Devils Make Gutsy Move Firing Ftorek

A hockey team leading its conference with eight games left in the regular season might make several moves to shake itself from a slump.

Change lines. Change practice times. Change hotels on the road.

It does not, repeat, does not change coaches.

The New Jersey Devils did.

The Devils made one of the most stunning late-season moves in NHL history, firing coach Robbie Ftorek, who had a 88-49-19 record but apparently lacked the support and respect of his players. They promoted assistant Larry Robinson, who has a 122-161-45 career record.

Robinson’s first reaction?

“Oh, no. Uh, oh.”

Most first-place teams wouldn’t dare make what could be considered a panic move. But most first-place teams aren’t coming off three successive and embarrassing early round playoff eliminations, and most have won more than five of their previous 17 games.

General manager Lou Lamoriello clearly wasn’t convinced Ftorek could prevent another playoff upset.

“It would have been too late if I had waited any longer,” Lamoriello said.

But as surprising as the firing was, so was the hiring. Highly respected assistant coach Slava Fetisov, only two years removed from winning a Stanley Cup as a player with Detroit, was passed over for Robinson.

Lamoriello clearly felt Fetisov lacked the bench experience to take over a possible Stanley Cup finalist so late in the season. But Robinson flopped as the Los Angeles Kings’ coach, with a .441 winning percentage, one fifth-place finish and two sixth-place finishes in four seasons before being fired himself two years ago.

Robinson, a former star defenseman, agrees he was too soft on his players in Los Angeles. He contends he learned from his mistakes, but acknowledges he is unlikely to significantly alter his approach.

“I’m not going to change much,” he said. “When you have 95 points, you don’t change a lot.”

Lamoriello denies the Devils’ upcoming ownership change influenced the Ftorek firing. Still, the move might have signaled that Lamoriello was worried he might be fired himself if there was yet another playoff collapse.

A bit of history: Only two NHL teams have won the Stanley Cup after firing their coach during the season: the 1931-32 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1970-71 Montreal Canadiens. Neither move came so late in the season.

NO MORE QUESTIONS: If nothing else, the Tom Barrasso trade has made life easier for Ottawa Senators coach Jacques Martin.

No longer does Martin face daily questions about his starting goaltender.

“He’s the man,” Martin said.

But not an entirely changed man.

An agitated Barrasso, who guards his privacy as stubbornly as any player in the game, walked away from Ottawa reporters several days ago after being quizzed about the next day’s game against Toronto.

Earlier this season, Barrasso slashed the Maple Leafs’ Yanic Perreault, breaking his arm and causing him to miss 23 games. The Maple Leafs felt Barrasso, then with Pittsburgh, should have been suspended for more than four games.

Perreault got some revenge by scoring on Barrasso in their rematch, but the Senators won 3-2 behind Barrasso’s strong play.

QUINN’S SPIN: Despite an uncommon number of stick-related injuries and violations (Marty McSorley, Scott Niedermayer) that have injured players and hockey’s image, Wayne Gretzky thinks the NHL is doing an adequate job of policing itself.

Toronto Maple Leafs coach and general manager Pat Quinn’s spin: The Great One is greatly mistaken.

Quinn says stickwork hasn’t been controlled for several years, and is only getting worse as young players watch and imitate the NHL, then incorporate the style into their own games.

“I am one who, for several years, has felt sticks were out of control,” he said. “I think something’s wrong at the grass-roots level. We’re getting kids who already have their sticks up, and who already don’t care.

“You’re bloody right it’s worse,” Quinn said. “I know it is.”

Despite the perceived increase in stick-related violence, commissioner Gary Bettman has no plans to make visors or face shields mandatory.

A shield probably would have prevented Bryan Berard’s serious eye injury.

“It has been a nonnegotiable point with the players association since I’ve been here, that the players are the ones, in their view, who have the final say with what they wear and don’t wear,” Bettman said.

ZUBOV BUCKS: Now that he has signed a $25 million, five-year contract, defenseman Sergei Zubov of the Dallas Stars might want to send a few bucks to Penguins owner Mario Lemieux to show his thanks.

After all, Lemieux might have indirectly led to Zubov’s windfall.

Zubov loved playing in the mid-1990s for the New York Rangers, in a culturally diverse city with a large Russian population that made him feel at home. But after being traded to Pittsburgh before the 1995-96 season, he felt detached from the community and, at times, his own teammates even as the Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference finals.

Lemieux, then the NHL’s best player, was a major reason why. He quickly came to dislike Zubov’s fondness for protecting the puck and frequent reluctance to shoot while playing the point on the power play.

As soon as Lemieux publicly expressed dissatisfaction with Zubov’s style, Penguins fans turned on Zubov, often booing him the instant he touched the puck. Management turned as well, dealing Zubov to Dallas as soon as the season ended.

Now, Zubov said, “I’m happy here, my family is happy here. This is where I would like to play the rest of my career.”

YASHIN AFFAIR: A hearing to decide if Ottawa Senators holdout Alexei Yashin will become a free agent or must play out the final year of his contract probably will be held in May.

Yashin contends he has finished his contract and can move on. The Senators argue he never honored the contract, so it should remain in force.

Arbitrator Lawrence Holden Jr. has made one ruling in the case, deciding the NHL Players Association cannot be held accountable for Yashin’s action and was under no obligation to force him to play.