Tuesday, May 8, 2007

The Cop back on the Beat?

1) The 'Cop' refers to former NHL head coach Pat Burns. He has been more evident the past couple of months. Appearing as a guest during hockey intermissions both on Canadian as well as U.S. television broadcasts giving his expert analysis. Usually when his current employer, the N.J. Devils are playing. His current position is of 'advance scout'. Ostensibly to scout teams the Devils will soon face. He still doesn't travel too much but in the eastern Conference that's usually not much of a problem with the unbalanced schedule. teams usually leaving the eastern time zone only once a season
2) During a recent intermission interview with a Hockey Night in Canada broadcast Burns was directly asked if he planned to return to the coaching ranks. While he didn't give a firm yes, it seemed clear that if given clearance from his oncologists and of course his family, he'd love to return to his true passion, coaching. He side stepped where he'd like to go if given a chance. At There are no vacancies, yet, and very few/no former coaches are going to criticize any of their colleagues who are still in there he wouldn't commit to a destination.
3) We are told that Lamarello is feeling he may have erred in his brash decision to fire (reassign) his head coach only a mere weeks prior to the post season. Lou thought(incorrectly) that Burns would be ready NOW to take over. Pat was forced to decline the offer, not yet having medical/family clearance to undergo the rigors of a Cup run, and Lou was again forced to go behind the bench to try to guide the team to another Cup. This time not successfully. Therefore the job is still Burns' to take. We should know by the draft whether the 'cop' is ready top resume his beat. As one of the 'good guys' of the league all of us at The FAUXRUMORS Group, LLC, are wishing Pat the best!

7 comments:

Jibblescribbits said...

Interesting tha Lamoriilo made his decision before he was sure that Burns could take over. Seems like it is something important enough that you would double or triple check on before you actually go through with it.

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Lou was going to can Julian whether Burns would/could take the job, but of course would have preferred Pat to take the reigns.
2) Evidently he must have misread what Burns may have been telling him of his ability/aspirations to return to action. Too bad, as we believe that a healthy Pat Burns does a better job than John McClean (Lamarello was a figure head, leaving the XX-OO's to JM)

Jibblescribbits said...

Well I can't disagree with that. Other than Playfair, I think the Devils were the most poorly coached team this playoffs

VLAD THE IMPALER said...

The Devils got no goaltending from Brodeur. Emery wasn't great, but was better. Blame coaching all day, but in the end its the guy between the pipes that either makes the coach look like a genius or a baffoon

Shuck-A-Luck said...

"Lou thought(incorrectly) that Burns would be ready NOW to take over."

You imply that Lou fired Julian before he had a replacement plan. This is not an accurate interpretation of things. Perhaps Lou did want Burns to take over, but he clearly would have known that wasn't a possibility and perhaps decided to get rid of Julian anyways. Lou, along with most other GM's are not quick to make decisions like this. Perhaps it seems like a knee jerk reaction, but it is surely something that Lou would have made a phone call or two about prior to doing it.

You can debate the decision all you want. We will never know if the Devils got further than they might have with Julian, or if Julian might have had some magic to take the Devils further.

But to state that Lou fired Julian expecting Burns to take over is simply an unreasonable assumption.

FAUX RUMORS said...

1) Welcome back Shuck. hadn't seen ya in a few days.
2) We never said that Lou "expected" Burns to take over. Lou was going to fire Julian regardless. However he very much would have preferred that scenario over the one he had to employ; Using McClean as the defacto head coach
3) Perhaps the decision to fire Julian wasn't impulsive, however we're told that Lamarello didn't want to potentially 'show his cards' and reveal his intentions by discussing this with anyone within the organization other than the team's ownership
4) As such, he didn't contact Burns until the decision to fire Julian was already in motion, and while he expressed great interest, had to decline for reasons other than the desire for the job.
5) We have to tell ya getting that much background from a club like the Devils is VERY tough! They run as tight a ship as there is!

Seth Levin said...

Perhaps you can learn how to spell John MacLean. It might make you sound more reputable.

 
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