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The whispers had begun about a week ago that the New Jersey Devils locker
room was about to revolt against head coach Robbie Ftorek. Throughout the season
there had been small skirmishes, such as benching Ken Daneyko as he neared his 1,000th
game, or having the team bus take off without waiting even a matter of minutes for
players or staff.
However, the Devils kept winning and Ftorek's abrasive style
was tolerated.
But once the team stopped winning, Ftorek found himself out of a job as
the Devils fired him and replaced him with assistant coach Larry
Robinson, while Slava Fetisov remains an assistant.
This is another clear indication of general manager Lou Lamoriello's
clear message to his locker room that the Devils can win the Stanley Cup this spring.
Lamoriello recently acquired two players who don't seem to fit the New Jersey mold, Alexander Mogilny and
Vladimir Malakhov, but the Devils can certainly use their skills in their last run for the Cup under the present ownership and presumably the final year under Lamoreillo's reign.
The Devils have seen their 13-point lead over the Flyers dwindle to only
three, and there was no indication that Ftorek had learned any lessons from his previous
stint as a head coach in Los Angeles where he was also inflexible.
The end was in the process a few days before the embarrassing shutout
loss to Carolina, but that was likely the final straw. Lamoriello had gone out and
obtained the players to make a long run in the playoffs, and his team was fading well
before the playoffs even began.
It might look like a bizarre move to fire a coach from a first place team
with less than a dozen games left in the regular season, but if you look at the Devils
progress chart over the season, it was more a case of trying to change direction before the
team was again lost on the radar screen in the first round of the playoffs.
This Devils team is going into the playoffs
with mighty high expectations.
Al Morganti covers the NHL for ESPN.
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