Wonder where this team would be

[SJ20]

Had Lemaire remained head coach instead of the awful hiring of JMac. And/or Lou not waiting so darn long to fire JMac. You figure if Lou would have replaced JMac around Thanksgiving or so, this team would probably have the 6th or 7th seed right now.

 

[Indian Chief]

Maybe. In fact, you're probably right.

But I believe that sometimes a team needs a purging and this may have been the start of it for the Devils. Mac was always going to be looming as a potential coach, so in a way it was better to get that sorted out early on. Langs had to go after last year's playoff... issues. Kovy needed a wake up call. You could go on and on, but I think the bottom line is that things had to change, and if we did not have that awful start to the year, we would probably have been a five seed and gotten bounced in the first round. Again.

 

[MCDevils]

10 points ahead of the flyers.

 

[MadCaptain]

Interesting question... Would Langenbrunner waived his NTC in the off-season if Lemaire was still coach?

If not, I'm sure he would lead the team to crap regardless. We just wouldn't be able to turn to Lemaire mid-season.

 

[MCDevils]

I wonder is this team was really out of shape like Lemaire said after he arrived. The press dismissed that notion, but you'll notice that after a few weeks of practice, this winning streak started.

 

[Indian Chief]

Everyone dismissed any problems that could be tied to Mac, with the media and Chico leading that charge. Something had to have been wrong with his coaching.

 

[rp2five]

I wonder is this team was really out of shape like Lemaire said after he arrived. The press dismissed that notion, but you'll notice that after a few weeks of practice, this winning streak started.

Yea I wonder the same thing. I don' think Lemaire would make it up. I think he respected MacLean where he didn't want to provide too many details on what out of shape meant. When asked questions, he didn't really want to say too much and even once said that he was sure MacLean's practices were probably fine, but the team was out of shape physically and mentally.