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We’re finally starting to get some clarity regarding the New Jersey Devils’ coaching situation.
While they’ve yet to name a head coach, or rule out bringing back Alain Nasreddine, they appear to have narrowed down a shortlist of five candidates.
The cast of characters they’re looking at – for the most part – is underwhelming.
I’ve said countless times that hiring a coach, or even going this far into the process, without a GM or President of Hockey Ops involved is a huge mistake (here’s hoping Tom Fitzgerald is sticking around and has been a part of this).
An even bigger mistake would be giving somebody like Lindy Ruff another kick at the can. I’ll get into why in a bit as I rank the five candidates from 1-5 in order of preference.
1. Gerard Gallant
Gallant was one of my favored choices when examining the coaching market as a whole. In this group of five? He might be 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. I believe he is the top dog by a significant margin.
His teams in Florida were solid, his teams in Vegas were spectacular – in terms of results and the underlying process – and he seemed to be very well liked by his players. Many rushed to his defense when he was let go in Florida, and the same can be said after his surprising departure with the Golden Knights.
Gallant coaches an exciting, modern style of hockey. His teams play fast, forecheck hard, like to pressure opponents into mistakes, and they’re generally quick on the counter attack.
I think his style would mesh nicely with the Devils’ core of players and it’d be refreshing as heck to watch a Gallant coached team after sitting through nearly six or seven years of bland hockey.
2. Peter Laviolette
I feel uncomfortable putting the No. 2 beside Laviolette’s name – it’s much higher than I’d prefer in a search – but such is life when dealing with the Devils. They have a knack for disappointing.
Laviolette does have a solid track record. He almost always gets his teams into the playoffs, and they’re usually competent defensively. There’s certainly a ton of room for the Devils to improve in their own zone.
Unfortunately, there’s also a ton of room for improvement for the Devils’ transition game and in-zone attack. Laviolette is unlikely to be of much service in that regard.
A big knock on Laviolette during his tenure with the Predators was their inability to generate high-quality shots and/or their willingness to settle for low-danger opportunities. The graphs above suggest that had more to do with Laviolette’s system than a lack of quality personnel in Nashville.
Although Laviolette should probably be coaching in the NHL, I just don’t think the Devils are the right match. They’re not far along in their cycle and I don’t see him being the guy to bring out the best of their young core.
3. John Stevens
Stevens is a veteran coach whose teams are generally solid defensively. The list of positives end there.
Like Laviolette, his style doesn’t seem to bring out the best in offensive players. As a whole, his net impact may be a negative.
He’s served as the bench boss for just 95 (95!) regular season games since 2009-10, all of which came with the LA Kings.
His debut season as HC of the team went OK in that the Kings did make the playoffs. They didn’t do *any* damage and their underlying numbers tanked from what they were under Darryl Sutter prior.
The following year the Kings were slow out of the gate and Stevens was replaced as a result. That’s it. That’s his head coaching resume over the last decade.
It’s possible Stevens has picked up some new ideas or changed since then. Personally, I’m not overly optimistic we’ll see a drastically different guy at 54 from the one running a bench at 52.
I think Stevens would be a solid hire to run a defense, however, I don’t much care for him as a HC candidate. I’d much rather take a chance on some new blood with fresh ideas.
4. Alain Nasreddine (although I considered him for No. 3).
I know the Devils were a mess this season, with and without Nasreddine leading the charge. I know the Devils need to get much better defensively beyond personnel.
That said, I don’t think hiring Nasreddine would be the *worst* thing in the world; at least relative to the other options we have to choose from.
For one, he gave the team’s offensive players more rope to be creative and play with pace. I liked that, although they might well have given it all back – and then some – in the defensive zone. At least it was a more entertaining product (the bar is high these days!).
He has also been in charge of the PK for a while now and the Devils have played at a high-end level in that gamestate.
I am admittedly a little curious what he could do at 5v5 with a more competent group of blueliners. They wouldn’t exactly be the ‘03 Devils, however, I could live with average defense if they’re going to get good goaltending from Mackenzie Blackwood and actually try and play on the front foot offensively.
5. Lindy Ruff
I don’t think Ruff should be coaching at the NHL level anymore. His teams were (at times) an absolute embarrassment defensively during his time coaching the Dallas Stars. That eventually was his undoing there. He quickly was hired to run the defense of the New York Rangers, where he enjoyed zero success. They were horrendous in their own zone for the entirety of his time there. The numbers speak for themselves.
So Ruff, with more talent to work with, consistently coached defensive teams to the level we saw from the Devils this season. He’s also 60 years old and doesn’t have a relationship with the team’s players.
Ruff has coached in the 2nd round once since 2006-07 and his teams haven’t been able to defend a lick in the modern game. I don’t see any upside to hiring him.
If Gallant is a distant 1st, Ruff is a distant 5th.
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