What If...???

For some strange reason, if we're at .500 or below come December 1st., would it be safe to say that one of the following might happen.

A. A major shake-up trade is done to ignite the team (Say Gomez & Lukowich to somebody)

B. Fire Coach Julien & have Lou behind the bench

C. Fire Coach Julien, then beg & plead for Burns to come back & promise him some crazy alternative medicine for the cancer. (Example ---> http://alternativecancer.us/treatments.htm )

I personally think it will be all 3 in that order.

However, at this time, I think Julien is doing a horrific job as a coach. I'ts like they already tuned him out.

I mean, if you're not going to play your forth line at least 8-10 minutes, bring up Clarkson & play him with Tacks & Ras on the 4th line. Do something. Gees.

I mean, if you're not going to play your forth line at least 8-10 minutes, bring up Clarkson & play him with Tacks & Ras on the 4th line. Do something. Gees.

I have an answer as to why the 4th line isn't getting 8-10 minutes a night. It's because the Devils have constantly been down on the scoreboard and they kinda need to actually score - which is the role of the first 2 lines. Not to mention any time devoted to power play or penalty killing.

The Devils defense is filled with more holes than Swiss cheese and the offense is sputtering especially on the power play. This is not due to any fatigue. Can someone explain to me why so many have focused on the FOURTH LINE as a source of the Devils' problems? Jim Dowd or David Clarkson being called up isn't going to change these major problems.

The captain better pick it up soon.

8 GP, 1 G, 6 A, -4, 14 PIM

Not getting it done so far.

Trade Gomez at the trade deadline for a first in 07 or 08 and get back the first we gave up for Malakhov. Off-season, try to resign Gomez or try and sign Drury and a defensemen.

I posted on another board:

The Devils are in an offensive slump right now. Couple that with the fact that the defense is learning a new system and you have temporary problems. I wasn't aware that Julien had come in and tooled around with the Devils' defensive system. I read in Everson's column (of all places) yesterday that Julien has decided to make the defense more aggressive in their zone.

For a decade or more now, the Devils tactic on defense has been containment. Let the other team cycle all they want and take low percentage shots from the outsides and points. The defense's job was mostly to keep anyone from getting in the slot with the puck and to wait for the attacking team to turn over the puck (which it would inevitably do), then make a breakout pass.

What Julien wants them to do now is be aggressive. Don't sit back and let the other team cycle. Go after the puck, put pressure on the attacking team and force that turnover. What that means is that the days of two d-men standing in front of Brodeur and waiting is pretty much done. Julien wants them to abandon those positions earlier in order to aggressive attack the puck. It's a style that Carolina played successfully last year - and won a Cup with.

Frankly, it's gone against the instincts that have been bred into the likes of White and Rafalski, who were comfortable in the old containment system. The whole team has had to learn a new style of play, and they've been a bit tentative about it. When they gain confidence in the system, they'll play better in their own end.

So, if you take the fact that the defense is learning a new system, along with the offensive slump they're all in, you get a 3-game losing streak with 5 goals in those 3 games.

And then followed it up with:

Well, it's Julien's prerogative, as head coach, to come in and institute his own system. Lamiorello apparently trusts him and likes his defense-first style.

However, that being said, I don't think Lou's patience will be infinite. If Julien's style doesn't take hold effectively then you may have a situation where they either go back to their "containment" style or eventually find a new head coach. But I think Lou's patience will last at least 1/4 or 1/3 of the way into the season, provided they are showing some progress and staying in or close to the playoff hunt. Also, don't forget, two of the Decils starting defensemen (Hale and Matvichuk) aren't healthy - so I think he'll at least give it enough time for them to come back and get with the system.

I posted on another board:

The Devils are in an offensive slump right now. Couple that with the fact that the defense is learning a new system and you have temporary problems. I wasn't aware that Julien had come in and tooled around with the Devils' defensive system. I read in Everson's column (of all places) yesterday that Julien has decided to make the defense more aggressive in their zone.

For a decade or more now, the Devils tactic on defense has been containment. Let the other team cycle all they want and take low percentage shots from the outsides and points. The defense's job was mostly to keep anyone from getting in the slot with the puck and to wait for the attacking team to turn over the puck (which it would inevitably do), then make a breakout pass.

What Julien wants them to do now is be aggressive. Don't sit back and let the other team cycle. Go after the puck, put pressure on the attacking team and force that turnover. What that means is that the days of two d-men standing in front of Brodeur and waiting is pretty much done. Julien wants them to abandon those positions earlier in order to aggressive attack the puck. It's a style that Carolina played successfully last year - and won a Cup with.

Frankly, it's gone against the instincts that have been bred into the likes of White and Rafalski, who were comfortable in the old containment system. The whole team has had to learn a new style of play, and they've been a bit tentative about it. When they gain confidence in the system, they'll play better in their own end.

So, if you take the fact that the defense is learning a new system, along with the offensive slump they're all in, you get a 3-game losing streak with 5 goals in those 3 games.

And then followed it up with:

Well, it's Julien's prerogative, as head coach, to come in and institute his own system. Lamiorello apparently trusts him and likes his defense-first style.

