Break out the cymballs, the Devils have a new coach!
Break out the solid gold cymballs because that new coach isn’t Hitchock or Therrien! In that respect, we think Lou did a bang-up job. We are a wee bit sad, though, that he didn’t go with the coaching plan we suggested. You see, we want to make sure Adam Larsson is getting the best start to his career as the Greatest Devil Ever. Making him the top draft pick to not have individual bonuses was a great first step, but Lou can do even more. He can hire Jacques Lemaire. Lemarie could then coach for half a season before deciding to retire “for good”. Then Larry Robinson could step in, passing along invaluable Hall-of-Famer defensive lessons Larsson needs. 20 games later, Robinson could step down for “health reasons”. The next 20 games could be handled by Lou, of course. Duh! Then, as the Devils stumble into the playoffs, Lou could blame himself for their 8th-place finish and replace himself with Jacques again. And that is how Adam Larsson is going to learn how to be a true Devil.
But, we suppose Pete DeBoer is an okay alternative to that plan.
Good luck with your new coach! It’s like the first day of school with a new box of crayons. I am a bit sorry it wasn’t Hitchcock – only for the comedy gold you could have made with it.
It’s like the first day of school with a new box of crayons.
It is! Of course, being Devils fans, we’re all suspicious of coloring with crayons, preferring to just stare at a piece of lined paper. Heh. As for Hitchcock, there would be no laughter. This blog would get set on stony silence for the entire season. :P
Of course, being Devils fans, we’re all suspicious of coloring with crayons, preferring to just stare at a piece of lined paper.
Unless we’re talking about a brand new box of block crayons. In which case it’s all cool.
But, we suppose Pete DeBoer is an okay alternative to that plan.
No! I wanted Guy Carbonneau! If only because he’s super foxy.
Unless we’re talking about a brand new box of block crayons. In which case it’s all cool.
They make all sorts of COOL block crayons now. Like, cat shaped end bits and stuff. I know so, because I bought some for my bitty cousin. And I totally didn’t buy an extra box for myself because I thought they were cute *shifty eyes*
Mags, I do agree on the Carbonneau issue. I was sad when that rumor got debunked. But hey! DeBoer will be able to maximize Clarkson to his fullest potential. Or, um, something. And that’s foxy, right? Or maybe just foxy-ish?
And that is BIZONKERS about the block crayons. I know I wouldn’t be able to resist buying some for myself.
i’m just hoping that i never hear clarkson thanking the coach for teaching him his patented ‘wrap around’ scoring attempt while clarkson was in junior A…
Oh my goodness. don, it never crossed my mind that DeBoer might be behind the Clarkaround. What if he institutes it as a team-wide policy? Like, he insists that at least 70% of all Devils shot attempts be wraparounds? That would be AWESOME!
Or the opposite of awesome.
i’ll go with ‘opposite’…lol
I’m inclined to agree. :D
Has everyone heard about Doc retiring from the Devils so he can hang out with Pierre more? Personally I would rather see Chico retire. Doc was never my favorite announcer (Sabres/Sharks are tops for me), but I’d probably put him in the top 10. Will Chico retire too? Will Chuck the Duck get the announcing job now? So many questions…
I just read about it and I say it sucks. The Devils better hire somebody else because if I have to listen to Steve Whatshisorangeface for 82 games a year, well then I quit.
I’m actually surprisingly not that sad to see Doc go. He’s been slipping off his game for the last few years, and him + Chico has just gotten insufferable. I’m no huge fan of Gel-O, but at least when he’s working with Chico it seems less like he’s indulging Chico’s lameness the way Doc does and more that he’s a bit in over his head at play-by-play and is hoping if he just ignores the crazy guy sitting next to him, he’ll go away. I dunno. I think I want them to give the job to Matty. Or to Chuck the Duck. Maybe he’ll just quack over whatever Chico’s saying at any given moment?
I want them to hire someone who will turn to Chico and say, “Stop being a blithering idiot, Chico”. But, that’s not likely to happen.
Sue, I’ll start the write-in campaign to have them hire you, if just to sign you to a contract long enough to say that to Chico.
Go for it! My qualifications for the job can be that I hate the Rangers and I’m willing to tell Chico he’s a blithering idiot on the air.
I’m going to miss Doc, because now my Rangers friend will have one less Devils coverage guy to complain about.
