Today the New Jersey Devils announced they have dismissed head coach Lindy Ruff after three seasons being in charge behind the bench. Ruff departs with a 128-125-28 record in 281 regular season games and 5-7 record in the postseason when the Devils made the playoffs last season. Lindy Ruff was given a contract extension prior to the start of the season however, the Devils were never able to live up to and follow up on their postseason success from last year. Travis Green who was an assistant under Ruff, and former head coach of the Vancouver Canucks, will take over the head coaching duties tomorrow at the team’s morning skate.
Here is the announcement from the New Jersey Devils and President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald, and my reaction to the firing of Lindy Ruff as well below:
My reaction to Lindy Ruff firing:
To be honest, I was not surprised that Lindy Ruff was let go. The only thing that did surprise me was that I thought if the Devils missed the playoffs that they would let him go after the season. Something is really off with the team this year. There have been some injuries which they’re always will be, and a lot of inconsistent play from up and down the lineup. Losing Dougie Hamilton in particular was a huge loss. Goaltending has also been a big issue with the Devils if not the biggest issue they’ve had all season with Vitek Vanecek, Akira Schmid, and Nico Daws being unable to show they can be a number one goalie at the NHL level. I also think the losses of Damon Severson and Ryan Graves prove to be much bigger losses as well. Another loss that I don’t think is being talked about enough is losing Andrew Brunette from the coaching staff who ran the devils Power Play last year, which was absolutely lethal and dangerous.
Going back to Lindy Ruff, he is a great coach, and from everything I’ve heard is really well liked by the players. However, like some of the coaches of the past, I think the game has also passed him by too. There just wasn’t enough adjustments or the ability to get guys going and play with much more consistency, especially a guy like Timo Meier who’s getting paid a lot of money, and is not scoring near a 40 goal pace as he usually does. A change was inevitable after high expectations that were failed to be met. Lindy may get another chance at a head coaching job, but I think he might be better served as an assistant coach going forward.
As for Travis Green, let’s see how he handles things the rest of the season. I think this will just be an interim basis, type of deal, and a new head coach will be brought in during the off-season. Green could prove he deserves to stay on as the Devils coach. Time will tell on that front. On the other hand, If the Devils do go out and acquire a legitimate starting caliber goaltender, maybe that can help right the ship as well as players playing up to their capabilities. That right there I will say is not Lindy’s fault, GM Tom Fitzgerald deserves blame here and has yet to pull the trigger on making a deal to upgrade the goaltending problem. It should be an interesting rest of the way for the New Jersey Devils, stay tuned!
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