Confirmed with Link: Coach Pete DeBoer Is Fired

[Devils1029]

Speculating on why Lou didn't make a formal announcement, address the team yet, or annoncr replacement.

Look at the wording too....everything is saying that Lou confirms that there is a coaching change being made. Not that they were announcing a coaching change...seems to indicate it leaked to bob Mackenzie who broke the news, and it didnt come from NJ.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Look at the wording too....everything is saying that Lou confirms that there is a coaching change being made. Not that they were announcing a coaching change...seems to indicate it leaked to bob Mackenzie who broke the news, and it didnt come from NJ.

Definitely. Lou wouldn't go to the media before addressing the team.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I'm one of the ones who HATES Gionta the most, and even I think hes fine if he plays FOURTH LINE WINGER.

anything else, **** him

 

[sbresistor]

sad day in NJ Devils land

not because we'll miss Deboer, but because the team pretty much sucks and has for a while

been a pretty ****** season so far - here's to better times ahead

 

[JerryGigantic]

I think Lou is doing this for the new ownership as much as anything. I bet he was going to do this in the offseason anyways and just pulled the trigger early to appease ownership and help them get some butts in the seats maybe with a fresh look behind the bench.

It may have been that or risk his "retirement" this summer as well.

Harris? blitzer? Forget which but one Seems one to get involved with the pulse of the fans with his twitter antics. I think he may have been pushing Lou to do something.

This does seem like it could have come from upstairs.

 

[JerryGigantic]

If we hire oates might as well kept PD

There was a lot of chatter that Oates was the reason we made the playoff run we did... But he sure came back to earth fast in Washington.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Deadspin picked this story up and they don't always run hockey stories.

Of course they link to Chere ******** instead of TG.

 

[Wingman77]

The obvious part that makes it seem Pete would have leaked it is how Lou said he is waiting to address things with the team tomorrow before he discusses this matter any further which would lead one to believe the intention for this story to break would have been tomorrow after addressing the team. What further supports this is that is this is what also exactly happened when it was announced that MacLean was fired - it was announced the morning of a game night that he was fired and that Lemaire was already in place to take over. Our new coach is almost certainly already in place.

But what are ya gunna do, either way trivial stuff who leaked it and when we got a lot more issues than that

 

[KohoDonuts88]

I'd like to see Dave Barr in the interim. Who knows who becomes available by the off-season? And who knows who will be making the decision by then?

 

[tycobb]

What does announcing it and doing spin a day early do? Unless Pete's afraid Lou's really going to bury him tomorrow.

If Pete's half as popular as he supposedly was last year when Toronto and other teams were waiting for him to come free then he'll have a job before the end of the season regardless. Hell he might have the Sharks' job in a week

Sharks job? They are 2nd in the Pacific and I would take Todd McLellan in a second. He was Mike Babcock assistant working with their forwards before he got the gig in SJS.

Kinda hoping that Lou gives the job to Stevens as an interim basis. We have an out if Stevens lack the ability and/or desire of being a HC in the NHL by not bringing him back after the season. Plus he has zero expectations for this year. If he is a train wreck we get a good shot at McDavid or Eichel and if he is the good coach we end the year strong and a head coach for next season.

If not Guy Boucher could be an option with the strong connection to Jacque Lemaire.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens at the trade deadline. We have tons of cap space and not that many long term contracts.

 

[NJDevs26]

Sharks job? They are 2nd in the Pacific and I would take Todd McLellan in a second. He was Mike Babcock assistant working with their forwards before he got the gig in SJS.

Kinda hoping that Lou gives the job to Stevens as an interim basis. We have an out if Stevens lack the ability and/or desire of being a HC in the NHL by not bringing him back after the season. Plus he has zero expectations for this year. If he is a train wreck we get a good shot at McDavid or Eichel and if he is the good coach we end the year strong and a head coach for next season.

If not Guy Boucher could be an option with the strong connection to Jacque Lemaire.

It is going to be interesting to see what happens at the trade deadline. We have tons of cap space and not that many long term contracts.

They were struggling earlier in the year badly, I didn't realize they'd picked it up...but the Sharks also have a brutal schedule the next couple weeks so if they hit another skid who knows? Besides he's already got Larry there, hell let Pete take Oates and they can reunite the band

I've kind of wondered why Boucher wasn't really a consideration for the Devils for a while, maybe they view him as Lemaire's eccentric relative?

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

I'm just glad its finally over. His expiration date probably should have been the end of last season but I think Lou panicked a bit because of the noise coming out of Toronto about them being highly interested in Pete so I think Lou was willing to give him one more season to try to steer the ship away from the iceberg but obviously he failed. Whether it was Pete's fault or not, hes pretty much been the poster boy for the organization falling off a cliff.

