team, lead the team, but no YOU BENCH HIM!? Mac benched our face of the franchise for the next fifteen years. What an embarassing moment for this franchise i am just baffled beyond belief,

You don't know what Kovalchuk did to get benched. You seem blindly determined to side with the player. If this is a stunt or a pure power trip for MacLean, then it's an embarrassing, lame move. But if Kovalchuk snorted cocaine off of a Devil dancer's ass in the locker room, then maybe a benching was warranted ... maybe.

[maxpower]

Would the capitals bench Ovechkin? No

Would the penguins bench Crosby? No

Would the lightning bench Stamkos? No

Would the blackhawks bench Hossa? No

This is complete horsesh!t what johnny mac pulled off. If the decisiion was made based on kovalchuks performance against the habs then theres a serious issue. How the hell can kovy work with josefson and elias. Elias is freaking invisible and josefson is developing. Even if there was another issue this is still wrong. Benching your number one player to make a point to the team? If thats the case then there are serious problems going on. I pay money to see the devils play every year and especially now with kovalchuk. If the devils are gonna suck all year then fine but i would love to see kovy dazzle us and excite us every night. He is the head of the franchise now, boost attendance, promote the team, lead the team, but no YOU BENCH HIM!? Mac benched our face of the franchise for the next fifteen years. What an embarassing moment for this franchise i am just baffled beyond belief,

if your mindset was the mindset of the team, we are fvcked past the point of no return. the only mistake Elias and Josefson made in the Montreal game was giving him the puck, because he never gave it back. I wish I could cut video because I'd break his game down right, left, upside-down and sideways. if I was going to grade Elias and Josefson's game, I fvcking wouldn't be able to, because they had none of the puck.

it was one of the worst, and most selfish games I've ever seen an "elite" player play. none of your players listed would have ever played a game that way. especially guys like Hossa and Crosby.

[MantaRay]

His whole acquisition has been a disaster internally and for the future.

He has done nothing to make a difference with us since we got him

[BlizzardCyclone]

Johnny Mac said he will see how he feels in the morning whether to bench Kovalchuk again or not.

Maybe Johnny Mac will wake up on the unemployment line?

[capo]

His whole acquisition has been a disaster internally and for the future.

He has done nothing to make a difference with us since we got him

There was that one game in Buffalo...

[Devs3cups]

Forget Scott Stevens. Wish for the old Lou. It's hard to believe this is a team he put together.

At the end of the summer, alot of people agreed that the devils would be one of the better teams in the league. Lou put up god team, but this team just can't find a way to win like we used to do.

[Marv4Life]

Scotty Bowman did similar stuff to his stars in Detroit and everything worked out. He will learn to play the Devils way or he will go back to Russia. We have 15 years to break him in.

Except the "Devils way" hasn't really worked since 2003. Time for something different.

[DaneykoIsGod]

And we all thought Lemaire benching Langenbrunner in April was bad ...

[CRASHER]

And we all thought Lemaire benching Langenbrunner in April was bad ...

Though it depends on how Kovy takes it... maybe he comes out guns BLAZING and is fired up by this and plays balls to the wall and lights out, if so then this was good

.....however if Kovy pulls a Vagenbrunner and gets sand in his girly parts and broods... then it's a disaster ......

[NJDevs4978]

And we all thought Lemaire benching Langenbrunner in April was bad ...

At least Johnny Mac didn't do it in a mealy-mouthed way the way Lemaire did though, calling the scratches of Langs and Rolston 'rest'.

[Triumph]

Except the "Devils way" hasn't really worked since 2003. Time for something different.

I doubt that whatever new thing becomes 'the Devils way' that it will include going 1 on 3 or making blind passes constantly as a systematic choice.

[Mitico12]

Guys,

A bunch of things could have happened here. Something as simple as Kovy being late to some team-mandataed event or perhaps something as extreme as him "not getting it" when Johnny Mac tells him to do one thing, and he then does another.

Here's the problem. See, he's signed for 15 years. It's guaranteed money. He's gonna go through many coaches during those 15 years, so Kovy ultimately feels as if he calls the shots on the team or that the team has to cater to him and not the other way around.

Basically, we have a lot of "passengers" on this hockey team that are simply collecting paychecks. It's been the case since 2003.

Kovy tries. He's doing what he was raised to do...be a "flashy" player. The problem is, it's not our kind of player, and we're learning that the hard way.

Good news (marketing and PR considerations aside), Kovy's contract is VERY appealing to other clubs. His relatively low cap hit should make him a very easy asset to unload if we should so decide to go that route.

However, I would rather see a team built around Kovy then a team built around our Langenbrunner.

Let's see what happens tonight...

[NJSwampdragon]

Guys,

A bunch of things could have happened here. Something as simple as Kovy being late to some team-mandataed event or perhaps something as extreme as him "not getting it" when Johnny Mac tells him to do one thing, and he then does another.

Here's the problem. See, he's signed for 15 years. It's guaranteed money. He's gonna go through many coaches during those 15 years, so Kovy ultimately feels as if he calls the shots on the team or that the team has to cater to him and not the other way around.

Basically, we have a lot of "passengers" on this hockey team that are simply collecting paychecks. It's been the case since 2003.

Kovy tries. He's doing what he was raised to do...be a "flashy" player. The problem is, it's not our kind of player, and we're learning that the hard way.

Good news (marketing and PR considerations aside), Kovy's contract is VERY appealing to other clubs. His relatively low cap hit should make him a very easy asset to unload if we should so decide to go that route.

However, I would rather see a team built around Kovy then a team built around our Langenbrunner.

Let's see what happens tonight...

Kovy's contract makes him untradeable the first few years. No one else will want to pay this guy $100 million over $15 years. There was a reason why so few teams went after him. He was benched because he doesn't follow any system and consistently turns over the puck in bad areas.

If Kovy plays tonight he'll probably try to kick the crap out of Avery and get tossed.

[Mitico12]

Kovy's contract makes him untradeable the first few years. No one else will want to pay this guy $100 million over $15 years. There was a reason why so few teams went after him. He was benched because he doesn't follow any system and consistently turns over the puck in bad areas.

If Kovy plays tonight he'll probably try to kick the crap out of Avery and get tossed.

$6.7 million is relatively low. Should be easy to offload to other teams...

[Jerrydevil]

If Kovy plays tonight he'll probably try to kick the crap out of Avery and get tossed.

Probably.

[NJDevs4978]

$6.7 million is relatively low. Should be easy to offload to other teams...

Not when most teams are either capped out or maxed out on their internal budget. Especially considering Kovy's getting $90 million in real cash during the first ten years, how many teams can afford that? The only other real NHL offer this offseason was the Kings' 15-80 which wasn't even close. Finally there's a little thing called a NMC in the first several years of the contract.

Edited October 24, 2010 by NJDevs4978