However, that being said, I don't think Lou's patience will be infinite. If Julien's style doesn't take hold effectively then you may have a situation where they either go back to their "containment" style or eventually find a new head coach. But I think Lou's patience will last at least 1/4 or 1/3 of the way into the season, provided they are showing some progress and staying in or close to the playoff hunt. Also, don't forget, two of the Decils starting defensemen (Hale and Matvichuk) aren't healthy - so I think he'll at least give it enough time for them to come back and get with the system.


I honestly wonder how happy Lou is with Julien changing up the defensive zone coverage scheme. Lou has made it quite clear that Julien was hired b/c his style was a drop-in fit for what the Devil's were already doing. Much of the success of the Devils can be attributed to the team consistency game by game, year by year. A lot of that is linked to a fairly common system.

Lastly, I'm becoming tired of teams always chasing systems that worked for last years champs. The Hurricanes for example first had a very veteran/experienced defensive core and had one hell of a top 9 to bail them out offensively. Not a blueprint many teams can match.

Containment coverage schemes do have a bunch of fallbacks. However, I can't think of a system that works better for a goalie of the caliber of Brodeur and a handful of VERY young defensemen.

I don't think Julien is going anywhere anytime soon. Lou won't hire someone to let him go 11 games into the season. We've only been blown out in one game. I think our d corp is weak, but improving. Langenbruner with madden is a total waste. we cant fault Zajac. He needs more time.
Folks, the sky isn't falling just yet.

I think Julien is safe this season even if the team continues to hover at .500. The one thing that should worry Julien is that Hitchcock is now out of a job. Hitch will be the next Devils coach if Julien doesn't make through the season.

I think Julien is safe this season even if the team continues to hover at .500. The one thing that should worry Julien is that Hitchcock is now out of a job. Hitch will be the next Devils coach if Julien doesn't make through the season.

Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah.

KEN Hitchcock? Coach of the DEVILS? Why would he be a good fit?

I think Julien is safe this season even if the team continues to hover at .500. The one thing that should worry Julien is that Hitchcock is now out of a job. Hitch will be the next Devils coach if Julien doesn't make through the season.

I just vomitted a little in my mouth......

Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah, woah.

KEN Hitchcock? Coach of the DEVILS? Why would he be a good fit?

Because he is a defense first coach, which Lou obviously prefers, who developed a system in Dallas (much like the Devils system) which Lou greatly admired -- and traded for several players from -- and the players from both teams have performed well on both sides of those trades. So Hitch is a very compatible fit for our system, and is a very good coach. One of the best. Really. That Flyers team is a disgrace, not the coach. They just tuned him out.

That said... I don't think Lou would throw Claude Julien under the bus, even if we hovered around .500, unless he totally lost the team (a la Hitchcock).

And the "I vomited a little in my mouth" line, albeit overused, always makes me :biglaugh:

I think Julien is safe this season even if the team continues to hover at .500. The one thing that should worry Julien is that Hitchcock is now out of a job. Hitch will be the next Devils coach if Julien doesn't make through the season.

While Ken Hitchcock is definitely a good and defensive minded coach, his attitude wouldn't be right for this team. He's too much of a hardass and a guy like Gomez (with his attitude) would likely struggle in an environment where the coach won't say anything nice until you hand him a cup. Thats why Larry Robinson got 2 cracks at the job, because he was easy going. Granted, it didn't work so well the 2nd time. I think Lou is looking for a middle ground between pushover and a**hole.. Hitchcock falls into the latter category.

A few more years, and Scotty should be ready for the job. Why he isn't a full time assistant this year I don't know. I could deal with Maclean/Stevens if Julien doesn't pan out this year. Half that locker room would know better (first hand) than to piss off coach Stevens.

The Devils Repairman,

As much as I can understand you changing your avatar.. I'm going to really miss the mystery redhead sideboob show. :D

For the record, who was she?

While Ken Hitchcock is definitely a good and defensive minded coach, his attitude wouldn't be right for this team. He's too much of a hardass and a guy like Gomez (with his attitude) would likely struggle in an environment where the coach won't say anything nice until you hand him a cup. Thats why Larry Robinson got 2 cracks at the job, because he was easy going. Granted, it didn't work so well the 2nd time. I think Lou is looking for a middle ground between pushover and a**hole.. Hitchcock falls into the latter category.

A few more years, and Scotty should be ready for the job. Why he isn't a full time assistant this year I don't know. I could deal with Maclean/Stevens if Julien doesn't pan out this year. Half that locker room would know better (first hand) than to piss off coach Stevens.
I think Hitch would be a good choice if we ran into a late season firing like with Ftorek and Robinson. He just seems like waaay too much of a hardass though. At least with Burns it looked like he could give people praise and not have a heart attack. (To be fair it doesn't look like Hitch can do anything and not have a heart attack.)

I don't think his system would mesh well with ours though. Remember how much trouble Matvichuk had adjusting to our system? Now picture every Devils dman, minus Matvichuk, and Marty having to go through that same adjustment. In Marty's book he said that Matvichuk had a hard time adjusting because he always went out of his way to go down and block shots, like they did in Dallas. While in NJ you'll never see someone go down to block a shot, it's all about buying time and making sure everyone gets in position after a pass is made before another pass/shot is made. Hitch is a defensive coach to be sure, but I don't think it's our kind of defense.