Farewell to Another Coach

Claude Julien suffered the most unkindest cut of all today, fired as head coach of the Devils after less than one season at the helm. No matter that the Devils performed their usual miracle of starting off slow, only to ascend the standings throughout the Winter and rising to the division lead come Spring - the fact that the naive but energetic Penguins caught Jersey coming into the last two weeks of the season was enough of a red flag. General Manager Lou Lamoriello returns to the ice for the second time in less than a year to complete the remainder of the regular season plus playoffs.

This is a common theme with the franchise. Precedent was set back in 1988, as Doug Carpenter got the heave in favor of the fire-and-brimstone approach of Jim Schoenfeld - and the Devils rallied from last place in the Patrick to make the playoffs and then shock the hockey world by advancing to the Wales Conference Finals.

Lamoriello axed Robbie Ftorek with weeks to go in 2000. Never mind that Jersey was a solid four seed in the East, competing with the Flyers for first place in the Atlantic - Ftorek did not have the confidence of his players due to his abrasive style. Larry Robinson came in and led the club to its second Stanley Cup that June. Robinson quote-unquote resigned in December 2005 after the Devils got off to another sluggish start, Lamoriello coached the remainder of last season, and the Devils won a division title and one playoff round.

Still, it's got to be a deeply uneasy feeling to play for the Devils. Knowing Lamoriello is one to keep the talent coming at a low price, and one to trade said talent for a better deal at the drop of a hat, it has to be unsettling now that the Sword of Damocles hangs above the heads of the on-ice product at all times. John McLean was the first to feel it, after 15 years of faithful service to the Devils (through some bad early years), he was unceremoniously dumped on San Jose early in 1998 after he dared speak out against the boring style of play then-head coach Jacques Lemaire employed.

Then came the coaching merry-go-round which began in speculation that Lemaire's resignation in 1998 wasn't really of his own free will, and ends here with Julien's dismissal. That separate soap opera included Ftorek, Robinson, Kevin Constantine, Pat Burns, and Pat Burns' cancerous prostate.

If these drastic and surprising measures are necessary to give the team the needed kick in the arse, how healthy is the Devils franchise really if the spurs need to be applied so often? How much longer can the players hold out under the pressure of maintaining success for a team that only achieved this lofty level after it wrung every bit of talent out of three Cup winners?

I understand that a winning atmosphere depends a great deal on psychology - keeping players off balance in order to maintain a focus on the ice which increases the number in the "W" column, but the current battle in the Atlantic is not the fault of those who manage or wear the horned NJ logo. It is more a result of the youthful exuberance of the Penguins team, who obviously don't know they're not supposed to be duking it out with one of the most successful franchises of the past decade.

In fact, I think psychologically, the Penguins might win this one. They have nothing to lose by watching the team they are fighting resort to drastic measures while they pursue their goal with reckless abandon. Whether they finish first or second in the division, or second, fourth or fifth in the conference is the source of no contention. Yet, if the Devils do survive the gauntlet and lock up a division title and a two-seed, they have to watch their heads once again as the Sword hovers over the club during the postseason.

You can only squeeze a piece of fruit so long. Eventually, the sweet hidden juices that flow freely will give way to ugly, tasteless and coagulated pulp. Lou Lamoriello must reevaluate and retool the organizational philosophy as well as his own personal style, or else once the Devils move into the Prudential Center, the team will look more like 1983 than 2008.