Forget their salary cap problems, 2-5-1 overall record and 0-4-1 home record, the Devils are now officially in crisis mode with tonight's shocking scratching of star winger Ilya Kovalchuk. Coach John MacLean did nothing to clear the air on why he benched him other than to say that he was a healthy scratch and that it was to remain between himself and Ilya and not go public to the media. Kovalchuk was not available for comment after the game when the media requested to speak to him. This is not good news for both Ilya and the Devils especially in the early stages of his 15 year $100 million dollar contract.
Lou Lamoriello was also unavailable and provided all the info through a team spokesman. We do not know if John MacLean spoke to Lou about the decision to scratch him, but with the call up of Alexander Vasyunov, that seems to be an indication that both of them agreed upon the decision to bench Kovy. Last year coach Jacques Lemaire rested team captain Jamie Langenbrunner late in the season and it turned out to be somewhat of a distraction down the stretch. So, the question now is, whether MacLean's job is in jeopardy and what this means for Ilya Kovalchuk and the Devils going forward? There is no word whether he will play tomorrow, but expect a huge media circus on this issue. Another question could be, is this MacLean's rookie coach mistake? We do not know and probably will never know the reason much like Lemaire's and Langenbrunner's thing last season.
Another possible reason is that MacLean might want Kovalchuk to be mentally prepared to take on Sean Avery at MSG tomorrow, and that giving him tonight off was probably to clear his mind a little bit. If MacLean does get fired, tonight's decision will be proven costly unless the Devils turn things around quickly. Tomorrow will be an interesting day. The Devils do not play a home game until November 5th against the Rangers.
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