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The New Jersey Devils, struggling to contend in a clogged Eastern Conference a season after winning a playoff round last season, fired coach Lindy Ruff Monday, the team announced.
Travis Green, an assistant for Ruff and the former coach of the Vancouver Canucks, was named the club’s interim coach. The announcement was made by Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald, a day after New Jersey lost to the Los Angeles Kings, 5-1.
Green will start in his role at Tuesday’s morning skate in advance of a home game vs. the Florida Panthers. The remaining existing assistants — Ryan McGill, Chris Taylor, Sergei Brylin, and goaltending coach, Dave Rogalski — will all remain on staff.
“I hold our entire organization to the highest levels of accountability to focus on being a competitive team that expects to be a perennial playoff contender,” Fitzgerald said. “Unfortunately, we are not currently at that level, and I needed to make this decision.
“This was an extremely difficult conversation to have with Lindy based on the relationship that he and I have. He was the right coach to develop our young players on the ice, and above all else, he is a tremendous person.
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“Travis has key experience running benches at the junior, AHL and NHL levels and knows that there are no shortcuts to success. He is a high-demanding individual who is familiar with the group and excited about working to get us back on track.”
The Devils, with several young stars under long-term contracts, entered the season among the league’s more talked-about clubs. They topped 100 points last season and defeated the rival New York Rangers in the first round.
In the offseason, they acquired additional scoring punch in the form of winger Tyler Toffoli, and were clearly trying to build off the positive momentum around a club that hadn’t made the postseason, before last spring, since 2018.
But New Jersey has struggled defensively, after losing veterans Damon Severson and Ryan Graves in free agency last…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39654706/new-jersey-devils-fire-lindy-ruff-promote-travis-green
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Publish date : 2024-03-04 23:11:42
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