Sutter

Following a wait that was bordering on the NHL version of Brett Favre’s retirement watch, Brent Sutter finally resigned as head coach of the New Jersey Devils today. Sutter cited his junior team in Red Deer, Alberta, and family matters as his reasons.

The hot rumor for the last couple weeks, of course, has Sutter becoming the new head coach in Calgary, where his brother Darryl is the general manager. But right now, Brent Sutter says he has no immediate plans to take over the Flames. Any contact the Flames would make with Sutter requires the permission of Devils czar Lou Lamoriello, who still has Sutter under contract for one year.

In two seasons against New Jersey with Sutter behind the bench, the Bruins were 3-2-3. But the bigger effect this could have on the Bruins-Devils rivalry that heated up again this season can be found in Star-Ledger reporter Rich Chere’s story on the Devils’ situation. In regard to possible replacements for Sutter, Chere writes: “Assistant coach John MacLean is one candidate. So, apparently, is former Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, who left the Minnesota Wild. Lemaire turned down an offer as a consultant with the Tampa Bay Lightning, revealing that he was talking to another team.”

Tell me you didn’t just grab your hair when reading about Lemaire. Finally thrown out in Minnesota, Lemaire and his “masters of the trap” could be coming back to the Eastern Conference. What a pity that would be. The Devils the last two seasons managed to maintain a high caliber of play while adding some offensive excitement to their game. Now they could revert back to the bad old days. That’d put a damper on the four Bruins-Devils tilt in 2009-10. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen — for the good of the Bruins, their fans and the NHL as a whole.