During one of the intermissions last night (I believe it was the first intermission), a recap was played of Pat Burns speaking during this announcement that the Pat Burns Arena will be built in Stanstead. It was great to watch such an honorable man such as Pat Burns speak again, yet it was also frightening seeing the debilitating affects of a cancer that has spread throghout his body, and seeing such a brave person publicly accepting the fact that his time on this earth is nearing its end.

Anyway, one thing that I particularly remember from the speech was when he thanked a bunch of ex-devils for his tenure in New Jersey. Pat also thanked Lou for his tenure in New Jersey. Pat said that Lou demanded that he followed two words while he stayed with the organization. And if he followed these two words, he would have success here. These two words were trust and respect. Although he didn’t go too far in depth into it, I believe he meant by this: trust in the system that Lou has created and maintained for the past two decades, and respect for those who have seen to it that this system has been upheld to its highest standards.

I believe it could be argued that out of all of the great coaches we have had in New Jersey throughout the past two decades (including Lemaire and Larry Robison), Pat Burns may very well have been our best coach because he trusted and respected the Devil’s organization to the highest extent possible. The New Jersey Devil’s defense wasn’t just good during the 2003 stanley cup run: it was damn near impenetrable, right down to three total shutouts against the Ducks during the Stanley Cup Finals. That team had finished the season at 46-20-10-6, having amassed 108 total points.

So based on all of this, John, I agree with you. I think Pat Burns should be in the hall of fame, and if it wasn’t for the colon cancer forcing him to end his coaching career, he very well could have been the Devil’s coach to this day.