In April 2011, when the Florida Panthers fired Peter DeBoer, I talked to two people — Zach Gelb and Sid Rosenberg. The first thing I said to the both of them was “If Jacques Lemaire decides not to come back to the Devils again, I really, really hope Lou hires Peter to run this team.”
Both Zach and Sid agreed — and I went so far as to say so on Sid’s radio show in Miami.
Both Zach and Sid and I knew Peter personally — through Sid’s show. Zach had him on his show twice and Sid had him on his show once a week for three seasons.
We were all in agreement — after his years of working with kids in juniors, and having worked with a lot of young kids in Sunrise — he’d be great for New Jersey. He’d be able, as he did in Kitchner and in Florida, to bring out the best in younger guys like Adam Henrique and Adam Larsson.
And yet most Devils fans — and hockey fans, including the Panthers — laughed at the notion.
He never made the playoffs in three seasons, they said of the coach in his time with the Panthers.
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| It's time blame is properly assessed — and it belongs with the general manager this time: Lou Lamoriello — not just the coaches. |
He doesn’t have enough experience, they said.
And then he was hired.
I was thrilled.
And all he did was the impossible — getting the New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup Finals by beating the hated, detested New York Rangers the round before, exorcizing the demons of 1994 — just a year after the team missed the playoffs for the first time since 1996.
Then the Devils started this short season on fire. But suddenly, out of nowhere, after an absurd start that had them on top of the Eastern Conference and tied with the Penguins, they’re now like 100 points behind Pittsburgh. They went through a stretch without Martin Brodeur that, at times, appeared worse than the John MacLean era. And now that Marty is back, they still seem just as much in disarray as they did whilst he was hurt.
And the last three games have been excruciating. A loss in Tampa after having a lead with 15 seconds to go in the third period. A loss in Florida after having a lead with 40 seconds to go in the third period. And an abysmal joke of a loss to the New York Islanders — at home — where again, they were able to score just one goal.
Travis Zajac has made his new, eight-year contract look like as big a mistake as Lou Lamoriello has ever made.
Adam Henrique is not the same guy who willed the team into further rounds twice in last year’s playoffs.
David Clarkson has been nothing but sub-ordinary.
Marty, at times, has looked every bit of the 40 years he is.
Most can’t even envision Johan Hedberg playing in another game in 2013.
Alexei Ponikarovsy scored the day he returned to New Jersey — and then hadn’t until last night.
Zach Parise is missed.
The team can’t score in shootouts.
And were it not for 100-year-old Patrik Elias, this team wouldn’t even be in playoff positioning right now.
And sadly, throughout this mess, it seems like DeBoer just doesn’t know what to do. Every time he calls a time-out, it seems like they play worse than before he called it.
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| To say DeBoer misses Larry Robinson would be a gross understatement. |
His shootout lineups have been, as he’s said often, “hunches.”
He never allowed either of the two Albany goalie call-ups to start a game, despite knowing the Moose was a psychological and physical mess.
He’s just lost his way.
Perhaps he missed Larry Robinson. Maybe it’s Adam Oates. Likely, he relied on those two — especially Larry — more than we realized last year. Perhaps Parise’s loss is just too much to ever recover from.
But this organization has bounced back from free-agent bolts: see Scott Niedermayer, Brian Rafalski, John Madden, Bobby Holik, et. al.
And it can now.
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| DeBoer is partly to blame for this mess, but not totally. At all. |
The trade deadline is Wednesday afternoon. And Lou has often known when to pull the trigger on a deal to make this team better — and when not to.
But there’s no doubt he’s got to do something.
Because he can’t just unilaterally (again) fire the coach and take over himself and then expect things to change dramatically. That hasn’t ever worked in the two other times he tried that.
Instead, he’s got to equip this coach, this team, with what it direly needs — and that’s someone who doesn’t wear no. 17 and who can put the puck in the net.
If he sits by, idly, chances are it’ll be one and done again.
And there’ll be yet another head coach in 2013-14.
That is just not what this team needs.
Haven’t we seen enough of the revolving coaches?
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| Adam Oates is clearly missed. |
Truth is, DeBoer can and will win — but he needs the help.
Want to blame anyone?
Start at the top with the GM. For once, he should be held accountable for not doing anything after oh, losing one of the most coveted free-agents in the last decade.
For far too many years, in the bad years, the GM hasn’t been held accountable.
That time has finally come.
