October 29, 2010, Ilya Kovalchuk-New Jersey Devils column with notes for HockeyPrimeTime.com

MacLean-Kovy spat puts Devils to the test

Atlantic

Written by Denis Gorman

Friday, October 29, 2010 12:00

Benching Ilya Kovalchuk is the kind of turning point that could define the Devils' season (and end a coach's career). John MacLean's decision may ultimately work out but the results have yet to come. The coach of the presumptive preseason Stanley Cup favorite may have defined his reign, and may have mapped the course of a season, with one controversial decision Saturday night. First-year Devils head coach John MacLean scratched Ilya Kovalchuk before their team was steamrolled 6-1 by the Buffalo Sabres at the Prudential Center. According to reports, Kovalchuk had participated in the Devils’ early skate at the Prudential Center Saturday morning and was on the ice during the pregame warm-up. AROUND THE ATLANTIC MacLean decided to sit Kovalchuk around “mid-day,” but at first would not go into detail why. The newspaper reported Sunday that MacLean may have scratched Kovalchuk, signed by the organization to a 15-year, $100 million contract in September, for being late to a team meeting Saturday morning. The New York Post reported in Wednesday's edition that Kovalchuk was 10 minutes late for the team meeting. On Saturday night, MacLean wouldn't say whether or not Kovalchuk would play the next night against the Rangers in Manhattan. Kovalchuk was not available to reporters after the loss. It was with this backdrop, with more questions than answers, that the Devils crossed the river from New Jersey into New York City. Two hours before the rivals met for the first time this season, Kovalchuk and MacLean individually met a swarm of reporters outside the Devils’ dressing room. Both announced that Kovalchuk was in the lineup, then did their best to quell the uncomfortable inquiries. “It was his decision to give me a little rest and that’s it,” Kovalchuk said Sunday afternoon. “It’s his decision and it’s going to stay between me and him. I’m just going to show up and play. “I like to play but it’s his decision and I have no comments.” After Kovalchuk spoke, MacLean told the assembled media that “the issue is over” and that it was “a new day.” Down the hallway, the Rangers were feeling good after consecutive road wins over Toronto and Boston, and the individual players were steadfast in their belief that they were coming together as a group. Historically, it was the Rangers that were embroiled in soap operas while the Devils were concerned about nothing but hockey and how to win championships. The irony was not lost on anyone outside the visitors’ dressing room questioning Kovalchuk and MacLean. The Devils then went out and spent most of the evening being dominated in a 3-1 defeat. A loss in San Jose on Wednesday dropped them to 2-7-1 – the worst start in franchise history since 1983-84 – and dropped them dead last in the Atlantic Division and Eastern Conference. No team through Thursday had fewer points in the standings than the Devils' 5. Ten games does not make an entire season. The 2009-10 New York Rangers started last season 7-1-0 and missed the playoffs by one point while Carolina never recovered from a 2-5-2 mark in its first 10 games of last year. A better benchmark would be to examine where the Devils are, both in the standings and more importantly, as a team, after 20 games. What can be said with certainty is that the sun hasn't yet cracked the horizon of the dawn of a new Devils era. Blogs on Yahoo! Sports and The Hockey News separately asked if the benching was the first act of a morality play that concludes with John MacLean losing his job, while a Yahoo! Sports NHL columnist wondered what prompted MacLean’s decision and how Kovalchuk’s virtually unmovable contract portends for the Devils' future. Devils GM and President Lou Lamoriello told ESPN.com columnist Pierre LeBrun that “there's no thought whatsoever” about firing MacLean. “John has done an exceptional job. I have no issue with him. Our record certainly isn't what any of us like, but it has nothing to do with coaching,” Lamoriello said, adding that he was “totally supportive” of MacLean’s decision to scratch Kovalchuk. Coaches have very little power in professional sports outside limiting the amount of playing time granted an athlete. Some athletes accept the message, while others fight for what they believe in. When Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau took over for Glen Hanlon in 2007, one of his defining moments was loudly criticizing Alex Ovechkin for not performing a drill properly in a practice. Ovechkin listened to the criticism and then performed the drill to Boudreau’s satisfaction. The two have had a strong relationship since and Washington is among the NHL’s elite franchises. Contrast that with the negative working relationship Mark Messier and Roger Neilson had during the New York Rangers’ 34-39-11 playoff-less season of 1992-93, one seasonafter the Rangers won the Presidents’ Trophy but lost to Pittsburgh in the second round of the playoffs. Messier did not agree with Neilson’s style of play and would not support it. The coach retaliated by telling his teammates that Messier was not a leader. The war of wills left then-GM Neil Smith with no alternative but to fire Neilson on Jan. 4, 1993. Eighteen months and 11 nights later, the Rangers – captained by Messier – won their first Stanley Cup Championship since 1940. Whether MacLean keeps or loses his job will be determined by Kovalchuk’s long term reaction to the benching. Will he and MacLean build the kind of relationship that Boudreau and Ovechkin enjoy? Or will they be another Messier and Nielson? Notes Following their 3-1 win over the Devils Sunday night, Brandon Prust and Brandon Dubinsky separately touched on the themes of team support and hard work paying off for the Rangers. Prust told Metro Newspaper in New York City that “we’ve been sticking up for each other. It shows what kind of group this is. We’re a pretty tight-knit group. We don’t let anybody take knocks on any of our players. No matter who it is, we going to be there to back the guy up,” while Dubinsky said “hard work is contagious. When you see one of your teammates put his body on the line and doing the things necessary to win games, it makes you want to do it – whether it is a fight, a blocked shot, a hit or a goal. You just have to take those positive things and repeat them. Right now, to a man, that’s what we’ve been doing.” … A blog entry Tuesday on ESPNNewYork.com examining whether the Islanders would send rookie RW Nino Niederreiter back to WHL Portland after Wednesday’s match against Montreal. Niederreiter had a goal, an assist and eight penalty minutes in the eight games prior to game in Montreal. … With grinding right wing Arron Asham and center Jordan Staal soon to return to the lineup, the Penguins sent C Eric Tangradi and D Andrew Hutchinson to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Tangradi totaled two points in nine games, while Hutchinson had a point in five games. … Peter Laviolette ripped his team after the Flyers’ 2-1 loss in Columbus Monday night. “It's completely frustrating. We got exactly what we deserved. If you don't show up and compete, if you don't execute and play the game with energy and emotion, you're going to lose. All the time. That's what happened tonight,” the coach told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “There was no jam to our game. We played mindless hockey, without any energy, without any passion.” Twitter: @DenisGorman Photos by Getty Images

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