Brent, you definitely have your work cut out this upcoming season. Not only are you the new head coach of the New Jersey Devils, but you have the honor to start the season on a nine game road trip spanning three weeks. Not the fun kind.
I mean Sutter, did you miss the boat? We were building a new arena over in Newark while you were coaching in Canada.  Even though you were across the border, please pay attention to your neighbors. Thanks.
The Prudential Center, gosh I like those corporate sponsors, will open up late October for the first Devils home game.
Can you believe a company, Prudential Financial in this case, would just dish out $100 million dollars for the right to a name on an arena?
Ha, gets me every time.  I forgot to say Prudential Center only gave us 100 million reasons to keep them over 20 years, so $5 million dollars a year is not as bad as it seems.
The Prudential Center will have to wait a while for the Devils to return home from a nine-game road trip covering thousands of miles (at least it’s along the east coast including Canada) while they play three straight weeks on the road.  At least four of the games are against teams with losing records last season (Panthers 2x, Flyers, and Islanders). The slight problem remains in the other six games, all against playoff teams, including the Lightning, Penguins, Rangers, Thrashers, and Ottawa Senators who embarrassed us with their speed and skill in the 2006-07 quarterfinals (4-1).
Don’t expect this kind of road trip to occur in the future.  The league was asked by the Devils management to schedule around the construction of the Rock, nicknamed for the Prudential Center.
Sutter, if you have yet to appreciate the difficulty and responsibility at stake here, let me press the refresh button on your memory card. From short-lived Devils coaches and 3/4 month road trip specials to losing potential key players (next edition for the Sutter Special), at least you will have the chance to enjoy the sun down in Florida for a few days while the Devils play the Panthers and Lightning.
Maybe, you should run away while you are down there, the New York media will naturally embellish some story, and we can go back to having Lou coach again. Alright, horrible idea but I think it is a point well taken.
Sutter, you are a great guy and have just taken upon yourself the most difficult responsibility of your life. I mean, excluding marriage and bearing children, coaching the Devils is a close third. I am speaking from experience, of course. By the way, I am not married nor do I have kids. Both of those options are planned for the future and I will definitely keep you posted.
If everyone did not realize on the Devils Home Page since it is still off-season, Mr. Sutter and his family were cordially invited by the Devils organization to tour the Prudential Center this past weekend. By the expression on Sutter’s face, I could only imagine what he was thinking. Hopefully, it was not why I am here. Rather, this is my building- I will do what it takes, prepare the troops for battle, and bring home Lord Stanley’s prized possession come June 2008.
However, we can only envision the ramifications of failure to succeed in this situation. Just look at poor old Claude Julien whose teams’ 102 points last season found him a spot on the docks fishing or on the golf course teeing off merely a few days prior to the playoffs. The bottom line is- Sutter, live up to the task at hand or you are going to regret passing over the border into New Jersey. As you can tell, Lou Lamoriello and the gang do not take losing very easily.
 

• ‹ previous
• 5 of 430
• next ›