15 Things for the Devils to do in ’15 — Part 2 of 3

By Kevin Canessa Jr.
NewJersey-Devils.com
Publisher

Read Part 1 by clicking here.

Here is part 2 of 3 of our special series “15 Things for the Devils to do in ’15.”

6. Honour Jacques Lemaire. Every time Lemaire coached the Devils, the team enjoyed success. He was there for the first championship. He turned the team around exponentially when they were awful under John MacLean — and he’s never been honoured for his service to the organization. It’s time he is honoured.

7. Celebrate the 25th anniversary of the arrival of Slava Fetisov, Sergei Starikov and Alexei Kasatonov, the first three Russians ever to play in the NHL (in the 1989-1990 season).

Slava Fetisov

Fetisov and Starikov started the season with the team — and their first-ever game was played in Philadelphia of all places. The Flyers intentionally came out to the song “Welcome to the Jungle,” Guns ‘n Roses, to “welcome” Fetisov and Starikov to the league.

Lou’s daring signing of the Russians and their arrival to New Jersey set the way for scores of other Russians to come to the NHL in subsequent years.

The three should be honoured 25 years later for being trailblazers in the league.

8. Have a Colorado Rockies night against the Colorado Avalanche. The Devils will wear Rockies jerseys to recall their time in Colorado — and the Avalanche  will wear throwback Nordiques  jerseys to recall their Quebec years. It would mark the first time the Nordiques jersey would be worn in a game since 1995. We chose Colorado here because it marks the old Colorado v. the current Colorado franchise. The Devils have all but ignored that they once existed in two other cities -- but the reality is, they did exist in Denver and Kansas City. And while those years may not have been the brightest of years, they still happened. So why not have a little fun with it?

A Colorado Rockies jersey.

9. Have a Kansas City Scouts night against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Devils will wear their old Scouts jerseys to recall their years in Kansas City — and the Hurricanes will wear throwback Whalers jerseys to recall their time in Hartford. It would mark the first time Whalers jerseys were worn in a game since 1997.

A KC Scouts jersey.

10. Louis A. Lamoriello has never been honoured for his work at GM. Honor perhaps the greatest general manager not just in the NHL, but all of sports, on a special “Lou Lamoriello” night.

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group.

Lou discusses Cammalleri on NHL Live

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group.

Devils select John Quenneville, Joel’s cousin, with 30th pick

John Quenneville

The Devils chose John Quenneville, the cousin of former Devils and current Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville, with their first-round pick in tonight’s entry draft. He’s a center who last played for a team called Brandon of the WHL.

He’s 6’, 182-pounds, and played 61 games last year. In that time in the WHL, he scored 25 goals, 33 assists for 58 points. He had 71 penalty minutes.

TSN had him ranked at 32.

Of course, in my own disappointment, the Devils passed on Brendan Lemieux, son of Claude Lemieux. Perhaps Lou Lamoriello is planning on being able to pick Lemieux with the 41st pick in the second round.

Note: Awful job by the league and NBC Sports. At 10 p.m., the network broke from its coverage, sending viewers to NBC Sports Live Extra online -- or the network not many people have, the NHL Network, to watch the concluding coverage.

It’s 2014 -- and this cannot be happening still with the NHL.

(More on this awful crap in a future post).

In the meantime, here are some images from the Devs selecting Quenneville.

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group.

$69 million cap might not be enough for Lou’s needs

Lou Lamoriello

With the 2014-15 salary cap now set at $69 million -- some expected it to go as high as $72 million -- Rich Chere, of the Star-Ledger, is reporting the Devils will have just $10 million to work on with a nearly $59 million payroll already set, the seventh-highest payroll in the league.

Chere also suggests that perhaps, now, knowing he has such little room to work with that Lou Lamoriello might reconsider using his remaining compliance buyout of Anton Volchenkov.

At this point, the buyout is a no-brainer.

