An Open Letter to the Future Coach of the New Jersey Devils

by thejerseydevil on Jun 24, 2009 4:59 PM EDT

An open letter to the future coach of the New Jersey Devils

Dear Future Coach,

First of all, welcome! You have just signed on for a job that requires seemingly no good reason to be fired. In fact, no Devils coach has lasted more than three years since Jacques Lemaire stepped down in 1998. Incidentally, if you happen to be Jacques Lemaire, welcome back—and please know that if you try to implement the trap again, I will be calling for your head on a platter shortly.

Now, one thing you’ll need to learn rather quickly is that in many ways you are more a figurehead than anything else; Lou Lamoriello will coach the team vicariously through you. In fact, the only thing stopping the Devils’ President/CEO/General Manager/Head Ticket Salesman/Janitor/Popcorn Vendor/Backup Goaltender/Usher/Zamboni Driver from doing your job anyway is that it just seems like so much more work!

But there’s no going back now, you’re the guy! (Unless you miss your "family," and by "family" you mean your brother who happens to be the GM of another team.) So before you begin your tenure behind the Devils bench, allow me to offer a few suggestions to help you make the most of your stay:

1. The system. Is down.
See, here at the New Jersey Devils, we feel like Brent was this guy we were seeing for a few years, and even though he had a lot of potential, he was afraid of commitment. But as far as what he did with the way the Devils play, we couldn’t have asked for more. It doesn’t matter what you think about defense winning championships, look at who we have on defense now compared to 2003…we don’t have the horses required to play defense-first anymore. Besides, look at what we accomplished under our shiny new forechecking system. One of the highlights of this past season was beating the two best teams in the league—Boston and San Jose—on back-to-back nights. We have arguably the best group of forwards that we’ve had in years, and if we don’t continue playing to our strengths, you’ll quickly find yourself the new head coach of the unemployment line.

2. Who’s Line Is It Anyway?
Congratulations, as the new head coach of the Devils, you’ve inherited the biggest waste of $3.5 million a year in NHL history. Any coach worth his salt can see Dainius Zubrus as a third liner at best. Zubrus may have been a second liner in Sutter’s bizarro universe where Brian Rolston is a fourth liner, but here on Earth you and I both know Rolston belongs with Elias. Otherwise, don’t be shocked when he doesn’t put up the numbers you expect of him.

3. The Kids Are Alright
We’ve got some great young prospects here, and a few of them might be ready to hit the NHL for good. Should you find yourself with Nicklas Bergfors on your lineup card, the appropriate thing to do is either put him on the top two lines, or scratch him. Bergfors is an offensive player whose role is to produce on a team’s top two lines. The last guy who had your job decided to play him on the fourth line, for around three minutes a night, and then scratched him because he "wasn’t producing." How could he be expected to do anything when he barely played, and had to rely on linemates like Mike Rupp and Bobby Holik to help him get on the scoresheet? … Exactly.

Well, that about wraps it up. I hope that this helps you become adjusted to what you’re about to undertake. So, to summarize, understand your position under Lou, keep the offensive system, put together realistic lines, and play the kids properly when you have them, and you should be just fine. Unless of course Lou wakes up one day on the wrong side of the bed.

Best of luck,
The Jersey Devil

All FanPosts and FanShots are the respective work of the author and not representative of the writers or other users of In Lou We Trust.

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Comments

The Biggest Wastes of Money wear Blue Jerseys

I know Zubrus isn’t fully justifying his contract, but I don’t believe he’s a waste either. But we can agree to disagree on that front.

This is a pretty good overview, all the same. I do certainly agree that the new head coach should pick up where Sutter left off.

Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!
In Lou We Trust - The Devils SBN Blog

by John Fischer on Jun 24, 2009 5:38 PM EDT reply actions

I disagree with a lot about what you say

1. The system: let me paraphrase what you are saying. Okay, you are now the head coach. The head coaching has been done for you previously so don’t do anything different. Are you kidding me? You talk about all the good things that happened over the season, like the San Jose and Boston victories. If you having noticed, all that matters is giving yourself the best chance to win the Stanley Cup, which the Devils didn’t come close to in either year under Sutter’s system. Yes, I agree, the Devils looked at times like they were the best team in the league this past season, but there was also a slump where they looked just terrible, especially at the end of the season when it actually mattered more. Finally, a coach should have his team play the game as he sees best to help it win. Lemaire has done that already with the Devils. To say the trap doesn’t work with the new rules might be a valid point, but to continue Sutter’s system because it is more exciting is a terrible idea. You sound like a Ranger fan three years ago complaining that the Devils play boring hockey. It didn’t matter then because the Devs were busy with the playoffs because they were winning while the Rangers were on the golf course. But they played exciting hockey, so that is the best way to play right?

