Coaching news

Congratulations to Claude Julien, who yesterday was introduced as the new head coach of the New Jersey Devils. If he agrees to be a little more flexible in terms of playing his youngsters, he should enjoy a successful run with the Devils. However, if GM Lou Lamoriello gets fed up with Julien's coaching, expect him to get axed quickly to make room for John MacLean.

On the Canadiens' front, RDS is reporting that Kirk Muller has met with Guy Carbonneau about joining the Habs' coaching staff this coming season. Muller is currently coaching the Queen's University mens' hockey team, the Golden Gaels.

Other reports have suggested that former Canadiens head coach Mario Tremblay has asked his current club, the Minnesota Wild, to release him, leading to speculation he will be hired as the Habs' new assistant coach. If you ask me, bringing back Tremblay is nothing but trouble. While he has certainly gained experience in the shadows of Jacques Lemaire in Minnesota, Habs fans should never forget the way Tremblay mercilessly and selfishly drove Patrick Roy out of Montreal. Roy is grooming himself to be an executive in the NHL in the near future, and if amends are ever to be made between the former star goalie and the Canadiens organization, Tremblay should be far away from Montreal. I would much prefer to see Roy as the next general manager of the Canadiens than Tremblay getting a second chance to redeem himself for what was a completely disastrous and pathetic attempt at NHL coaching.

Update (1:18 P.M.): Throw former Habs and Stars defenseman Craig Ludwig into the mix. Carbo wants to make a decision before the draft, so expect the hiring to happen soon!

June update

As you are probably aware, Bob Gainey has re-signed Steve Bégin, Aaron Downey, Garth Murray, and Mark Streit to new contracts. In addition to those signings, the Habs' GM announced that Jan Bulis and Niklas Sundstrom are officially not returning to the club next season. Bulis has decided to test the market as an unrestricted free agent, while Sundstrom has signed a contract to play in Europe.

There is speculation that if Gainey is able to retain Cristobal Huet, he may decide to keep the French goaltender and Swiss goalie David Aebischer next season. While that would make for a great tandem - one of the best in the NHL - I don't see it happening for two reasons. One is that Aebischer has stated his intent to be a #1 goalie, one who plays around 50 or 60 games, which is something he won't get if he is sharing the Habs' goaltending duties with Huet. The second reason is that Gainey is trying to improve his team at the forward position, either through a trade or free agency. Having a player of Aebischer's value would really help Gainey realize that goal; for example, the Tampa Bay Lightning are supposedly very interested in Aebischer, and we all know what kind of forwards the Lightning have.

Finally, Don Cherry made one of the most intelligent comments of his career during CBC's telecast of Game 1 Monday night when he talked about the new delay of game rule instituted in the NHL this year. Currently, if a player shoots a puck over the glass from his own defensive zone, he will get a minor penalty for delay of game regardless of if the play was accidental or intentional. The rule is both ridiculous and completely ineffective, and Cherry proposed a solution which is both intelligent and feasible. He said that rather than getting a penalty for shooting the puck over the glass, the team that does it should just not be allowed to change lines, as is the case with icing right now. Don, I don't know where you came up with that in your crazy little head but I'm glad something good has finally come out of it!

As for the Oilers, the situation is looking pretty dire without Dwayne Roloson, but they have enough character to get over his injury. It would be a shame for the Hurricanes to win the Cup under these circumstances, because they really don't deserve to be where they are after getting way too many lucky breaks their way.