And I truly had no clue the Devils’ payroll with the seventh-highest in the entire league.  Did you?

What are your thoughts? Comment here, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group.

Results of our Off-Season Poll

We closed our Off-Season Poll today, and the results are pretty obvious. We asked what you thought had to be done to make the 2014-15 Devils better -- and you resoundingly (and perhaps obviously) said you want a top-notch goal-scoring forward.

Of those who responded, 64.25% said the Devils need at least one -- or more -- new, proven goal scorers.

The shootout was also of concern to our readers. 12.9% said a top priority was to get someone who could score in the time after overtime.

Rounding out the top 3 choices in a tie were bringing in a top-2 defenseman and bringing back Adam Oates as a coach -- both at 6.45% of the votes.

This poll is in no way scientific -- but didn’t allow for multiple votes based on IP addresses.

Remarkably, 3.23% of those who took the poll said they want to see Lou Lamoriello gone.

We have a new poll up now about Pat Burns. Be sure to vote in it if time allows you to do so. Have a poll question? Leave it in the comments section, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group -- or send an e-mail to kevincanessa@gmail.com.

Rangers buy out Brad Richards; could Lou consider him?

NEW YORK —

USA Today is reporting the Rangers have officially bought out the remainder of Brad Richards’s contract. With that, come July 1, he will likely be able to sign anywhere else. Now this is purely speculation -- but let’s say Richards wants to stay in the neighborhood. Could he consider | could Lou Lamoriello consider signing him?

In no way am I suggesting this is what I think would happen -- nor am I suggesting this would improve the Devils [and do they ever need to improve before September]. Instead, I am just throwing it out there for fans to discuss.

Speaking of which, please discuss away in the comments section below, on Google+ or on our Facebook Group message board. Would you want Brad Richards in a Devils’ uniform? 

Greatest Devils Memories: When Lou’s people called my people (me), I was hooked for life

Lou celebrating going the 2012 Finals.

By Kevin Canessa Jr.

KEARNY, N.J. —

All these years later, these are two stories I love to talk about — and share. They’re both about Lou Lamoriello — and why as a teen, he had me hooked.

Flash back to 1992. It was the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Devils-Rangers were playing each other. The series sold out rather quickly — and if you think a lot of Rangers fans come to Devils home games now, you likely don’t remember back then … when more than half the building wore blue shirts.

I remember how annoyed I was by this. And as a 17-year-old high school student, I was fortunate to have a fax machine.

I wrote a letter to Lou — and told him how disappointed I was the games sold out because of the infiltration on Rangers’ fans. I invited him to call me to explain how or why this happens.

He didn’t call.

But Jelsa Belotta, the team’s receptionist for many years — not sure if she’s still there — called. And what she said has stuck with me for many years.

“Kevin, Mr. Lamoriello asked me to call you,” Belotta said. “Mr. Lamoriello would like to offer you the chance to by up to four tickets for Game 3 of the Rangers-Devils series. As much as he’d like to give you the tickets, he can’t just now — but if you’d like to go to the game, you could buy the hard-to-get tickets by calling me back.”

I was floored.

And needless to say, I had two tickets to the game — one the Devils won — a few hours later. I will never forget that.

But it got better.

The night after Game 3, Belotta called back — and I was able to get two more tickets for Game 4.

All from a letter from me to Lou, one he clearly read and took to heart.

About to be forever hooked

The following year, after the Devils were eliminated in 5 by the Pens, the Islanders went on to the Eastern Conference Finals. At this point, the Devils had been eliminated in the first round each of the last four years. And in 1993, it was made all the worse by the fact a team that had no business being in the ECF — the Islanders — were still playing when the Devils weren’t.

So I wrote, again, to Lou — and asked him why I should remain a Devils fan following four years of futility.

The season I knew I was an
NJ Devils fan for life -- 1992

A few days later, I got home from school — and I had a missed call (yea, I had Caller ID back then) from 201-935-6050 (the Devils) and a voicemail (yea, I had voicemail then, too) from the Devils.

