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Hockey guy backstabs second coach in 8 years
Posted by Fired Fred on April 3, 2007 5:19 PM
First place and a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs should be enough reason to keep a coach. Not the New Jersey Devils. Their general manager, Lou Lamoriello, punked coach Claude Julien just as the regular season was hitting its final week...
"He must have done something to [tick] Lou off," one longtime NHL talent assessor familiar with the New Jersey organization said in the wake of Monday's shocking news.'Unnamed capacity' usually means emptying trashcans and sorting mail for people who haven't been fired.
Lamoriello insisted there has never been any rancor between him and Julien, and indeed Julien will remain with the organization in some unnamed capacity.
It's not the first time Unsweet Lou has given a coach the Ides of March treatment. He did the same thing to Robbie Ftorek in 2000 as the season was ending. When he did that, the Devils won the Stanley Cup with their new coach.
That would kind of suck for Claude. Work all season long just to see your boss step into your job at the finish and maybe get credit for winning it all, while people make fun of you and snicker behind your back.
No wonder Claude wasn't available for comment. No one would be able to publish the assorted obscenities and murder fantasies he'd be likely to spout into reporters' microphones.