The New Jersey Devils are set to name New York Rangers assistant coach Lindy Ruff the team’s new head coach.
According to NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes, the New Jersey Devils will be naming Lindy Ruff as their new head coach.
Ruff will be leaving his post as an assistant coach for the New York Rangers as he plans to take over in New Jersey.
The Devils fired head coach John Hynes, who had served in that role since 2015, in December, and Ruff will be relieving interim coach Alain Nasreddine. The Devils had many options to choose from and were likely attracted to Ruff’s coaching experience.
He has previously served as an assistant coach for the Florida Panthers as well as the head coach of the Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars before joining the Rangers in 2017.
He won the Jack Adams Award for Coach of the Year in 2006 with Buffalo. He was also an assistant coach for the 2014 Canadian Olympic hockey team. The Devils have had their fair share of struggles in recent years.
They haven’t won a playoff series since 2012 and finished this season as the worst team in the Metropolitan Division. As a result, they weren’t invited to participate in the NHL’s Return to Play plan.
Ruff’s Sabres made eight playoff appearances during his time in Buffalo and in 2014, helped lead the Stars to their first ever playoff appearance since 2008. As for the Rangers, it remains unclear whether Ruff will remain a part of the coaching staff when the team resumes play in August.