New feature: ‘Five Things We Learned From Last Night’s Game’

Welcome to a new feature on NJDevsBlog.com — “Five Things We Learned in Last Night’s Game.” We hope to include this on the site after each game for the rest of the season. With that in mind, we begin.

1) Cory Schneider, as a good as he can be and often was last season, is prone to letting up the occasional soft goal. In fairness, Vancouver’s goal that tied the game at 2 from Daniel Sedin at 12:37 of the second period did find the most miniscule space open between Schneider’s pads and the ice — but that’s a shot he saves 99 of 100 times.

2) Attendance at the Rock on weeknights is going to be awful this season. Last year, the Devils were coming off their improbably run to the Finals. The lockout had everyone longing for hockey. But this year’s quite different, coming off a non-playoff year — and starting the 2013-14 season off with 1 win in 10 games. Only 13,203 were at the Rock on a Thursday night with one of the league’s better teams in Newark. Imagine what happens when lesser teams are here on a Tuesday?

3) Peter DeBoer has to be feeling the pressure. A Bleacher Report story lists him as the second-most likely coach to be fired in-season.

Could Peter DeBoer be the next NHL coach to be fired?

4) The Devils have been in four shootouts this year — with three players shooting in each. Not one has scored a goal in said shootout. Remember not too long ago when a Devils shootout was almost a guaranteed extra point? No more.

5) Eric Gelinas was sparky last night, scoring his for NHL goal to give the Devils a 2-1 lead in the first period. He’s a keeper as far as I am concerned. He appeared to be one of the few out there who actually enjoyed being on the ice.

5B) Tell me it wasn’t the slightest bit weird to see John Tortorella behind the bench for Vancouver? I will admit it — I was hoping there’d be occasion for another shout fest between him and Pete. For all of you who say our coach is too passive, remember when the two of them nearly threw benches at each other? 

This guy could be coaching Mites on Ice and I’d still detest him.

Pete DeBoer on breakup day

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.

(VIDEO) Pete DeBoer discusses not getting offensive changes

Pete gets a little upset here.

Outside the box for The Devil of the Week: Peter DeBoer

Head Coach Peter DeBoer is our Devil of the Week.

It's rare a coach would get such an accolade, but given what this man has done not just in the past week, but all season long — and last season for that matter — it's time he be recognized.

While he was in Florida, he never made the playoffs, and yet his teams were very close. One year, he was but a point out of the playoffs. And what he's done here has been nothing short of remarkable.

The Devils went 5-0-0 in the last week — and it simply seems every move DeBoer makes works.

I've said it before and I'll say it again — his hiring may be on the most under-appreciated, yet most brilliant moves, made by Lou Lamoriello. I was laughed at when, after he was fired by Florida, I suggested he be the next coach here.

Let's say that laughter is long gone.

VIDEO: Opening Night player introductions at the Rock

Thanks to the Devils for posting this since NBCSN didn't carry it.

Some interesting moments:

The introduction of Stefan Matteau was great. Also, very proud of the hand for Steve Bernier (that could have been very ugly).

Also, great hands for Scott Stevens and Peter DeBoer — both well deserved.

Enjoy.

My first brush with Devils' head coach Peter DeBoer — with Sid Rosenberg — talking about Zach Parise

AUDIO: Coach Pete DeBoer w/Joe and Evan on WFAN (1/17)

Devils head coach Pete DeBoer was on with Joe and Evan on 17 Jan. on WFAN to discuss the opening of the new NHL season. Gotta love the disgust in Benigno's voice when 1995 is mentioned. Please allow a few seconds for the audio to load. Press the arrow to play.

DeBoer and the media after today's scrimmage

I love this guy more and more. Not sure there's anyone more perfect to be coaching this team.

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.

Devils Welcome Photo for DeBoer

Lamoriello, DeBoer Presser