Merry Christmas John MacLean, You’re Fired

The New Jersey Devils got into the holiday spirit by firing their coach, John MacLean on December 23rd.  MacLean, who was in his first season as coach, was replaced by former coach Jacques Lemaire.  Lemaire retired after coaching the Devils last season.  The Devils have vastly underachieved this season, with 20 points, and a record of 9-22-2.  Their 20 points tie them with the New York Islanders for the worst total in the NHL.  Last year, they won the Atlantic Conference with a record of 48-27-7 for 103 points.  They have scored just 59 goals in those 33 games, worst in the NHL.  MacLean will remain in the organization in some other capacity.

The Devils have had some key injuries this season, including a knee injury to winger Zach Parise.  Parise, who scored 94 points last year, went down at the end of October and won’t be back until sometime in February.

After last season, the New Jersey Devils expected big things this year.  They signed forward Ilya Kovalchuk to a 15 year $100 million contract.  So far, Kovalchuck has played like a guy who has his money and has nothing left to play for; he has 8 goals and 10 assists, for 18 points, in 32 games played.  He has scored as many as 98 points in a season..  He also has a reputation of being difficult to coach.  Jacque Lemaire, who will coach for the remainder of this season only, has a reputation for running a tight ship, so perhaps he can “convince” Kovalchuck to play up to his capabilities.

This firing comes a day after the NBA’s  Charlotte Bobcats and coach Larry Brown  parted ways. He was replaced by Paul Silas, a former NBA coach who had an outstanding career in the NBA as a player with the Boston Celtics and Seattle  Supersonics.  Larry Brown has coached in the NBA and in college since, oh, about the late 1700s so he’ll no doubt catch on somewhere.

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Tags: basketball, charlotte bobcats, hockey, ilya, jacques, john, larry, NBA, new jersey devils, NHL, zach