Jacque Lemaire is hangin’em up after being part of 11 Stanley Cup championships (eight as a player, two as an assistant, and one as a head coach). With the Philadelphia Flyers exposing the NJ Devils as less devils and more familiars (if you get this reference, adjust your frock and return directly to your parents’ basement; it’s your turn in whatever role-playing game your currently in the midst of), the longtime defensively minded coach decided that, like the rest of us, he couldn’t stand watching one more period of the neutral zone trap.
Many will herald this day as the day the trap died, but they should brace themselves for the oncoming disappointment—it’s going to be around a while.
The fact of the matter is that all teams embrace some form of the trap. Most don’t do it for 60 goddamn minutes, but surely you’d be splitting your larynx with shouts for your coaches’ head if he didn’t send his centers up and sag four in the middle of the ice with a lead late in a 2-1 game. That’s just how it is.
Now, I have every reason to be miffed at Lemaire right along with Devils fans. Our reasons are different—their season is over, whereas my prediction of NJ over Philly just looks silly—but I don’t plan to harp on a sixty-four year old man at this moment. Sure, some (Devils fans) complain that Lemaire's once notable ability to bring along young players has waned. Others (Wild fans) say his loyalty to his style often stifled the open-ice abilities of say, guys like Marian Gaborik, but let’s focus on the positive.
By the early 2000s, Lemaire-inspired copycats had slowed the game to a nauseating grind. Then came the ’04-05 lockout. The NHL found itself in worse shape than Grimace after a depression-fueled fry binge. The league was finally forced to do something to improve the game. Thereupon, the two-line pass was interred into the annals of history. By exploiting the limiting nature of the red line, a flaw in the design was exposed and (eventually) remedied. For that, Jacque, we thank you.
Many will herald this day as the day the trap died, but they should brace themselves for the oncoming disappointment—it’s going to be around a while.
The fact of the matter is that all teams embrace some form of the trap. Most don’t do it for 60 goddamn minutes, but surely you’d be splitting your larynx with shouts for your coaches’ head if he didn’t send his centers up and sag four in the middle of the ice with a lead late in a 2-1 game. That’s just how it is.
Now, I have every reason to be miffed at Lemaire right along with Devils fans. Our reasons are different—their season is over, whereas my prediction of NJ over Philly just looks silly—but I don’t plan to harp on a sixty-four year old man at this moment. Sure, some (Devils fans) complain that Lemaire's once notable ability to bring along young players has waned. Others (Wild fans) say his loyalty to his style often stifled the open-ice abilities of say, guys like Marian Gaborik, but let’s focus on the positive.
By the early 2000s, Lemaire-inspired copycats had slowed the game to a nauseating grind. Then came the ’04-05 lockout. The NHL found itself in worse shape than Grimace after a depression-fueled fry binge. The league was finally forced to do something to improve the game. Thereupon, the two-line pass was interred into the annals of history. By exploiting the limiting nature of the red line, a flaw in the design was exposed and (eventually) remedied. For that, Jacque, we thank you.
Styles aside, the man could coach (excepting the first round of the playoffs the past few years), and, at the very least, all can agree that he impacted the game whilst sharing a part in more Stanley Cups than Matt Duchene can probably remember.
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