Devils coach John MacLean: 'I could've benched nine guys'

[sundstrom]

What the heck is catastrophic then?! We've had three dog performances in our last seven games and are eleven points out of a playoff spot in December, barely ahead of the ISLANDERS in the standings - a team that lost fourteen in a row and has maybe five NHL players on its roster. I'd say this is already DEFCOM 1 time, in a hockey sense anyway. In a league where everyone's in the playoff hunt till March, we're basically eliminated in early December.

actually BEING the islanders would be - 10 losses in a row - something that absolutely left no doubt. there are still injuries and aging players that can prove to be more of a problem than mac. that being said, i will continue to call for a complete coaching regime change and getting rid of 15, 12, 23, at just about all costs.

[NJDevs4978]

actually BEING the islanders would be - 10 losses in a row - something that absolutely left no doubt. there are still injuries and aging players that can prove to be more of a problem than mac. that being said, i will continue to call for a complete coaching regime change and getting rid of 15, 12, 23, at just about all costs.

We're still basically at the cap payroll-wise (not counting Salvador), while the Isles are millions BELOW the salary floor - to even be in the same room as the Isles is ridiculous enough, actually having their record would mean we're literally tanking.

[ZeroGravityFat]

15 and 23 for kaberle

[DevilinLA]

15 and 23 for kaberle

We get it - you don't like these players.

[ZeroGravityFat]

no i love clarkson, he's awesome. i think langy is a good player but a terrible captain, so in order to get kaberle, i sacrifice clarky.

[ATLL765]

While trading Clarkson wouldn't severely damage this team in any way, who else do we have that has his energy and will fight when a fight needs to happen? Salvador used to do it occasionally, but he's not around, PL3 sucks, Pelley does, but he isn't very big, Mair hasn't looked terribly competent in his couple fights, so who will fill his shoes if he goes? I don't see him leaving since we don't have a replacement for him and we JUST signed him to a new deal this year. It just would look funny if we sign a player to a deal and then trade him the same year. I don't think Lou would do something like that. Doesn't seem like him.

P.S. We're not going to trade for Kaberle, so everyone can seriously stop thinking we'd make that trade. Just think about how little sense it would make to do that. Why would we trade anything for a rental D-man when we're in the position we're in right now? What sense does that make? At this point, making the playoffs get closer to being impossible with each passing day, so why would we give up even a crappy AHL scrub in order to gain a D-man that would do nothing but maybe get us a not a as high 1st Rd pick and that we'd possibly lose when he turns FA? It just doesn't mak sense. The only way we make a trade for a "PMD" is if he's got multiple years left on his contract and is reasonably priced.

Edited December 4, 2010 by ATLL765

[Devilsfan118]

I'm still of the opinion that kaberle wouldn't help a whole lot.

Ship out clarkson though, I love the heart he has, but the lack of IQ on the ice gives me headaches. He's a line-killer right now.

[maxpower]

what exactly is the point of bringing in Kaberle, when his contract expires on 7/1? unless you think the guy is going to re-up before then, it amounts to nothing more than a band-aid tease

[adam85491]

While trading Clarkson wouldn't severely damage this team in any way, who else do we have that has his energy and will fight when a fight needs to happen? Salvador used to do it occasionally, but he's not around, PL3 sucks, Pelley does, but he isn't very big, Mair hasn't looked terribly competent in his couple fights, so who will fill his shoes if he goes? I don't see him leaving since we don't have a replacement for him and we JUST signed him to a new deal this year. It just would look funny if we sign a player to a deal and then trade him the same year. I don't think Lou would do something like that. Doesn't seem like him.

P.S. We're not going to trade for Kaberle, so everyone can seriously stop thinking we'd make that trade. Just think about how little sense it would make to do that. Why would we trade anything for a rental D-man when we're in the position we're in right now? What sense does that make? At this point, making the playoffs get closer to being impossible with each passing day, so why would we give up even a crappy AHL scrub in order to gain a D-man that would do nothing but maybe get us a not a as high 1st Rd pick and that we'd possibly lose when he turns FA? It just doesn't mak sense. The only way we make a trade for a "PMD" is if he's got multiple years left on his contract and is reasonably priced.

When's the last time you've seen Clarkson play physical?

[SS-SS]

no i love clarkson, he's awesome. i think langy is a good player but a terrible captain, so in order to get kaberle, i sacrifice clarky.

Bringing in Kaberle is not really a smart move.

His contract is expiring this summer and you already have to sign Parise.I guess that you don't want to have two players of this caliber asking for big contracts.

If you are going to get him as an Immediate back up for this season then its still a bad move since IMO you loose too much for what he is going to bring.

Bests solutions would be :

-Trade with a team for immediate back-up in hope to somehow turn things around and reach a playoff spot

By doing this you also have to fire Maclean,Oates as fast as possible because they are obviously not the good guys for this job.

OR

-Trades a couple of guys (like Langs,Clarkson etc) to get 1st,2nd and 3th round picks comings our way and tank for the rest of the season.

By doing this you also free some cap space for Parise

Edited December 4, 2010 by SS-SS

[NP37]

I am not saying he is a bad coach. But I don't think he is the right guy for the job. I don't like when coaches are the coaches of players they played with (Elias, Brodeur, etc).

Its been done successfully before i.e. Joe Girardi (Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, etc.)