“Kevin, this is Lou Lamoriello,” he said. “And I got your letter dated May 1st. Give me a call when you can so we can talk.”

And I did.

And for 30 minutes, the general manager of the Devils took my call — and chatted with me — like we were the best of friends.

“I need you to be patient,” he said. “We’ve got a great new coach coming in — and I think what you’ll see in goal is something you’ll like, too. And I assure you, it won’t be just a round we’ll be winning — it’ll be championships.”

A few months later, the Devils got to the Eastern Conference Finals — and were one goal away from the Finals. And one year away from Cup 1 of 3.

Here I was — at 18 — talking the legend, Lou. And he promised it would be better — quickly.

He let me vent. He let me talk about my soon-to-be-life in Newport, R.I., and he had me hooked forever.

I never would have abandoned my team — I loved it way too much back then, as I do now. But two phone calls — and 30 minutes on the phone, as a fan, with a man like Lou, had me hooked for life.

Because quite frankly, there has never been a better general manager in all of sports. No one has done more — with so little. And based on what he’s been able to do (as he has since 1987) — as few other GMs can do — there likely will never be one like Lou ever again.

In any sport.

And I couldn’t have been a luckier fan than I was in 1992 and 1993.

And still am, today, in 2014.

Now that the Finals are over, we’re going to slow it down a bit the rest of the summer — and look ahead to the next season which is just 3 months away

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. —

Well, the summer is officially here.

And with that, we may slow things down a bit here at NewJersey-Devils.com. But we will certainly look ahead to what should be a very intriguing summer for General Manager Lou Lamoriello.

Perhaps the biggest news will come when at some point on or after 1 July, we learn that Martin Brodeur is no longer a member of the New Jersey Devils.

Will Lou be smiling much
this summer? Hope so!

My gut tells me he winds up with the Montréal Canadiens, as Cary Price’s backup. That may seem bizarre given what we just saw with goaltender Dustin Tokarski in the Canadiens’ run to the Eastern Conference Finals. But for the Habs, having a chance to have Brodeur in their sweater might just be too attractive -- just for a year -- to pass up.

We’ll see.

It’ll also be intriguing to see what Lou does.

Will he buy out a contract?

Where will this guy
wind up? My gut
says in Montreal.

Will the ownership group allow him to open up his wallet to sign a significant scorer -- or perhaps two?

Will the blue line get solidified?

How will the Devils, at no. 30, draft?

Will there be any salary-dump trades?

Will there be A trade?

It all kicks off, in earnest, on July 1 -- so we hope to see you then.

In the meantime, we’ll have any news at it breaks, as well as the continuation of our SUMMER SERIES on Doc Emirick’s greatest Devils calls ... and more as it is warranted. So be sure to continue to follow what’s going on via our Facebook Group, Google+, by checking back here periodically -- or by signing up for instant e-mail alerts. Just put your e-mail address in the box, follow the prompts -- and anytime there's something new here, it’ll be delivered right to your inbox.

Lastly, we’d like to begin a new series -- sharing YOUR memories, your greatest memories, of being a Devils fan. I’ll be sharing mine throughout the summer -- and we will publish yours if you want them to be. Simply send them in the body of an e-mail message to kevincanessa@gmail.com ... or by clicking here.

Cheers, one and all!

 -- Kevin Canessa Jr.

Jagr has a sense of humor, and pulls a quick one on Lou

Here’s what he said, today, about Lou Lamoriello.

‘That’s a perfect example. He (Lou) doesn’t play hockey, but the way he works, does he look 71? People are dead at 71. I will be, probably. And he looks 50. Because work just keeps your mind and body fresh. When you stop working, you’re getting tired more. That’s what I found out. The toughest thing is the recovery, but once you push yourself to do it, that’s what makes you happy.’ 

– Jaromir Jagr on his general manager.

