One of the rarest accomplishments in sports was having your number retired by a team. Nowadays there are some questionable choices when it comes to finding players whose jersey will hang in the rafters. Some more than deserve the honor, others get it because their respective teams see it as a marketing ploy for an otherwise “very good” level player. A few seasons back we openly discussed if Marian Hossa deserved the honor from the Chicago Blackhawks.
Some teams have found a happy medium of another honor to give players, sort of like a team specific hall of fame. The New Jersey Devils are one such team with their “ring of honor”. Previous inductees for the team include original team owner who moved the team to New Jersey John J. McMullen, player turned coach for literally the only professional organization he ever knew in both capacity and three time Stanley Cup champion Sergei Brylin, and the coach responsible for their first cup win Jacques Lemaire. On Thursday it was announced John MacLean would be the fourth to be bestowed the honor.
MacLean was with the team through those lean year of the 1980’s. Before finally breaking through and winning a cup with the Devils in the 1995 season his greatest accomplishment was scoring the overtime goal that sent them to the playoffs for the first time in 1988. He was the franchise’s leading scorer before Patrik Elias, who has his number retired by the team, over took that honor. In some ways he was the perfect transition for the team from perennially being in the league basement to being a cup contender. He would become an assistant coach for the Devils 2003 championship, his second time getting his name on the cup.
The fact MacLean bounced around teams his last few years in the league isn’t why we think he doesn’t deserve the honor. MacLean became the team’s head coach for the 2010-2011 season before being fired that December as the team struggled greatly. His replacement, a returning Jacques Lemaire, nearly willed the team to overcome their bad start and make the playoffs. The next season first year head coach Peter DeBoer coached the team to the Stanley Cup final.
MacLean would become a broadcaster for the team before pursuing other coaching opportunities, recently serving as an assistant for the New York Islanders. Anyone can have a bad year coaching, but the team having success almost right after he left doesn’t help his case. Devils fans who remember his play from the 1980’s-1990’s say he deserves the honor. Fans who grew up remembering that underachieving 2010-2011 team might think differently. Even if the “good” he did with the team outweighs the “bad”, and it does by a lot, having that as a last impression does not help his case.
Either way the real winners here are the Devils owners. What would have been a mid-week game in late January against a non-conference opponent (the ceremony is slated to happen during the Devils January 27th game against the Winnipeg Jets) has now become a more sought out ticket. Those fans will also be lining up to buy all the commemorative merchandise available in the arena gift shops. If anyone in your family is a big John MacLean fan tickets to that game might make a great Christmas gift.