Let’s all have a thought over who we’re losing: http://www.coppernblue.com/2011/5/24/2187065/the-wonderful-world-of-doc-emricks-vocabulary
Mike “Doc” “Jai-alia’d” “Fuck you thesaurus” Emrick.
:^:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: I can’t imagine there are any additional requirements for a person looking to sign a 20-second contract with MSG to work as a fill-in play-by-play announcer. Because 20 seconds is all anyone needs to tell Chico to shut up, right?
Mags is going to need to teach us some Dutch insults to hurl at DeBoer.
I’m hoping we won’t have to hurl insults at DeBoer. My dream for this coming season is that I spend the whole time showering him with flowers for the way the Devils lead the league in failed wraparound attempts. Because a wraparound attempt means that someone was actually near the other team’s goal, a big step up, offensively, from some recent Devils teams I can think of.
Same here, but let’s be real.
Wow, it’s the end of an era. Sad, but to truly embrace the change I’ll second Schnookie’s suggestion and go with Chuck the Duck.
And belated congrats on your new coach! If he could take last year’s Panthers to 30 wins, imagine what he could do with a team with actual NHL players on it!
Same here, but let’s be real.
:^:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Please, Tim, it’s July. Now is the time for dreaming. Give me until game 2 of the season before I start learning Dutch curse words. :P
If he could take last year’s Panthers to 30 wins, imagine what he could do with a team with actual NHL players on it!
Heh. For much of last season, it seemed the Devils didn’t have any actual NHL players either. I mean, Brian Rolston? Colin White? I’m not sure this is an upgrade for DeBoer.
Maybe he’ll bring Clemmy back!
Maybe he’ll bring Clemmy back!
Tim, you’re fired. Can I fire you from someone else’s blog?
The only thing that could be worse is the return of Langer. Bleh.
I am SO pumped for the inevitable Age of Clemmy.
LA LA LA LA! ::sticks fingers in ears:: I refuse to listen to any talk of Clemmensen! REFUSE! (Sue you can definitely fire anyone for joking about him coming back. I’ll deputize anyone to do that.)
Well I never.
i’d rather matt and sherry on tv than gel-o and chico….but maybe it’s just me, it just seems that gel-o is trying too hard and needs to figure out how to relax and let the game get a certain flow and go with that
But but… Matt & Sherry are just so staid and professional. Gel-o plus Chico would bring levels of insanity to Devils games heretofore only seen on Flyers broadcasts.
Maybe he’ll bring Clemmy back!
Tim, you’re fired.
:^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: to all of you!
I’m also surprisingly okay with Doc retiring. Maybe Chico will be so despondent about Doc leaving that he’ll retire too?
Will Chuck the Duck get the announcing job now?
If that happens, you guys definitely need the intermission feature “Chuck the Duck Eats.”
Now is the time for dreaming. Give me until game 2 of the season before I start learning Dutch curse words.
Wow, I would have guessed you guys would be asking for the Dutch cussing tutorial after period 1 of game 1.
I forgot about Matt and Sherry since I rarely listen to radio telecasts although I caught a couple last season in the car. I liked them much better than Doc and Chico. I will not dignify the Clemmensen suggestion with a comment, except that DeBoer can’t be that big a fan since I remember seeing him pull Clemmy after approximately 2 minutes in a game against Buffalo. Damn it, I guess I dignified it with a comment after all!
If that happens, you guys definitely need the intermission feature “Chuck the Duck Eats.”
:^:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: That would be SO AWESOME! I was going to make some kind of joke about us being all, “Oh, not [food X] again!” but then I realized that I don’t really know what ducks eat. And that’s my story. (I guess we’ll find out this season!)
Damn it, I guess I dignified it with a comment after all!
:^:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
“Chuck the Duck Eats.”
This would be outstanding, as it would likely just be Chuck the Duck’s butt sticking out of the water.
the brian rolston era in NJ is now over…as far as the past three years were concerned i never had anything against him personallyl, it was always his 5 million dollars in annual cap space that was made his presence so regrettable
http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fireice/comments/devils_trade_left_wing_brian_rolston_to_islanders_for_trent_hunter/P25/
OMG OMG so much Winky-family breaking news! Winky’s older bro (heretofore referred to as Winky the Greater?) is going to be new head coach of the Baby Sabres, and Winky himself has been exiled to Draft Pick Island. But isn’t Trent Hunter like 400 years old?
…or 31 years old, same thing. But good Lord, he looks terrifying.
Rejoice! I had something against him – he sucked!