With this Devils collapse, it would be easy to blame just Peter DeBoer, but the truth is, it's the GM who deserves the most blame here

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.

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. 

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.

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?

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.

The Moose must sit — now

Johan Hedberg's latest debacle — a five-goal mess in Carolina over two periods — is yet another sign that Peter DeBoer must sit the goalie now.

The guy looks defeated and has absolutely no confidence. And it seems he's psychologically lost right now.

The fourth and fifth goals he gave up (fifth one shown in photo) were putrid. Both were goals that an average goalie would have and should have stopped. And right now, Hedberg, 39, is anything but unordinary.

And it's quite sad, too, because he started the season off magnificently, a mere extension of the excellent year he had last year.

This is the first time since he's been coach that I've questioned DeBoer. He already announced Hedberg will play Sunday. But DeBoer had better be careful. As my good buddy Tom O'Connell noted on Twitter earlier, Lou Lamoriello has fired coaches for a lot less than what is going on with this goaltender situation.

And I wouldn't put it past Lou to fire DeBoer if he feels the coach has lost the team — and it sure seems that way now.

That, my friends, would be the biggest shame — but it's also the biggest reality right now.

Moose must be benched — soon — before it's too late to save the coach's future here.

Is it time (again) to wish Zach Parise were still here? No way, I say

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla  —

My dear friend, Bill Scardefield, a Flyers’ fan ironically, knew it well.

He could bust on me about anything over the summer and during the NHL lockout — but mention of the word/name “Zach Parise” was the only thing off limits. And strangely — I say this because he’s a Flyers fan — he never once mentioned the name all off-season. In fact, when there was a conversation that required the name be used, he would refer to the man as “The ‘Z’ Word.”

And yet, about 10 games into the NHL season, it was OK to drop that. I suddenly didn’t mind hearing the name “Zach Parise” uttered anymore, because the Devils were off to a magnificent start — and they were winning (more than Minnesota was, especially) — on a pretty consistent basis. 

They actually had a nice streak that at one point paralleled Chicago’s.

But boy does that seem like ancient history.

The Devils had just finished beating Pittsburgh in a home-and-home — and were the top team in the Eastern Conference. 

And Zach was a distant memory.

Now, a few weeks later, the Devils cannot score. Martin Brodeur is broken. And Johan Hedberg reminds me of a term I used to hear a lot on my favourite TV show of all time, “ER,” — a completely broken, psychological mess.

If the puck were the size of a beach ball — or volleyball — it seems Hedberg would find a way to allow it past him.

The guys we were counting on putting the puck in the net for our Devils in the post-Parise era — Adam Henrique, Travis Zajac, Ilya Kovalchuk — have completely forgotten how to do that.

It’s gotten so bad that the last few Devils goals I can recall, with any fondness, were scored by Marek Zidlicky and Steve Bernier — not exactly the men we figured would help make us forget about “The Z Word.”

And so here we are, one half of a season over — with 25 points. It’s good enough for a seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoff picture. But it’s one point ahead of the eighth-seeded Rangers, two ahead of ninth-seeded Philly and three ahead of the 10th-seeded New York Islanders.

Is it time to panic?

Is it time to lament over whether the loss of The Z Word is now coming back to haunt us?

The answer is absolutely NO.

DeBoer

Some 24 games into last season, the Devils had the exact same number of points — 25. And while this is a shortened season, we must not forget that every single good team — except, perhaps, for the latest version of The Blackhawks — goes through rough patches.

Peter DeBoer was brought here because he works well with kids.

He has not lost this team yet (it seems). And if there is any coach who can turn this ship around, Peter can. And he will.

This is not the time to be calling for his head.

This is not the time to call for radical changes.

Perhaps there is a need for a trade — for someone who can score occasionally, or who can stop a puck. But there is not any room right now to be calling for firings, radical changes or anything close to that.

Because once these guys wake up — and they will — and begin to remember what Devils hockey is all about, this team will be just fine. 

