Devils GM fires Coach, and takes over

It is a day late for April fool's day but Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello decided to fire Coach Julien today. Apparently he is to take over as coach and take Julien's spot.

In an other surprising move, Lou Lamoriello makes the headlines. He did it in 2000 when he fired then coach Robbie Ftorek with eight games left that season, to replace him with Larry Robinson.

The Devils went on to win their second Stanley Cup that year.

The firing of Claude Julien (79GP-47W-24L-8OTL) is pretty similar to Ftorek's (74GP; 41W; 25L, 8T) in that the team had a successful year but slid toward the end. Claude Julien's team had a tough time during the month of March due to injuries to key players but still managed a 6-6-2 record. Perhaps that's the reason why Lou gave him the ax. He didn't like the slide even with injuries to the lineup.

Lou Lamoriello takes over for the second year in a row. He took over last year to replace Larry Robinson who resigned after struggling to adapt to the new rules. He was an impressive 32-14-4 behind the bench and took the Devils to the Atlantic Division title after finishing the season with an 11-game winning streak. He carried on in the playoffs where the Devils swept the Rangers, his team fell against the eventual Stanley Cup Champion, the Carolina Hurricanes.

Claude Julien was hired as head coach in June 2006. He has a 47-24-8 record in 79 games. The Devils are first in the Division and second in the East. They have 102 points and nothing could hint to such a firing.

That could leave the Door opened for Pat Burns next year.

This is not only a surprise but I am curious to hear some of Lou's explanations. You have to see how the players respond to this. Maybe they are no strangers to the decision.