Perhaps just waiting to complete a room in their Newark arena for a press conference, the Devils still haven’t named a head coach. The latest rumble is that John MacLean will take over from Lou Lamoriello with Larry Robinson as an associate coach.
Lamoriello wound up coaching the team through its past two playoffs, taking over from Robinson in December 2005 and guiding the team to an Atlantic Division title, then firing Claude Julien with three games left in the last regular season as the Devils won another Atlantic title.
The Devils won impressively in each of their past two first rounds, but were ousted in the second round under Lamoriello each time.
And each time he took over as coach, from Robinson then Julien, Lamoriello bypassed assistant coach MacLean.
MacLean has made clear his desire to be head coach of the Devils; he’s been an assistant with the team since Sept. 29, 2002 after playing 19 NHL seasons, 14 with New Jersey. MacLean, a right wing, holds the Devils’ record of 347 goals, 103 more than No. 2 Patrik Elias. MacLean’s 354 assists rank second to Scott Niedermayer’s 364, and MacLean leads Elias 701-573 for the team’s career point mark.
The Devils are still reeling from the losses of Scott Gomez and Brian Rafalski, and Brad Lukowich left the team to return to Tampa Bay for an offer that could have been beaten. Lukowich, who made $1 million last season, signed a three-year deal for $1.25 million, $1.65 million and $1.8 million.
Sources say the Devils are bidding for defenseman Sheldon Souray, an unrestricted free agent from Montreal who was traded there by Lamoriello with Josh DeWolf and a second-round pick for Vladimir Malakhov on March 1, 2000.
Souray, with the hardest shot in the NHL, would fit well in the Devils’ style of tips-and-rebounds, but the Rangers, Oilers and Sharks are believed to be in pursuit of him.