This team can and has won without The Z Word. It will again.

Hedberg has been a 'head case' of late.

And when it all kicks in, we’ll look back to this seven-game stretch and scratch our heads.

Please do not jump ship. 

Something will click — and things will get better.

And once again, Z will be a distant memory.

Only thing is — it’s gonna have to happen fast given this short season.

And we can only hope Lou does the correct things to right this ship. Thing is — he almost always does.

Though I’ve been a fan since 1986, Lou Lamoriello had me hooked on Devils hockey in 1993 — and here’s how

The Canessa Commentary
By KEVIN CANESSA Jr.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- 

Lamoriello

All these years later, these are two stories I love to talk about — and share. They’re both about Lou Lamoriello — and why as a kid, he had me hooked.

Flash back to 1992. It was the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Devils-Rangers were playing each other. The series sold out rather quickly — and if you think a lot of Rangers fans come to Devils home games now, you likely don’t remember back then … when more than half the building wore blue shirts.

I remember how annoyed I was by this. And as a 17-year-old high school student, I was fortunate to have a fax machine.

I wrote a letter to Lou — and told him how disappointed I was the games sold out because of the infiltration on Rangers’ fans. I invited him to call me to explain how or why this happens.

He didn’t call.

But Jelsa Belotta, the team’s receptionist for many years — not sure if she’s still there — called. And what she said has stuck with me for many years.

“Kevin, Mr. Lamoriello asked me to call you,” Belotta said. “Mr. Lamoriello would like to offer you the chance to by up to four tickets for Game 3 of the Rangers-Devils series. As much as he’d like to give you the tickets, he can’t just now — but if you’d like to go to the game, you could buy the hard-to-get tickets by calling me back.”

I was floored.

And needless to say, I had two tickets to the game — one the Devils won — a few hours later. I will never forget that.

But it got better.

The night after Game 3, Belotta called back — and I was able to get two more tickets for Game 4.

All from a letter from me to Lou, one he clearly read and took to heart.

About to be forever hooked

The following year, after the Devils were eliminated in 5 by the Pens, the Islanders went on to the Eastern Conference Finals. At this point, the Devils had been eliminated in the first round each of the last four years. And in 1993, it was made all the worse by the fact a team that had no business being in the ECF — the Islanders — were still playing when the Devils weren’t.

So I wrote, again, to Lou — and asked him why I should remain a Devils fan following four years of futility.

A few days later, I got home from school — and I had a missed call (yea, I had Caller ID back then) from 201-935-6050 (the Devils) and a voicemail (yea, I had voicemail then, too) from the Devils.

“Kevin, this is Lou Lamoriello,” he said. “And I got your letter dated May 1st. Give me a call when you can so we can talk.”

And I did.

And for 30 minutes, the general manager of the Devils took my call — and chatted with me — like we were the best of friends.

“I need you to be patient,” he said. “We’ve got a great new coach coming in — and I think what you’ll see in goal is something you’ll like, too. And I assure you, it won’t be just a round we’ll be winning — it’ll be championships.”

A few months later, the Devils got to the Eastern Conference Finals — and were one goal away from the Finals. And one year away from Cup 1 of 3.

Here I was — at 18 — talking the legend, Lou. And he promised it would be better — quickly.

He let me vent. He let me talk about my soon-to-be-life in Newport, R.I., and he had me hooked forever.

I never would have abandoned my team — I loved it way too much back then, as I do now. But two phone calls — and 30 minutes on the phone, as a fan, with a man like Lou, had me hooked for life.

Because quite frankly, there has never been a better general manager in all of sports. No one has done more — with so little. And based on what he’s been able to do (as he has since 1987) — as few other GMs can do — there likely will never be one like Lou ever again.

In any sport.

And I couldn’t have been a luckier fan than I was in 1992 and 1993.

And still am, today, in 2013.

