As much as anything, the Devils’ choice of John MacLean as coach yesterday is an endorsement of themselves and everything admirable they represent. It’s an overdue changing of the guard to their own short, rich history from their lengthy fascination with all things Montreal.
The team’s record goal-scorer and so-patient apprentice is their best and natural selection, and the first former Devils player to become their coach. Anyone else would have been a denial of their organization’s principles.
“John was the prime candidate from Day 1,” GM Lou Lamoriello said, despite taking nearly seven weeks to make the decision. “There’s no question in my mind that he’s ready to take the full reins.”
MacLean, who scored 347 goals for New Jersey, spent eight seasons prepping for yesterday’s anointing, seven years as a Devils’ assistant coach, before fulfilling Lamoriello’s final prerequisite last season as head coach at Lowell, guiding the Devils’ top farm team to the playoffs for the first time in years.
“It’s a little bit surreal. I’m very excited, almost like [1983] draft day,” MacLean said.
MacLean, 45, succeeds Jacques Lemaire, who resigned in April after the first season of his second stint. Larry Robinson will return behind the bench as an assistant coach, with Chris Terreri remaining as goaltending coach. Lamoriello said former assistant Tommy Albelin will remain with the organization, although his role is now uncertain, while Scott Stevens will return to a teaching capacity for young prospects.
The hiring of the in-house candidate follows reports elsewhere that MacLean had been eliminated from consideration, and that former Canadiens and Penguins coach Michel Therrien had the job wrapped up. Other candidates were thought to include former Oilers coach Craig MacTavish and Blackhawks assistant Mike Haviland.
“I felt confident that I had a great opportunity to get this job,” said MacLean, who claimed he wasn’t actually hired until Wednesday night.
He said he hadn’t considered what he would have done if he had been passed over again.
“I’m just fortunate that I never had to cross that bridge,” MacLean said.
MacLean was drafted by the Devils sixth overall in 1983 and played 934 games and 88 in the playoffs for New Jersey. The right winger stands third in Devils playoff goal-scoring with 31, trailing Patrik Elias’s 40 and Claude Lemieux’s 34.
His overtime goal in 1988 gave the Devils their first playoff berth, what Lamoriello yesterday called “the most significant” turning point for the franchise.
He won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 1995, but asked to be traded and was dealt to San Jose in 1997, frustrated by Lemaire’s system. He played two-plus seasons with the Rangers before finishing his career with Dallas in 2002.
MacLean would not commit to a go-go or shutdown style of play, but emphasized he will demand hard work from his players, promising a return to “Devils hockey,” while allowing, “I think maybe they might have” gotten away from that ideal.
The continual turnover in coaching hasn’t promoted consistency in style. Since the start of the 2005-06 season, the Devils have gone through Robinson, Lamoriello (twice), Claude Julien, Brent Sutter and Lemaire behind the bench. MacLean was alongside all of those as an assistant, except Lemaire.
He says he’s not nervous about that lack of longevity.
“That stuff doesn’t give me pause,” MacLean said. “I’m confident. All I want is the opportunity. It’s up to me to make the most of the opportunity.”
MacLean seemed composed and confident yesterday, perhaps partly because he’s not a stranger, but still a breath of fresh air. It’s a new start for everyone, yet it remains all in the family.