Summary:
- The New Jersey Devils are expected to hire Maple Leafs’s former head coach, Sheldon Keefe.
- According to a close source to the franchise, the official announcement is expected this Thursday.
- Keefe spent more than four seasons in Toronto, making the playoffs each time.
According to a source close to the NHL‘s New Jersey Devils who spoke to The Associated Press, the club has decided to hire Sheldon Keefe as its new head coach.
The decision comes less than two weeks after Keefe was fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The official news is expected to be made official this Thursday.
The Devils have had a restless time searching for a new head coach in the last few years.
Keefe will be the team’s fifth coach since 2019 and its third head coach since March 2024, after the club fired Lindy Ruff at the end of the season and replaced him with interim coach Travis Green.
Still, the team missed the playoffs. Green left his position and went to coach the Ottawa Senators.
If the reports about Keefe’s hiring are confirmed today, he will score his second head-coaching job in the NHL at the end of more than four seasons with Toronto.
While he made the playoffs every time, he only managed to win a single series, determining the Leafs to look for a fresh coach and ultimately hire Stanley Cup winner Craig Berube.
The 43-year-old’s task will be to try to get the team back into the postseason after scoring the sixth-worst save percentage in the league and failing to overcome their issues after making it in the second round in 2023.
The New Jersey Devils record in the past season was 38-39-5, marking a drop of 31 points from last season.
Among the factors that contributed to the drop were a series of injuries including defenceman Dougie Hamilton’s torn pectoral muscle that dropped his game appearances to 20.
Defenceman Jonas Siegenthaler’s broken foot and concussion also forced him to miss official playtime, similar to star forward Jack Hughes who skipped 20 games.
The Devils also had to drop Michael McLeod this February after he was indicted in Canada on charges tied to a case of sexual assault in 2018.
Other issues that led to the team’s downfall were the inconsistencies in the goaltending abilities of Vitek Vanecek, Nico Daws, and Akira Schmid.
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