Is John MacLean feeling the heat already?
Now the first year coach of the Devils, John MacLean waited for his chance to be the head coach in New Jersey for a long time. He served seven years as assistant to a succession of experienced coaches and spent the last year as head coach of New Jersey's AHL affiliate in Lowell.
He was passed over for more experienced veterans like Brent Sutter and then Jacques Lemaire before being finally handed over the reins this season after the latter retired. MacLean was a respected figure as a player and is obviously well liked in the Devils organisation.
Expectations are high for this season after the team invested heavily in the offseason, not just to star sniper Ilya Kovalchuk, but also revamping their defence with long term deals for Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder.
But the team has stumbled out of the gate and some are already wondering if MacLean might wind up as one of the early coaching casualties of 2010-2011.
GM Lou Lamoriello is no stranger to bold moves behind the bench. He fired head coach Claude Julien in 2007 when the team led their division and was second in the conference ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NHL
Article written by Arto Jaakkola
If the New Jersey Devils Don’t Improve Soon, Is John MacLean’s Job in Danger?
October 17th, 2010 by Arto Jaakkola Leave a reply »
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