Can't stop watching New Jersey having devil of a time

Think of the kind of fascination people have for rubbernecking around car wrecks. It's not necessarily schadenfreude, but when disasters happen in front of you, well, it's just hard to look away.
And so it is with the New Jersey Devils, who not long ago were widely hailed as a model organization under the direction of general manager Lou Lamoriello. Today, that's the last term anyone would use to describe the Devils, or for that matter, Lamoriello's handling of them.
See, the Devils are heading toward the New Year with their season's fate already miserably sealed. And yet, perversely for a team that has the inside track on last place, that's exactly what makes it one of the league's most intriguing outfits at the moment.

Ilya Kovalchuk is starting to show signs of frustration. (Getty Images)

Until now, the Devils managed to keep everyone's attention because a season that showed signs of an impending disaster last summer actually lived up to the ill-fated promise. The debacle surrounding the lifetime signing of Ilya Kovalchuk was a harbinger of things to come, and if it wasn't obvious then or when the team hadn't properly solved the salary cap problems it caused by opening night, it all became clear the day before the Christmas break.
That's when the Devils brought in a new coach -- actually a former coach who retired early from his second stint with the team after an embarrassing first-round playoff exit last spring.
Remember, New Jersey won the Atlantic Division under 65-year-old Jacques Lemaire last season, but collapsed in the playoffs against the Flyers amid reports of tension in the dressing room and the coach decided to beg out of his contract's final year.
Now Lemaire has been coaxed back on an interim basis by Lamoriello after the GM came to terms that rookie coach John MacLean, a longtime organizational loyalist who starred several years as a player with the team, being in over his head.
Or at least, when Lamoriello realized MacLean couldn't succeed with the tools he had.
Lamoriello provided those tools to him and four others who have coached New Jersey since the lockout, while at the same time mismanaging the cap. In other words, this is on Lamoriello more than anyone else. The Devils GM has skirted payroll problems since the lockout with some sleight-of-hand moves that saw him get rid of expensive dead weights Alexander Mogilny and Vladimir Malakhov. But for all his efforts, New Jersey has followed some very good regular seasons with major disappointments in the playoffs.
The Devils haven't even been to the second round in three seasons, and now they are looking at their first early summer vacation since 1996.
So naturally that means the Devils are worth watching because of the potential impact they will have on the rest of the league as they try to recalibrate things.
Already, the contending vultures are circling New Jersey, looking for the players who could benefit them down the stretch. But that could help the Devils, an organization that has very little in its own pipeline, get back on track too.
That's where Lemaire comes in. The fact that New Jersey hasn't been mathematically eliminated from the playoffs is irrelevant, even if there are 47 games left, because the Devils have to climb over six teams and close a 22-point gap to reach the eighth spot. But as New Jersey's best player, Zach Parise, realized after scoring a stunning last-minute goal in the Olympic gold medal game, miracles on ice don't happen very often.
Not with a team that has the NHL's worst offense -- in no small part because their $100 million man Kovalchuk has only eight goals. Not with a defense that struggles in its own end and lacks the puck mover that is so crucial in today's game. Most importantly, not with a Hall of Fame goalie in Martin Brodeur who, at 38, is looking more his age with each passing game.
So Lemaire is going to be doing triage and giving Lamoriello another set of eyes and ears before the inevitable, and likely difficult, changes start coming. The Devils don't have many options because some players are overpaid, and the most attractive ones -- like captain Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac -- are worth keeping, but a shakeup along the lines of what the Flyers did in 2006, when they threw in the towel early and moved veteran assets for future ones, has to be explored.
Philadelphia reached the conference final the following season and the Stanley Cup Final last spring after being in no better shape back then than the Devils are now.
Besides, New Jersey has to find a way to re-sign Parise. He's out until April after having his knee scoped and becomes a restricted free agent after the season. The Devils would have the option of matching any offer Parise might get, but whether they would be able to do so given their current cap issues is yet to be known. How much interest the genuine franchise-type 27 year old might draw is an open question.
Yes, fun times are ahead in New Jersey.
Stay tuned. But keep your eyes on the road.

extracted from cbssports.com