Second Stint

The New Jersey Devils announced their new head coach yesterday. Former Devils Stanley Cup-winning coach, Jacques Lemaire, returns to New Jersey after Brent Sutter resigned his position over a month ago. Lemaire takes over for a team that has suffered two straight first-round playoff disappointments and hasn’t won a championship in six seasons. The Devils are looking for a chance to rekindle and reawaken the team with the coach who led them to their first NHL title. Lemaire left the Devils in 1998 with a 199-122-57 record.
Lemaire anchored the 1995 New Jersey Devils to the Stanley Cup and the 63 year old coached the team through five seasons. He recently resigned as the Minnesota Wild head coach after being with the team since their expansion inception in 2000. Lemaire stepped down, citing he took the Wild as far as he could. Minnesota made the playoffs three times under Lemaire’s trying tutelage.
General manager, Lou Lamoriello, assigned Lemaire the vacated job on Monday after agreeing on a contract last weekend. As a player, coach and executive, Lemaire is a 11 time Stanley Cup winner. His coaching resume includes stops in Montreal, New Jersey and Minnesota and now Lemaire will start his second stint with the 2009-10 Devils. Lamoriello also announced new assistant coaching positions for the team. Mario Tremblay, Tommy Albelin and Jacques Caron are the three assistants starring under Lemaire. Tremblay is completely new to the organization and was Lemaire’s assistant in Minnesota. The defensive leader for the Wild, Tremblay intends to be an influence in New Jersey’s progression on the rink. The Devils are a very offensive team, but it should be good to see Tremblay infuse his tactics on the defensive end. I think that is where the Devils struggled last season, and especially when they gave up two late goals to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 7 of the post-season. A bit of physicality would be a good thing if it means the Devils crawl closer to the cup again.
The team also announced in Monday’s teleconference that current assistant coach, John MacLean, would take over in Lowell, Massachusetts for the baby Devils of the AHL. I thought MacLean was the leading man to take over for Sutter, but he was once again passed over for the former feature flame.
The hiring of Lemaire is a solid move and I am pleased with the decision by Lamoriello. The organization is heading in the right direction and after eight seasons in Minnesota, Lemaire may just need a change of scenery to become the powerful leader he was in the 1990s for New Jersey. Lemaire’s defensive system propelled the prosperous Devils to their first Stanley Cup. The roster is in dire need of a firepower fine-tuning. The Wild teams under Lemaire were in the top five in goals against the last seven years. They were 22nd in scoring last season, so my only concern would be how Lemaire is going to guide the Devils offense to great heights. Some passion and hard work from the head coach might be enough to reinvent the wheel for 2009 Devils hockey.

Parting points: My favorite from Beck, “Girl”, resonating from my stereo. I love this weather and this is the ultimate summer tune.