Jacques Lemaire blasts Versus crew.

I was watching this game last night on Versus and I thought the move by the Flyers to just stand there and wait for the Lightning to come after the Flyers was interesting, I aslo thought it was funny that the Flyers got whistled for not moving the puck.

I have to admit that I hate the “Neutral Zone Trap.” Seriously the NZT is God awful hockey and very boring to watch and I would rather watch a game where two teams trade offensive opportunities up and down the ice. I can’t imagine a lot of fan bases that say, I want to watch a 1-0 defensive trap feast and watch my team line up at the blue line and wait for the opposing team to try and come across. Being ADHD it makes it very hard for me to stay interested in that type of hockey game.

Damian Cristodero; Lighting Strikes --- Here is what former Devils and Wild coach Jacques Lemaire said about the criticism of Lightning coach Guy Boucher from Versus commentators Mike Milbury, Keith Jones and Pierre McGuire Wednesday night about the team's 1-3-1 trapping system, which they said makes for such boring hockey the Lightning and Boucher should be embarrassed and even "punished."

"Myself, I laugh at this," Lemaire told the St. Petersburg Times in a phone interview. "I laugh at it this because are we supposed to coach as we please the people who are announcing the games or make comments on the games? Is that a new style or what? Do we have to please Milbury when we coach? It's the first time I hear of this."

If anyone knows about criticism, it is Lemaire. Lemaire's trap was vilified by hockey watchers and commentators all over North America as detrimental to the game because the defensive posture in the neutral zone was, when played correctly, very difficult to beat. It slowed down the action, critics said. It created boring hockey. But it also won, as Lemaire and the Devils captured the 1995 Stanley Cup.

I think the worst hockey game I ever watched was a game 1-0 snore feast between Cornell and UND. The Sioux outshot the Big Red 2-1 and the Big Red played their boring 1-3-1 style of hockey and collapsed around the net whenever they saw fit.

I also can’t believe that the Tampa Bay Lighting fans want to watch this style of hockey on a nightly basis, nor do I believe that the Lightning need to play that style of a game. There is enough high end talent on the Lightning that they can open the game up and push the puck up the ice.

Lastly, let’s make no mistake about it, Jacques Lemaire is in the hall of fame, he was a great coach, but his hockey teams were very mind numbingly boring to watch. The New Jersey Devils of the 1990's were about as entertaining as watching paint dry. That being said, I also think that Lemaire has a point as well, he isn't coaching to please the TV audiences and the pointed headed pundits, coaching hockey is about winning games and using the your personnel to the best of their abilities. 

Summer of discontent in New Jersey

From reading this article it sounds like the New Jersey Devils had a mess in the locker room. While it is easy to blame the coach when a team fails I think the players have to accept some of the blame. Almost reminiscent of last season in St Paul when Lemaire left the Minnesota Wild. The same complaints are surfacing again. One of the common complaints from Wild players and fans was how Lemaire liked to juggle the forward lines all of the time and if you didn't like the current line combination to wait five minutes because it would change again. A lot of coaches do that. Former Fighting Sioux hockey coach Dean Blais did it a lot when he was the head coach of the Fighting Sioux.

During almost a month of vacation in Florida since he announced his retirement on April 26, Lemaire has watched the Stanley Cup playoffs and feels the Devils could have been the team coming out of the Eastern Conference.

“We all tried to find the reason why we lost. That’s normal,” Lemaire told The Star-Ledger today. “But criticism shouldn’t be part of trying to find what we could have done differently. To me you have to be objective.”

Lemaire has come under criticism from several Devils players, including captain Jamie Langenbrunner, for the way he handled several team matters during the second half of the season.

But the coach defended his habit of constantly juggling line combinations, the manner in which he informed veteran players such as Jay Pandolfo that they would not be in the lineup, and the fact that he allowed Ilya Kovalchuk to play his own individual game rather than conform to the Devils’ style.

“I look at the teams still in the playoffs right now. They match lines. I don’t see why we would be so special that we don’t have to match lines,” Lemaire said.

“As far as switching the players on lines, Scotty Bowman has been known as a great coach and he moved players around a lot. There are a lot of coaches who move players around when things aren’t going well or playing against certain teams. I’ve done it my whole career. I don’t think it’s an issue. It could be an issue if you’re not good enough and you need to play with certain guys to get better. Then, for that particular guy, it would be an issue.”

There were some who felt Lemaire should have kept the Zach Parise-Travis Zajac-Langenbrunner line intact.

“I try to get the best out of players. Sometimes, yes, I did put guys with certain other guys so they play better,” Lemaire said, “but I have to think about the team and what is good for the team. I’m happy with the way I’ve done things. No regrets. I’ve always done this and the success was there.”

Kovalchuk was allowed to play a different style.

“He played different than the other guys because of his talent. I have no problem with that,” Lemaire said. “He had 6-7 chances a game. You think I’m going to tell him to play defense? Come on. We’re looking to score goals here. Give me a break.
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It also kind of sounds like Jamie Langenbrunner while me might have a legitimate grip, it was a tough season for the Devils they finish in second in the Eastern Division and bow out to the 7th place seed Philadelphia Flyers. Personally, I do see what good does it do to complain about the head coach, especially after he has resigned and wont be back next season. The while some of the onus is on the coach the players are the one that play in the games. I think there are too many prima donna's in professional sports that think they are entitled to playing time. Compare and contrast you read about Zach Parise or Travis Zajac complaining about the head coach.

“We’re here in the business of winning a championship. A lot didn’t work out as far as players and coaches,” Langenbrunner said. “I definitely won’t point the finger at Jacques.”

Nor did he deny they didn’t always see eye-to-eye.

“There were some differences of opinion when it came to dealing with a few issues,” Langenbrunner said. “There were some things that were done that probably didn’t help the situation. For most of the season it was fine, up until Christmas.

“There were a few things that happened, a few issues that were tough for me to let go. I probably didn’t handle them correctly. Not all personalities completely mesh, but they are able to work together. I had no problems with the way he treated me. It was more about team issues that we would never agree on.”
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