The Rookies

Ackbar would've been a better choice.

…Lou Lamoriello comes up with this brilliant coaching move.

He looks angry.

For the hockey uninitiated out there who don’t know what the “trap” is, suffice to say it’s been one of the main reasonsyou haven’t watched hockey on a regular basis in the past decade and a half.

I will now turn to that compendium of human knowlege so beloved to high school teachers and college professors everywhere, Wikipedia: “The neutral zone trap is a defensive strategy used in ice hockey to prevent an opposing team from proceeding through the neutral zone (the area between the blue lines) to force turnovers. The strategy is generally used to level the playing field for teams that are not as offensively talented as their opponent, though the trap can also be used by teams simply looking to protect a lead late in the game.”

To be sure, Lemaire was decidedly successful with this strategy the first time around, leading the Devils to the Stanley Cup and establishing their ongoing status as perennial playoff contenders, though that may have had more to do with having a young Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens and Bobby Holik on his team. But as this strategy became prevalent in the league in the late ’90s and early 2000s, goal scoring went down and the NHL established a reputation as a boring, low-scoring league, which has a lot to do with its current status as the least popular of the Big Four sports leagues.

Obviously, it would be great if Lemaire could find a way to utilize the Devils’ proven goal scorers, such as Zach Parise, in his coaching style this time around but as Minnesota Wild fans and fans of Marian Gaborik will tell you, that’s not very likely.

Now, Lou Lamoriello does have a history of being able to keep his team in contention even in the midst of firing Claude Julien weeks before the 2007 playoffs and Martin Brodeur’s monthslong injury in ‘08-’09. But for any Devils fan who liked seeing Parise score 32 and 45 goals, respectively, the past two seasons, this has to be just a liiiiiiiiittle bit frustrating right now. Maybe not as frustrating as if the Dolphins abandoned the Wildcat for running back by committee or if the Suns tried to drop “Seven Seconds or Less” (oops, that actually happened) but frustrating nonetheless.

Of course, judging from what Puck Daddy is reporting, I could be completely wrong.