The Stanley Cup Final was just days from starting, and the Devils were where they often are at this time of year.

Without a coach.

The rumor mill was quiet, with the predictable list of names -- Ken Hitchcock, Marc Crawford, Kirk Muller, Mike Keenan, Craig MacTavish, to name some -- still floating around. But there was nothing in terms of news on that front.

The same could be said of the Zach Parise contract possibilities. May was about to turn to June and Parise was approaching restricted free agency.

Ken Hitchcock, believed in many circles to be the favorite for the coaching job after the second retirement of Jacques Lemaire, returned from coaching Canada at the IIHF world championships and told the New York Post he was more than interested.

"I'd like to get back into the NHL in a head (coaching) position," Hitchcock told the newspaper. "I haven't had any contacts. Nothing yet."

He said he had talked to people about working for general manager Lou Lamoriello and had gotten nothing but positive reports.

"Everybody knows the Devils and what they are," he said. "I've had long conversations with both (the late) Pat (Burns) and Jacques about working for Lou, and both had nothing but praise. People in the game, people whose opinions I respect, speak highly of him."

Center Travis Zajac, who played for Hitchcock in the worlds and saw similarities between Hitchcock and Lemaire, told North Jersey.com, "I honestly don't know what Lou is looking for or ownership is looking for, but I think he's a guy that could fit with the team. He was pretty good with the young guys there. We're going to be a young team with good skill with those young guys that are coming up and are going to be with the team for a while, so any coach we get next year is going to be a guy who is going to be around for a while and grow with this team."

SEASON HIGHLIGHT
The Devils were sitting at 10-29-2 after a loss at Philadelphia on Jan. 8, when they won six of their next seven to start a run of 23-3-2 that zoomed them from as far away as 27 points out of a playoff spot to as close as six. They still weren't scoring, but they were playing Lemaire's system, and Kovalchuk suddenly looked like a $100 million player.

TURNING POINT
This is a tough one to pinpoint because the Devils' playoff chances actually died twice, once before and once after the marvelous playoff bid. But a three-game winning streak through March 15 was followed by five losses in the next six games, and that basically was it.

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