I do wonder how much heat came down from ownership recently. The unrest at the rock over this homestand was substantial. The booing of the team and Pete during introductions had to have been heard by the powers that be.

 

[NJDevs26]

I do wonder how much heat came down from ownership recently. The unrest at the rock over this homestand was substantial. The booing of the team and Pete during introductions had to have been heard by the powers that be.

I was surprised they didn't quelch that tbh, last year when Pete was getting booed they stopped introducing him for a time. Not this year though

 

[tr83]

I was surprised they didn't quelch that tbh, last year when Pete was getting booed they stopped introducing him for a time. Not this year though

All a part of the "evaluation process"

 

[Team Concept]

Lou's in season hires history. Unfortunately, I don't see a pattern. He has gone outside the organization, picked himself, promoted from within, went back to the well.

Jim Schoenfeld (went outside the organization)
John Cunniff (went outside organization; I don't think he was with team in Nov '89)
Tom McVie (I think he was promoted from the Utica Devils to head coach in 1991)
Larry Robinson (I believe he was promoted from Ftorek's assistant)
Kevin Constantine (outside the organization)
Lou Lamoriello (twice)
Jacques Lemaire (Lou crony)

He has had success with in-season replacements too:

Schoenfeld (took 1988 team to within a game of the Stanley Cup Finals)
Cunniff (disappointing series loss to the Caps in 90)
McVie (almost upset the eventual champion Penguins in 1st round 1991)
Robinson (won Stanley Cup)
Constantine (went 20-8-2-1 down the stretch)
Lou Lams (went 32-14-1 in 05-06)
Lou Lams (went 2-0-1 in last 3 games in 07 season)
Lemaire (reversed the Maclean poor start that had us dreaming for a playoffs in '11)

 

[njdevsfn95]

I would prefer an entirely new bench but that doesnt seem like it is going to happen.

If the same minds are evaluating talent and the same voices offering opinions and discussing systems, are we going to get anywhere?

Keeping a headcoach when assistants leave is one thing but the other way around? No sir I dont like it.

 

[RSeen]

Disappointed. Lou fed him an awful roster. I agree with Chere it is time for Lou to move on and retire. Deboer is a good coach even though most of you dislike him. No other coach could have gotten this roster to a playoff position IMO.

 

[Devils Trap]

Disappointed. Lou fed him an awful roster. I agree with Chere it is time for Lou to move on and retire. Deboer is a good coach even though most of you dislike him. No other coach could have gotten this roster to a playoff position IMO.

We dont care about the playoff position... Thats not what this is about

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Disappointed. Lou fed him an awful roster. I agree with Chere it is time for Lou to move on and retire. Deboer is a good coach even though most of you dislike him. No other coach could have gotten this roster to a playoff position IMO.

no "good coach" misses the playoffs 86% of the time.

 

[jkrdevil]

no "good coach" misses the playoffs 86% of the time.

In a league where over 50% of teams make it.

 

[Czech Trio]

They have no top 6 forwards in the system currently, maybe one if their lucky. Drafting at the forward position has been an absolute disaster for the last decade.

True. Lets remember scouting is not a 1 man show. There are tons of guys out there and putting the blame on Conte/Lou isn't fair because they are basing a lot of decisions on what they hear from their guys.

I'm not saying Conte should stay, but at least on defense something is being done right draft wise.

 

[tycobb]

Disappointed. Lou fed him an awful roster. I agree with Chere it is time for Lou to move on and retire. Deboer is a good coach even though most of you dislike him. No other coach could have gotten this roster to a playoff position IMO.

Do you not see how bad our puck possession have been this year? The roster got better over the offseason not worse.

Our best young player was moved from C to Wing to C to Wing to C/Wing mid game. Henrique - Elias should have started as our 2nd line, but nope. Pete wanted to move Henrique to 3rd line C for some dumb reason.

He plays Severson 23 mins a game even though Greene has been worse with him than without him. Only Josefson, Harrold and Helgeson put up less points per 60 (ES). Severson has 1 5on5 Assists and yet he is Pete's golden boy.

We have a good stable of young players. Pete needed to be fired to protect them. Larsson, Gelinas, Severson, Merrill, and Henrique should be developed properly. I don't want a coach that doesn't care about their development.

 

[MadDevil]

Our puck possession is bad because our forwards suck. How hard is that to figure out?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Our puck possession is bad because our forwards suck. How hard is that to figure out?

the puck possession was good last year, and this year we have basically the same team plus Cammalleri.....

 

[captainscott]

sort of bizarre timing i mean usually a team is prepared to announce the replacement considering we have a game tomorrow

I'm sure the players and such know the replacement, i can't imaging this anyone outside of the organization. if lou has seen the future which is grim i would imagine the coach for this season is being hired as a quick holdover until next year