New Jersey Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello announced today that he was relieving Pete DeBoer of his NHL head coaching duties after three and a half seasons with the organization - marking the 19th such coaching change for the franchise under Lamoriello's watch.
DeBoer will, somewhat rightfully, take much of the blame for the team's recent run of poor play and inability to make the postseason for two, and now possibly three, years running.
But does Lamoriello himself deserve more of the blame? Should the GM, the man tasked with acquiring talent, building the roster and hiring the head coach, be held more accountable for the franchise's failings?
"This is not a good hockey team, no matter who's behind the bench. Poorly constructed, shortsighted and desperate," writes Greg Wyshynski of Yahoo! Sports. "Like a roster put together by someone looking for an immediate turnaround, lest new ownership wants to go in a different direction."
DeBoer, much like in his initial head coaching stint with the Florida Panthers, took over a team with a plethora of talent and succeeded early on, only to see much of that talent disperse and the tallies begin to fill up the "L" side of the score sheet.
This falls at the feet of Lamoriello.
He has handcuffed the team with poor free agent additions like Ryane Clowe, Michael Ryder, Damien Brunner, Anton Volchenkov and Henrik Tallinder.
He has lost players like Ilya Kovalchuk, Zach Parise, David Clarkson and Mark Fayne.
"The Devils also have had limited success at the draft table in recent years, which has put more pressure on Lamoriello to acquire via trades or sign veteran players to fill holes. With an average age of over 30, the Devils are the NHL's oldest team despite having a group of very young defensemen," writes Rich Chere of NJ.com.
A general manager once renowned for his shrewdness in personnel decisions and the strength of his drafting has become a soft mockery of what he once was.
"Sylvain Turgeon for Claude Lemieux? Brendan Morrison and Denis Pederson for Alex Mogilny? Jason Arnott for Zelepukin and Guerin? Flipping Arnott for Langenbrunner and Nieuwendyk? They gave and they got, and the results led to Stanley Cups," writes Wyshynksi.
This is simply no longer the case in New Jersey. Maybe the game has passed Lamoriello by - since the 2005 lockout the Devils have simply not been the same team.
Even their preferred playing style no longer fits the rules of the game.
If things continue in a similar fashion, ownership will be forced to take a long, hard look at the general manager, meaning Lamoriello may not be far behind DeBoer.
