New Jersey Devils To Name John MacLean Coach Today

The first big question for the New Jersey Devils off-season appears to have been answered, as John MacLean will be named head coach at a 2 pm press conference later today.

Personally, I find it to be a little bit surprising only in that if MacLean truly was the guy that the Devils wanted, what took so long for it to happen?  Sure, I would think that GM Lou Lamoriello would need to do his due diligence on other potential candidates, but what took so long?

MacLean certainly has the resume to be the Devils coach, having served seven years behind the Devils bench as the assistant coach and spending this past season gaining head coaching experience with the Devils AHL affiliate in Lowell.  He guided Lowell to a 39-31-4-6 record this past year, and by all accounts, a lot of the players loved playing for MacLean at Lowell.  He also brought the Devils AHL team back to the playoffs after a long absence.

However, that doesn't mean there aren't questions surrounding MacLean's appointment. 

First off—MacLean played alongside guys like Martin Brodeur, Patrik Elias, Jay Pandolfo, Brian Rolston and Jamie Langenbrunner at different points in his career.  How will this impact the relationship between head coach and player?

Remember, this locker room has its question marks in the past, even at times allegedly "running the asylum," with past coaches like Claude Julien, Larry Robinson and Jacques Lemaire (last year) suffering the fallout from not getting the respect a head coach needs to install discipline.  Will MacLean be able to maintain the respect he will need in difficult times?  Will he keep the respect of his players in any potential moments a player or players might disagree with him?  Only time can tell that answer.

Another thing to consider is will this have an impact on pending free agents Ilya Kovalchuk and Paul Martin?  I can't imagine Kovalchuk has much of any relationship with MacLean, so I'm not sure if it will have a positive impact.  He seemed to enjoy learning from Jacques Lemaire, so it is possible Lemaire's departure could dissuade Kovalchuk from returning.  Hopefully, MacLean will have a conversation with Kovalchuk to discuss philosophy and appease any concerns that Kovalchuk could have.

As for Paul Martin, I would think he would have a real good understanding as far as what John MacLean represents as a coach and as a person, having had him behind the Devils bench as an assistant coach for his entire career up until this past season.  By most counts, MacLean is known as a players' type coach, so you would think it should have a postive impact on potentially seeing Paul Martin return to the Devils.

While there certainly is no perfect candidate, it is good to see MacLean get a job he certainly appeared to be groomed for for a number of years now.  Ideally, I think Lamoriello's plan was to have Jacques Lemaire stay on one more season and allow MacLean to garner an extra year of experience as head coach in the AHL level, but sometimes plans are forced to change.  As such, MacLean has been advanced to the top job as head coach with the big club.

It also should be interesting to see if MacLean is given an assistant coach who might have NHL head coaching experience to lean on, but that should come about in the coming days, if not later today at the press conference.  It also remains to be seen who will replace MacLean in Albany (the Devils' AHL affiliate has moved from Lowell to Albany).

The final question is: Does MacLean being named Head Coach open up more possibilities for some of the youngsters that MacLean coached at Lowell?  Will guys like Patrick Davis, Nick Palmieri, Matthew Corrente and Tyler Eckford be more likely to have a role on the NHL roster this year because of MacLean's being named Head Coach.

Overall, I think it is an interesting selection to name John MacLean as head coach of the New Jersey Devils, and if the Devils allow him to grow, this could potentially be the long-term fit they need.  After all, you have to think after doing a search for a new Head Coach three out of the last four years that they would like some stability in the position.  MacLean definitely offers that possibility, now it's just a matter of geting the job done and overcoming some of the questions I have raised here, as well as all other potential obstacles an NHL coach might face.