2. I agree that Zubrus isn’t worth the 3.4 mil or whatever it is, but Rolston isn’t worth five cents. Did you watch him play at all this season. He sucked. He was brought in to boost the powerplay and the Devils paid him 5 mil a year to do it. At the end of the season he had 8 power play goals, meaning he had 1 goal every 8 games he played (64 games total due to injury). He also makes a ton of mistakes and is slow in his old age. The only thing that Rolston brings to the table is a wicked hard slap shot that goalies have a lot of trouble with. Therefore, the only place he is really that useful is during a 5-3 pp situation where the goalie has no real help blocking a shot from his teammates. The worse part about it is that Rolston’s contract makes it near impossible to give him away since 5 million a year is a lot to absorb by another team. And that he is turning 37 this upcoming season so there is no reason to believe he will be any faster this year.

3. Prospects – It is called chemistry. I remember when Niclas Havelid played his first game for NJ he was even worse than he was during the playoffs, but he got better as time progressed. Why? Because he gradually learned the system and was able to follow it more and more. Niclas Bergfors played in the minor leagues for most of the season because it takes a lot of time to develop a sense for your linemates. No doubt that the Devils should try to bring up the younger guys, as they say the Devils have a lot more talent than in the past but there needs to be a clear place for them. Maybe if the Devils dump Gionta and Madden they will have the room and the ability to sign someone for even more money.

by NJPenguins08 on Jun 24, 2009 11:58 PM EDT reply actions

Good Criticism

I can always appreciate constructive criticism, and I was glad to read this, but I would just like to clarify on a few things.

I never actually said to lose the defense because it was boring though because I don’t believe that when you have the forwards we do that you can’t play offensively AND be successful. If you look at those Rangers teams they had a bunch of divas who couldn’t play together (plus a string of terrible goalies) and that’s why they weren’t successful, not the system they played. The only reason I am against the Lemaire system now is because instead of Stevens, Niedermayer, Daneyko, and Rafalski, we have Martin, Oduya, White, and Salvador.

I do agree with you that Rolston had a terrible year, but it goes along with both his high ankle sprain and where he was playing when he was playing. It was similar to the Bergfors situation, where Rolston was getting 4th line minutes. Zach Parise wouldn’t put up good numbers if he was playing on the 4th line either. I’m not saying this is WHY Rolston had a terrible year, but it certainly didn’t help his cause. You are absolutely right that there is no excuse on the PP, he has a rocket of a shot but until he learns how to hit the net it’s not going to matter. As far as even strength though, it was Sutter’s folly to give him ONE GAME on the Elias line and then say “oh its not working let’s put him back.” Lines need chemistry to develop, as you later point out, and they were not given that chance.

And about chemistry, I agree that its critical, but I also stand by my point that you cannot properly evaluate a young goal scorer when you play him on a checking line. Perhaps the timing was bad and Sutter should have waited until either the Parise or Elias line was in a slump, then shuffle up the lines and put him in. I never saw Havelid fit in the way you did, especially his terrible positioning on Carolina’s tying goal in game 7, but he’s gone anyway so I’m leaving that alone.

Anyway, I hope this didn’t sound too much like me getting defensive, I’m just trying to continue the discussion. I really did like the comments you made, it’s always nice to hear an outside perspective and learn from it.

by thejerseydevil on Jun 25, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions

Rolston

Wow you know why?? He was injured, Sutter put him on the Clarkson Holik line, and no one passes it to him. In the playoffs he had a beautiful goal which should have won the game froma pass from Elias or Gionta. Holik wouldn’t do that and Clarkson wouldn’t either. Rolston is a scorer not a hitter or a fighter.

by LetsGoDevils on Jul 3, 2009 8:11 PM EDT up reply actions

7

did any one watch the game seven, the pens arnt excatly a defence team but there play looked familiar(pure d first) and it worked.

