Next Devils Coach Might Want to Learn He’s Hired

I’m not quite sure why the Devils have yet to pick a new coach but my gut feeling is that it can’t be a good thing. After last season’s coaching misfire, with rookie NHL head coach John MacLean destroying the season, followed by former coach Jacques Lemaire returning to his old job, almost managing to bring the Devils back into the playoffs and undo the MacLean damage, one would think GM Lou Lamoriello wants to pin down one of the more important positions in the organization sooner rather than later. Unrestricted free agent Zach Parise remains unsigned, but I can’t imagine there’s a coach the Devils could hire that would change (for better, or for worse) whatever’s going on with those negotiations. Given what a challenging situation the Devils are, both in terms of team composition and personalities, I imagine a new coach would want as much notice as possible in terms of starting the gig. You have the Parise ambiguity, not knowing if your team...