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The Minnesota Wild hired Jacques Lemaire to be their first ever head coach in 2000. In his first three years as the head coach of that team, he gave it credibility as it overachieved with less talent. Lemaire's best moment with the Wild came in 2003, when he led them to the Western Conference Finals. The Wild upset a couple of superior teams in the Avalanche and the Canucks in Game ...

The mission statement of the Devils is to win a Stanley Cup every year. This team failed to accomplish its objective since they last won it in 2003. Maybe it's unreasonable to expect this every year, but there's no reason for this team to be one-and-done on a consistent basis. For the third straight year, the Devils are bounced out of the first round. This time, it was the Flyers that did the ...

The Flames fired Mike Keenan last year after his team's terrible first-round playoff performance against the Blackhawks. Then-Devils coach Brent Sutter noticed a job opening in Calgary. He wanted to be close to home, and he wanted to work for his brother, Darryl Sutter, who is the general manager of the Flames. Sutter decided to quit his job as the Devils head coach. He insulted everyone's intelligence by saying he needed to take care ...

The Flyers took total control of the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals against the Devils by being up 3-1 in that series. After a frustrating 3-1 loss to the Flyers, then-Devils coach Larry Robinson kicked a garbage can outside the locker room while he screamed at his players. Robinson wanted to let off steam. He did not do this to inspire his players. Yet, the players talk about how it got them going ...

During the course of a playoff series, people make observations of what's going on after three games. They judge a team's chances of winning a playoff series based on getting a feel of what's going on. It's been three games so far and it's safe to say the Devils are in trouble. Even if the Devils even the series at two by winning tonight, their issues are not going to go away. This ...

Goaltenders accept credit and blame for the team's performance. That's what being Martin Brodeur is all about. He played great when the Devils, won Stanley Cups, and he stunk often when the team underachieved over the years. Last year, it was easy to blame Brodeur for the team's collapse against the Hurricanes in Game 7 of the Division Round. He gave up two inexcusable goals, which was the tying goal and ...

The first round NHL series between the Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils moves to Philadelphia tonight. Naturally, the Devils fans will talk badly about the people of Philadelphia. It's their favorite pasttime. It's something they have to do when both teams face each other. There's nothing like going through Devils message boards, reading through the junk about Philadelphia fans being mean and unruly. Many Devils fans whined about the behavior of Flyers' fans ...

In postseason hockey, the aggressive team wins. The Devils failed to heed that motto in Game 1 of the playoffs. Not surprisingly, they lost that game to the Flyers. This team needed to play with some spark while adding a touch of nastiness. They had to try to goad the Flyers into getting penalties. They knew the Flyers could not come into their arena and dominate them at their place again in the ...

The Devils acquired Doug Gilmour in 1997 for a playoff run. They believed he was the missing ingredient for them to win the Cup. Gilmour did okay, but not good enough to live up to Lou Lamoriello's expectations. The team underachieved in their series against the Rangers in the Eastern Conference semifinals and Gilmour was a major part of the team's terrible play. Lamoriello decided to try again with a rental star. ...

Several years ago, Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello mentioned in a Chase commercial about coming close is not good enough when better should be expected. That's his philosophy of success, and what he expects out of his team. Since the last two years, the Devils have been an one-and-done team. They almost advanced to the second round last year until the team fell apart in the waning seconds of Game ...