News Article: Chere: It's time for the Devils to thank Lou Lamoriello and show him the door

[JimEIV]

he should be trumpeting how he was right about Stevens

He wasn't though...Stevens told everyone he wanted to be home and that is exactly what he did... He spent the whole fall home hunting in Somerset county from what I understand.

Lou called, he came. No different than Lemaire... Lemaire didn't want to be hockey but Lou calls in need and they come.

 

[JimEIV]

And think about it for a second...if a person as important as Scott Stevens to the New Jersey Devils left for purely philosophical reasons do you honestly believe Lou would've just said "OK, bye Scott your opinion doesn't count we're sticking with Pete..go home."

At the very least, if that were the case Lou would've moved him into a different position outside of coaching.

Scott wanted to take a step back because losing sucks.

 

[billingtons ghost]

One other thing that's worth noting...

Both Chere and TG were generally quite defensive about PDB. If you ever took the time to wade into their comments sections, which are generally unmoderated cesspools filled with chronic trolls and disturbed sociopaths, you would have seen that (rather bizarrely) they would actually take the time to individually respond to some of these people, almost always in defense of PDB and his difficult task. I think they both had a lot of respect for DeBoer (while acknowledging his faults regarding youth development, which is the one thing they would usually give his critics), and the whole situation probably crystallized their larger thoughts about how things have been going with this organization and exactly who's to blame. That combined with the overall difficulties of dealing with a man as secretive/cryptic as Lou meant that these pointed critiques were long in the making. Some of the "mainstream" hockey media had already been making this case for ages, and of course others are just vultures circling a carcass, hoping for a few clicks. But there is real rhyme and reason to this, so to just laugh it all off as hack-work is not seeing the full picture.

Also, presumably the same people who loved to defend PDB, but have now surrounded Lou (who just fired him, by the way!) with their shields instead and would have nodded along with Chere/TG's PDB defenses of the past, have now turned their attacks against these newest traitorous "rats on the ship" and other such hyper-defensive hyperbole.

TG shooting down obvious idiots on his board is one thing. Having respect for someone doing a tough job is just something that all professionals have. But don't think for a second that he didn't ask pointed questions that ticked PDB off.

The coach didn't do a _terrible_ job here - and granted, injuries to fragile players and losing two superstars and a leading scorer and most anyone who could play the game PDB drew up is on Lou's shoulders.

But honestly, this change was necessary because the guy couldn't help his players progress and get going in a methodical fashion.

he was punitive with his benchings and line changes, and he never kept lines together enough to get them going.

This team needed a steady hand and no panic, and an eye towards BUILDING to the future, and PDB NEVER was a builder - of kid's confidences - nor winning teams.

The fact is: He won in 2012 because he pushed some good buttons with some lines that were already established - and lucked out that some good 4th line pickups of his (Carter, Bernier) really gelled.

Now is the time to BUILD towards something, by giving kids confidence and responsibility instead of benchings and by letting vets get their games together instead of just flipping them around in a constant panic looking for a spark.

 

[ghoti]

Each coach and ownership group is different, and people do different things for different reasons in different situations, none of which you are any more qualified to make absolutist assertions about than I am.

But I know you like your "ice cold cyborg" schtick, so carry on.

Gobbledy gook followed by straw man.

Don't take your frustrations out on me!

Lou just replaced his coach with... nobody! He truly doesn't care. He gathers information, decides, lives with the decision. He has a way of doing things he considers the right way, and he'll continue to do that forever.

It is amusing to see someone like Rich Chere or Greg W or HF forum member X start listing all the decisions he's made they have judged as bad and make proclamations about his status like it matters at all.

 

[Tundra]

Gobbledy gook followed by straw man.

Don't take your frustrations out on me!

Lou just replaced his coach with... nobody! He truly doesn't care. He gathers information, decides, lives with the decision. He has a way of doing things he considers the right way, and he'll continue to do that forever.

It is amusing to see someone like Rich Chere or Greg W or HF forum member X start listing all the decisions he's made they have judged as bad and make proclamations about his status like it matters at all.

Until the stench becomes so unbearable that he's put out to pasture. It's one thing to make decisions and they work. It's another when they continually backfire and you're Calgary East. Even with Lou's past resume, it's still a results oriented league.

 

[glenwo2]

So is Chere now being blacklisted?

 

[NJDevs26]

Oh darn he's out of the dungeon now

Rich Chere ‏@Ledger_NJDevils 2m2 minutes ago
Devils' practice is not optional. http://nj.com/devils

 

[Devilsfan992]

Oh darn he's out of the dungeon now

Rich Chere ‏@Ledger_NJDevils 2m2 minutes ago
Devils' practice is not optional. http://nj.com/devils

Optional practices are the dumbest thing.

 

[Rebel Devil]

Does anyone know which players were routinely skipping optional practice? I'd want to rid myself of those players.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Does anyone know which players were routinely skipping optional practice? I'd want to rid myself of those players.

lol talk about silly.

 

[Bleedred]

Optional practices are the dumbest thing.

They're a Dumbeor thing.

 

[Wingman77]

They're a Dumbeor thing.