by Imperator_Celtic on Jun 25, 2009 4:19 PM EDT reply actions

response

You shouldn’t apologize for giving your views. I love talking hockey and arguing different points. Also, understand that the end result for the Devils this year is really unacceptable and there should be major changes made in my opinion, so maybe you are getting the brunt of that feeling. I would like to point out that these are the players since 2001 that the Devils have drafted that have played in the NHL: Parise, Zajac and Leblond are all current with the Devils, then Cam Janssen and Aaron Voros are on different teams. Besides them only Andreas Salamonsson is left that has played more than 16 games total. After Parise and Zajac, the list should not look that impressive because it isn’t. Parise, keep in mind, was also taken the year after the lockout and was the highest pick the Devils have had in a while (they also traded up for him). It has always been attributed to low draft position for the reason that the Devils don’t have substantial talent in the minors. However, when you see how the season ended this year, it is hard to accept such a low draft position again.

Now, over the course of the season, there were times when the Devils were picked to win the Stanley Cup. Then they slumped and never really recovered fully. Why did this happen? In my opinion, it was because the season is 82 games long plus playoffs, not 65. And the Devils were the second oldest team in the league this year, behind Detroit. If you watched game seven of the finals, you saw Detroit’s players taking extra long shifts in hopes to get extra opportunities to tie the game. It backfired as the players could not handle it and became exhausted. Similar story in play with the Devils. The Devils players, especially the older players, looked great at the midpoint of the season and then suddenly turned awful. Want to know who I thought the Devils best player was in the Carolina series? I think it was Brendan Shanahan, who despite his age, remained fresh as he only played 34 regular season games. He was fresh. And in spite of all of this, these players were never scratched to bring up the younger players, despite many people believing that the Devils finally had a group of solid prospects including Matt Corrente and Matt Halischuk (among others). Why weren’t they given a real shot? I ask myself that each day. So on the point that Bergfors should be brought up, I agree, but understand that he will not added to the first line right away. I think he would be a much better fit with Elias than Rolston. Perhaps all this explains why I have a strong dislike for someone like Rolston, who seems to make a lot of mistakes, get in his own way at times, and is much slower than he used to be. The Devils really looked like they got outskated during the end of the season. Guys like Rolston are the biggest culprits.

In terms of Havelid, I never said he became good, he went from really awful to awful. Big mistake by Lou to acquire him. And you are right about the different in defensive talent that is here in the present compared to that in the past. Perhaps Lou should let Madden and Gionta walk (maybe even Oduya), bring up younger, cheaper players to replace the forwards and then sign one or two quality defensemen to attempt to get back to where the once were.

One note on Zubrus: the year before the Devils signed him, he had 60 points for the Sabres. That same season someone else had 60 points as well. The other guy was awarded a 7-year contract averaging 7.35 mil a year. His name is Scott Gomez. I end this by simply pointing out that it could always be worse!

by NJPenguins08 on Jun 25, 2009 10:18 PM EDT reply actions

Lemaire or Mclean?

Lemaire: A great coach, but he was too conservative. He would always play “safe” hockey and would sit on the leads which is why we lost alot of game by one goal and because we would get penalties it would sometimes be 2 goals. Not saying he should not come back, but aggressive hockey should be the name of his game.

McLean: Now this is what we need. He knows the team, he knows the players and what line they should be on (BTW Rolston does need to be on the third line). The guy knows what penalty killing is all about and we have probably the best penalty killing line in the making. Aggresive hockey has always been very important to JohnnyMac. GIVE HIM A SHOT LOU! IF YOU GAVE FTOREK A SHOT, WHY NOT JOHNNYMAC

What do you guys think?

by NJD1982 on Jul 1, 2009 1:45 AM EDT reply actions

Neither, preferbly

MacLean has been passed over twice for head coach for a reason. With Lou taking a chance on Brent Sutter two years ago, whose highest level of coaching was major junior.

Lemaire probably wouldn’t continue the style of hockey Sutter was implementing, which worked remarkably well with the players the Devils currently have.

Devils in my heart! Devils in my mind! Devils in my eyes! Devils until I die!
In Lou We Trust - The Devils SBN Blog

by John Fischer on Jul 1, 2009 8:53 AM EDT up reply actions