As the Rangers rolled through the 2011-2012 season with relative ease, their coach, John Tortorella, became a popular topic of New York hockey writers.
To his credit, he did change the culture of the Rangers, who spend the last decade trying "get rich quick" schemes with big signings of proven veterans, many of them Devils leftovers from playoff runs.
Now, the Rangers are a new club. Players sacrifice their bodies in blocking shots, they play a physical style and Tortorella's press conferences are incredibly concise.
However, even though the series is tied, the talk is about what is wrong with the Rangers, not what is going right for Peter DeBoer's Devils.
When Lou Lamoriello hired DeBoer, it certainly raised a lot of eyebrows. After being fired by the Panthers for failing to reach the playoffs, he was hardly considered to be highly sought-after.
Nonetheless, DeBoer changed the Devils' Old Testament of defense-first, offense-be-damned philosophy. Even under the new post-lockout rules, the Devils were resistant to adapt to the new-age hockey, until DeBoer finally pushed the right ...
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Article written by Ryan Alfieri
Eastern Conference Finals: Why Devils Have Edge in Coaching vs. Rangers
May 22nd, 2012 by Ryan Alfieri Leave a reply »
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