I know Kovalchuk only has 3 goals this year and on pace for a dismal 20-25 goal year, but he is not the problem or the solution. Simply put, the team must step its game up and not worry about him too much. The fans are all focusing on Kovalchuk, because of his skill with the puck, but he has three or four guys on him at all times in his vicinity. He cannot be relied upon to do everything or score every goal which the fans are asking of him. I have mentioned this time after time and will continue to mention it, the Devils need secondary scoring and they have the ingredients to do so, but they have not shown it yet.
It is easy to fire the coach in John MacLean, but simply put the Devils cannot afford to fire him, because they have already had 5 coaches since the lockout ended in 2005. They are Larry Robinson, Lou Lamoriello twice, Claude Julien, Brent Sutter, and Jacques Lemaire. The Devils need to try to build and develop with MacLean as he learns the coaching business. He does seems nervous at times still, but a few wins will definitely ease those nerves and get his self-esteem and confidence up. If Devils fans want to boo Kovalchuk, they need to think again, its only year one of the fifteen year package and they already are on him.
They need to boo Elias, Langenbrunner and White among others. Out of the new additions, Volchenkov looks good and other have been shaky. Tallinder has struggled, but he is an every other year type of player, one year he is good, the next he is terrible. There will come a time when the Devils will miss the playoffs and it could happen this year, but they need to play with a more sense of urgency and minimize their mistakes and do not be afraid to healthy scratch players who are not performing up to their standards.
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