Due to his wife, The coach of the New Jersey Devils has officially announced his retirement

Due to his wife, The coach of the New Jersey Devils has officially announced his retirement

Lindy Ruff is the head coach of the New Jersey Devils in 2022–2023. The team this season has surpassed both teams’ winning percentages and point totals before the trade deadline, following two terrible seasons. Since Ruff has been the head coach, he is well-deserved to be commended for the remarkable improvement. Later this year, when the Jack Adams Trophy is decided, I’m sure there will be at least some discussion and votes for Ruff.

But one thing Ruff lacks is a stable future. Lindy Ruff was given a three-season contract by the Devils when they announced that they had hired him and removed General Manager Tom Fitzgerald’s interim tag. The third season is this one. Ruff is not longer in effect. The most recent report I could locate on that was this November NJ.com article by Ryan Novozinsky, unless I missed it. Fitzgerald said the following:

Fitzgerald declared, “I’m not going to discuss his contract with anybody.” “There is a reason Lindy is here. I gave a detailed explanation of those reasons to all of them right away, along with the reasons why we needed him to take on this role as coach given his background, his accomplishments in the past, Buffalo, and his younger players in Dallas, who had become explosive offensive players. He was the guy because of this. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing now.

I would like to think that the team’s record indicates that he was the right guy. However, after this season, his contract will expire. It’s not as though the Devils are opposed to in-season talks or extending managers who don’t have much success—this is an organization that awarded John Hynes an extension during the midst of a disappointing 2018–19 campaign. Ruff has not been extended, unless something occurs immediately before this post is published. This seems strange to me, considering how great this season is starting off. This prompts me to pose this crucial query: After this season, who should take over as head coach of the New Jersey Devils?

(Aside: Considering this query is a pleasant diversion from considering possible trades.)

Lindy Ruff, the incumbent, is in favor of: The simple response to the query is Lindy Ruff. Why not? Even though the first two seasons weren’t great, Ruff’s third season has been incredibly successful. It was hoped that the Devils would merely participate in a few key games in March and spend some time, if not permanently, in the postseason bubble. In actuality, the Devils might be able to secure home ice in their playoff first-round matchup. Not less than Against Our Hatred Rivals. The 2022–23 Devils have already surpassed the unsuccessful season of last year by 16 points as of this Wednesday. It might be more than twice as much by the end of the season.

There are a lot of encouraging indicators that suggest the Devils are a legitimate NHL team. At the team level, they have an amazing goal differential of +42, only behind Carolina. At 21-4-3, they have the best road record in hockey. They have easily won all of the road games that Eastern Conference teams have found challenging in the past, like trips through Western Canada or California. Their team’s 5-on-5 on-ice rates, as measured by Natural Stat Trick, have been excellent throughout the entire season, even with their January performances. They have top 5 percentages in Corsi, shots, expected goals, and actual goals.

In addition to deciding who plays with whom, coaches also determine who teams match players with and what plays they typically run. For this reason, coaching is crucial. With their combination of players who can score goals and their overall team speed, Ruff’s insistence on playing uptempo hockey fits the team like a well-fitting suit. If the defensemen just stuck to the point, they wouldn’t give players like Ryan Graves as many opportunities to play. Instead, they know when to activate. Devils forwards are free to take on opposition defenders and can apply pressure head-on. Jack Hughes is one such player. Except for the PK success rate, both 5-on-5 and special teams have improved since Alain Nasreddine and Mark Recchi were replaced by Ryan McGill and Andrew Brunette. Ruff has spearheaded the improvement in bench quality.

This appears simple at first glance. Ruff has been responsible for making the Devils a formidable opponent for the league, so why not continue to have him on staff?

Not in Favor: We would say the team is overachieving if this weren’t the New Jersey Devils and instead some other team. I hate to say it. Although the 5-on-5 stats are legitimate for the entire season, they haven’t been very impressive since the beginning of the year. Let’s face it, even if they were better. What is the probability that the Devils will win 21 of their first 27 road games the following season? How likely is it that in 2023–2024 they will again sweep entire trips through California, Eastern Canada, and Western Canada? How likely is it that they’ll be riding a 13-game winning streak that almost guaranteed them a spot in the postseason once more? Expectations will be much higher if the same group is slated to return for the upcoming season, whether that is fair or not. And if the team loses, we’ll have to return to challenging the head coach with tough questions.