Remember I told everyone that the number of days between games will not factor into Lou's decision to fire a coach, well boy I was right. The Devils are getting set to face the Islanders tonight in a basement battle and will do so with Jacques Lemaire behind the bench. John MacLean was fired early this morning 33 games into the season. It is uncertain if he will return for a full time basis, but he is back for 3rd stint as Devils coach. Lemaire was well respected by star winger Ilya Kovalchuk and maybe that factored into Lou's decision to bring him back.
Nevertheless, Lemaire retired from coaching after last season, but now he is back and will likely coach out the rest of the year. The Devils are currently 29/30 in the NHL standings and are 18-20 points out of a playoff spot, so they have to start winning. Though it is unlikely they will be able to catch up to the 8th spot, they at least can salvage their season in some way.
It is a tough start for John MacLean in his short coaching career in the NHL. He was an assistant since 2002 and was responsible for the 15 game win streak for the Devils in 2005-2006 season. The win streak was 11 straight to close out the regular season followed by a 4 game sweep of the rival Rangers in the 1st round of the playoffs. MacLean was the assistant to Lou Lamoriello, who coached the team that year. Many thought he could rediscover that magic this year after the Devils tumultuous start, but with every game, the Devils showed no signs of improvement. MacLean was not able to get the best out of his best players and the Devils are last in the league in goals scored and the defense is not contributing offensively.
Lemaire led the team to a 2nd place finish in the Eastern Conference last year, but again the Devils failed to show up in the playoffs en route to a 5 game series loss to the rival Flyers in Round 1. Many experts thought Lemaire lost passion for the game, but right now he has to salvage what is left of the season for the New Jersey Devils. So, here it goes again, Lemaire becomes the Devils 8th coach, but 4th different coach since the lockout ended.
Here is the list of Devils head coaches since the lockout:
2005: Larry Robinson
2005-2006: Lou Lamoriello (interim)
2006-2007: Claude Julien
2007: Lou Lamoriello (interim)
2007-2009: Brent Sutter
2009-2010: Jacques Lemaire
2010: John MacLean
2010-2011: Jacques Lemaire (interim)
-Julien was shockingly fired with 3 games left in the 06-07 season with the Devils 2nd in the eastern conference, but Lou felt the team was not mentally prepared for the playoffs.
-Robinson resigned in December 2005 due to migraines and family issues
-Sutter resigned to coach the Calgary Flames, since Calgary is near his Viking, Alberta home.
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