I don’t like Hunter either, but to get rid of Rolston, I’m cool with it!
Now Zach can be signed to a long term deal and Boxworthy can get his shell gold plated or whatever it is turtles do with lots of cash.
as far as the past three years were concerned i never had anything against him personally, it was always his 5 million dollars in annual cap space that was made his presence so regrettable
Exactly. Okay, what I had against him personally was that he totally blew, but more than that it was all about the cap hit. (I relented a lot about him last year when he was such a class act and a pro about the team basically declaring that they would do ANYTHING to get rid of him. Contrasting his handling of a crappy situation with Langer’s really threw into sharp relief that I wasn’t giving Rolston nearly enough credit.)
As for Trent Hunter, I honestly don’t care about him. I look at him and see $3M in cap space. Heh.
and Boxworthy can get his shell gold plated or whatever it is turtles do with lots of cash.
:^:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: He’s going to get an extra-fancy iron to press Zach’s newspaper every morning.
Contrasting his handling of a crappy situation with Langer’s really threw into sharp relief that I wasn’t giving Rolston nearly enough credit.)
I agree, to sum up I would boo Langenbrunner but not boo Rolston.
yeah, that is sorta what i was trying to say, i can’t say that rolston wasn’t giving his best efforts (unlike a few past devils we could name) just saying that he was no longer the $5 million dollar player that lou and some of us were expecting when he signed his contract 3 years ago…i can’t boo him, i actually wish him well and the big worry now is that lou signs parise to at least a 5 year deal before the arb hearing next wednesday
I agree, to sum up I would boo Langenbrunner but not boo Rolston.
That’s a very elegant way of putting it!
just saying that he was no longer the $5 million dollar player that lou and some of us were expecting when he signed his contract 3 years ago
Yeah, exactly. I think before the whole “Rolston handled being waived by coming back with a vengeance, and meanwhile Langer pouted the entire season after being asked to waive his NTC” thing last year made me stop holding Rolston’s contract against him personally. Prior to that, I may have been letting my opinion of his skills seep a bit into my opinion of him as a human being, but I take it back now. No hard feelings, Winky.
I agree, to sum up I would boo Langenbrunner but not boo Rolston.
Exactly. He actually handled a bad situation very well. He’s just not worth his contract anymore. Au revoir, Winky, just don’t decide to suddenly re-discover your scoring touch against NJ. Feel free to score against the Rangers.
On top of the $3 million this frees up, here’s another advantage to Hunter’s contract, if he really can’t play anymore, he can be sent down to the AHL and removed from the cap, since it’s not a 35+ contract.
I look at him and see $3M in cap space.
I wonder if it would be possible for Devils’ broadcasts to just show him as cap space on skates. What would that look like? A giant $3MM with skates and a NJ helmet?
What would that look like? A giant $3MM with skates and a NJ helmet?
:^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Or perhaps whatever Trent Hunter looks like can now be our visual shorthand for “$3 million on the hoof”.
R(
A giant $3MM with skates and a NJ helmet?
Three $1MM money bags stocked on top of each other snowman style wearing skates, a sweater and a helmet?
Ookies, when you originally found the cymbal dance picture, did you ever imagine you’d get this much use out of it?
Tim, :^:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Such a sad wink. I’m sure he’ll enjoy winking on the Island, though! That’s a place that needs a lot of winking to cheer it up.
Three $1MM money bags stocked on top of each other snowman style wearing skates, a sweater and a helmet?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I LOVE IT! (And the cymball dance picture has really gotten a ton of mileage for us. I honestly didn’t believe we’d ever have so much to celebrate in the Devils universe. Heh.)
I’m sure he’ll enjoy winking on the Island, though! That’s a place that needs a lot of winking to cheer it up.
Not if everyone in the world winked at the Island at the same time could it be cheered up. Not as long as Charles Wang is around.
You know what would do the trick? Bringing Yashin back. It’d be HYSTERICAL.
parise just signed a one year (only) deal for $6 million …not good IMHO :-((
parise just signed a one year (only) deal for $6 million …not good IMHO :-((
The idea is a multi-year deal will come later, but they didn’t have enough time to negotiate it before arbitration. Apparently it’s really hard to say “yes please” when someone offers you a bunch of money.
Yeah, I’m not seeing this one-year deal thing as a problem. It was going to be a one-year deal if they went to arbitration which I was expecting. I won’t sweat this until Jan 2nd and there’s no 15-year deal in place. :D