AUDIO: Lou Lamoriello with Mike Francesa on WFAN 1/17

Lou Lamoriello will be on with Mike Francesa at 2:05 p.m. ET today

Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello will join Mike Francesa on WFAN at 2:05 p.m. ET today. Click here to listen to the interview live.

Lou speaks of shortened seasons, etc.

DeBoer's the Right Choice to Lead the Devils

New Jersey Devils Head Coach
Peter DeBoer was the coach of the
Florida Panthers for three seasons.

By Kevin Canessa Jr.
NewJerseyDevilsBlog

There have been quite a few people -- whether on Facebook or Twitter or on message boards -- who have questioned Lou Lamoriello's decision to hire Peter DeBoer as head coach.

I am far from one of them.

In fact, the day he was fired by the Panthers down in Miami, my first thought was "Damn, if Jacques re-retires, I want DeBoer here." In fact, I remember a few months ago texting Panthers' radio play-by-play genius Randy Moller and asking him if he would come in a package with DeBoer for the 2011-12 season. (Moller's another story for later this week).

DeBoer was a surprise hire by the Panthers a few years ago when Jacques Martin, then GM of the Panthers chose him as his head coach. He had been the coach of the Kitchener Rangers, a minor league program. 

And while he never made the playoffs with the Panthers, he did lead them to a 93-point season a few years ago in a wildly difficult Eastern Conference. They just missed the playoffs.

Unfortunately for Peter, Martin never gave him anything to work with really -- and Dale Talon, the current GM, wanted to mold his own team -- with a new coach.

DeBoer brings what very few NHL coaches can -- experience working with younger kids. And with the addition of Adam Larsson, the fourth-overall pick in this year's draft, there probably isn't a better coach out there to mold him -- just as DeBoer got the best out of David Booth in Miami, injuries notwithstanding.

In addition to his greatness with younger players, DeBoer is an absolutely, downright awesome guy. He was a regular on the Sid Rosenberg Show last season -- and when I was able to ask him a question once, I was pleasantly surprised by his answer. 

If you had to start a team fresh, would you first choose Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin or, our guy, Zach Parise. 

Sid was shocked -- but DeBoer agreed with me -- that he'd love to be able to mold a team around Parise, who he said, at that time, may very well be the best all-around NHLer. 

This guy knows the Devils already. He fits into the Devils style. Defense first with offense paramount. This won't be a boring team at all. In fact, think of it this way.

It'll be the first-full season we see Parise play with Ilya Kovalchuk. 

And with DeBoer behind the bench, this season is going to make up for the last one's disappointments.

It's July 19 -- and I hope to look back at this story once again and April. And when I do, I'm really hoping I'll be able to make good on my guarantee that DeBoer's the best man for this job -- and be able to say I told you so.

Lamoriello, DeBoer Presser

Will Jacques Lemaire Return Yet Again?

WILL HE OR WONT HE? -- Could
Jacques Lemaire unretire ... again?

So here we are -- it's July 19 already, prospect camp is over, as is the draft -- and there's still no coach in place. Perhaps most remarkably, this goes against the norm of nearly every new coach hire in the National Hockey League. Often, we hear about how a general manager wants his new coach in place before the draft -- and before summer activities. 

So this all has to beg questions: Is Jacques Lemaire playing a game of hardball to get an enormous contract to re-re-re-un-retire ... is Lou Lamoriello delusional in thinking Lemaire might reconsider coaching ... is Lemaire bluffing for fun ... or is this just "Mystery Lou" doing his thing again?

Best-case scenario -- Lemaire decides to return, as highly unlikely as it may seem right now based on all reports. (Though stranger things have happened before). Worst-case scenario -- we wait even longer, and perhaps get word on a new coach by late August/early September.

Therrien Lamoriello's Second Choice for Coach?

Interesting report out of The New York Post. 

Mark Everson reports Michel Therrien is Lou Lamoriello's second choice for head coach in the likely even he's unable to coax Jacques Lemaire to re-re-re-consider retirement. 

Click here to read the report.