The Devils are one of the NHL's most disappointing teams this season, tied for the fewest points in the league (20) with the New York Islanders, who they play Thursday night. Although it is tough to see a first time head coach fired after such a short time, it was obvious a move needed to be made, as the team is facing the possibility of not making the playoffs for the first time since 1997. The fact that they have only scored a league low 59 goals (a mere 1.7 per game!) this season hurts even more given the 15-year, $100 million contract given to Ilya Kovalchuk this offseason.
Lemaire, now in his 3rd stint with the team, has coached the Devils to 3 division titles and 1 Stanley Cup in 6 seasons. While his success is hard to argue against, Lemaire is somewhat of an interesting choice as he is largely known for his slow, defensive minded 'trap' style hockey - not his high powered offenses. Still, with Brodeur in net, if anybody can help win low scoring games, its Jacques... and thats exactly what they're hoping for.
Didn't he retire last year?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Yep, after his short second stint with the Devils Jacques hung it up after last season. Apparently he got bored pretty quickly
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