Not at all. He's not even here anymore and we're still trying to throw things on him just for the sake of doing so

They occur in all sports to give some guys a rest if they need for fatigue, being dinged up, experiencing some nagging pain, etc. For most guys they are mature enough to understand when they need a day off or want to skate, they aren't going to skip just to skip as a reason of not wanting to be there.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Not at all. He's not even here anymore and we're still trying to throw things on him just for the sake of doing so

They occur in all sports to give some guys a rest if they need for fatigue, being dinged up, experiencing some nagging pain, etc. For most guys they are mature enough to understand when they need a day off or want to skate, they aren't going to skip just to skip as a reason of not wanting to be there.

Team has to have mandatories right now because the coaches are implementing new things.

Optionals will come back. All teams have them.

 

[Bleedred]

Not at all. He's not even here anymore and we're still trying to throw things on him just for the sake of doing so

They occur in all sports to give some guys a rest if they need for fatigue, being dinged up, experiencing some nagging pain, etc. For most guys they are mature enough to understand when they need a day off or want to skate, they aren't going to skip just to skip as a reason of not wanting to be there.

I was mostly joking. Though it's hard to deny that he did give a lot of optional skates as of late. It also seemed he was big with giving two days off a week, despite the league only mandating one day off a week.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I was mostly joking. Though it's hard to deny that he did give a lot of optional skates as of late. It also seemed he was big with giving two days off a week, despite the league only mandating one day off a week.

He figured it was the best way to manage an aged roster. Makes sense if we were winning, but we weren't.

 

[Wingman77]

I was mostly joking. Though it's hard to deny that he did give a lot of optional skates as of late. It also seemed he was big with giving two days off a week, despite the league only mandating one day off a week.

Whether he was giving too much time off or not, how much of a difference would it really have made?

If we got, I don't know, say an hour more of practice in every week, it wouldn't make any difference in making these guys all of a sudden be able to score.

But whatever, it's over now and in the past so no sense in looking back at it

 

[Emperoreddy]

Whether he was giving too much time off or not, how much of a difference would it really have made?

If we got, I don't know, say an hour more of practice in every week, it wouldn't make any difference in making these guys all of a sudden be able to score.

But whatever, it's over now and in the past so no sense in looking back at it

Jagr disagrees with you. He thinks the lack of practice is a problem. He blamed it on the schedule though preventing the team from having more full practices.

 

[Bleedred]

Whether he was giving too much time off or not, how much of a difference would it really have made?

If we got, I don't know, say an hour more of practice in every week, it wouldn't make any difference in making these guys all of a sudden be able to score.

But whatever, it's over now and in the past so no sense in looking back at it

Jägr himself said they needed more practice time, though he made it clear that he didn't blame DeBoer for that and they didn't really have time for more practice. I wonder if this was something Lou didn't like hearing, before making his decision on the dismissal.

It reminded me of Marty's "there's no strategy, we're just to put on our skates" comment during MacLean. He clearly was not trying to bury him with that comment, but it kind of did.

 

[Wingman77]

We are talking about quotes from the guy that would practice/train everyday for the rest of his life if he could

Very few people in this sport have his work ethic and passion

 

[Emperoreddy]

We are talking about quotes from the guy that would practice/train everyday for the rest of his life if he could

Very few people in this sport have his work ethic

He isn't wrong. One of the things this team does the worst is basic passing and that is something improved with practice.

 

[Wingman77]

He isn't wrong. One of the things this team does the worst is basic passing and that is something improved with practice.

He keeps himself in good enough shape and understands what limits to push his body that allows him to have that work ethic. Not many guys keep themselves in as good of shape or understand how far to push themselves which sometimes leads to some nagging injuries or pains.

We have an older roster of guys as it is and a hectic schedule, a few extra practices may have helped prevent some goals regarding working on defensive coverage, giveaways, passing as you mentioned and that stuff of like. But our biggest issue is putting pucks in the net and a few extra practices weren't going to make much of a difference in that regard. We could make the best passes in the world but if the pucks ain't going in, it doesn't mean ****.

 

[tr83]

He keeps himself in good enough shape and understands what limits to push his body that allows him to have that work ethic. Not many guys keep themselves in as good of shape or understand how far to push themselves which sometimes leads to some nagging injuries or pains.

We have an older roster of guys as it is and a hectic schedule, a few extra practices may have helped prevent some goals regarding working on defensive coverage, giveaways, passing as you mentioned and that stuff of like. But our biggest issue is putting pucks in the net and a few extra practices weren't going to make much of a difference in that regard. We could make the best passes in the world but if the pucks ain't going in, it doesn't mean ****.

How many chances were foiled because guys could handle the puck after a nice pass? There had to be dozens.

 

[Burner Account]

I'm just really not sure why people think Lou would hire a new coach Saturday and say "Ok, go play the Rangers tonight".

 

[MadDevil]

Practices aren't going to change having a declining group of forwards that can't stay healthy, or change the fact that our bottom six resembles an AHL team lately.

 

[Emperoreddy]

He keeps himself in good enough shape and understands what limits to push his body that allows him to have that work ethic. Not many guys keep themselves in as good of shape or understand how far to push themselves which sometimes leads to some nagging injuries or pains.

We have an older roster of guys as it is and a hectic schedule, a few extra practices may have helped prevent some goals regarding working on defensive coverage, giveaways, passing as you mentioned and that stuff of like. But our biggest issue is putting pucks in the net and a few extra practices weren't going to make much of a difference in that regard. We could make the best passes in the world but if the pucks ain't going in, it doesn't mean ****.

Passing up ice is a part of the reason we can't score.

Can't score if you don't possess, and can't possess if you can't pass up ice effectively. Small things add up and do make a difference.