John Muckler's days numbered?

According to this article by the Ottawa Sun's Bruce Garrioch (who for some reason, appears here in a Winnipeg newspaper), the Senators could be close to firing general manager John Muckler, and this is indeed a big surprise.

The Ottawa Senators could announce, as early as tomorrow, that GM John Muckler has been fired.
While Muckler wouldn't comment yesterday, referring all questions about his future to team owner Eugene Melnyk, two senior NHL executives told Sun Media they believe Melnyk gave Muckler his walking papers on Friday.

I guess someone needs to take the fall for the Sens losing out on the Cup, and Eugene Melnyk may have decided that it's his general manager's doing.

Hehe, the Martin Gerber signing really ticked him off...

Let's wait and see...

And if this does happen, then I'm telling you right now, Bryan Murray will be the first man Melnyk turns to.

--BBR

Lamoriello fires Julien - The league is shocked, but Devils fans are unsurprised

Once again a Devils coach has been fired midseason, and for the second time in recent memory it's been in the very final stretch of the season. In 2000, Lamoriello fired Rob Ftorek with less than ten games left in the season. Now, in 2007, Claude Julien finds himself out a coaching job - although he apparently will remain inside of the Devils organization - and Lou Lamoriello himself will be back behind the bench.

Lamoriello was definite in his stance that he would never coach again following last season, after a long winning streak which ended against the eventual champions, Carolina, but has reneged on that position and goes back behind the bench.

For the NHL, this comes out of nowhere. The Devils, while they have fallen off slightly from their earlier success, have returned to their winning ways in recent games. But many Devils fans have been far from happy about the recent play of the team, despite the victories, and felt that something was missing which push the team from playoff caliber to serious contender.

From Lamoriello's recent remarks, he and Julien were both aware of this fact as well and have since acted, with Julien's firing, to attempt to rectify the problem. I personally have felt for weeks that the Devils were missing... something undefinable... and so here we are.

Will Julien's firing make the Devils a better team going into the playoffs? I don't know, and I won't ever know, since Julien's Devils no longer exist and they're now Lamoriello's team again. But I do know that yesterday the Devils, while they were a playoff team, were not a Stanley Cup team, in my opinion. This change might not make the team better, but it has the potential to be that spark that every championship team needs to go the distance.

To paraphrase: this would have been an easy to decision not to make, and a difficult one to make, but Lou decided to make the hard decision and go out on that limb, as he has so many times before. There is a reason that Lamoriello is still around, despite 14 coaching changes, 3 owners, and multiple roster remakes during his 19 year tenure as Devils GM. Lou looked at New Jersey, saw a team missing something, something undefinable, and acted to try to make a change which could push the team over the hump. It's not the first time he's done something like this and it will not be the last.

What makes Lou the best GM of the league is that he's willing to make the tough decisions, put himself on the line and submit himself to ridicule, if he believes it will make his team better. Today the Devils strike me as a stronger team than they did yesterday.

The league might not like it, but this is the kind of decision I want my GM to make in a crisis...

Quoi! Claude Julien fired...again?!

This is out of nowhere, really, Lou Lamoriello today fired his head coach Claude Julien.

Julien was fired mid-way through the 2005-2006 season by the, guess who, Montreal Canadiens.
The Canadiens were in the midst of a slump that saw them fall desperately out of a playoff spot; Jose Theodore's shoddy goaltending was the reason to blame, but in hockey, you don't blame your players, you blame the coach.

The Canadiens and Bob Gainey had no problem with Julien, but the team needed a major shakeup and they thought by firing the coach they would do that.

The New Jersey Devils are not in need of a desperate shake-up.

1 year and 3 months later, Claude Julien gets canned again.

Just a day after leading his team to a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins and regaining posession of the top spot in the Atlantic Divison (recently taken over by the surging Pittsburgh Penguins), Lou Lamoriello insists there were no "personal circumstances" involving the Ontario-born coach's dismissal.

"It came to a point where, were this decision not made, I would not be doing my job," Lamoriello said.

Call me vulgar if you like, but, what the hell?

The Devils have suffered a small funk recently, emphasis on small, which resulted in them in a dismal 3-7 record, but they pulled their act back together, by winning 4 of their last 5 and taking over the Atlantic Division lead and the no.2 spot behind the Buffalo Sabres in the Eastern Conference.

But really, what the hell?

The guy leads his team to a 102 point season with a 47-24-8 record and he can't hold onto a job.
I don't think it's a question of "making a decision" Lou, you didn't have to make any decision, you could've left him where he rightfully belongs and merits, behind your team's bench.

Oh and so what, a few players complain to you about his tactics and you go ahead and fire him?

And looky here, this isn't the first time Lamoriello's done this, I don't know what he feels and how he feels about certain GM's, but I think it's bull that there were no personal circumstances to this, how else can you explain it?

"I don't think we're at a point of being ready both mentally and (physically) to play the way that is necessary going into the playoffs," Lamoriello said outside the Devils' deserted locker room at the Continental Airlines Arena. "I am not saying that is going to change. But I think there has to be better focus going forward."

Maybe there were no personal circumstances, maybe Lamoriello just didn't like Julien's coaching manner.

Oh but for God's sake, your team goes in a slump and comes back strong and you think they're not ready for prime time?

His team manages to win 4 of their last 5 without Brian Gionta, John Madden and Patrick Elias, but, which probably caused Lou to overreact, have lost 8 of their last 15 overall.
Nevertheless, Lamoriello's record last year, after assuming the coaching duties from Robinson, was a great 32-14-4 (a .680 winning percentage).

Maybe the bizarre move had nothing to do with Julien, and he was just upset at his team's effort over the month of March.

Something's sure to come out in the next few days, and until then, good luck Claude Julien, you are a very underrated coach and a great person.

Lou Lamoriello's a smart guy, but I don't think this was a smart move.