If there is anything to learn upon for the New Jersey Devils this season, they can look back and learn from what the 2008-2009 Montreal Canadiens went through that season. The Canadiens finished first in the eastern conference in 2007-2008 and expectations were very high for them in 2008-2009, but they started the season very well and in January things started to free fall. Carey Price started to severely struggle, players were not getting along, Ryan O'Byrne scored an own empty net goal, they faced key injuries to Chris Higgins, Andrei Markov, Mike Komisarek, then captain Saku Koivu, and even Carey Price as well as Alex Tanguay.
The Habs fired coach Guy Carbonneau during winter 2009, but still continued to struggle under interim coach Bob Gainey. So, in summer of 2009 the Habs blew up the roster and opted not to re-sign their free agents an let those who caused the turmoil leave. Higgins was traded for Scott Gomez, Koivu went to Anaheim, Komisarek signed with the rival Leafs, Tanguay went to Tampa Bay. The Canadiens revamped their roster and even though the regular season was a struggle for them, they still managed a magical playoff run.
It might be time for the Devils to think about it this year. The Habs did make the playoffs that year as an 8th seed, but were swept by the Bruins in Round 1. But, the Devils now 11 points out of the 8th seed, it is a huge hole to climb out of. They might want to revert to the end of 2005-2006 season where they won 11 straight games to finish out the year, but its not looking that promising this year with all the goal scoring problems. Next year, Jason Arnott is the only known Unrestricted Free Agent, so its unlikely he will be back and the Devils might want to trade some of the players you would think they would not want to trade like a Colin White and Brian Rolston. Also, captain Jamie Langenbrunner is an unrestricted free agent, but with the way he's been playing, he will not be brought back, but if Lou is that in love with him, he might bring him back. Simply put, the Devils need a culture change and maybe Lou himself should step aside from his General Manager duties and remain team CEO only.
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