opinions on failure

[devs30rko]

as bright as the future may look now, with the 4th overall pick, and the team having an excellent 2nd half and all,this season was clearly not what we all wanted, or expected.

in your opinion what was the number 1 thing that was wrong/hurt the team/or root of a problem this year?

 

[TheRobotDevil]

as bright as the future may look now, with the 4th overall pick, and the team having an excellent 2nd half and all,this season was clearly not what we all wanted, or expected.

in your opinion what was the number 1 thing that was wrong/hurt the team/or root of a problem this year?

Poor Leadership I know I have beaten this into the ground but I truly believe Jmac was A weak coach and Langs did not provide the leadership A captain should.Simply comparing the team under Jmacs shit happens attitude and watching Langs mope around and make excuses to Lemaire and his take resposability and show some pride and the leadership on the ice in the second half it was like watching another team.Really looking forward to the draft and an A young upgrade but one of the most important moves we will have to make over the off season aside from signing Parise is finding A coach that fits our players.We need someone who keeps on these guys stresses responsability and is willing to fight for this team when we get the short end.

 

[kellmit]

The first thing that jumps to my mind is the PP it was fairly brutal all season long.. but I do agree with the leadership thing as well.... I will be happy when Parise puts his name on a long term deal and gets the C

 

[MCDevils]

Ilya Kovalchuk hating John MacLean, along with every other player.

 

[DevFan60]

MC, why are you saying it? Maybe he hated JMac, but not every other player. I would say that other players don't like his big contract along with him.

 

[MCDevils]

MC, why are you saying it? Maybe he hated JMac, but not every other player. I would say that other players don't like his big contract along with him.

Go read Parise's Q&A on Fire and Ice. It's quite revealing.

 

[MCDevils]

Does Kovy’s contract impact your decision as to how much you are willing to accept to remain a Devil? Also, do the other players resent Kovy for the way he held this team hostage last summer?
(Asked by Hat Trick)

Like I said earlier, I don’t think Kovy’s situation impacts me one way or another. I am glad to have him here he is a one of a kind player and a great teammate. No one resents Kovy in the least bit for his contract negotiations. It was not his fault at all and shouldn’t be taking any heat for it. By no means did he hold us hostage. He didn’t want it to get dragged out that long.

 

[MCDevils]

*Did the players buy into John MacLean’s system? If not, why not?


I don’t know one way or another I wasn’t around enough to know, but it looked like people were confused. But it did look to me like players really believed in what Jacques (Lemaire) was teaching.

 

[Nasty_Magician]

Really J Mac is the entire reason for this season's failure. Lemaire said this team was out of shape when he took over, that falls completely on the coach. You could see this early on in the season, if we fell behind early the game was done because we were not capable of coming back late in games. Too many nights they looked like they were mailing it in, and just coasting out there.

Also, the team didn't have an identity with him. What was the gameplan? What was our style suppossed to be? We had a lot of new players join the team last offseason and they really didn't look comfortable or develop any chemistry until later in the season. Best example, Tallinder. First 2 months all I could think was, why did we sign this hack, what a disappoinment. Under Lemaire he was our best player on D and became one of my favorite Devils.

Lastly, this team was far too talented for a rookie head coach, especially one as passive as J Mac. You need somebody that can handle all those personalities and egos. In the end I don't hate or even dislike John Maclean, I just think he is best suited to be an assistant coach.

 

[devs30rko]

To me the finger pointed to MAC officially when rolston told the post we didn't really have a set breakout under maclean that's elementary shit

 

[MCDevils]

To me the finger pointed to MAC officially when rolston told the post we didn't really have a set breakout under maclean that's elementary shit

Oh yeah that too. It was so obvious a week after Lemaire came in because they had one guy carry it up the wall and once he was under pressure he'd pass it across to a guy ten feet off the boards and away they went.

 

[MCDevils]

Parise also said that he wants them to play more of a puck possession game instead of just giving it away. This strategy employed by Vancouver last night dominated the hawks during the entire OT period except for the PK.

 

[MadCaptain]

I'd actually say its a combination of:

Defense
Injuries
JMac

Our defense was overhauled over the off-season and it usually takes at least 10-20 games for new defensemen to get acclimated to Devils hockey. This process was then delayed for a while since we had 5 injured Dmen at one point. JMac never was in a position like this as an assistant and didn't know how to properly react to the problem. The team then spiraled out of control and again JMac never experienced something like this as an assistant.

It also didn't help that our defense would not have been good even without the injuries and acclimation.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

*Did the players buy into John MacLean’s system? If not, why not?


I don’t know one way or another I wasn’t around enough to know, but it looked like people were confused. But it did look to me like players really believed in what Jacques (Lemaire) was teaching.

To me it didn't look like Jmac Believed in his system or team himself.He had no fire on the bench and after every loss it was the same old we tied our best things happen speach.With Lemaire you could see his fire on the bench and hell he held players resposable and spoke up even following games we won.If you want players to believe in you you have to earn their respect and show that you believe in them.

 

[MCDevils]

I don't really get what MacLean wanted to do. He was Assistant here forever working under a variety of coaches that all essentially employed the same system, then decided he wanted to do something different. I guess he had success with is in the minors the one year he was away from the NHL...

 

[TheRobotDevil]

I don't really get what MacLean wanted to do. He was Assistant here forever working under a variety of coaches that all essentially employed the same system, then decided he wanted to do something different. I guess he had success with is in the minors the one year he was away from the NHL...

thats the part that completely baffles me MC with all the time he spent as an assistant under Lemaire and Sutter it didn't seem like he took anything from the experience of working with them.I don't know if he tried to hard to find his own identity or what the case was nothing he did made any sense.We looked very disorganized under MacLean

 

[MCDevils]

thats the part that completely baffles me MC with all the time he spent as an assistant under Lemaire and Sutter it didn't seem like he took anything from the experience of working with them.I don't know if he tried to hard to find his own identity or what the case was nothing he did made any sense.We looked very disorganized under MacLean

You'd think that he might take a conservative approach with his system. I don't mean conservatively defensively, conservative as in traditional, not trying to implement something completely new.

 

[TheRobotDevil]

You'd think that he might take a conservative approach with his system. I don't mean conservatively defensively, conservative as in traditional, not trying to implement something completely new.

I am just glad he is done can't wait to see who is behind the bench next season

 

[Nasty_Magician]

It really wouldn't shock me if it winds up being Larry Robinson.

 

[nj_cup]

Good question. Yeah mac sucked but who wouldve known that? Lou should've and Lou should've canned him earlier say thanksgiving. That's what Lou does he gets paid to evaluate and run a team. He totally missed the boat on mac and he totally kept ssailing into the rocks when he shpuldve jumped overboard.


Show of hands who thought mac should've been canned the day after benching Kovy...who the fuck does he think he is scotty bowman