The New Jersey Devils the End of an Era?

There was much hype for the New Jersey Devils entering this season after the summer that revolved around sniper Ilya Kovalchuck. First the Devils signed Kovalchuck to a 17 year $102 million dollar contract which the NHL immediately rejected and an independent arbiter upheld the leagues decision. After weeks of will they or won't they, the Devils and Kovalchuck agreed to a 15 year $100 million dollar contract(hardly a drop off from the original deal). Fast Forward to today, 29 games into the season and the Devils are a measly 8-19-2 with 18 points and currently sitting in 29th place. The 100 million dollar man is on pace for 14 goals which would be a career low for the Russian sniper.

Who's to blame for this debacle? The fingers could be pointed towards General Manager Lou Lamoriello who was the architect of the 1995,2000, and 2003 Stanley Cup winning teams or could first year head coach John Maclean be to blame, or owner Jeff Vanderbeek who is rumored to have tried to sell the team the Nets owner and Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov. To me it is the perfect storm of all of those things. While Maclean paid his dues and coached the Devils farm team last year, in my opinion was not quite ready to make the jump to the big club. I think Lou in part hired Johnny Mac now because had he passed over him again I do not think he would have gotten the third chance to hire him. The Devils needed a coach who is stern task master similar to the late Pat Burns. Unfortunately for me and other Devils fans I think we might be seeing our beloved team miss the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons which was the 2nd longest post season appearance streak in the NHL behind Detroit and their 19 year streak.