John MacLean served as an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils for seven years. After a short stint as head coach with the AHL's Lowell Devils, the New Jersey farm team, he was brought in to replace Jacques Lemaire. Lemaire stepped down as head coach after yet another first round exit by the Devils in the playoffs last year.
Before that, John was a high draft choice and star as a Devils player.
Now MacLean, after being head coach of the New Jersey Devils for only 33 games this season, has been fired.
The Devils are admittedly playing abysmally, but injuries to key veterans Zach Parise and Martin Brodeur have forced the cap-strapped team at times to play with much less than a full roster. The decision to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a ridiculous 15-year contract with a $6.66 million cap hit has left the organization with no personnel flexibility.
The organization also chose to spend their free agent money on the aged Henrik Tallinder and able but often injured defensive defenseman Anton Volchenkov. The team has no power play quarterback.
Star offensive forward Zach Parise is likely out for three months wi ...
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Article written by Scott Weldon
John MacLean Pays Price for New Jersey Devils’ Ill-Conceived Personnel Moves
December 23rd, 2010 by Scott Weldon Leave a reply »
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