NEWARK, N.J. — The fourth time apparently was the charm for John MacLean.
A perennial candidate to lead the team he played for and coached as an assistant, MacLean was named the head coach of the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, replacing the retired Jacques Lemaire.
MacLean was considered for the head coaching position with the Devils on three other occasions but lost out to, in order, Claude Julien (2006), Brent Sutter (2007) and Lemaire (2009).
“It’s a little bit surreal, almost like draft day all over again, being a rookie head coach,” MacLean said. “I couldn’t think of a better place to have my first head coaching job.”
MacLean spent last season coaching the Devils’ American Hockey League affiliate in Lowell, Mass., and led the team to its only playoff appearance in four seasons.
• The St. Louis Blues acquired goalie Jaroslav Halak, whose play helped the Canadiens make a surprise run to the Eastern Conference finals, from Montreal for minor-league forwards Lars Eller and Ian Schultz.
• The Phoenix Coyotes re-signed defenseman Adrian Aucoin to a two-year contract.
Goodell: Preseason too long
NEW YORK — Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL no longer needs four preseason games, but the league should change its offseason training programs.
“It’s clear the fans don’t want four preseason games,” Goodell said. “It’s clear the players don’t want four preseason games. They tell me that all the time. . . . So we have to evolve just as we did a couple of decades ago, when we went from six preseason games to four.”
NFL and players’ union officials discussed adding two games to the regular season and subtracting two preseason games Wednesday.
Footnotes.
The Philadelphia 76ers traded center Samuel Dalembert to the Sacramento Kings for forward Andres Nocioni and center Spencer Hawes.
• John Daly shot a 4-under-par 66 in the first round of the Fort Smith (Ark.) Classic, his first Nationwide Tour event since 1991, and trails leader Nathan Smith by five strokes.
• Colm Moriarty and Martin Wiegele shot 5-under 66s to share a two-shot lead after the first round of the Saint-Omer Open in France.
• Southern California’s season- opening football game Sept. 2 against Hawaii will go on as scheduled after the NCAA’s Committee on Infractions delayed for one year the penalty that would have prevented the Trojans from playing a 13th game in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.
• The NCAA placed the University of San Francisco on probation for two years after more than a dozen athletes spent more than $13,000 in scholarship money to improperly buy textbooks.
• The Los Angeles Sparks said leading scorer (20.6) and rebounder (10.1) Candace Parker will miss the rest of the WNBA season because of a dislocated left shoulder.
• Robert Gesink won the 132.5- mile sixth stage of the Tour of Switzerland and claimed the race leader’s jersey, while Lance Armstrong finished fifth to move to seventh overall, 55 seconds behind Gesink.
