Odd. I tend to think the fourth-overall pick in the draft receiving a bonus package every other high selection before him has received would be less disruptive to the locker room than dressing 15 players because of cap issues, but maybe that’s just me.
Adam Larsson, the young fellow who signed his no-frills deal on Friday, is fully indoctrinated at age 18. It’s all about fitting into that hermetically sealed organization across the river, all about conforming — probably no one inside the Devils’ room realizes one of their teammates actually signed a $100 million contract last year after losing a circumvention case because the contract was found not to, uh, conform with the collective bargaining agreement — with the philosophy under which the franchise gained preeminence by winning three Stanley Cups in nine seasons from 1995-2003.
The Devils are the NHL’s answer to “The Firm.” Sometimes employees just disappear — usually the ones behind the bench.
The fact is, since the lockout, the Devils have had four times as many coaches (eight) as playoff series victories (two), counting Lou Lamoriello and Jacques Lemaire twice each for their respective pair of tenures. Now, the vacancy sign remains up into mid-July across the river in Mystery, New Jersey.
It is about conforming to the philosophy, conforming to the system, and it is about one last ride for this club, one last try for a Fourth Amendment with the Great Martin Brodeur in the final year of his contract and perhaps his career at age 39, with it appearing more likely by the day Zach Parise is bound to test free agency next summer.
If this is the last ride, if this is about the Devils’ system and the Devils’ way of life, then there is only one man to take the reins, and it’s Lemaire. There is an emerging theory that the reason it’s taking so long to announce the winning contestant in the annual summer hunt for a coach is Lamoriello is waiting for Lemaire to recognize this and come out of retirement (again).
Actually, there are two emerging theories here. One is that Lemaire is proving intractable (Jacques? Never.) in his decision to step off. The other is that general manager and president Lamoriello is having difficulty convincing CEO Jeff Vanderbeek to pony up the considerable amount of cash it will take for Lemaire to mount the Devils bench for the fourth time.
This is no time for experimentation, no time to bring someone in from left field, no time for someone who doesn’t appreciate Ilya Kovalchuk, no time for someone who hasn’t done it before.
Lemaire has his idiosyncrasies. But Brodeur is a true believer, Kovalchuk is a true believer, Patrik Elias is a true believer. And in the dead of last winter, it was Lemaire, the truest believer of them all in the way the Devils do business on the ice, who presided over one of the more astonishing nine-week runs in recent NHL history when the Devils went 23-3-2 following that dysfunctional 10-29-2 first half.
The gallop fell short when the club eventually lost its giddy-up, but it kept the building alive and reasonably full through the winter, thus generating desperately needed revenue for ownership.
At this late date, it is impossible to believe Lamoriello is going to turn this team this year over to a neophyte or to an individual who must be indoctrinated into the Devils’ way of doing things. It is impossible to believe he will hire someone who lacks the ability and cachet to navigate through the challenge of solving the knotty problem of how to allot ice time and responsibility to Kovalchuk and Parise, the team’s best two players who are both first-line left wings.
The theory is that the absence of a coach is about money. Know this: The Devils need the money that comes with a playoff run. A contract for Lemaire is an investment.
Again, this is the theory. Those are the theories. These are the Devils after all, who have their own and unique way of conducting business. These are the headless horsemen from Mystery, New Jersey.
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The Rangers got their man in Brad Richards, but Brent Burns, the first-pair defenseman who was traded from Minnesota to San Jose, is the one who got away.
In Jaromir Jagr‘s world, responsibility, ice time and the number on the dotted line all connote respect, so is it more than possible No. 68 opted to go to Philadelphia because he felt the Flyers wanted and needed him as opposed to returning to Pittsburgh, when the Penguins appear to have regarded him as an ornament?
There isn’t a better summer show on television than “MSG Vault.”
What’s next, the night in 1965 that Emile Francis assaulted goal judge Arthur Reichert after he signaled the Red Wings had scored and the Rangers, led by Vic Hadfield, climbed over the glass at the old Garden (the old, old Garden) to protect their GM?