Once considered a model franchise, the Devils have fallen a long way in a very short time.
Where his awful New Jersey Devils are concerned, Lou Lamoriello's work does not end with Thursday's change of coaches. That is just the beginning.
When the NHL's Christmas trade freeze concludes, Lamoiriello had better get to work at providing his new coach, Jacques Lemaire, with some bona fide NHL talent. Otherwise, the firing of rookie head coach John MacLean will be nothing more than a formality.
The fact is, being 20 points out of the playoffs after Lemaire's first game back behind the bench (an embarrassing 5-1 loss to the New York Islanders), it will be virtually impossible for the Devils to make the playoffs anyway. But at least he can give the impression he still believes.
I did not see this implosion coming. Not that I counted the Devils among the group of teams most likely to win the Stanley Cup, but I never dreamed they'd be sitting last overall -- 30th place! -- as the Christmas break arrives. It really is an indictment of how far this once-proud franchise has fallen in a very short period of time.
So much has gone wrong for the Devils in such a short period of time:
-- The trade to acquire Ilya Kovalchuk who does not fit into the Devils traditional team-first mold.
-- Having to give up good young players, a prospect and first- and second-round draft picks to get him.
-- The embarrassment of being punished by the league for trying to circumvent the collective bargaining agreement to re-sign Kovalchuk to a 17-year deal.
-- The eventual 15-year deal to keep Kovalchuk that may cripple the organization for years to come.
Lamoriello has completely abandoned his once inflexible managing sensibilities. Either that or he was abducted by aliens and an imposter is now running the team. That might actually make more sense.
There are plenty of theories as to who was actually behind the Devils acquiring and re-signing Kovalchuk that would let Lamoriello off the hook, a meddling owner for one, but regardless, Kovalchuk has been the NHL's single most disappointing player and the Devils are married to him for another 14 ½ years. At the time of the coaching change, Kovalchuk was second in team scoring with eight goals and 18 points in 32 games and had the team's second worst plus-minus at minus-22.
How bad are the Devils? By the time Lemaire re-entered the scene they had lost three straight and eight of their last nine. Make that four straight now. They have the lowest numbers of goals in the NHL, 60, and have surrendered 108 leaving them with a goal differential of minus-48 -- the worst in the NHL.
About a month ago, when asked what he thought of this year's New Jersey Devils, a pro scout for another organization said: "They are nothing like they were during their Stanley Cup years. Even in years when they didn't win the Cup, they were big and tough and hard to play against. Now they are small up front and weak on defence. I don't think anybody worries about playing against them anymore."
It hasn't helped that the team's best player, left winger Zach Parise, has been limited to just 12 games because of injury. Even when he was healthy, Parise was in a funk with just three goals and six points. There is Kovalchuk's ridiculous contract that could make it difficult for the Devils to keep Parise when he becomes a restricted free agent next summer and even more conjecture he doesn't want to remain with the team.
The Devils used to be one of the deepest organizations in the NHL in terms of talent pool, able to replace injured players with highly-regarded prospects who were champing at the bit for the opportunity to show they could play at the elite level. Now they have a bunch of players you need to look up on the internet to see where the heck they came from.
The firing of MacLean was not a heartless move by Lamoriello. My guess is the boss held out much longer than he wanted to, hoping the team would respond to their bench boss. In the end, there were no signs of that happening and Lamoriello had to make the move. The timing sucks, but is there really any good time to be fired?
Lemaire walked away from the club following last season's disappointing first-round loss to the Philadelphia Flyers in five games, probably knowing this whole thing was going to go down the drain this year. He won eight Stanley Cups in his 12-year playing career with the Montreal Canadiens, scoring two Cup-winning goals along the way. He is also a two-time winner of the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best coach.
The point being, he knows how to win. But even his wealth of hockey knowledge isn't likely to save this sinking ship and odds are, he'll leave the team when the season ends.
Here's hoping the soap opera in New Jersey is coming to an end … and not just beginning.
