The New Jersey Devils announced Tuesday evening, the team had fired head coach John Hynes and named Alain Nasreddine as interim head coach.
BREAKING: The #NJDevils have made a coaching changehttps://t.co/2NCVZlGezY
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) December 3, 2019
John Hynes Fired
Things got off to a rocky start for John Hynes and the New Jersey Devils this season. The tone was set early for the season after the Devils blew a 4-0 lead to the Winnipeg Jets on opening night back in October. The Devils sit in 30th place in the NHL standings with a record of 9-13-4. And just like what happened in Toronto with the Maple Leafs and Mike Babcock, the Devils needed a new voice. The players are not receiving the message anymore and tuning him out. The last straw came during Monday night’s 7-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Things had been turning over the weekend after the Devils 4-0 loss to the New York Rangers, but last night was it for general manager Ray Shero.
Hynes departs the Devils coaching the team to a record of 150-159-45 in 354 career regular-season games. That is a winning percentage of .487. Hynes was in the first year of a new multi-year contract he signed back in January of 2019. Now he departs after four-plus seasons with the team leading them to one Stanely Cup Playoffs appearance in 2018.
Alain Nasreddine Named Interim Coach
Along with removing Hynes from his duties, the Devils named Alain Nasreddine as interim head coach. He will be on the bench Tuesday night when the Devils take on the Vegas Golden Knights. Along with Nasreddine, general manager Ray Shero announced that pro scout Peter Horachek will join the coaching staff to go along with existing assistants Rick Kowalsky, Mike Grier and goaltending coach, Roland Melanson.
What’s Next
The Devils had put the pieces in place to be a competitive team this season. However, things have not gone according to plan. The Devils are hoping with a new voice in the locker room, the players will respond accordingly on the ice. The Devils have been too inconsistent this season under Hynes’s watch. They rank near the bottom or at the bottom of every statistical category.
For the Devils, things might not change right away against the Golden Knights, but with two days off in between before their next game against the Chicago Blackhawks, the staff has time to work on a new scheme. One thing is for sure, things cannot get any worse. Sometimes all it takes is a new voice with a similar message to get the players motivated to play a certain way. Now like in Toronto, it falls on the players to perform.
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