mac has to go

[nj_cup]

plain and simple he isnt getting everything he can out of the guys. doesnt matter who's fault it is...you cant trade away the players because of ntcs and you cant fire them...lou fire mac before its too late!

 

[MCDevils]

I think a trade is more likely before Lou goes through that route.

 

[nj_cup]

which just blows my mind because i think the players that have to go have NTC's so i really dont see that happening...i dont think trading say corrente for a 5th round pick would do much help. but its amazing that coaches on this team got fired for A LOT LOT LOT LOT LESS

 

[Indian Chief]

Guys are much more likely to waive a NTC if they are on the worst team in the NHL. I can see a trade happening now much more than I could just before the season started.

 

[MCDevils]

Need to stop the coach carousel at some point. Also, as we discussed last summer on the ESPN board, Cup you mentioned the idea of signing Ilya and Parise and then letting the bad contracts start to eliminate themselves.

Also, Parise has said many times before that he hates having a new coach every year. So firing Mac means Parise is more likely to walk.

 

[nj_cup]

theres one thing of waiting the bad contracts out...and then theres waiting bad contracts out while getting beat up and down the ice...i agree coaching carousel has to end but it has to end with the coach that goes 4-10-1 in 15 games?

 

[MCDevils]

Rolston might be back this upcoming game. I think that he might be able to provide something. At least they can move Kovy to the half boards and allow him to use his shot instead of having him shoot from the point.

 

[MCDevils]

It's also possible that age caught up to this team. Arnott has not been what everyone hoped and Langenbrunner and Elias are getting up there.

If that's the problem, no coaching change will help.

 

[skrillex26]

Need to stop the coach carousel at some point. Also, as we discussed last summer on the ESPN board, Cup you mentioned the idea of signing Ilya and Parise and then letting the bad contracts start to eliminate themselves.

Also, Parise has said many times before that he hates having a new coach every year. So firing Mac means Parise is more likely to walk.

Spot on. As much as i myself have said Mac should be fired, i'm just not sure enough it'll solve everything. I agree also that Lou has one maybe two ideas before he thinks about firing Mac. Sorry.

 

[nj_cup]

this coming from the same people who thought it was a GREAT idea to fire julien a week before the season ended?

 

[MCDevils]

They sucked the second half of last year.

 

[nj_cup]

then honestly lou seriously has to be asleep then...if the signs were that obvious and we still go blindly into this season then thats a HUGE problem

 

[MCDevils]

How do you know Lou isn't trying to rebuild right now? What was he supposed to do, trade all the older players by giving away draft picks?

 

[DevFan60]

He did not even try it. He could trade Lang, Elias, Zube without picks. But NTC wouldn't let it.

 

[MCDevils]

Ok, I want to make one thing clear to everyone who's judging the current situation using hindsight. First, EVERY major writer/journalist/expert etc, etc, thought the Devils were going to be one of the best teams in the east. if you look at this years team vs last years team we basically lost Paul martin, but added Tallinder, Volchenkov, Arnott, and Hedberg. We looked completely stacked. So for anyone that thinks that Lou should be blamed because he didn't see this coming is clueless. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Lou would have swapped Martin for Kovy. Who knows if that would have helped the team. All I know is as of game 15 everyone's worst fears about Ilya are rapidly becoming a reality. You can say, change Devils hockey if you want, but guess what, playing Ilya Kovalchuk hockey got him into the playoffs one time in Atlanta. I'll take trapping, overly defensively hockey any day to make the playoffs and then see what happens.

Cup you're complaining about Lou right now, but he basically did everything you always said he needed to do. He signed Ilya for an astonishingly low cap hit. He let Martin walk which you said he should do, and he brought in a 1a goalie so Marty could play less. Now it's not working, and you want to bash him.

If anyone should go it's Oates. He was brought in here to create a powerplay. That's obviously not working. On the other hand, Mac has had a horribly injured team to deal with. An awful start from Marty, and locker room BS caused by a combination of Langenbruner/Kovalchuk.

However, Mac is also certainly at fault. There's a thing called over simplifying. We're shooting far too often from bad sports instead of trying to create better opportunities. If I see another top 6 forward on this team shoot from 4 feet inside the blue line on the rush, I'm going to cry.

 

[MCDevils]

He did not even try it. He could trade Lang, Elias, Zube without picks. But NTC wouldn't let it.

Furthermore, there's no market for players this early in the season. Everyone is jammed together and smaller markets or teams that thought they were a long shot at making the playoffs, aren't going to add pieces until they are more confident they're making the playoffs, and cap hits are lower.

If this team still sucks this badly at the deadline, Lou's obviously going to deal players. He's not going to do it now though, nor should he.

There's two major reasons for this.

First: It's still too early to declare the season over.

Second: It's absolutely the wrong thing to do (to trade all the veterans now and call up every prospect we have) for the prospects development.

Ask DEVS30RKO, he knows more about player development than any of us, and I'm sure he would agree that the best thing for the prospects in the long term is to get their legs under them in the minors, learn the game, get strong and develop, then get called up later in the season to get NHL experience. The oilers ruined Sam Gagner and Andrew Cogliano by rushing them into the league. The Devils have never rushed prospects, and won't start doing that now.

 

[MCDevils]

New Jersey Devils are at a crossroads, and GM Lou Lamoriello has tough decision ahead of him - ESPN

Go read that, everyone. It's all we need to know.

 

[MCDevils]

I'll even mane a simple concession regarding this thread. If we don't get 3 of 4 points against Buffalo and Edmonton, MacLean needs to be fired, or someone needs to be traded. Stagnation isn't an option at that point.

 

[devils30mb]

There's a thing called over simplifying. We're shooting far too often from bad sports instead of trying to create better opportunities.

MC you made some great points, but I pulled this one out.

We may be over simplifying, but I think the coaching staff is trying to get the players out this funk of not scoring. The bounces on most of nights haven't gone our way.

I said it before and will say it again, we have the chicken and egg theory here with confidence and scoring....
Is it confident because you're scoring goals or you're scoring goals because you're confident. It's a catch 22 here!

The confidence of our offense is lacking and when that happens you tend to find players doing to much and trying to pick corners etc., which only carries their confidence further in the gutter. This is why I believe the coaches are telling the players to keep shooting and drive the net for the rebounds. Eventually the goals will start coming and players won't be squeezing the sticks as much. Once the goals start coming, the confidence will come back and this team, I assure you, will be playing much diffenent and loose. They would then show why the reporters, analysts and hockey gurus were picking the devils to be a major contender in the east.

The article on Lou was a great read and he does have some tough decisions in the coming future should the ship not right itself.

 

[SJ20]

MC you made some great points, but I pulled this one out.

We may be over simplifying, but I think the coaching staff is trying to get the players out this funk of not scoring. The bounces on most of nights haven't gone our way.

I said it before and will say it again, we have the chicken and egg theory here with confidence and scoring....
Is it confident because you're scoring goals or you're scoring goals because you're confident. It's a catch 22 here!

The confidence of our offense is lacking and when that happens you tend to find players doing to much and trying to pick corners etc., which only carries their confidence further in the gutter. This is why I believe the coaches are telling the players to keep shooting and drive the net for the rebounds. Eventually the goals will start coming and players won't be squeezing the sticks as much. Once the goals start coming, the confidence will come back and this team, I assure you, will be playing much diffenent and loose. They would then show why the reporters, analysts and hockey gurus were picking the devils to be a major contender in the east.

The article on Lou was a great read and he does have some tough decisions in the coming future should the ship not right itself.

Great post devils30mb!